Philomene
Pim van Boxsel was a Dutch illustrator and fine artist. He was born in Singapore as the son of an administrator with the Dutch Royal Packet Navigation Company. He has spent his childhood in Sumatra, East-Borneo, Batavia and Bandung. He was imprisoned in internment camps by the Japanese between 1942 and 1945, a period he spent making caricatures and portraits.
He settled in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, in 1946 where he attended art school. He worked for the Pätz advertising agency and in 1950 he became an illustrator for De Geïllustreerde Pers, the publisher of magazines like Margriet and Revue. He also made drawings for Vrij Nederland, Week in Beeld and Het Parool. He did cartoons and designs for Mandril, as well as many drawings for advertisements.
During the 1960s Van Boxsel made illustrations for Vara-gids and the 'Biggles' books by Het Spectrum, while publishing his surrealistic drawings in Taboe. Others artist who made comics based on 'Biggles' have been Albert De Vine, Rob Embleton, Ola Ericson, Gote Goransson, Guicha, Roger Melliès, Maurice Rondepierre, Alfred Sindall, Willy Vandersteen and Mike Western.
His picture story 'De wonderlijke avonturen van Philomene' was published as a promotional gift in the series Kwadraatbladen by the Hilversum-based printing firm De Jong & Co in 1966. He ended his assocation with De Geïllustreerde Pers in 1967 and was hired as a drawing teacher at the Academy of Fine Arts in Arnhem. He made book illustrations and exhibited his fine art throughout the 1970s and 1980s. He passed away from heart failure in Amsterdam in 1995.
