Gerard Alsteens (born 3 August 1940, in Auderghem) is a Belgian political cartoonist, graphic artist and painter who works under the pseudonym "GAL". [1] which, artistically speaking, share a closer resemblance to paintings than regularly drawn cartoons. Throughout the years his work has received several prizes and awards. [1]
GAL was born in 1940 in Auderghem, Brussels, together with his twin brother Edgard.He has 3 sons Anant Alsteens, Joachim Alsteens and Bram Alsteens.At the age of twelve he won a drawing contest in the newspaper Het Nieuws van den Dag. He studied painting and graphic art at the higher St. Lucas-instituut in Brussels, where he would become a teacher at a later age. In his penultimate year at Sint-Lucas Gal worked as apprentice at the Jesuit weekly magazine De Linie. [1] The next two years he was in charge of the magazine's layout. When the publication of the magazine ceased in 1964 Gal drew the final cover featuring a cut down tree with the words "De Linie" written on the tree bark, crushing the Flemish Lion in its fall.
Gal's first cartoons were published in 1960 and appeared in various magazines, most prominently De Nieuwe and De Zwijger, where he was the house cartoonist. [1] Since 1984 GAL publishes in the weekly magazine Knack . [1] Over the years his cartoons have been the subject of censorship by the magazine's editors and those published sometimes caused offended letters from readers. In 1996 GAL was a guest in the political talkshow De Zevende Dag on the Flemish national TV station VRT, in a special transmission live from the Flemish Parliament. When he showed some cartoons critical of the then popular far-right party Vlaams Blok (today Vlaams Belang) all members of the party left the building in offense.
In 2004 GAL temporarily lost his eyesight due to an embolism. After a while he discovered a handy method to continue his work. [1]
On 2 April 2019 Gal received an honorary doctorate from the Free University in Brussels. [2]
GAL's social engagement as a cartoonist is not restricted to solely drawing and painting. The past decades he participated in many public demonstrations. He also devoted his talent and energy to many political and social causes, including Oxfam, Amnesty International, [1] and made cartoons and illustrations for magazines like Humo, De Nieuwe, Panorama/De Post, De Zwijger and De Morgen . He is also a well requested illustrator of book covers, posters and logos. His posters against South Africa's apartheid policy were distributed globally. One time GAL was watching a news bulletin on TV when he saw a report about a house of an ANC activist destroyed by a bomb attack. On the walls of the burned-out building he saw one of his anti-apartheid posters. This is also the reason why GAL prides himself in having made an important contribution in getting "apartheid down to its knees". [3]
GAL's cartoons are quite unique. They share a closer resemblance to paintings than regular black-and-white cartoons. Also they are seldom trivial jokes about modern day affairs, but biting accusations against certain events, systems and/or politicians. [1]
He has illustrated novels by Kristien Hemmerechts [4] and Geert van Istendael, as well as non-fiction works about political topics. [5] Gal also illustrated the album cover of Zjef Vanuytsel's album "Tederheid" (1983). [6]
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Artists | |
| Other | |
Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, is a region of Belgium comprising 19 municipalities, including the City of Brussels, which is the capital of Belgium. The Brussels-Capital Region is located in the central portion of the country and is a part of both the French Community of Belgium and the Flemish Community, but is separate from the Flemish Region and the Walloon Region, located less than 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) to the south. Historically Dutch-speaking, Brussels saw a language shift to French from the late 19th century. Nowadays, the Brussels-Capital Region is officially bilingual in French and Dutch, although French is the majority language and lingua franca. Brussels is also increasingly becoming multilingual. English is spoken widely and many migrants and expatriates speak other languages as well.
The Vrije Universiteit Brussel is a Dutch and English-speaking research university located in Brussels, Belgium. It has four campuses: Brussels Humanities, Science and Engineering Campus, Brussels Health Campus, Brussels Technology Campus and Brussels Photonics Campus.
The Flemish Movement is an umbrella term which encompasses various political groups in the Belgian region of Flanders and, less commonly, in French Flanders. Ideologically, it encompasses groups which have sought to promote Flemish culture and the Dutch language as well as those seeking greater political autonomy for Flanders within Belgium. It also encompassed nationalists who seek the secession of Flanders from Belgium, either through outright independence or unification with the Netherlands.
Bernard van Orley, also called Barend or Barent van Orley, Bernaert van Orley or Barend van Brussel, was a versatile Flemish artist and representative of Dutch and Flemish Renaissance painting, who was equally active as a designer of tapestries and, at the end of his life, stained glass. Although he never visited Italy, he belongs to the group of Italianizing Flemish painters called the Romanists, who were influenced by Italian Renaissance painting, in his case especially by Raphael.
Marcel Honoree Nestor (ridder) Neels, known as Marc Sleen, was a Belgian cartoonist. He was mostly known for his comic The Adventures of Nero and Co., but also created gag comics like Piet Fluwijn en Bolleke, De Lustige Kapoentjes, Doris Dobbel, Oktaaf Keunink and De Ronde van Frankrijk.
Johan Anthierens was a Belgian journalist, columnist, publicist, critic and writer. He became notorious because of his socially conscious columns, as well as his equally controversial opinions during interviews. He published both in HUMO as well as Knack and founded his own short-lived satirical magazine, De Zwijger in 1982-1985. The general public got to know him thanks to his television appearances, both as panel member in the quiz De Wies Andersen Show and as interviewer in the talkshow Noord-Zuid (North-South). Due to his confrontational criticism of capitalism, the monarchy, the Church, the establishment and the far-right movement Anthierens had both a lot of admirers as well as many enemies. Still, together with Louis De Lentdecker and Maurice De Wilde, he was widely regarded as one of the "Big Three" of Flemish critical journalism.
The 0110 concerts, held on October 1, 2006 in Antwerp, Brussels, Charleroi and Ghent, were organised by dEUS frontman Tom Barman, Arno Hintjens and Frederik Sioen to promote tolerance in Belgian society, and "against Vlaams Belang, extremism and gratuitous violence".
The education in the Flemish Community covers the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium and consists of three networks (netten): government-provided education (gemeenschapsonderwijs), subsidized public schools and subsidized free schools.
The Francization of Brussels refers to the evolution, over the past two centuries, of this historically Dutch-speaking city into one where French has become the majority language and lingua franca. The main cause of this transition was the rapid, compulsory assimilation of the Flemish population, amplified by immigration from France and Wallonia.
Renaat Braem was a leading Belgian architect and urban planner in the latter half of the twentieth century.
Cowboy Henk is a Belgian absurd/surreal humour gag-a-day comic strip series drawn by Herr Seele and written by Kamagurka. It was originally published in the newspaper De Morgen, but later taken over by the magazine HUMO, in which it is still published today and for whom Henk is now their mascot. The series was in continuous syndication from 1981 until 2011. After the brief interruption it was continued again in the spring of 2013.
Modest Huys was a Flemish impressionist and luminist painter, who is regarded as one of the greatest Belgian painters of the 20th century.
Piet Fluwijn en Bolleke was a Belgian gag-a-day comic strip series drawn by Marc Sleen from 1944 until 1965. It was continued by artists Hurey and Jean-Pol until 1974.
Meneer Pheip is a Flemish comic book character from the Belgian comic strip The Adventures of Nero by Marc Sleen. In the series he is part of Nero's personal circle of friends, despite often being up in arms with him. He is the husband of Madam Pheip, father of Clo-Clo and adoptive father of Petoetje and Petatje.
Studio Kafka was a Flemish sketch comedy radio show presented on the radio station Studio Brussel between 1995 and 1999. It was presented by Belgian cartoonists Kamagurka and Herr Seele and aired each Sunday afternoon between 13.00 and 14.00 p.m.
Luc Piron is a Belgian artist. He is a painter and printmaker. He is also a photographer and experiments with the possibilities of computer art.
Pieter De Bruyne was a Flemish artist, designer and interior architect.
Elza Severin was a Belgian artist.
Pan-Netherlands, sometimes translated as Whole-Netherlands, is an irredentist concept which aims to unite the Low Countries into a single state. It is an example of Pan-Nationalism.
Guido Tastenhoye was a Belgian author, journalist and politician of the Vlaams Blok and later Vlaams Belang party. He was known for his writing on Flemish history and public commentary.
