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In 2013 his graphic novel Rembrandt was published to widespread acclaim and has since been translated into eight languages. Andy, his masterpiece about Andy Warhol, came out in 2018. It was nominated for the Angoulême Grand Prix and translated into English, French, German, Italian, Polish and Spanish.

Typex

In six chapters – or ‘anecdotes,’ as the subtitle calls them – the reader witnesses a number of important milestones from the life of the short, hunchbacked worrywart. These anecdotes are about moments in time, such as Mendelssohn’s departure for Berlin, his declaration of love to his wife Fromet and his encounter with the antisemitic King Frederick the Great.Every chapter has a clear introduction, with the official historical account on the left and the reconstruction of that story on the right. It’s fascinating to discover that the history books are wrong more often than not. For example, we learn that Moishe never actually met the writer and philosopher Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, even though there is a famous painting that depicts their encounter.With Typex’s trademark flair and humour, he chooses those moments from Mendelssohn’s life that he considers most apposite. His characteristic page layout is the perfect format for the story: he has his characters walk down the page from top to bottom, with the speech bubbles making up a monologue, as in the work of cartoonists such as Brecht Evens and Cyril Pedrosa. Typex captures lengthy sequences on a single page. For example, the reader sees the cross-section of a house, with Moishe being welcomed by the host in the bottom left, then following him up the stairs into the dining room where they have a meal, after which they climb another flight of stairs up into the attic. He doesn’t use traditional boxes or rectangles – instead, there are classical columns or fancy curlicues to suggest panels.

Typex moves deftly between fantasy and reality, enthusiastically deploying stylistic elements from the eighteenth century. His pages are never conventionally boxy, but always fluid and playful.’

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Assets

Moishe

Following the lively masterpieces 'Rembrandt' and 'Andy', Typex has put together a small but phenomenal biography of the philosopher Moses ‘Moishe’ Mendelssohn. The book homes in on six key episodes in the life of the Jewish philosopher who came to be known as the ‘Socrates of Berlin’. This approach results in an engaging, compelling introduction to Mendelssohn, whose philosophy remains influential to this day.

In eleven chapters, each named after key figures in his life such as his wives Saskia, Geertje and Hendrijckje, Typex tells the story of a man whose painting enabled him to do everything: grow rich, seduce women, understand people.Rembrandt was not a handsome man but he was sensual. With his sensuous lines, Typex is the ideal graphic novelist to draw him. Rembrandt’s tuberous nose, soft cheeks and sly eyes give the illustrator great scope to experiment. The drawing techniques used here have been inspired by Rembrandt’s own, with his excellent eye for the details of imperfection.Rembrandt’s renowned intimacy and humanity come out particularly well in this book. This is no remote idealisation of a genius, but an intimate portrait of a man who could be difficult at times. Typex keeps the narrative lively with an almost choreographic representation of his character’s movements, and varies his formats to continually surprise the reader.He also plays a sophisticated game by reflecting Saskia’s moods in the artist’s brushstrokes, having him literally paint over her in dark umber tones – symbolic of his dominating attitude towards women. The larger tableaux which portray Rem­brandt at full-length are enthralling; we see him both proud and vulnerable in an increasingly dark studio as the end grows near.

Here’s to the greatest Dutch artist… I mean the second greatest. First there was Rembrandt, then there was Typex.

Rembrandt

Typex’s magnum opus, a biography of Rembrandt in the form of a graphic novel, opens with images of an elephant. Burly yet vulnerable, ungainly yet with kind eyes: this is how Typex depicts the elephant as a metaphor for one of the giants of the painting world, Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-1669).

Andy Warhol is hailed as the master of art as mass production, a man with a prescient awareness of the power of consumerism, who foresaw the modern obsession with glamour and sensation. Lauded and despised for his fixation on image, superficiality and fame, Warhol — coiner of the phrase ‘fifteen minutes of fame’ — emerges in this biography as a prophet of our celebrity-centric, selfie culture.Andy consists of ten sections devoted to the distinct periods in Warhol’s life, each illustrated in a radically different style to reflect Warhol’s constant drive for renewal. In his work and in his personal life, Warhol repeatedly broke free of styles, places and people: in the course of over 500 pages, we see him successively embrace pop art, flower power, punk and hip-hop only to move on and leave them behind.Each chapter is preceded by twelve mini-biographies. Together they read like a Who’s Who of the 20th century, from Shirley Temple to Ayatollah Khomeini, from Lou Reed to Donald Trump. This overload of personalities stands in stark contrast to Warhol’s loneliness: Typex depicts him as a man who yearns for genuine contact yet who grows frightened when people come too close. This is highlighted by the touching rendition of the complex relationship between Warhol and his mother, in whom he never confided about his homosexuality.Andy: A Factual Fairytale is a monumental graphic novel: multi-layered, funny and moving. It is also a visual spectacle, packed with sly nods and winks to the art and music of Warhol’s life and times.

Here is to the greatest Dutch artist… I mean the second greatest. First there was Rembrandt, then there was Typex!’

Graphic novel

Andy: A Factual Fairytale

This visual tour de force recounts how little Andrew Warhola went from being a sickly kid in the industrial town of Pittsburgh to Andy Warhol, the enfant terrible of the New York art world and global cultural superstar. Not content with creating a spectacular illustrated portrait of Warhol the artist and Warhol the man, Typex also delivers a stunning overview of pop culture in the 20th century.

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Moishe

Rembrandt

Andy: A Factual Fairytale