Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Video: Ton Smits House Museum

Let's go visit the Ton Smits House in Eindhoven, one of the smallest museums in the Brabant region of the Netherlands. Here is a video tour of the place. Even though the Dutch born artist/cartoonist passed away in 1981, the contents of his home-cum-museum are still being cataloged and preserved. I don't speak the language of this 1:43 piece, but I sure would like to visit the place one day.

Mr. Smits' cartoons were bought widely in major US markets, including The New Yorker and The Saturday Evening Post. He visited the United States once. His bio page picks up the story:

"After the first cartoon in 1949 hundreds followed and were published in The New Yorker, The Saturday Evening Post, Collier's, Look, and This Week Magazine.

"Invited by The New Yorker Ton Smits visited The States for some months in 1955 and 1956. At that time he was the first cartoonist of the European Continent to have his cartoons printed in The New Yorker. With the money he earned in the first few years, he had a magnificent house and studio built at Eindhoven for his elderly mother and himself. For a long time he was a confirmed bachelor. Three years after his mother's death in 1970 - she lived to be 88 - he made up his mind to get married."

Klein museum gewijd aan cartoonist Ton Smits:




Who is Ton Smits? Related: some Ton Smits cartoons in the BEST CARTOONS OF 1964 book.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Mike,
I do remember Ton Smits cartoons. He once had a strip but I can't remember exactly. It was a small boy with a red school cap or a baseball cap. Like "Henry" it depended on the comic drawing rather than words. I remember his name rather than the strip. I wish I could remember, it must have been a Sunday strip because I seem to see it in color.

I usually sign my name Thom but sometimes I sign it Tom when orderng something. They got it wrong and I got magazines for a couple of years addressed to Ton Combs. That sort of kept him in my mind. I also saw who they sold my name and address to.

I wish I spoke Dutch. Did you ever watch a Dutch movie? Occasionally two or three words will jump out at you because they are exactly the same as in English. Sometimes in Sweedish, too. Always startling.

Anonymous said...

Mike,
I do remember Ton Smits cartoons. He once had a strip but I can't remember exactly. It was a small boy with a red school cap or a baseball cap. Like "Henry" it depended on the comic drawing rather than words. I remember his name rather than the strip. I wish I could remember, it must have been a Sunday strip because I seem to see it in color.

I usually sign my name Thom but sometimes I sign it Tom when orderng something. They got it wrong and I got magazines for a couple of years addressed to Ton Combs. That sort of kept him in my mind. I also saw who they sold my name and address to.

I wish I spoke Dutch. Did you ever watch a Dutch movie? Occasionally two or three words will jump out at you because they are exactly the same as in English. Sometimes in Sweedish, too. Always startling.

Mike Lynch said...

I know some Dutch people and they are the most charming folks. You know, 600 years ago, they were in charge of the world!

I didn't know Ton Smits had a syndicated strip.