Curt Swan

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Curt Swan (born February 17, 1920 in Willmar , Minnesota , † June 16, 1996 ) was an American artist , commercial artist and cartoonist. Swan achieved great fame and popularity primarily as a graphic artist for the American army newspaper Stars and Stripes during the Second World War and as a longstanding illustrator of the American comic series Superman . He oversaw the latter over a period of more than 30 years (1955–1986), during which he developed the now world-famous appearance of the comic hero from earlier visual incarnations.

Life

Earlier years (1920–1945)

Swan was born in 1920, the youngest of five children of a railroad worker of Swedish descent (the name Swan is an Anglicization of the Swedish surname Swanson) and a nurse in Willmar, Minnesota.

After graduating from high school in 1938 and a brief stint as an employee of the Sears, Roebuck chain , Swan joined the American National Guard when he was eighteen . In 1940 he was drafted into the US Army. After he was initially stationed in Louisiana and New Jersey, he came in 1941 with his unit to Fintona in Northern Ireland.

Dick Wingert, an employee of the US army newspaper "Stars and Stripes", became aware of the artistic talent of the hobby artist through a mural he designed for a casino of the Red Cross in Fintona and gave him a job as an employee of "Stars and Stripes". From 1942 to 1944 Swan initially worked in the newspaper's London studio for which he drew illustrations, caricatures and maps. After the invasion of the European continent by the Allies in 1944, Swan worked in Paris from 1944 to 1945 , where he married his fiancée the nurse Helene Brickley that same year. The marriage resulted in two daughters (Karen and Cecilia) and a son (Christopher).

Superman (1945–1986)

After the war, Swan went to Minneapolis with his wife . In order to be able to better realize himself as an artist, he finally moved to New York City , where he began drawing for DC Verlag in 1948 on the mediation of France Herron , which paid him the impressive fee of 18 dollars per page for the time. There he initially oversaw comic strips such as “Boy Commandos” , “Gangbusters” and “Tommy Tomorrow” . In his first year as an artist at DC, he earned what was then an enormous sum of 10,000 dollars.

In 1951 he left DC to work as a graphic designer for an advertising agency, but returned within a few months due to financial worries. After he had been in charge of the flagship title of the publishing house "Superman" and its various offshoots ( "Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen" , "Superman's Girl Friend Lois Lane" , "World's Finest" ) as a substitute for the illustrator Wayne Boring , Swan became 1955 promoted to master draftsman of the series. He held this position until the series was restarted in 1986. Over the long period of 30 years he acquired the reputation of being "the" Superman draftsman par excellence. Because of his calm and humble manner, he was also very popular with his colleagues. For example, Christopher Reeve was chosen to cast the hero in Richard Donner's 1977 film Superman because of its resemblance to Swans' Superman designs developed in the 1950s and 1960s.

Late Years (1986-1996)

After his retirement as a regular artist in the Superman series, Swan was forced to work despite his advanced age due to his financial clumsiness. Almost until his death, he occasionally drew fill-in editions of other titles for DC such as "Teen Titans" , "Swamp Thing" and various "Annuals". His age was marked by alcohol problems and personal strokes of fate such as the death of his wife and children.

Artistic work

With the exception of a brief visit to the Pratt Institute for Fine Arts in 1952, Swan never received any academic artistic training, but taught himself his craft as an autodidact. During his time as a draftsman for the Superman series, he significantly changed the appearance of the title character. He designed the hero's chin less angular than his predecessors, and he also gave Superman a softer, more personable and more attractive appearance overall. His Superman's role models were the swimmer and actor Johnny Weissmüller , the cartoon character Rip Kirby and later the actor George Reeves . The overall visual image of the Superman series became more naturalistic and less cartoonish under Swan than it used to be. The dynamic, flowing flight scenes and the expressive faces of Swan's characters became famous. His artistic partners were the ink artists George Klein , Al Williamson and Murphy Anderson .

literature

  • Eddy Zeno: Curt Swan: A Life in Comics , Vanguard Productions, 2002

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Swan, Curt
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American artist, commercial artist, and comic book artist
DATE OF BIRTH 17th February 1920
PLACE OF BIRTH Willmar , Minnesota
DATE OF DEATH June 16, 1996