Kurt Caesar (also known as Cesare Avai or Caesar Away, true name Kurt Kaiser; 30 March 1906 – 12 July 1974) was a German-Italian painter, journalist and comic book artist. He was born at

Montigny-lès-Metz Montigny-lès-Metz (, literally ''Montigny near Metz''; , (1940–1944) ''Montenich'') is a commune in the Moselle department in Grand Est in north-eastern France. It is the largest suburb of the city of Metz, and is adjacent to it on the we ...

, Alsace-Lorraine, to German father. He studied Engineering in

Leipzig Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...

, but later he moved to the Academy of Fine Arts in Berlin; in the meantime he had a boxing career which led him to win a German title. In 1929 he became correspondent for a magazine in

Zürich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

and collaborated for several German magazines; his journalist career led him to travel in Europe and

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

. After his marriage he moved to

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

, where he started to work at successful comics, such as Romano il Legionario, a popular nationalist character published in '' Il Vittorioso''. He also drew "Aeroporto Z" and "Will Sparrow" for '' Donald Duck and Other Adventures'' (''Paperino e altre avventure''). During World War II Caesar was in

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

Libya Libya, officially the State of Libya, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya border, the east, Sudan to Libya–Sudan border, the southeast, Chad to Chad–L ...

and Spain, and, in 1941, again in Africa as interpreter for

Erwin Rommel Johannes Erwin Eugen Rommel (; 15 November 1891 – 14 October 1944), popularly known as The Desert Fox (, ), was a German '' Generalfeldmarschall'' (field marshal) during World War II. He served in the ''Wehrmacht'' (armed forces) of ...

. Captured by the English, he returned to Italy after the end of the conflict. Here he continued to work at ''Il Vittorioso'' until, in 1952, he was called as cover artist for the science-fiction magazine '' I Romanzi di Urania'', for which he realized some 170 works until 1958, when he was replaced by

Carlo Jacono Carlo is a given name. It is an Italian form of Charles. It can refer to: *Carlo (name) *Monte Carlo *Carlingford, New South Wales, a suburb in north-west Sydney, New South Wales, Australia *A satirical song written by Dafydd Iwan about Prince Char ...

. Caesar then moved to other popular magazine-book series for the same publisher,

Arnoldo Mondadori Editore Arnoldo Mondadori Editore () is the biggest publishing company in Italy. History The company was founded in 1907 in Ostiglia by 18-year-old Arnoldo Mondadori who began his publishing career with the publication of the magazine ''Luce!''. In ...

, '' I Gialli'' and '' Segretissimo''. Other series he worked to include the unsuccessful Italian science fiction magazines ''

Oltre il Cielo Oltre (Italian: "beyond") may refer to: * :it:Oltre (Croazia), former Italian name of Preko, island and commune on the coast of Croatia * Oltre ( :es:Fiat Oltre), an Italian concept car by Fiat unveiled at the 2005 Bologna Motor Show, related to ...

'' and ''Cronache del Futuro'', and the German ''

Perry Rhodan ''Perry Rhodan'' is a German space opera franchise, named after its hero. It commenced in 1961 and has been ongoing for decades, written by an ever-changing team of authors. Having sold approximately two billion copies (in novella format) worl ...

''. He died by infarction in 1974 in his house at

Bracciano Bracciano is a small town in the Italian region of Lazio, northwest of Rome. The town is famous for its volcanic lake (Lake Bracciano, Lago di Bracciano or "Sabatino", the eighth largest lake in Italy) and for a particularly well-preserved medie ...

References

External links

March and fight of the German Africa Corps in 1941: Drawings by Kurt Caesar
more than 90 drawings, at AllWorldWars.Com 1906 births 1974 deaths People from Montigny-lès-Metz People from Alsace-Lorraine 20th-century German painters 20th-century Italian male artists German male painters 20th-century Italian painters Italian male painters German comics artists Italian comics artists German male journalists German journalists German male writers {{Europe-comics-creator-stub