1. Louis Raemaekers was a Dutch painter, caricaturist and editorial cartoonist for the Amsterdam newspaper De Telegraaf during World War I, noted for his anti-German stance.
23 Facts About Louis Raemaekers
1. 2.
Louis Raemaekers was born and grew up in Roermond, Netherlands during a period of political and social unrest in the city, which at that time formed the battleground between Catholic clericalism and liberalism.
3.
Immediately after the Germans invaded Belgium, Louis Raemaekers became one of their fiercest critics.
4.
Louis Raemaekers's message was clear: the Netherlands had to take sides for the Allies and abandon its neutral stance.
5.
Louis Raemaekers's work was confiscated on several occasions by the Dutch government, and he was criticised by many for endangering Dutch neutrality.
6.
Louis Raemaekers achieved his greatest successes outside his native country.
7.
Louis Raemaekers left for London in November 1915, where his work was exhibited in the Fine Art Society on Bond Street.
8.
Louis Raemaekers became an instant celebrity and his drawings were the talk of the town: 'they formed the subject of pulpit addresses, and during two months, the galleries where they have been exhibited have been thronged to excess.
9.
Louis Raemaekers's leaving the Netherlands for London was a godsend for all concerned.
10.
From early 1915 Louis Raemaekers' cartoons had already appeared in British newspapers and magazines.
11.
The most important aspect of Louis Raemaekers' career is undoubtedly his role in Allied war propaganda.
12.
Louis Raemaekers saw the pitiable stream of refugees which poured from desolated Belgium across the Dutch frontier; and he heard the tale of the abominations which they had suffered from their own lips.
13.
The total number of Louis Raemaekers' cartoons distributed in this major propaganda effort increased quickly into the millions.
14.
At the request of Wellington House Louis Raemaekers visited the USA in 1917 to draw attention to his work.
15.
Louis Raemaekers gave lectures and interviews, drew caricatures for the movie cameras, was a popular guest at society functions, and met President Woodrow Wilson and former President Theodore Roosevelt.
16.
Louis Raemaekers was an advocate of the League of Nations and devoted many sketches and articles to the cause of unity in Europe.
17.
Louis Raemaekers grew more productive, but the artistic and content-related quality of his work suffered proportionately.
18.
Louis Raemaekers remained loyal to De Telegraaf until well into the thirties, even after the paper's management became pro-German.
19.
Louis Raemaekers took the same stance as during the First World War towards the Hearst Press: these readers were his most important target group.
20.
Louis 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.
21.
Louis Raemaekers had not been forgotten in the Netherlands, but it was only on his eightieth birthday, in 1949, that his native country gave him the recognition that he had long desired: he was made an honorary citizen of the City of Roermond.
22.
Louis Raemaekers died in Scheveningen near The Hague in 1956.
23.
Outside that circle of the great, Louis Raemaekers stands conspicuous as the one man who, without any assistance of title or office, indubitably swayed the destinies of peoples.