'Brammetje Fok'.
Bart van Leeuwen is a Dutch advertising artist, cartoonist and illustrator for children's books and magazines. As a comic artist, he was most notable for the children's newspaper comics 'Roffeltje' (1963) and 'Brammetje Bram' (1964-1972). He should not be confused with Dutch photographer Bart van Leeuwen (1950-2017), nor with radio host and disc jockey Bart van Leeuwen (b. 1954).
Early life and career
Bartel van Leeuwen was born in 1937 in the Kralingen district of Rotterdam. In 1940, Hitler invaded the Netherlands and bombed Rotterdam, prompting the Van Leeuwen family to flee the city. They spent the remainder of the war in a dikehouse in the village of Kinderdijk. During this period, Van Leeuwen developed his lifelong fascination for boats and the sea. Later in life, both he and his wife Corrie were avid sailors, passing their passion for the sea on to their children. His son Wessel is a marine engineer, and daughter Martine is a keen yachtswoman, who even participated in the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona.
'Roffeltje'.
Another early interest for Bart van Leeuwen was drawing, and he grew up reading comics like 'Sneeuwvlok de Eskimo' by Wim Meuldijk and 'Kapitein Rob' by Pieter Kuhn. He studied advertising art at the Academy of Fine Arts in his hometown Rotterdam and spent the first years of his career working for agencies like Erro Studio, Publi Studio and Studio Brul. At Publi Studio, he got acquainted with Jan Kruis, Jan van der Voo and Martin Lodewijk, three fellow Rotterdam artists who later became important Dutch comic creators.
Roffeltje
However, doing advertising work didn't satisfy Van Leeuwen and he decided to try his hand at a comic strip. The local newspaper De Havenloods ran his first effort, 'Roffeltje' (1961-1963), a strip about a little drummer boy who can't keep up with his band and gets lost. During the making of the comic, Van Leeuwen discovered that writing his own stories wasn't his forte, so for his next comic he teamed up with a writer.
'Brammetje Fok en de Pinguin-prof'.
Brammetje Fok
For his best-known comic strip, Bart van Leeuwen turned to his favorite theme, and created a sailor character. In 1964, he presented the adventures of 'Brammetje Fok' (1964-1972) and his sail boat Kokanje to the editors of Rotterdamsch Nieuwsblad. The project was accepted, and Van Leeuwen was paired with journalist and crime novelist Cor Docter (1925-2006) to create the stories. Together, they added new characters, such as the parrot Tutu and the cat Caro. In 1970, Docter was succeeded as writer by Maarten de Jong, another journalist, who wrote another sidekick for Brammetje into the stories, the clown Marino. Besides Rotterdamsch Nieuwsblad, 'Brammetje Fok' also ran in other local newspapers, including the Haagsche Courant, Arnhemse Courant, Leidsch Dagblad, Gooi en Eemlander, Tubantia, Limburgia Pers, Zwolsche Courant and Gronings Nieuwsblad. Between 1971 and 1972, publishing house Sari released several book collections of 'Brammetje Fok'. However, a change of management at the newspaper abruptly ended the 'Brammetje Fok' strip in 1972.
'Brammetje Fok' (12 May 1967).
Advertising art
After 1972, Van Leeuwen has mainly worked as an artist for commercial clients, mostly local retailers and companies from the Rotterdam area. He has made many cartoons, illustrations and ads for Delta Contact, a paper published by Van Cauteren for the local shopping mall in the Rotterdam borough Hoogvliet. Other important clients have been the fast food chain McDonald's (for which he designed several murals), Hallmark, Mobil Oil and Horeca Onderwijs. He has also continued to make drawings for the newspaper De Havenloods, including illustrations for articles about the Rotterdam football club Feyenoord, and for a serial about the construction of the Rotterdam metro system.
Advertising strip for perfumery/beauty parlour De Meeuw in the Hoogvliet shopping mall.
Children's book and magazine illustrations
Bart van Leeuwen's illustrations have also appeared in the children's magazines Donald Duck, Okki and Taptoe, and in many children's books published by Van Goor & Zonen. He was responsible for the illustrations in the 1970s reprints of the book series about the gnome 'Okkie Pepernoot' (1973-1980) by Leonard Roggeveen. Gnomes were also main characters in the reading books that Van Leeuwen made with writer Marita Franken for primary schools. In addition, he was the illustrator of Martha and Bert Mestland's controversial children's book 'Alvar en de Kasteelkinderen' (1975). The Dutch Government Information Service eventually banned this book since it prominently featured the young Dutch princes Willem-Alexander (later king Willem-Alexander), Friso and Constantijn. Since his retirement, Van Leeuwen has remained active doing illustration work for naval societies.
'Brammetje Fok'.