Rie Cramer

Rie Cramer
Born Marie Cramer
(1887-10-10)10 October 1887
Sukabumi, Dutch East Indies
Died July 8, 1977(1977-07-08) (aged 89)
Laren, Netherlands
Pen name Rie Cramerová, Marc Holman, Rie Verkade-Cramer, Annie Smit
Nationality Dutch
Period 1906-1977
Genre Children's literature

Marie "Rie" Cramer (10 October 1887 - 8 July 1977) was a Dutch writer and illustrator of children's literature. Born in Sukabumi in what was then the Dutch East Indies as the daughter of Hendrik Cramer, ship captain, and Elisabeth Frederica Schenk. She moved to the Netherlands with her mother and her youngest sister in 1896, where they settled in Arnhem. Stimulated by her aunt Gesine, an artist, she studied drawing in Arnhem. In 1904, her father rejoined the family in the Netherlands, and they moved to The Hague, where Rie studied at the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague from 1905 until 1907. Already during these studies, she published her first books. Rie Cramer married first in 1913 Peter Otten, a lawyer. The divorced in 1914, and in 1922 she married the actor Eduard Rutger Verkade. They divorced in 1933.[1]

She was best known for her numerous illustrations for children's books, some of them written be herself, but she also illustrated adult literature like some works by Shakespeare, and made illustrations for theatre and for the Dutch pavilion at the 1939 New York World's Fair.[2] For many years, she was together with Anton Pieck the main illustrator in Zonneschijn, a magazine that first appeared in 1924 and became the most important non-religious youth magazine of the Netherlands of the period, until its disappearance in 1943.[3]

Her early work was influenced by illustrators like Edmund Dulac, Aubrey Beardsley and Arthur Rackham and had a distinct Art Nouveau style. From the 1920s on, her illustrations became more simplified and less lyrical. The colours as well became less nuanced, more primary, under the influence of her work for stage costumes and backgrounds. From the 1930s on, she worked less for children's books and started writing some books for adolescents and adults instead. She also created art pottery together with her friend Fransje Carbasius, who she had met at the Academy in The Hague.[1]

During World War II, she again created more illustrations, and worked for the stage, even writing two plays using the pseudonym Marc Holman. Two of her earlier adult works were banned by the Germans because she had attacked national-socialism in them. She joined the resistance, helping fugitives, and she anonymously published anti-German verses in Het Parool, the largest underground resistance newspaper in the Netherlands. These verses were collected and published in 1945 as "Verzen van verzet" ("Poems of resistance").[1]

Afthe the war, she published more books for children, and saw her work being further translated in English, German, French and Danish. She wrote a radio play in 42 episodes in 1954, the year she left the Netherlands and settled on the Spanish island Mallorca with a few female friends. She continued prodicing pottery and tiles, and wrote three books about the island. In 1971, due to failing health, she had to return to the Netherlands, where she died in 1977. Her work is still being reprinted.[1]

Together with Henriette Willebeek Le Mair and Nelly Bodenheim was Cramer the most important female Dutch illustrator of children's books in the Netherlands between the First and Second World War, but despite her success, also abroad, she was the least liked by the critics, because her style was rather static and sweet.[2] When Dutch writer Annie M. G. Schmidt recalled the books of her youth, she wrote: "The illustrators of my youth were Rie Cramer and Daan Hoeksema. They poisoned fairy tales, youth corners and children's magazines.[...] They gave no air, neither smelled nor scented, and they left open no doors, simply shut off every way out."[4] Whatever the appreciation, most critics agree that her illustrations and simple rhymes were among the iconic and defining ones for the period.[5]

Partial bibliography

Written and illustrated by Rie Cramer

Illustrated by Rie Cramer

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 4 Mulder, Bettina J. (2002). "Cramer, Marie (1887-1977)". Biografisch Woordenboek van Nederland (in Dutch).
  2. 1 2 Groot, Marjan (2007). Vrouwen in de vormgeving in Nederland 1880-1940 (in Dutch). 010. p. 202. ISBN 9789064505218.
  3. ↑ Hoven, Peter van den (2004). Het goede en het mooie (in Dutch). NBD Biblion. p. 16. ISBN 9789054835295.
  4. ↑ Schmidt, Annie M. G. (2013). "Wijntje en Dina". Wat ik nog weet (in Dutch). Querido. ISBN 9789021445670. De plaatjesmakers uit mijn jeugd waren Rie Cramer en Daan Hoeksema. Ze vergiftigden sprookjesboeken, jeugdrubrieken en kindertijdschriften. [...] Ze gaven geen lucht af, ze stonken noch geurden en ze lieten geen enkel deurtje open, ze sneden domweg iedere pas af.
  5. ↑ Ghesquiere, Rita (2009). Jeugdliteratuur in perspectief (in Dutch). ACCO. p. 16. ISBN 9789033475702.

External links

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