"My next poem is also about loneliness."
Stefan Verwey was a Dutch editorial cartoonist and comic artist. In the late 1960s, he published the pantomime gag strip 'Broeder Gosewijn' in Katholieke Illustratie, a feature that also saw international success. Between 1973 and 2020, Verwey was house cartoonist of the newspaper De Volkskrant. His cartoons also ran in Vrij Nederland, De Gelderlander, HP/De Tijd and the Flemish newspaper De Standaard. Of particular note are his one-panel cartoons about literary life. Verwey's work has often been awarded.
Early life and career
Stefan Verwey was born in 1946 in the city of Nijmegen. He made his very first cartoon at age 7, based on the 1953 Flooding Disaster in The Netherlands, where large parts of the coastal provinces flooded, causing the government to start its ambitious Delta Works plan. Among his main graphic influences were the cartoonists Peter van Straaten, Frits Müller and Yrrah. In terms of comedy, he enjoyed Charlie Chaplin and Laurel & Hardy. Since Verwey was often in ill health, he had plenty of time to draw and enjoy the cartoons in the Saturday Evening Post and Paris Match, particularly those by Bosc and Chaval. As a child, Verwey went to a Catholic boarding school in Oss. Some of his priest teachers claimed that he could never turn cartooning into a lucrative profession, but another was more supportive and gave him secret drawing lessons. Every time young Stefan went home for the weekend, the priest gave him instructions and assignments to work on, which he turned in again on Mondays. At one point, Verwey filled nearly the entire school newspaper with his drawings.
'Broeder Gosewijn'.
Broeder Gosewijn
Verwey's earliest feature was a pantomime gag comic 'Broeder Gosewijn', sometimes spelled as "Gozewijn". Starting on 22 October 1966, these gags about a goofy-looking Roman Catholic priest ran in the Catholic magazine Katholieke Illustratie (1966-1968) and its follow-up Nieuwe Revu (1968-?), as well as the children's magazine Okki. They were also reprinted abroad, in Belgium, South Africa and Italy. Yet Verwey didn't have fond memories of his own time in Catholic boarding schools, so, from this perspective, 'Broeder Gosewijn' was a bittersweet reflection on his religious upbringing. The series debuted when Verwey was 20, in 1966, and new episodes were still made in 1968. It's unsure how long the series ran after that date, but it was certainly discontinued by 1973.
Cartoon from 9 October 1976.
Cartooning career
While still a student at the Art Academy of Arnhem, in 1966, Verwey published a couple of cartoons in the newspaper De Volkskrant. Starting in 1973, he became the paper's house cartoonist, when his work ran in the 'Dag In, Dag Uit' section, but also in the science pages. Originally, all of his leftist cartoons were done in pantomime, featuring wry commentary on politics, war, racism, crises, pollution, urbanization and disasters. As the humor became snappier, the round lines of his earlier artwork made way for more angular men and women with pointed chins, big noses and unresponsive faces.
In the mid-1980s, however, Verwey was hospitalized with a hernia, leaving him unable to draw for months. This led to a moment of intense self-reflection. Verwey felt most of his cartoons were too repetitive. For instance, whenever there was a war, he was always drawing peace doves. After recovering, he resumed his cartooning career, but decided to reinvent himself. He left the pantomime commentary behind to use monologues and dialogue, while his characters received more expressive faces. From then on, Verwey also took a more light-hearted approach, described in 1999 by journalist Joost Pollmann as "soft cynicism". He wanted to avoid angry or preachy cartoons, since he didn't consider himself "a reverend who knows what's best for everybody." For the same reason, his later gags more often dealt with general instead of topical issues. They could still be inspired by whatever was in the news that week, but he no longer dropped names, referenced political parties or drew caricatures. This made his work more suitable for reprints and international audiences. Still, he didn't shy away from dark comedy. Several of his new cartoons had hospitals as a recurring theme, and graphically captured the tragicomedy of the elderly and the bedridden.
Cartoon by Stefan Verwey, depicting Dutch holiday character Sinterklaas. Translation: "For yourself, or is it a present?".
Besides De Volkskrant, Verwey's cartoons ran in the magazines VPRO-Gids, Vrij Nederland, Intermediair and HP/De Tijd. Between 1990 and 2015, Verwey also made a weekly contribution to the Saturday opinion page in the regional newspaper De Gelderlander. When on 28 May 2015 one of his cartoons wasn't printed and his chief editor didn't get back to him for clarification, Verwey decided to quit his collaboration with the paper. On 1 February 2020, Verwey announced his retirement. His final cartoon was a self-portrait of a cartoonist who leaves his drawing table behind to lay himself on his sofa with a book, sighing: "Finally time to read."
Stefan Verwey's cartoons have been collected in books by the Amsterdam publishing company De Harmonie: 'Niks Aan De Hand' (1978), 'Vrij en Blij' (1980), 'Het Nieuws in Kleur' (1983), 'Waar Zit De Pijn Precies?' (1986), 'Lang Zullen Ze Leven' (1989), 'Dit Paradijsje Houden We Geheim!' (1991), 'Had U Gereserveerd?' (1994), 'De Ondernemer' (1998), 'Het Boek Was Beter' (1999), 'Titel Zoekt Boek' (2001), 'Het Papier Is Op' (2003), 'Ziet Er Verdacht Uit' (2007), 'Alles Op Straat' (2009), 'Beschaving Zoekt Sponsor' (2012), 'Hoe Open Ik Een Boek' (2014).
Translation: The sign reads: "Take away for free", while the woman shouts: "Your entire oeuvre!"
Literary cartoons
From 1995 on, Verwey made several weekly one-panel cartoons about literary life, inspired by Peter van Straaten, who also made numerous cartoons about that subject. Verwey's literary cartoons were a staple of the literary review page of the Saturday edition of De Volkskrant (originally titled 'Cicero', later 'Sir Edmund' and 'Boeken & Wetenschap'). His literary cartoons never received a title: the header simply printed his name. Although the cartoonist expected to run out of ideas within three years, he surprised himself by drawing new episodes for more than 25 years. Since Verwey's cartoons were also collected in book format, with obligatory signing sessions to boot, he had first-hand literary experience. His literary cartoons were also printed in Belgium (De Standaard and its weekly books supplement De Standaard der Letteren), the UK ( The Spectator) and Germany (Der Tagesspiegel).
Stefan Verwey's final cartoon for De Volkskrant (1 February 2020) was a self-portrait. Translation: "Finally time to read."
Graphic contributions
In 1982, Verwey was one of the cartoonists participating in the book 'Tekenend voor Amnesty', a collection of political cartoons for Amnesty International. In Verwey's contribution, an executioner submits his torture report to the Guinness Book of World Records. Some of Verwey's cartoons have appeared in 'Lava TV Presenteert 4' (1990), a comic book volume by the Belgian cartoonists Kamagurka and Herr Seele. Verwey's contributions were the only non-absurd cartoons in the entire publication. Stefan Verwey paid tribute to Marten Toonder's 'Tom Poes' in 'Was Tom Poes Maar Hier: Een Hommage aan Tom Poes' (De Bezige Bij, 2006) and also illustrated the cover.
Cartoon tying in with Verwey's 1999-2000 exposition at the Kunsthal in Rotterdam. "Get a grip on yourself! We're at the Kunsthal!" The text in the balloon was also the title of the exhibition.
Recognition
In 1987, Stefan Verwey received the Ton Smits-penning award. He is thus far the only cartoonist to win the annual Inktspotprijs for "Best Political Cartoon" twice in row, namely in January 1998 and January 1999. Between 18 December 1999 and 6 February 2000, his cartoons were exhibited in the Kunsthal in Rotterdam. In 2005 and 2014, the Persmuseum also exhibited his work.
Final years, death and legacy
In 2024, Stefan Verwey passed away in his hometown Beek-Ubbergen from Alzheimer's disease. He was 78 years old.
His work has been a strong influence on Benjamin Kikkert. One celebrity fan of Verwey's cartoons was Minister of Health Els Borst, who often used Verwey's cartoons during lectures at the University of Amsterdam and also wrote the foreword to a 2000 catalogue of his work.
Photo © Helma Verwey.