Gilbert Declercq (born 1946) is a Belgian freelance painter, illustrator, and comics artist. Declercq did his art-studies at The Royal Academy in Gent (Belgium).

Publications

Declercq began his career in ''

Ons Volkske ''Ons Volkske'' (literally: "Our little people") was the youth supplement of the Flemish newspaper ''Ons Volk Ontwaakt''. It was published without interruption from 1932 until 1988, except for the years during World War II. The magazine was notabl ...

'' at the age of 16, with the realistic short story "De D-558-2 Skyrocket." He made illustrations in female magazines, like ''Mimosa'', ''Rosita'', ''Libelle'', and ''Het Rijk der Vrouw''. Comics and illustrations were published in many magazines and books in different countries. Clients include

Reader's Digest ''Reader's Digest'' is an American general-interest family magazine, published ten times a year. Formerly based in Chappaqua, New York, it is now headquartered in midtown Manhattan. The magazine was founded in 1922 by DeWitt Wallace and his wi ...

Daimler Chrysler Mercedes-Benz Group AG (formerly Daimler-Benz, DaimlerChrysler, and Daimler) is a German multinational automotive company headquartered in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is one of the world's leading car manufacturers. Daimler-B ...

Greenpeace Greenpeace is an independent global campaigning network, founded in Canada in 1971 by a group of Environmental movement, environmental activists. Greenpeace states its goal is to "ensure the ability of the Earth to nurture life in all its biod ...

Märklin Gebr. Märklin & Cie. GmbH or Märklin (stylized as ma̋rklín) (MÄRKLIN or MAERKLIN in capital letters) is a German toy company. The company was founded in 1859 and is based at Göppingen in Baden-Württemberg. Although it originally specialis ...

and Dai Nippon. From 1971, he did illustrations and covers for ''Ohee''. In ''

Le Soir ''Le Soir'' (, ) is a French-language Belgian daily newspaper. Founded in 1887 by Émile Rossel, it was intended as a politically independent source of news. Together with '' La Libre Belgique'', it is one of the most popular Francophone newsp ...

'', he created ''Hugo des Ombres'' with scripts by

André-Paul Duchâteau André-Paul Duchâteau (8 May 1925 – 26 August 2020) was a Belgian comics writer and mystery novelist. Biography He worked with Tibet on the detective comics series ''Ric Hochet'' and the more humoristic western comic ''Chick Bill''. He also w ...

in 1974. A year later, he illustrated the John Flanders adaptation ''De Witte Tijger'' with scripts by Serge Bertrain (

Danny de Laet Danny is a masculine given name. It is related to and short for the male name Daniel.🖾🖾 People *Danny Altmann, British immunologist *Danny Antonucci, Canadian animator, director, producer, and writer *Danny Baker (born 1957), English jou ...

) in ''Het Gazet Van Antwerpen''. From 1974, he assisted Eddy Ryssack on his comics. In the late 1970s, he did comics for ''Top'' (''Devoon en Carboon'') and ''Het Gazet van Antwerpen'' (''De Lotgevallen van Terry Trom''). He had his breakthrough with the aviation series ''Rud Hart'', that appeared in the Dutch comic magazine Eppo starting in 1977.Ik was altijd onafhankelijk
, ''

Het Nieuwsblad (; ) is a Flemish newspaper that mainly focusses on "a broad view" regarding politics, culture, economics, lifestyle, society and sports. History and profile In 1929, was published by for the first time. In 1939, the sports paper ''Spo ...

'' (in Dutch), 18 May 2009 For the publisher

Le Lombard Le Lombard (), known as Les Éditions du Lombard () until 1989, is a Belgian comic book publisher established in 1946 when '' Tintin'' magazine was launched. Le Lombard became part of Média-Participations since 1986, alongside publishers Darg ...

, he created ''Jody Barton'' in 1991. Declercq dropped most of his comics activities to devote himself to illustrating and painting. He is a regular contributor to the Dutch girls magazine ''Tina''.

Exhibitions

Declercq's work has been exhibited in The Mall-Galleries (

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

), National Maritime Museum (Antwerp, Belgium), European institute (Wien), Museum of American Illustration, Mystic Maritime Gallery and many galleries in Belgium, Austria and Italy. His watercolors won several national and international prizes (one juried by the

Royal Watercolour Society The Royal Watercolour Society is a British institution of painters working in watercolours. The Society is a centre of excellence for water-based media on paper, which allows for a diverse and interesting range of approaches to the medium of wa ...

, England). His work is in State collections: National maritime Museum (Antwerp, Belgium), National Institute for Fishery (

Ostend Ostend ( ; ; ; ) is a coastal city and municipality in the province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It comprises the boroughs of Mariakerke, Raversijde, Stene and Zandvoorde, and the city of Ostend proper – the la ...

, Belgium), City of

Innsbruck Innsbruck (; ) is the capital of Tyrol (federal state), Tyrol and the List of cities and towns in Austria, fifth-largest city in Austria. On the Inn (river), River Inn, at its junction with the Wipptal, Wipp Valley, which provides access to the ...

(Austria), Potterie Museum (Brugge, Belgium).

Recognition

Gilbert Declercq became an artist-member of the

Society of Illustrators The Society of Illustrators (SoI) is a professional society based in New York City. It was founded in 1901 to promote the art of illustration and, since 1959, has held an annual exhibition. Since absorbing the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art (M ...

(New York) in 1984.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Declercq, Gilbert 1946 births Living people Belgian artists