Pide Comics

Author: (Danish) Peder Pedersen, written by Hong Peiqi
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2005-01-01
Features: Peder Komik has been deeply favored by Chinese readers for over a decade and remains best-selling. This book once ranked first in the 11th National Book Fair Bestseller List. Herluf Bidstrup, an indomitable humanitarian and renowned Danish cartoonist (abbreviated as Bid.), was born on September 10, 1912, in Berlin, Germany. Peder's father, Herman, was a scenic painter who traveled to Germany for a living before World War I and established a family there. The following year, his only son, Peder, was born in Denmark. Peder grew up surrounded by love and developed a strong sympathy for the poor, as well as a deep hatred for injustice and evil in the world. Peder loved reading from a young age. Initially, he struggled to read, progressing slowly one syllable at a time. Gradually, he finished page after page, and books opened up a new and fascinating world for him. The thrilling and bizarre stories captivated him. Peder once said, "The fairy tales of Hans Christian Andersen had a great impact on my understanding of the world. I admire his witty satire and vivid humor. Andersen always stood with the poor, and his hatred for the rich and sympathy for the poor deeply inspired me." He had a natural inclination for the art of laughter. At the age of four, he went to the Basa circus for the first time and was particularly excited by the performance of the clown. This form of humor attracted him more than anything else. At five, he watched Charlie Chaplin's films and considered him the best actor. He was delighted when the weak characters in the films overcame the strong, making him dance with joy. Peder's childhood was shadowed by war. At four, he witnessed the separation of a little girl from her father who was going to the front and the grief of a German family upon receiving news of a death on the Western Front. At five, while traveling back to Denmark with his parents, he saw a German soldier jump out of a speeding train window and cross the border to neutral Denmark to avoid fighting the French. At 11, he returned to Berlin with his parents and saw many disabled soldiers—some missing limbs, some blind, and others scarred by war. The inflation in Germany at the time was unbelievable, with one Danish krone nearly exchangeable for 1,000 German marks. People lived in extreme hardship. The war left an indelible mark on Peder's childhood memory and fueled his intense hatred for it. The experiences of his youth, shaped by his clear sense of right and wrong, had a profound influence on his later artistic career. Influenced by his father, Peder developed a love for drawing from a young age. He once said, "Like all children, the houses, people, trees, and horses I drew made people laugh. Once, my uncle mocked my 'artwork,' and I felt hurt because the effort I put into it was no less than that of famous painters drawing Madonnas!" During his student years, Peder excelled in all subjects, though he particularly enjoyed drawing. Teachers often pretended not to notice him drawing secretly in class or even asked him to draw amusing pictures on the blackboard. Peder once said, "In school, I realized that cartoons had extraordinary power. I had drawn some classmates and teachers on the blackboard, observing their features, habits, and expressions. These drawings not only amused people but also hurt those depicted. From then on, cartoons became my weapon." At the age of 14, his works were exhibited in Copenhagen and received praise. The organizers of the exhibition particularly admired his talent, praising his exceptional humor and even comparing him to the famous Danish cartoonist Robbed Gip. At 15, Peder moved to Berlin, where the symbol of a black spider was everywhere. His aunt told him, "This is the symbol of the party that longs for war. If they come to power in Germany, war is inevitable!" At the time, Peder did not realize that this hateful symbol would later become the target of his cartoons. In his later years of high school, he studied at an art school at night and later enrolled in the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen. He was a diligent student, always completing his assignments seriously, but he had no interest in drawing stiff models. He loved sketches and often sketched the lively poses of pedestrians and tourists in the streets or parks. In 1934, Peder and his classmates at the academy went on a nationwide bicycle trip. While the beautiful scenery delighted the young people, the trip also left them with a sense of melancholy and unease: the black swastika flags fluttered everywhere, brown-shirted Nazis were seen everywhere, and signs reading "Jews Not Allowed" were posted, along with Jewish shops being destroyed and sealed. In 1936, Peder heard Hitler's speech on the radio, and the image of this fascist dictator came to life. He immediately drew him, and soon after, a comic strip titled The Speaker was published in Denmark's progressive magazine Kulturkampen, with the caption "Herluf Bidstrup (drawing), Hitler (text)," marking his first anti-fascist political comic strip. After graduating from the academy, Peder began his independent life, earning just enough to barely sustain himself. In capitalist Denmark, it was very difficult for young painters to make a living solely through art. Inspired by the anti-fascist comic strip he had published in Kulturkampen, he decided to pursue a career as a cartoonist. After that, many of his works appeared in Kulturkampen. The magazine was financially struggling, and authors published their works voluntarily and without pay, so Peder remained in poverty. However, soon, his talent caught the attention of the private newspaper Berlingske Tidende, which invited him to create a daily humorous comic strip column. The column ran for about 70 episodes and earned Peder widespread social acclaim. Soon after, he was hired as an acting art editor for the Socialdemokraten, the newspaper of the Danish Social Democratic Party, which was clearly anti-fascist at the time. Initially, Peder was responsible for drawing small decorations and theatrical sketches, but later, he also created humorous advertising cartoons for Danish wine in the advertising section. Peder once humorously said, "I can't say my cartoons increased the sales of Danish wine by much, but advertising helped me a lot because it gave me the opportunity to publish a full page of humorous comic strips in the Sunday newspaper. Even I was surprised at how I could find good subjects week after week." In 1938, the Munich Agreement was signed to divide Czechoslovakia among Britain, Japan, France, Germany, and Italy. Peder created a comic strip titled The Price of Peace to expose the issue. As the political stance of Socialdemokraten changed, he had to conceal his strong anti-fascist sentiments and express his views on political events indirectly, continuously creating anti-fascist political cartoons. On April 9, 1940, Hitler's troops occupied Denmark in a lightning strike. The Danish government, representing bourgeois interests, surrendered, but the Danish people, under the leadership of the Danish Communist Party, resisted fiercely. The occupation lasted for five years of criminality. During this time, Peder contacted the Danish underground Communist Party. Although he worked at Socialdemokraten for eight years, his political views were completely opposite to those of the newspaper. To deceive Danish police and the Gestapo, he continued to work there, making the newspaper a shield for him. During the German occupation, Peder drew many satirical postcards mocking those who collaborated with the occupiers, and he used the proceeds to support the Danish Communist Party's resistance movement. Peder's humorous comic strips created a huge impact. In 1942, in a readers' poll organized by the Socialdemokraten supplement, his Sunday humorous comic strip column was voted the most popular work, and his salary was doubled. However, despite this, he was still dismissed in 1943 due to his political views. After leaving Socialdemokraten, Peder began working for the underground Danish Communist Party newspaper Land og Folk. After Denmark was liberated in 1945, the newspaper became public, and Peder was responsible for drawing daily editorial cartoons and began creating a Sunday humorous comic strip column. Land og Folk provided Peder with a vast stage to showcase his talent, though his income was much lower than at Socialdemokraten, but he was spiritually fulfilled. Peder once said, "At the Central Committee of the Danish Communist Party's newspaper, I had complete freedom of expression, and I was deeply satisfied." Peder had a keen political sense, and his satirical cartoons on the editorial page always played a significant role. His political stance was clear: opposing capitalism, opposing war, and fighting for peace. Once, when asked by a journalist, he firmly said, "I will continue to expose the inequalities of the world and fight for the working people through my works." As his political stance became increasingly clear, the Social Democrats and the bourgeoisie quickly changed their attitude toward him. In 1947, Peder published a cartoon mocking the then-Social Democratic Minister Schouboe, and reactionary newspapers exclaimed, "This promising artist has lost his sense of humor," and mercilessly attacked him, calling him a "poisoner," a "shameless little man," and an "anti-Semite." After that, even smaller publishers began attacking Peder, breaking contracts for book illustrations and canceling his editorial work on the Christmas Humor series. Bookstores and kiosks also took Peder's art books off the shelves, and even art exhibition galleries removed his paintings from display. All this deeply wounded Peder's dignity and significantly affected his family income. The decrease in income and the soaring prices made Peder's life increasingly difficult. Peder and his wife Ellen had to move out of their house in Copenhagen and relocate to the suburbs of Copenhagen, where his parents lived. After the war, people around the world faced new challenges: opposing nuclear weapons, opposing the Cold War, and resisting the aggression of the United States and its allies in Vietnam, Latin America, the Middle East, and Africa. Peder also fought against imperialism and reactionaries with his brush, earning the respect of peace-loving people. Peder was a man of high moral character, humble and upright, qualities that permeated his work. He once said, "I have always valued integrity, and it is crucial to me." In 1955, Peder was invited to China for a friendly visit. He traveled from Beijing to Guangzhou in the south, then northward through Hangzhou, Shanghai, Nanjing, and Tianjin before returning to Beijing, and also visited Fushun, Shenyang, and Anshan, sketching extensively along the way. During his visit, he met China's renowned cartoonist Hu Junwu and held a symposium with members of the Cartoon editorial department for cultural exchange. After returning to Denmark, he published a 300-page sketchbook of his visit to China in both Danish and German. Over time, the influence of Peder's cartoons grew, and his works provided excellent material for adaptation into films, ballets, silent plays, and even small-scale cultural programs. For example, the Soviet Union adapted many of his comic strips into various scripts, which were warmly received by audiences. The famous silent play Vivid was based on his comic strip Confession (see comic strip on p. 54), and it was also adapted into two animated films. During the production of the animated film The Bench, Soviet People's Artist Atamievich was so impressed by Peder's art that he repeatedly praised him as "truly a great animation master!" Additionally, The Bench was adapted into a ballet by the Leningrad Dance School, and director Leonid Jacobson won a first prize for it. The television station of East Germany introduced Peder, earning him great honor. They not only introduced his cartoon works but also his creative process. Peder stood behind a transparent glass, using lipstick as a pencil, drawing while explaining to the audience why he drew it that way. These cartoons addressed pressing current issues and were sharply satirical. Radio stations also interviewed Peder multiple times. Peder repeatedly said, "When I was a child, I used drawings to make my classmates and teachers laugh. Now I have hundreds of thousands of viewers, and the content of my work has a clear direction: opposing capitalism, fighting for socialism, opposing war, and fighting for peace." Peder gained international acclaim. People compared him to the Danish physicist Niels Bohr, who uncovered the secrets of the atom, not only because they were both fearless Danish anti-fascists but also because they made immortal contributions to humanity in their respective fields. He was elected as the chair of the executive committee of the "International Competition for Caricatures for Peace," one of the founders of the International Daumier Cartoon Club, and served as a vice president. In 1964, he shared the Lenin International Peace Prize with Spanish leader Francisco Franco and Algerian leader Ben Bella. He also received the from the German Democratic Republic for promoting friendship between nations and was appointed an honorary citizen of Bulgaria and an honorary member of the Soviet Academy of Arts. In 1972, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Socialist Republics awarded him the. In 1988, the indomitable humanitarian and cartoon art master Peder Pedersen passed away at the age of 76. Peder's cartoons have a special connection with me. I once edited a Selected Works of Peder Pedersen, a 117-page art book that was my first edition of Peder's cartoons, and it was widely loved by readers.