Joost Swarte

Joost Swarte (born 24 December, 1947, Heemstede, the Netherlands) is a Dutch comic artist and graphical designer. He is best known for his ligne claire or clear line style of drawing, and in fact coined the term.

Related Topics:
24 December - 1947 - Dutch - Comic - Graphical designer - Ligne claire

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Joost Swarte studied industrial design in Eindhoven and started drawing comics in the late sixties. In 1971 he started his own comic magazine 'Modern Papier' and made regular contributions to the Dutch comic magazine 'Tante Leny Presenteert'.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Comic series and characters by Swarte include: Katoen en Pinbal, Jopo de Pojo, Anton Makassar, Dr Ben Cine and Niet Zo, Maar Zo- Passi, Messa. He is however more famous for his numerous drawings, stamps, posters, cards, LP and CD covers and for his magazine covers (most noteworthy the Dutch magazine Vrij Nederland, the Belgium magazine HUMO and the Italian architecture magazine Abitare.)

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

International recognition started around 1980 when he took part for the first time in the international comic show 'Salon International de la Bande Dessinée' in Angouleme (France). His work is translated into English, French, Spanish, Italian and German. Swarte, Hors Serie, a great survey of his work was published by Futuropolis (Paris) in 1984.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Apart from comics and graphic design Joost Swarte also designed furniture, leaded and stained glass windows, murals and other objects. For his hometown Haarlem he even designed a theatre building (De Toneelschuur) that was built in cooperation with Mecanoo Architects.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In 1992 Swarte initiated the Stripdagen, a biennial international comic event held in Haarlem.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Swarte received numerous international prizes for his work. In 2004, Joost Swarte received a knighthood from Her Majesty Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~