'Titula'.
Harry Buckinx was a Dutch underground artist, best known for his contributions to Hitweek and Tante Leny Presenteert. Born in Geleen, Buckinx attended the Jan van Eyck Academy in Maastricht and at the Royal Institute of Fine Arts in Antwerp, Belgium. His career took off when his drawings were published in the Dutch magazine Hitweek in 1968, and in Aloha in 1971-72.
'Titula'.
He was present in Evert Geradts' underground magazine Tante Leny Presenteert from the start in 1970. Together with Mark Smeets, he formed the Limburg delegation of the magazine. Buckinx created surreal stories about the world he knew, that of art dealing, nightlife and difficult relations with lovers. His main characters were 'Titul' and 'Titula'. 'Titula' was also present in Aloha from 1972.
Heading for 'Titula'.
Between 1972 and 1974 Buckinx drew the comic 'De Familie Aepebroeck' for the VPRO magazine Vrije Geluiden. The comic deals with the chaotic and intimate escapades of the Bertus and Truus Aepebroeck and gives a good portrait of The Netherlands in the 1960s and 1970s. Harry Buckinx was one of the artists involved in the 'Toon en Toos Brodeloos' strip, which a team of seven artists produced in 1976 for VPRO-Gids, the magazine of broadcasting company VPRO. Each episode was a satirical story about one of the Dutch broadcasting companies, drawn by a different artist. Buckinx did the one about VPRO, while the other artists were Joost Swarte (AVRO), Evert Geradts (KRO), Joost Troost (EO), Rob Gorter (NCRV), Aart Clerkx (VARA) and Fred Julsing (TROS). The stories were collected in a book by Har van Fulpen's Drukwerk in 1976.
Illustration by Harry Buckinx.
Buckinx also contributed to the collective comics serial 'Toon en Toos Brodeloos', that also appeared in Vrije Geluiden. In addition to comics, Buckinx made illustrations for the book 'Wie Zeurt Krijgt Een Beurt', as well as watercolor paintings in the style of old book illuminations. He died from cancer in Amsterdam in 1995, at the age of 51.
He was one of several artists to make a graphic contribution to 'Pepperland’ (1980), a collective comic book tribute to the store Pepperland, to celebrate its 10th anniversary at the time.
Lambiek will always be grateful to Buckinx for illustrating the letter "T" in our encylopedia book, 'Wordt Vervolgd - Stripleksikon der Lage Landen', published in 1979.
Illustration by Harry Buckinx.