Tjerk Bottema

At age 14, Bottema was sent to the Rijkskweekschool in Maastricht where he studied drawing.[1] Later he studied at the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten, where art nouveau was the dominant style.[1] During this time Bottema also started drawing advertisements, an activity that would later make him famous.[1] In 1909 he has his first major success with the painting “Maaiers”, one year later he won the prestigious Prix de Rome.[1] During World War I he visited the Western Front to make an illustrated report for the newspaper De Amsterdammer.[1] After the war he settled in Paris, finding a job writing travel reports for De Notenkraker.[1] When in 1940 the German army approached Paris Bottema decided to leave France, but died when his ship was sunk by a German U-boat.[1]

• Lambiek Comiclopedia biography.