Two cartoonists rediscover, via biographical graphic-novel, an enigmatic Norwegian comics master. In the early years of the 20th century, the brilliant Norwegian cartoonist Olaf Gulbransson was headhunted by the legendary German magazine Simplicissimus. Thus began one of the great international collaborations, as Gulbransson moved to Bavaria for a decades-long stint as one of the greatest contributors to one of the greatest satirical magazines of all time. A century later, the Norwegian cartoonists Lars Fiske and Steffen Kverneland, enthralled by the genius of Gulbransson’s drawings, fascinated by his eccentric existence (a mostly gentle, nature-loving giant who could crack walnuts with his buttocks, and whose favored method of dress was an apron and nothing else), and dismayed by the degree to which he’d fallen into oblivion in his native Norway, set out to document his life and art with this hilarious, incisive, informative and ultimately touching work of comics journalism. Traveling to museums, historical locations, and Gulbransson’s own former haunts, speaking with relatives, fueled by beer, cigarettes and pork (we are in Germany, after all), dodging German soccer fans, Fiske and Kverneland bring to life a supremely colorful figure in the history of cartooning: Freely mixing Fiske’s eye-popping clear-line cubism with Kverneland’s virtuoso multi-media caricatures, punctuated by the occasional photograph and many stunning examples of Gulbransson’s own elegant, ultra-minimalist drawings, every page of Olaf G.: A Life in Pictures is a treat for the eyes and the brain. Full-color illustrations throughout

Olaf G.: A Life In Pictures

Comics & Graphic Novels

Fiske, Lars

Kverneland, Steffen

Graphic Novels

Fantagraphics

<p>George Grosz (1893–1959) was a German fine artist, cartoonist, and teacher who drew from pop culture, was active in the Dada and New Objectivist movements, and was an influence for artists like Ben Shahn. (His antiwar painting, Eclipse from the Sun, would inspire Vietnam protesters.) In this graphic biography, written and drawn by Fiske, angular art lays Kandinsky-like lines over scenes set in anything-goes, post–World War I Berlin: connecting, emphasizing, tracing movement. Curves evoke the fleshy sex of Grosz’s work. (Fiske channels the exuberance and fascination with line that typified Grosz’s work, and more generally early to mid-century art movements.) Symbolically, Fiske uses two colors―red for Berlin, a slash of Grosz’s lipstick, a flash of tie―and green for the jazz and trains of New York, where Grosz would flee from Nazi Germany. Fiske’s thoughtful Grosz is a far cry from the plodding pedantry of the graphic hagiographies that earnestly clutter library shelves; it’s a work of art in its own right.</p>

Grosz

Biographies & Memoirs

Arts & Literature

Fantagraphics Books

Kurt Schwitters: Jetzt nenne ich mich selbst Merz. Herr Merz

Avant-Verlag, Berlin

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Books by Fiske, Lars