Robert Storm Petersen


Robert Storm Petersen was a Danish cartoonist, writer, animator, illustrator, painter and humorist. He is known almost exclusively by his pen name '''Storm P.'''

Biography

He was the son of a butcher and grew up in Copenhagen in a lower middle class environment. After interrupted studies at the Academy of Art, he worked as a free-lance painter, illustrator and cabaret entertainer. Already during World War I he was a well-known artist, and from about 1920 onward he was almost a national "institution" as a humorist, partly because of his versatile interests. His first comic strip was printed in 1906, in the Danish tabloid Ekstra Bladet. He was for many years connected to the Copenhagen newspaper Berlingske Tidende as a comic writer and cartoonist.
As a humorist, Storm P. is related to British and American humor, with a strong touch of craziness and absurdity. Often his starting point is a plain Copenhagen jargon, combined with a Danish down-to-earth homespun philosophy and all kinds of fun and comedy; the common man's unimpressed comments on a crazy world.
Though normally loved by most of his countrymen, Storm P. has also been criticised for being too toothless and petit bourgeois. In spite of his social background and interest of poor milieus, he very seldom shows deeper social criticism or revolutionary opinions; the dramatic age in which he lived left rather small stamps on his work. On the other hand he was no staunch giggler; many of his paintings deal with death, sorrow and macabre themes. He painted the victims of social injustice and misery, often with a strong touch of compassion. Melancholy and fear are not unknown to him, but his official appearance was optimistic.

Drawings and paintings

Petersen left about 60,000 drawings and 100 paintings of varied quality. His drawings are very often illustrated jokes, or series of a theme besides artist sketches. Among his favourite themes are the vagabonds – who are portrayed as dressed-up petty philosophers – and the circus milieu that he regarded with much warmth.
He is perhaps best known for his Storm P. machines, comic drawings of machines that perform very simple tasks through an unnecessarily complex and usually humorous series of actions. Other cartoonists who are known for similar machine drawings are Rube Goldberg and Heath Robinson. Besides that, he illustrated many books, often written by congenial authors – Mark Twain, Jerome K. Jerome and G. K. Chesterton, among others.
As a painter he is clearly influenced by Edvard Munch and Toulouse-Lautrec, but often with an independent naivist touch. Later on, Paul Klee and Wassily Kandinsky seem to have been an inspiration in spite of his often outspoken ridiculing of modern art. Among his many themes are extérieurs from Paris. La Morgue and Kultur are two of his most well known paintings.

Author

As an author, he wrote many short stories and tales, often parodies on detective stories or melodramas, small snap-shots from the Copenhagen lower middle class milieu, absurd and surrealistic tales or, especially, "monologues" put into the mouth of bums, artists, etc. Special kinds of tales were the monologues put into the mouth of his own dog, Vor ven Grog, in which he let the dog reflect on life, death and daily events, sometimes with a light touch of sadness and pity within the humour.

Comics

Storm P. is also well known in Denmark as the author of a number of comic strips :
  • , 1913–1923, is a situational comedy: three little men playing mad pranks, accompanied by an even smaller man who finds clever ways to display the strip's frame numbers.
  • , from the 1930s, is an absurdist strip cartoon about a man who reacts illogically and solves problems in unexpected ways.
  • , 1922–1949, was his greatest success – a comic strip about a small citizen and his friend Ping, a speaking penguin. Their experiences in Copenhagen, spiced by Ping's absurd expressions and jokes, were extremely popular and led to the foundation of a Ping Club for children. The comic strip gained some international attention, and appeared in Great Britain as well.
  • , begun in 1939: drawings illustrating humorous philosophical jokes, often with a deeper meaning.

    Theater work

Storm P. was also an occasional freelance actor and performed in several early Danish silent movies. He later acted in stage comedies to supplement his income. In 1920 Petersen created the first Danish animated cartoon, Tre små mænd. He also designed scenery for ballets and plays.

Tribute

is located in the Frederiksberg area of Copenhagen, in a former police station which dates back to the mid-1880s. It opened in 1977, and features expressionistic watercolors and oil painting together with a comic strip library, sound clips, photographs, films and newspaper clippings. The museum also hosts a variety of changing exhibitions and educational activities.

Quotes

  • "Life is a circus: you go in, bow, run around, bow again and leave."
  • "– What is your opinion of the world situation? – Nothing, something got in my eye."
  • "There is something fishy about art that needs to be explained."
  • "We human beings are strange creatures – we have to go underground because we have invented the aeroplane. "
  • "Statistics is much like a streetlight. Not very enlightening, but nice for supporting you"
  • "I'd like to buy a return ticket, please" – "to where?" – "here!"
  • "It is difficult to make predictions, especially about the future,".

    Literature

  • Henry Chafetz: Robert Storm Petersen
  • Ib Boye ''Skuespilleren Storm P.''