Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Van

Is anyone familiar with a 1950's gag illustrator who signed his name simply as "Van?" The no-necks, the balloon-shaped bodies, the fun sense of no holds barred cartoony exaggeration-- LOVE IT! Any info concerning this unique artist would be greatly appreciated, thank you.







All gags above can be found in the Sept. '57 issue of TV Girls and Gags.

5 comments:

  1. Unfortunately I have no info for you. I do believe his work usually appeared in men's magazines though. I can recall seeing some of his stuff in my father's old Playboys from the 1960's.

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  2. I have no idea. The loose gestural style here does seem to ring a bell, but that probably means nothing. Assuming that it's not entirely made up, a name like Van possibly indicates an emigrant. A cursory look online turned up a Dutch and a French artist who cartooned under the signature "Van"--the French guy even did ringside cartoons--but neither of the styles seemed to match.

    A cursory examination of Google hits also seemed to indicate that "girls and gags" were predictably bad search terms for the young or easily offended.

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  3. love the bare hug! these are super and remind me a little bit of Grin and Bear it.

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  4. Karswell: I've never seen this artist, but I love his stuff! Such simple, effective lines - and his characters have such . . . character! Good one!

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