Herluf Bidstrup and nine commandments of danisH cartoonist

Denmark
Caricature
Life experience
Herluf Bidstrup
and nine commandments
of Danish cartoonist
To the birth centenary (1912-1988)
of the famous caricaturist of the XX century
When a child I knew that our acquaintances had an album of cartoons by Danish artist
Herluf Bidstrup (1912-1988). We used to visit
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them and I immediately took the album to look
at the magnificent cartoons which I greatly enjoyed. Later I bought a luxurious four-volume
collection of his cartoons. Today I also love to
look at them from time to time and silently talk
Yes. I gradually began to understand what
veloped the skills and sometimes amused pupils
was so comic in my cartoons and often deliberate-
and teachers with sketches on the blackboard. By
Tell me how did you begin to draw?
ly risked to cause laughter. I was soon satisfied to
drawing portraits of classmates and teachers I real-
I have been drawing since I remember
see that laughter was my ally. In school years I de-
ized the true force of a successful caricature.
with the outstanding Danish story teller.
myself. Had I got a pencil or a piece of chalk in
my hand I immediately began to draw and often
drew even without anything in hand. When I was
Good intentions
a small boy and they put me to bed I continued
to draw various figures in the air with my index
finger. Many children like to draw, but I seem to
have been more encouraged to do it than
others. My father was a house painter and
decorator and devoted his free time to painting.
He was my first critic and teacher. He expanded
my horizons with stories about countries he
visited in his young years.
Like all children’s drawings my houses,
people, trees, and horses caused a smile. I was
T
he cartoons of the talented artist
once offended by the uncle who burst into
and great Danish caricaturist can
laughter while looking at my drawings. I worked
give a lot of pleasure and good mood.
on them as laboriously as an experienced artist
They make even the most sullen person
paints the image of the Holy Mother. I was five
smile. Bidstrup’s humor has no national
at the time and I thought a lot why my drawings
borders. His funny, curious, tragicomic
were perceived by others in a different way than
cartooned stories are clear to everyone
I wanted.
regardless of age and nationality…
The
first
thoughts
about
caricature
emerged after that, didn’t they?
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AMBER BRIDGE. INTERNATIONAL NEWSMAGAZINE. 2012. № 4 (8)
109
Loneliness
Likeness
Evolution
Copenhagen. In ten minutes I had to
draw
ten
cartoons
of
distinguished
Copenhagen residents on naked backs
of dancers when they were changing for
a new number. During the dance the girls
turned their backs on the audience and
people could see the cartoons revive
and
make
faces
depending
on
the
movements of the dancers. I did this
kind of “painting” every night for two
months.
When did you feel your talent is in
demand?
When I worked as a newspaper
cartoonist I had several cartooned stories
published in Sunday issues without any
text. They were a success and readers
wanted to see them every Sunday. Due to
the series they asked me to keep working
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in the newspaper after the staff cartoonist returned to the office. My comic drawings were soon published by other Scandinavian newspapers. There was a big
inflow of fees and I bought a car and a
house for parents. Thus, everything was
What do you perceive as a caricature?
developing successfully for me.
A caricature means exaggeration but
most
often
is
perceived
as
My studies in the Royal Academy of Arts
I faced a problem in the newspaper: how
used caricature to exaggerate. It has to
coincided with an aggravation of political situa-
to draw? In our time of individualism each artist
produce the same strong impression on the
tion in the world. The arson of Reichstag in Berlin,
wants to find his individual “handwriting” and
viewer as the depicted character produced
the advent of Hitler to power, and the anti-Nazi
resorts to various curlicues for that. I decided to
on
of
movement – they could not but interest even us
refrain from that and, on the contrary, make my
perception of a drawing made in black
who were doing a business that was far from real
drawings as impersonal as possible and draw in
strokes on a white sheet of paper and in a
life and comprised various paints on a quadran-
a way for readers of any age to comprehend.
diminished form is naturally weaker than the
gular piece of canvas. Although painting issues
My style depended on the topic of the drawing,
impression of reality. It means the lost
were the most important to us we nevertheless
newspaper page, and people who I worked for.
characteristics should be compensated for in
actively discussed international developments.
I worked to harmonize the width of a stroke
the
cartoonist.
The
acuteness
in mind his image has to resemble the
What
do
you
think
about
creative
experiments?
with the fonts of the newspaper page so that
cartoons and text comprise a single entity.
original more than a photo. If a caricature
I am not against experiments. Experiments
fails and the arrow does not hit the target, it
can renew old and banal image techniques
is
Your cartoons resemble film frames. Did
you do it on purpose?
draw
which gradually become monotonous and lose
I always arrange my comic cartoon series
cartoons. Neither a ruler nor an angle bar can
the power of impression. However the main
in a way which helps “read” them from left to
help. They often explain the faults of a
thing is how clear the artist expresses his idea
right, like newspaper text. The wordless story
cartoonist by saying: “It is a caricature which
and thought.
has to depict the characters in the same way as
no
caricature.
It
is
difficult
to
should not resemble the original.”
There are a lot of politics in your
cartoons. Why?
AMBER BRIDGE. INTERNATIONAL NEWSMAGAZINE. 2012. № 4 (8)
style?
However I never distorted reality but often
another way. A cartoonist has always to bear
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Did you quickly find your drawing
distortion.
Can
you
describe
your
most
curious
artistic experience?
I did the most curious work in a revue in
the reader sees film frames. I convey the
movement of figures from one drawing to
another. It makes them alive.
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