Otto Schwalge

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Otto Schwalge, 2012

Otto Schwalge (born February 15, 1921 - † June 21, 2012 ) was a German graphic artist . In addition to other illustrations, he was best known for the picture stories of Oskar, the friendly policeman, which appeared in the Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger from 1954 to 2012 .

life and work

Schwalge drew and caricatured as a child. He was inspired by the magazine Fliegende Blätter and recorded people he closely observed in his surroundings in drawings. From 1927 to 1932 he attended elementary school in Cologne, from 1932 to 1938 the secondary school . After school he worked in an agency as a vehicle draftsman, but then successfully applied to study at the Cologne factory schools . Interrupted by the Second World War and as a prisoner of war , he successfully completed his studies at the Cologne factory schools in 1950 in the classes of writing and graphics.

In 1951 Schwalge started working for the publishing house M. DuMont Schauberg as a draftsman for the daily newspaper Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger . There, events of a local political nature in Cologne were the subject of his caricatures , each of which he constructed from blocks of four drawings. The Stadt-Anzeiger published these drawings until 2000.

In the mid-1950s he designed 13 windows for the baroque monastery church of St. Mary of Peace in Cologne , referring to the writings of the founder Isabella, née Charlotta de Urquíne. He also designed vestments and missals as commissioned work.

Later, on behalf of the Cologne Carnival Festival Committee , he designed floats for the Cologne Rose Monday procession and designed the annual Kölsch glass edition for Sparkasse KölnBonn . He regularly drew motifs for publications by the Cologne Office for Press and Public Relations as well as for promotional items from the City of Cologne, including the series " Kölner Heinzel ."

Schwalge was the bearer of the Federal Cross of Merit, First Class, and received its Gold Medal of Merit from the Cologne Carnival Festival Committee. The eight-time grandfather and four-time great-grandfather was married and last lived in Cologne.

Oskar, the friendly policeman

Oskar, the friendly policeman

The somewhat plump police officer with a mustache and green uniform appeared weekly for over 50 years in the Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger in the form of a short picture story for children. The character was presented on August 28, 1954, the first episode appeared on September 4, 1954. Originally Schwalge wanted to invent a more athletic type for the comic strips . During a traffic accident recording in 1954, however, he met a cozy, humorous policeman who ultimately served as a role model for the hero of his stories. Schwalge deliberately distinguished this policeman from the wiry policemen of his youth, he wanted to "soften the image of the policeman, bring him onto the street in different tones". The police officer himself suggested the name Oskar, which he used from then on.

The strips get by without words and show the friendly, sometimes self-deprecating police officer Oskar, how he solves typical police tasks with cunning and luck, brings down villains and traffic hooligans, but sometimes also fails due to adverse circumstances, misunderstandings or shrewd counterparts. The picture stories appeared for many years on the children's page of the Saturday edition of the Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger. They were later integrated into the "Magazin", which has been enclosed with the Saturday newspaper since 2006.

Other German newspapers acquired the reprinting rights, there were several Oskar books and Oscar, the friendly policeman was also on duty for an English book. The German section of the International Police Association chose Oskar as the mascot of their social fund.

On December 1, 1993, the newly used boat WSP 9 of the Cologne water police was christened "Oskar" after the figure of the friendly police officer.

On Rubensstrasse, in the vacant lot of the former police station, where Schwalge met Oskar's role model, there is now an “Oskar playground”.

The last “Oskar” appeared on June 16, 2012 on the children's page of the Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger. Otto Schwalge, its inventor and draftsman, died the following week. From December 2018 to April 2019, an exhibition in the Cologne City Archives was dedicated to the "friendly policeman" and his illustrator Schwalge.

Publications

  • Oskar, the friendly policeman. 80 picture stories . Bachem, Cologne 1996, ISBN 3-7616-1284-2
  • Oskar, the friendly policeman . Krone, Leichlingen 1999, ISBN 3-933241-20-0
  • Oskar, the friendly policeman (= Cologne Calendar 2019). Historical Archive of the City of Cologne, Cologne 2018, ISBN 978-3-928907-35-4

Illustrations (selection)

  • Gerald Knabe: Learn faster . Econ, Düsseldorf / Vienna 1978, ISBN 3-430-15491-X
  • Dieter Smolka: Oscar, the friendly policeman. A workbook for the 1st – 4th Teaching year . Diesterweg , Frankfurt am Main u. a. 1981, ISBN 3-425-04126-6
  • Ewald Fischer: A little man. Verses to make you smile. With drawings by Otto Schwalge . Krone, Leichlingen 2004, ISBN 978-3-937485-08-9

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ lambiek.net , accessed on January 7, 2012
  2. ↑ a b c Obituary "A place in the heart of children" in the Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger on June 23, 2012
  3. ↑ a b c d "Oskar" - draftsman Otto Schwalge celebrates his 90th birthday. at Mrs Q - Kulturnews, 2011, "Oskar" - illustrator Otto Schwalge celebrates his 90th birthday. ( Memento of November 23, 2011 in the Internet Archive ), accessed January 7, 2012
  4. ^ Oskar the friendly policeman , from the series "Kölner Biografien", 2000, City of Cologne, page 73
  5. ↑ a b Oskar's inventor turns 90 by Susanne Hengesbach in: Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger on February 15, 2011, online ( memento of the original from April 26, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed January 7, 2012 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.ksta.de
  6. ↑ A hit with the policeman Oskar in: Kölner Stadtanzeiger from January 7, 2011
  7. ↑ Press release City of Cologne: Mayor congratulates draftsman Otto Schwalge on his 90th birthday on February 15, 2011, online , accessed on January 8, 2012
  8. ↑ Klaus Zöller: Oskar - the friendly police officer in: Oskar the friendly police officer , from the series "Kölner Biografien", 2000, Stadt Köln, p. 7
  9. ^ Website of the German IPA , accessed on January 20, 2012
  10. ^ "Oskar" swims patrol on the Rhine in: Kölner Stadt Anzeiger, December 2, 1993, p. 14
  11. ↑ Rubensstrasse in No Man's Land in: Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger of December 21, 2009, online  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed May 2, 2012@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.ksta.de  
  12. ^ Ingo Hinz: Kölner Schutzmann: "Oskar, the friendly policeman" is the hero of a new exhibition. December 4, 2018, accessed December 4, 2018 (German).

Web links

Commons : Otto Schwalge  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Schwalge, Otto
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German graphic artist
DATE OF BIRTH February 15, 1921
DATE OF DEATH June 21, 2012