'Tafelpoot & Snars in "Hoofdzaken"' (De Waarheid, 3 April 1979).
Marcel Bakker is a Dutch designer, illustrator and painter, operating through his own graphic design company De Ontwerperij. Earlier in his career, he was layout editor of the newspaper De Waarheid, for which he also made the comic serials 'Tafelpoot & Snars' (1978-1979), 'Diederik Kriek' (1980), 'Poezeman in Therapie' (1981) and 'Pizza & Apekool' (1982), using the pseudonym Marco Brød.
Early life and career
Marcel Bakker was born in 1953 in Zaandam, the third of five siblings. His father was Marcus Bakker, prominent member of the Dutch Communist Party, and co-founder/chief editor of the Communist newspaper De Waarheid. Between 1972 and 1977, Marcel Bakker studied Graphic Design at the Gerrit Rietveld Art Academy in Amsterdam. Together with Rob Vreeken - a student of the School for Journalism - he founded Obstakel (1976-1977), a rebellious bi-monthly magazine for youngsters, originally intended as a joint graduation project.
Announcement for 'Een Beest Is Ook Maar Een Mensch?' (16 January 1980).
De Waarheid
After his graduation, Bakker became a lay-out editor for the newspaper De Waarheid, an occupation he held until 1984. During this period, Bakker also created four comic serials for the newspaper, using the pen name Marco Brød. Strongly inspired by the anarchism and absurdism of underground comix, Brød's comics featured the subversive couple Frits Snars and Truus Tafelpoot. Replacing 'De wonderlijke avonturen van Jacob Maneschijn en Sientje Zeester' by Willem Wilmink and Willem Vleeschouwer, Marco Brød's first serial took off on 27 December 1978 and ran for 100 episodes until 24 April 1979. In 'Tafelpoot & Snars in "Hoofdzaken"', the rebellious student Frits gets involved in a crime scheme about stolen jewels and a talking head. The same characters returned in the next serial, 'Een Beest is Ook Maar Een Mensch?' ("An Animal Is Only Human", 16 January 1980 - 25 April 1980), in which - according to the description - an average guy called Diederik Kriek gets entangled in an adventure with monks, cats, mad scientists, businessmen and detectives. In the follow-up 'Poezeman in Therapie' (4 February 1981 - 5 June 1981), Frits Snars is mutated into a "Catman" by a mad scientist, and the fourth and final story, 'Pizza & Apekool' (12 January through 8 February 1982), deals with a mystery about a secret pizza recipe.
Free work (2021).
Graphic designer
In 1984, Marcel Bakker left De Waarheid, switching to a career in graphic design. Until 1999, he was represented by the Hollandse Hoogte agency, but since 1995, he mostly works through his own firm De Ontwerperij, which he runs with graphic designer Karin van der Meer. His main activities have involved designing magazines, book covers, house styles and logos for publishers like Ambo Anthos, Boom, Wereldbibliotheek and VU Uitgeverij, as well as the Culture Fund, the Wiardi Beckman Foundation and Open Monument Day. A notable assignment was the new logo of the Dutch workers' party PvdA for the 1992 elections. Reverting to socialist symbolism, Bakker's design featured a stylized rose in a fist. The design was the subject of some controversy, because the fist was a right hand instead of a left hand, which critics deemed more suitable as a symbol for a leftwing party.
In 2017, he built a website dedicated to the life and work of the political cartoonist, illustrator and graphic artist Kafak (Eddy Greidanus, 1946-2000), www.kafak.nl. In later years, Marcel Bakker has focused on making abstract and geomatric drawings and paintings. An exposition of his graphic paintings was held in March-April 2022 in Gallery Weerdruk in Amsterdam.
Self-portrait (2021).