1920 - George van Raemsdonck - De nieuwe arme (Illustration - Belgium KV)

George van Raemdonck is considered by many as the artist who introduced comics in The Netherlands. Born in Antwerp into a wealthy family, he was initially sent to the Antwerp conservatory to study the violin. He also showed a keen interest in painting and in 1903, he enrolled in the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp, where he was a pupil of Franz Courtens. Around this period, he made his first illustrations for popular novels and the illustrated weekly Lange Wapper. The Belgian artist had to flee to Holland because of the outbreak of World War I. He began an association as a political cartoonist with Dutch magazine De Amsterdammer in December of that same year. The writer A.M. De Jong was impressed by Van Raemdonck's work and asked him to illustrate his 1917 children's book 'Vacantiedagen'. Van Raemdonck made the switch from De Amsterdammer to De Notenkraker in 1920 and until 1936 he kept drawing political gags and covers for this magazine.