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Raemaekers, Louis

Raemaekers, Louis
Raemaekers, Louis
Raemaekers, Louis
About the artist
Name
Raemaekers, Louis
Biography
Louis Raemaekers was born in 1869 in Roermond, the Netherlands. His father, an editor and publisher, encouraged him to become an art teacher. He studied art in the Netherlands and France and under Ernest Blanc-Garin in Belgium. After working as an art teacher for several years, he began producing political cartoons for the Amsterdam newspapers Algemeen Handelsblad and De Telegraaf in 1909.

During the First World War, Raemaekers was outraged by the German military's treatment of Belgian civilians and began creating cartoons criticising the German government. In 1916, he moved to London to protect his family from political threats and created propaganda in favour of the Allied forces. Raemaekers is credited with encouraging American support of the Allied war effort. He received numerous awards from Allied countries for his services, including the Legion of Honour from France.

While he was a well-known figure across Europe and the United States during World War I, Raemaekers lost much of his renown following the war though he continued to work as a political cartoonist. He lived in Brussels and New York following the war and returned to the Netherlands in 1953, where he died in 1956.
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