'Professor Cumulus'.
Gerard Wiegel was a Dutch illustrator, cartoonist and comic artist, who often signed with the somewhat illegible signature "Wiel". In the 1960s and 1970s, he was active as a comic artist for children's magazines like Okki and Kris Kras. His best-known creation was the newspaper comic 'Professor Cumulus' (1967-1970) for De Volkskrant. For 55 years, Wiegel was the house cartoonist for Cobouw, a daily newspaper for the construction industry. For Co-op Nieuws, the house magazine of Co-op supermarkets, he drew the strip 'Conny' (1958-1965). Wiegel made two gag comics about cats as well, namely 'Hoezepoes' (1958-1960) in Disco Discussies, and 'Flossie' (1958-1962) for VARA's TV guide.
Early life and career
Gerard Clemens Maria Wiegel was born in 1926 in Amsterdam. During World War II, he had his first job at an insurance bank, bringing around the mail. One day, he couldn't show up for work, because his shoes were worn out. With his talent for drawing, he managed to falsify bread coupons, which helped his family through the 1944-1945 Hunger Winter, a period of heavy famine in the Nazi occupied western provinces of the Netherlands. On 7 May 1945, Wiegel was present at Dam square, where the people of Amsterdam celebrated the city's Liberation from the Nazi occupation. In one of the nearby buildings, some German soldiers were still present and opened fire on the crowd with a machine gun. 32 people were killed and more than 200 wounded. Wiegel was unharmed, but was however fired from the bank for being absent from work. In addition, Wiegel spent one year in a hospital because of tuberculosis in his leg. After recovering, he eventually settled in The Hague, where he worked as a government official until 1951.
'Flossie'.
Commercial cartooning
In 1951, Wiegel gave up his day job to become a cartoonist. He offered his services to German magazines, because they offered a better fee, and saw his work published in the Neue Illustrierte and Frankfurter Illustrierte. In The Netherlands, he began his cartooning career in several specialized magazines and newspapers. He had a monthly strip called 'Conny' (1958-1965) in Co-op Nieuws, the in-house magazine of Co-op supermarkets. Also for Co-op, Wiegel made cartoons and illustrations for information booklets about cooking ('Even Iets Lekkers Maken', 1966) and domestic chores ('Eigenhandigheidjes', 1968), both written by Hans van Holten. In Disco Discussies, a magazine for gramophone enthusiasts, he drew 'Hoezepoes' (1958-1960).
In 1961, Wiegel began his longtime association with Cobouw, a daily magazine for the construction industry. For 55 years, he had a regular spot in this publication, first on the front page and then on the opinion page. Between 1970 and 1971, he also contributed a weekly strip called 'Ouwe Jongens'. Between 1958 and 1962, Wiegel made the pantomime comic strip about the cat 'Flossie' for the weekly radio and TV guide of broadcasting association VARA.
Also during the 1960s, Wiegel made the advertising strip 'Diederik Draad' (1965) for Tomado, a factory of steel-wire household items. For the waste disposal company VAM, he created the comic book 'De Wegpiraten' (1974), starring the character Ron Spetter. In the October 1981 issue of Vers van 't Vat, the monthly staff magazine of Dutch Heineken brewery, a new comic strip by Gerard Wiegel was proudly announced to appear in the next issue. The cartoonist was to adapt questions from employees into a comic strip format for the regular 'Vatvaria' column. However, despite this full-page announcement, Wiegel's comic never ran in the magazine for reasons that remain unknown.
'Professor Vliegop'.
Children's comics
In the 1960s, Wiegel's work also made its appearance in children's magazines. He made illustrations, cartoons and comic strips like 'Tiep' (1960-1965) and 'Professor Vliegop' (1962-1965) in the literary and artistic children's magazine Kris Kras. For the Malmberg school magazine Okki, he developed the little Inuit boy 'Kimo', whose adventures first appeared in 1965. Kimo later received a girlfriend, Kaja, which in 1970 led to a title change to 'Kimo en Kaja'. The series continued until 1975. For the weekly family magazine, Weigel created the comic 'Tiener' (1965).
Professor Cumulus
Wiegel's earlier creation for Kris Kras, 'Professor Vliegop', evolved into his best-known comic strip, 'Professor Cumulus', whose adventures appeared between February 1967 and June 1970 in newspaper De Volkskrant. Cumulus is a mad scientist who enjoys all kinds of space travel adventures to faraway planets. A total of 17 stories were serialized, all in the text comic format, with text captions underneath the images. The character should not be confused with Professor Kumulus, the absent-minded professor in the Belgian comic series 'Piet Pienter en Bert Bibber' by Pom. Since 2004, a street named after Professor Cumulus is a part of the "Comic Heroes" district in the city of Almere.
'Kimo'.
Political (propaganda) comics
In 1976 and 1977, Wiegel made the political comic strip 'In Betere Kringen' for the weekly magazine Accent. He also made the 1972 election poster for the liberal political party VVD. It featured party leader Hans Wiegel, who, according to the artist, must have been a distant relative.
Final years and death
In the mid-1970s, Wiegel's wife Elly opened Gallery Clemar in The Hague. Its mission was to organize expositions of illustrations, cartoons and comic strips made for magazines, books and newspapers. She felt that at the time, these forms of applied arts were overlooked. Gerard Wiegel was among the first artists whose work was presented.
In 2016, at age 89, Wiegel's longtime association with Cobouw magazine came to an end, when it changed from a daily to a weekly publication. Over a period of 55 years, the artist had drawn thousands of cartoons for Cobouw and never missed a single issue. The next year, on 21 March 2017, he passed away. Cobouw printed an "in memoriam", praising Gerard Wiegel's humor, positivity and work ethic.
Final drawing by Gerard Wiegel.