Cartoon from Scapa's infamous "Monks + Nuns" series.
Ted Schaap, later known as Ted Scapa, was a Dutch cartoonist, graphic designer, publisher and television presenter. His cartoons were characterized by their sense of irony, and appeared in several international newspapers and magazines. Living in Switzerland since 1962, Schaap was for thirty years a publisher of art and photography books through the Benteli publishing house. He was also a longtime graphic designer for the stage shows of the Dutch comedian Toon Hermans.
Early life
Born in Amsterdam in 1931, Eduard Jacobus Schaap was the son of diplomat Jacques Schaap, who has been stationed as Cultural Attaché with the Dutch embassies in Bern, Switzerland, and New Delhi, India. As a child, Ted Schaap was educated at several international schools, resulting in a cosmopolitan upbringing. Until the age of 18, Ted never drew a single line. He was initially planning to attend nautical college, but was rejected because he was far-sighted. A family friend, the artist Jan Kraan, suggested art school instead. For two years, Schaap studied at the Kunstgewerbeschuln in Bern and two additional years at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in The Hague. Subsequently, he served two years in the military as a guards officer.
Cartoon from 1966.
Cartooning career
Back in civilian life, Schaap had his first job with an advertising agency, but was gradually able to make a living with his funny, wordless cartoons. He signed them with his first name, followed by a ball of wool with four legs (referring to his last name, meaning "sheep" in English). In newspaper articles of the time, Schaap was described as a serious man, who got his ideas from observing daily life followed by hours of contemplating. During the early 1950s, he debuted alongside fellow cartoonists Ton Hoogendoorn and Yrrah in the monthly magazine Mandril. Between 8 November 1958 and 1 June 1963, he appeared in the magazine De Nieuwe Linie with the 'Veronika' feature. During the mid-1950s, Schaap drew a series of pantomime cartoons with monks and nuns, the latter only portrayed as black habits without a face. These daring cartoons were the reason for the Catholic newspaper De Gelderlander to drop him from their pages.
Ted Schaap's early signature.
As an illustrator and cartoonist, Schaap not only worked for Dutch newspapers and magazines, but also for international publications, such as Punch in England and the satirical weekly Nebelspalter in Switzerland. Other Swiss publications that ran his work have been Bund and the Berner Zeitung. Adapting to an international audience, he eventually picked the pen name Ted Scapa. In the Netherlands, the publishers A.W. Bruna and Andries Blitz released several of his thematic cartoon collections, dealing with topics like love ('Lessen in Liefde', 1956), monks and nuns ('Zusters + Broeders', 1957), cars ('Auto-Biografie', 1959), a trip to India ('Man Zoekt Vrouw', 1962) and the press ('Hoed Je Voor De Pers', 1963). Several of these books have been released internationally.
Cover art for records by Annie M.G. Schmidt and Toon Hermans.
Illustrator and designer
Schaap's stylized illustrations with spot colors appeared on the covers of records with children's songs, for instance ones written by Annie M.G. Schmidt or Toon Hermans, performed by several Dutch children's choirs. As an artist for children's picture books, he notably illustrated a 1960s reprint series of Leonard Roggeveen's 'Okkie Pepernoot' book series by publisher Van Goor en Zonen. He also provided artwork for books by the journalist Sjoerd de Vries, or by psychiatrist Dr. C.J.B.J. Trimbos.
While in Switzerland, he met the Dutch comedian Toon Hermans, with whom he began a fruitful collaboration and close friendship. Over the years, he has designed posters, programs and stage sets for Hermans' One Man Shows. Through his publishing company Benteli, Schaap also released several Dutch-language books by Toon Hermans.
Cover art for children's books.
International career
During his early career, Schaap spent several years working abroad, including in India, Indonesia, Hong Kong and the USA. On 12 February 1960, the Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf reported about a trip he made as a photographer/illustrator through India, Afghanistan and Russia, accompanied by reporter Sjoerd de Vries. On 17 May 1960, that same newspaper reported of Schaap's marriage to the Indian sociology student Zarina Rahman, whom he had met during his trip.
This marriage apparently didn't last long, as in 1962 Ted Schaap moved to Switzerland, where he married Meret Meyer, the daughter of publisher Hans Meyer-Benteli. Living at Vallamand Castle on Lake Murten, the couple had three children, and adopted three more. For nearly thirty years, Ted Schaap ran the family firm, the Benteli publishing and printing company in Bern, which had about 150 staff members. While until then the company specialized in art books, under Schaap's management, Benteli expanded its activities with humor and cookery books, as well as fiction and children's books. Through his work as a publisher, he also had close contact with the art historian, curator and museum director Erika Billeter, with whom he wrote dozens of museum catalogs.
In Switzerland, Schaap also made several children's picture books and further cartoon collections, which he either published himself through Beneli, like the dialect book 'Festvärsli: Es Chinderbuech mit Zeichnige vom Ted Scapa' (1967), or with publishing house Artemis in Zurich, like the picture books 'Die große Reise mit Opa und Stiefel' (1972) and 'Opa und Stiefel zeichnen mit Scapa' (1976).
Cartoon from Scapa's clowns series.
Television career
During the 1960s and 1970s, Scapa gained additional notability as a host on Swiss SRF television, presenting the children's show 'Das Spielhaus', in which he chatted and doodled with children. In 1976 and 1977, he also hosted a similar show on Dutch TROS television, 'Scapa'.
Cartoon from 1966.
Later life and death
In 1991, Schaap retired from the publishing business, and handed over the leadership of the company to his son, Till Schaap. After his retirement, he continued to work as a freelance designer and artist, creating sculptures and designing posters, carpets, lampshades, Swatch watches and Pro Juventute stamps. His paintings were created the same way as his cartoons: in thematic sequences. These included Cloud Walkers, Lighthouses, Chairs, Angels, Castles in the Air, Cows, Television, Golf, Music, Praise and Time, and were documented in illustrated art books.
In addition, Schaap gave creative workshops for both children and adults, and was a passionate art collector. On 8 July 2009, he opened his own Scapa restaurant in Lenk, and in the following year his own "MiniMuseum Scapa", a display case in the Creaviva children's museum at the Zentrum Paul Klee in Bern. Between November 2016 and February 2017, Scapa had a solo exhibition of his free work at the Kunstmuseum Bern. According to the official museum catalogue Scapa "has created an œuvre characterized by wit and spontaneity, vitality and playfulness. Scapa's art transforms the everyday into pictorial inventions full of mystery and joie de vivre." The artist has been awarded with several international prizes.
His wife Meret Meyer Scapa (1930-2016) was active as a surrealist painter, dancer and ceramicist. She has exhibited her work in a Zurich gallery (1998) and the Kunstmuseum Bern (2015). A book about her life and work was published under the title 'Meret Meyer Scapa: Ein Leben für die Kunst', with a graphic design by her husband. Five years after the death of his wife, Scapa moved to the Burgerspittel retirement home in Bern, where he died in December 2023 at age 92.
Ted Schaap, portrayed in magazine De Spiegel on 11 May 1963.