Louis Raemaekers (1869 - 1956) - some examples of his cartoons used on postcards issued in aid of French and British wounded.
Louis Raemaekers, a Dutch painter and editorial cartoonist for the Amsterdam newspaper De Telegraaf during World War I, was born and grew up in Roermond, Netherlands.
He was trained – and later worked – as a drawing teacher and made landscapes and children's book covers and illustrations in his free time. In 1906 his life took a decisive turn when he accepted the invitation to draw political cartoons for leading Dutch newspapers, first from 1906 to 1909 for the Algemeen Handelsblad and from 1909 onwards for De Telegraaf.
Immediately after the Germans invaded Belgium, Raemaekers became one of their fiercest critics. His graphic cartoons depicted the rule of the German military in Belgium, portrayed the Germans as barbarians and Kaiser Wilhelm II as an ally of Satan.
Raemaekers achieved his greatest successes outside his native country. He left for London in November 1915, where his work was exhibited in the Fine Art Society on Bond Street. From early 1915 Raemaekers' cartoons had already appeared in British newspapers and magazines. In early 1916 he signed a contract with the Daily Mail and they appeared in this newspaper on a regular basis for the next two years.
Following the end of the First World War, Louis Raemaekers settled in Brussels. He was an advocate of the League of Nations and devoted many sketches and articles to the cause of unity in Europe.
Raemaekers fled to the United States shortly before the start of the Second World War and remained there until 1946, when he returned to Brussels. After an absence of almost forty years, Raemaekers returned to the Netherlands in 1953. He died in Scheveningen near The Hague in 1956.
In the summer of 1956, The Times published the obituary of a man who had enjoyed a worldwide reputation during the First World War: ‘Louis Raemaekers, the biting anti-German cartoonist of the 1914-18 War, died on July 26, 1956 at Scheveningen, near The Hague, at the age of 87. It has been said of Raemaekers that he was the one private individual who exercised a real and great influence on the course of the 1914-18 War.’
(Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Raemaekers accessed 25-03-2019)
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