More of Gulbransson's Magic Line

Today, I give you more of Olaf Gulbransson and his magic lines. They flow so smoothly, like a classical symphony. These are the rest of them from the book on Simplicissimus I have.

Entertainment

"Excuse me, please, don't you have anything depraved here? But not too bad, so a man can take his wife along."

Calm Sea

"You have such charm, Fred! I admire your tastefully composed personality."

Departure

"And bring me back a fig leaf from Italy. I can't afford a suit any more."

The Last Foothold

"I don't believe in God any more, I don't believe in people any more-and now you want to make me sick of cards, too!"

After Dinner

"Of course, you still have to hold that big gawky boy on your lap!"
"Let me alone. You need your paper for your digestion, I need my motherly love."

Baedeker

"The tedesco can't even do that without his book!"

The Power of Music

"When I hear them play, I love them both. After the concert I prefer a prizefighter."

I hope you've enjoyed them.

Jack Rickard: Under appreciated MAD genius

Hello Everybody!! I'm finally back!! This time I bring the MAD goodness of Jack Rickard. To me, he is an under-appreciated artist. When I hear discussions of the MAD cartoonists, many people cite Don Martin, Sergio Aragones, and Mort Drucker. I want to add another Jack Rickard into the discussion. He was just as talented and creative as the other men. I guess because he died earlier than the others (he died in 1983) is why.

Below I have an article from MAD Issue no. 104 (July 1966) that proves my point.

These are absolutely beautiful drawings!! They're also funny and bitingly satiric. He can accurately satirize the human body and its language. That is a true gift.

Here we see him show us the psychology of two students at Mediocrity University through body language alone. These are two people only concerned their next hit of dope or the next rock concert. They live for today only. You can also see they are quite annoyed to be interviewed by the dean and some bimbo from MAD.

I especially love this piece. Jack Rickard gives us three different type of people. There is no generic look for people in his work. Each drawing stands out as an individual. Why can't we have people like this working in animation. There would be so much more variety in character design.

Actually it looks like he might be influenced by Paul Coker Jr. by the way he uses line.

I hope you've enjoyed. I'll try to get more of my MAD collection online. Later days!

Olaf Gulbransson: Master of Line

Today kiddies, I bring you more German cartoon goodness!! This time, we have the undisputed master of line, Olaf Gulbransson! This is the man that Al Hirschfeld looked to for inspiration.

Olaf Gulbransson was born in Oslo, Norway on May 26, 1873. At 17 years old, he began to contribute illustrations to Norwegian magazines such as Tyrihans, the Norwegian satirical magazine. During this time, he studied at the prestigious Academie Colarossi in Paris. He began to contribute to Simplicissimus in 1902. In 1929, be became a professor at the art academy of Munich. I would love to have him as my teacher.

He was a well-known artist, even gaining an exhibition at the art academy in Berlin in 1933. Two days later, the Nazi party shut it down. He continued to contribute to the magazine until it's cancellation in 1944.

He died in Tegernsee, Germany on September 18, 1958.

I shall be translating from the original German.

Impossible

"You have no children, Mr. Guschelhauer?"
"No, we aren't acrobats, you know."

In the Night Spot

"Miss, do you too have something in your character that you constantly have to fight against?"

A Friendly Suggestion

"We can now bring the stories in the Bible into agreement with the natural sciences. According to the latest research, Adam did not accept the apple from Eve; our first mother therefore gave it to a gorilla. An thus Darwin's theory is proven."

Isadora Duncan

"Orpheus and Eurydice. Rhythmic study based on Euripides' Bacchae. Bacchus and Ariadne, a dance based on Titian's painting of the name. "Mein kleine Danz is finished"."

Tivoli

"Min, I wish you could have the same sensation that I do of seeing the inventors of the splendid grammatical construction facere non possum ut non or quin walking amongst these ruins in the flesh." *

A Fit of Debility

"Look at that!" ... "Eh, old man, now I've got to help you up again?"

The Height of Fashion

Inspired by Rabindranath Tagore, fashionable Berlin practices contemplation of the navel.

*Appendage: This is the town of Tivoli outside of Rome. The Latin construction admired by this Gymnasium teacher means "I cannot help (doing something)".

All of these cartoons and translations come from a book called Simplicimuss, a collection of 180 cartoons from the magazine, collected and edited by Stanley Aplebaum.

I hope you enjoyed this first batch of Gulbransson cartoons. Stay tuned for more!!

Heinrich Kley: Cartoon Master

Today I'm getting a little fancier and a bit more , dare I say, sophisticated. Today we're looking at the work of Heinrich Kley, German cartoonist extraordinaire.

Heinrich Kley was born in Karlsruhe, Germany on April 15, 1863. He studied in both Karlsruhe and Munich and by the 1880s was known for his paintings. In 1908, he settled in Munich, where he began submitting cartoons to Jugend and Simplicissimus. These two magazines were satirical publications, in the same vein as Britain's Punch.

Kley was one of the most popular contributors to these magazines. His work was very influential, particularly on the Disney studios surprisingly. His satirical renderings of animals such as elephants were very influential in the designs of the characters in The Dance of the Hours from FANTASIA, as well as the elephants of DUMBO. John Canemaker makes a point of this in his commentary on the DUMBO DVD.

He died in Munich on February 8, 1945.

I will be translating from the original German.

From God's Marionette Theater

"All right, you can pack away the king, too, for the time being. At the moment, he isn't bringing in any customers."

Tourist Season

Tango

Turn in Your Gold to the National Bank

Secondhand Shop

At the Border

The Dance Floor

I hope you enjoyed this. There will be more German cartoon treats.

Auf Wiedersehen!