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.