Joost Swarte (born 24 December 1947 in

Heemstede Heemstede () is a town and a municipality in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. It is the fourth richest municipality of the Netherlands. History Heemstede formed around the Castle ''Heemstede'' that was built overlooking the ...

) is a Dutch

cartoonist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comic book illustrators in that they produce both the literary and g ...

and

graphic design Graphic design is a profession, academic discipline and applied art whose activity consists in projecting visual communications intended to transmit specific messages to social groups, with specific objectives. Graphic design is an interdiscip ...

er. He is best known for his

ligne claire ''Ligne claire'' (French for "clear line", ; nl, klare lijn) is a style of drawing created and pioneered by Hergé, the Belgian cartoonist and creator of ''The Adventures of Tintin''. It uses clear strong lines sometimes of varied width and n ...

or ''clear line'' style of drawing, a term he coined. Comic series and characters by Swarte include ''Katoen en Pinbal'', ''Jopo de Pojo'', ''Anton Makassar'', ''Dr Ben Cine'' and ''Niet Zo, Maar Zo''- ''Passi, Messa''. He is however more famous for his numerous drawings, stamps, posters, cards, LP and CD covers, and for his magazine covers (most noteworthy the Dutch magazine ''

Vrij Nederland ''Vrij Nederland'' (Free Netherlands) is a Dutch magazine, established during the German occupation of the Netherlands in World War II as an underground newspaper. It has since grown into a magazine. The originally weekly and now monthly magazi ...

'', the American magazine

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

, and the Belgian magazine ''

HUMO ''HUMO'' is a popular Dutch-language Belgian weekly radio and television supermarket tabloid. History and profile ''Humoradio'' (meaning a portmanteau of 'humor' and 'radio' in English) was first published in 1936 as a Dutch-language counterpa ...

'' and the Italian architecture magazine ''Abitare''.)

Background and early work

Swarte, born 24 December 1947 in

, studied industrial design in

Eindhoven Eindhoven () is a city and municipality in the Netherlands, located in the southern province of North Brabant of which it is its largest. With a population of 238,326 on 1 January 2022,Modern Papier'' and made regular contributions to the Dutch comic magazine ''Tante Leny Presenteert''.

Increased recognition

International recognition started around 1980 when Swarte took part for the first time in the international comic show Salon International de la Bande Dessinée in

Angoulême Angoulême (; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''Engoulaeme''; oc, Engoleime) is a commune, the prefecture of the Charente department, in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region of southwestern France. The inhabitants of the commune are known as ''Angoumoisins ...

(France). His work has been translated into English, French, Spanish, Italian and German. ''Swarte, Hors Serie'', a survey of his work, was published by Futuropolis (Paris) in 1984. In 1985, he founded the publishing house Oog & Blik with Hansje Joustra. Joost published his own comics and silkscreens, as well as books by other cartoonists and a large number of Dutch translations of foreign comics. In 1992, Swarte initiated the Stripdagen, a biennial international comic event held in

Haarlem Haarlem (; predecessor of ''Harlem'' in English) is a city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is the capital of the province of North Holland. Haarlem is situated at the northern edge of the Randstad, one of the most populated metropoli ...

. In recent years, Swarte has created many illustrations for the ''

New Yorker New Yorker or ''variant'' primarily refers to: * A resident of the State of New York ** Demographics of New York (state) * A resident of New York City ** List of people from New York City * ''The New Yorker'', a magazine founded in 1925 * '' The ...

'' magazine. In 2007 Swarte, a former

scout Scout may refer to: Youth movement *Scout (Scouting), a child, usually 10–18 years of age, participating in the worldwide Scouting movement ** Scouts (The Scout Association), section for 10-14 year olds in the United Kingdom **Scouts BSA, secti ...

, designed the Dutch 2007 Europa stamp with the subject one hundred years of scouting. Swarte has produced a restored collection of almost all of his comics work (excluding the several hundred pages of the "Katoen en Pinbal" children's series), an English-language version of which will be released in late 2011 by

Fantagraphics Books Fantagraphics (previously Fantagraphics Books) is an American publisher of alternative comics, classic comic strip anthologies, manga, magazines, graphic novels, and the erotic Eros Comix imprint. History Founding Fantagraphics was found ...

under the title ''Is That All There Is?''. The cartoonist and critic

Scott McCloud Scott McCloud (born Scott McLeod; June 10, 1960) is an American cartoonist and comics theorist. He is best known for his non-fiction books about comics: ''Understanding Comics'' (1993), '' Reinventing Comics'' (2000), and '' Making Comics'' (20 ...

, in ''

Understanding Comics ''Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art'' is a 1993 non-fiction work of comics by American cartoonist Scott McCloud. It explores formal aspects of comics, the historical development of the medium, its fundamental vocabulary, and various ways in ...

'' (1993), wrote that "Joost Swarte's crisp elegant lines and jazzy designs speak of cool sophistication and irony."

Work outside comics and graphic design

Toneelschuur-Haarlem-Lange-Begijnestraat

Apart from comics and graphic design, Swarte has also designed furniture, leaded and stained glass windows, murals and other objects. For his hometown

he designed a theatre building ( De Toneelschuur) that was built in cooperation with Mecanoo Architects.

Awards

Swarte received numerous international prizes for his work. In 2004, Joost Swarte received a knighthood from Her Majesty Queen

Beatrix of the Netherlands Beatrix (Beatrix Wilhelmina Armgard, ; born 31 January 1938) is a member of the Dutch royal house who reigned as Queen of the Netherlands from 1980 until her abdication in 2013. Beatrix is the eldest daughter of Queen Juliana and her husban ...

.Swarte's profile on Lambiek
www.lambiek.net * 1981: Best Foreign Artist at the

Prix Saint-Michel The Prix Saint-Michel is a series of comic awards presented by the city of Brussels, with a focus on Franco-Belgian comics. They were first awarded in 1971, and although often said to be the oldest European comics awards, they are actually the s ...

, Belgium * 1998:

Stripschapprijs The Stripschapprijs is a Dutch prize awarded to comic creators for their entire body of work. It is awarded annually by the ''Stripschap'', the Dutch Society of comics fans, since 1974. The prize is non-pecuniary, but is considered the most import ...

, Netherlands * 2008: Communication Arts Award of Excellence, United States * 2012: Marten Toonder Prize for his entire oeuvre * 2018: Vlag en Wimpel (Dutch childrens books) for ''En toen De Stijl''

References

External links

*
Bookmarks
designed by Joost Swarte {{DEFAULTSORT:Swarte, Joost 1947 births Living people Album-cover and concert-poster artists Dutch comics artists Dutch graphic designers Dutch humorists Dutch illustrators Dutch stamp designers The New Yorker cartoonists People from Heemstede Winners of the Stripschapsprijs