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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 th ...
) 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 an ...
and graphic designer. 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 no ...
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 issue ...
, and the Belgian magazine '' HUMO'' and the Italian architecture magazine ''Abitare''.)
Background and early work
Swarte, born 24 December 1947 inHeemstede
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 th ...
, 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''.
Apart from comics and graphic design, Swarte has also designed furniture, leaded and stained glass windows, murals and other objects. For his hometown Haarlem he designed a theatre building ( De Toneelschuur) that was built in cooperation with Mecanoo Architects.
Swarte's profile on Lambiek
www.lambiek.net
* 1981: Best Foreign Artist at the
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
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 inAngoulême
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'' o ...
(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
Oog & Blik was an Amsterdam-based Dutch publisher of comics founded by Joost Swarte and Hansje Joustra in 1985.
Oog & Blik offers books mostly for an adult audience. They publish original and translated graphic novels, underground comix, au ...
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.
In recent years, Swarte has created many illustrations for the '' New Yorker'' 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, sect ...
, 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'' (200 ...
, 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 i ...
'' (1993), wrote that "Joost Swarte's crisp elegant lines and jazzy designs speak of cool sophistication and irony."
Work outside comics and graphic design
Apart from comics and graphic design, Swarte has also designed furniture, leaded and stained glass windows, murals and other objects. For his hometown Haarlem 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 QueenBeatrix 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 husband ...
.www.lambiek.net
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 sec ...
, Belgium
* 1998: Stripschapprijs, 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