April 19th - Anton Pieck

A Year in Comics - April 19th

Anton Pieck

Anton Franciscus Pieck was born on April 19th 1895 in Den Helder, the Netherlands, as one half of a twin (twin brother of Henri Christian Pieck).  Already at an early age, Anton Piek started drawing, following art lessons at the age of six, and winning a drawing contest with a waterpaint winter scene at th age of 11.  However, when Anton and Henri finished their secondary education, it was Henri, not Anton, who was allowed to follow art at the Academy of Fine Arts in Amsterdam.  Anton became an art teacher; at this point, the lives of the two twins started to diverge.

While working as an art teacher, Anton learned the art of etching.  However, his career was interrupted in 1915, when he was drafted for military service.  However, during this time he continued to make etches, and in 1916 he became an art teacher in the military.  The same year he discovered the book Pallieter of the Belgian writer Felix Timmermans: after the First World War, Anton Pieck travelled to the Flemish region where Timmermans resided, meeting and befriending the writer, and eventually made illustrations for the tenth edition of the book.  This success was the first of a number of literary illustrations he would make: among others, he would illustrate editions of the works of Hans Christian Andersen and the Brothers Grimm; however his biggest literary work would be an illustrated edition of the One-Thousand-and-One-Nights, a 16-part work which took him 13 years to complete.

From 1920 until 1960, Pieck would work as an art teacher at the Kennemer Lyceum in Bloemendaal, his 'day job' which he practised at the same time as being an illustrator.  This gave him financial certainty, allowing him the freedom to accept or refuse illustration work.

During World War Two, Anton Pieck used his talents as an illustrator to act as a forger for the Dutch Resistance, forging stamps and documents.

Nowadays, Anton Piek is most known for two things - his nostalgic illustrations, which gained him fame, and which are still widely reproduced as calendars and posters; and his work on designing the Efteling amusement park, founded by Pieck in 1952 and since grown into the biggest amusement park in the Netherlands.

Anton Pieck passed away on November 24th 1987, aged 92, in Overveen, the Netherlands.

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