Albert van Beek

Albert van Beek was born in Amsterdam. At the early age of 11, he was already learning to become a housepainter. After some assignments for an advertising agency, he started working as an apprentice for Marten Toonder in 1943. Together with his pall Henk Albers he worked on several productions of the Toonder-Geesink Studios, such as the design of the 'Stehaufmännchen' for UFA in Berlin.

In 1945, he designed his first comic, 'Pip en Berry', a strip about a mouse and a bear, which was never realized. After the war, Van Beek was employed at Piet van Elk's Stripfim studio, where he created revamped 'Pip en Berry' to 'De Avonturen van Terry en Berry'. He also made the the realistic comic 'Frank Duffard', and the daily comics 'De Avonturen van Ronny en Donny' and 'Naar Zee'.

In 1948, Van Beek returned to the Toonder Studios, where he worked on 'Baron Bluf' for Tom Poes Weekblad and Avrobode, as well as the daily 'Kappie' strip and a few 'Bommel' stories with Waling Dijkstra. Around 1949 he was also present in Wim Meuldijk's Ketelbinkiekrant. In 1950 he became a freelancer, making illustrations for children's books and doing commercial design for magazines. One of the popular children's book series he illustrated was 'De Avonturen van Petertje Poes' from the Komeet series. He now lives in the south of France where he devotes himself to painting.