Gerard Alsteens

Why an honorary doctorate? 

2 April 2019: Gerard Alsteens humbly but joyfully accepts the honorary doctorate of VUB.

The honour for courage and social commitment

Alsteens is not a man for much text; he prefers to leave room for discovery and contemplation. Sometimes words are not necessary; then, the image says enough.

VUB presents GAL with a doctor honoris causa for his long career in which the protection of vulnerable people has been the source of sometimes controversial creativity. For his cartoons, which bear witness to unbridled free speech and social engagement. For his encouragement of critical thinking. And also a bit for his passionate love of Brussels. VUB and GAL, they share all of this.

Indignation runs like a red thread through Alsteens’ drawings. Rage about evil. Impotence over injustice. His assertions are the oxygen with which he draws society's attention to where the political and social friction lies. His cartoons are not necessarily funny, but rather sharp and cynical. They sometimes require longer observation to understand the message and thus make the viewers stop and think about what they are seeing. Standing up for the weak is in the back of his mind. That is as it should be.

GAL considers cartoonists to be loners, including himself. Alone, from his studio, messages grow from his drawing pen that he releases into the world through his illustrations in an often controversial manner.

About his career

Bittersweet

03 August 1940. In the Alsteens family, there is a double dose of happiness. Gerard is born as one of twins. He finds his way to the drawing board at an early age. At the age of 12, he participates in a drawing contest in the newspaper 'Het Nieuws van den Dag' and wins. It is no surprise that his choice of study is in line with his talents.

He attends school at Sint-Lukas in the heart of Brussels, where he then goes to work as a teacher. GAL goes to live nearby because he wants to experience everything. Exhibitions and museums give him extra inspiration. Alsteens is at home in the Film Museum, where he says he spends time every other day. His love for the city of Brussels is one that never dims.

In his penultimate year as a student, Gerard does an internship at the Jesuit magazine 'De Linie', where he handles the layout of the magazine. But in 1964, the Vatican silences the magazine. In response, GAL designs a front page with a felled tree bearing the inscription 'De Linie' (The Line), which in its fall crushes the Flemish Lion. His indignation has a face.

From the end of the ‘60s to the beginning of the ‘80s, Alsteens’ cartoons are supplied to the magazines 'De Nieuwe' and 'De Zwijger', thus drawing an indelible path to his reputation. In 1983, he starts at Knack, where his cartoons have not left friend or foe unmoved to this day. Angry readers' letters and censorship of some of his cartoons (no more than ten, he says himself) are the result. His illustrations also appear in Humo, De Morgen, Panorama, and De Post.

Gerard Alsteens does more than denounce injustice in the world through his drawings. He participates in demonstrations and is committed to organisations such as Oxfam and Amnesty International. He illustrates book covers, logos, and posters, including those against the apartheid system in South Africa. When he sees television pictures of the burnt down house of a South African clergyman and discovers his poster on one of the remaining walls, he is moved. Moved that people see his drawings as a real support.

When GAL insults the Vlaams Blok in 1996 during the television programme De Zevende Dag with a few of his prints, the party members leave the room in anger. GAL stands for indignation and incites indignation.

17 January 2004 is a dark day. The eyes of GAL become blurred - literally - and the following day reading and drawing prove completely impossible. The verdict is that a clot burst in a vein. Eye embolism. With a number of technical aids, he manages to resume his work and that same year he shines with twelve works at the Cartoon Festival Knokke-Heist.

In the years that follow, awards and recognitions come rolling in with the drawings. GAL touches people with his work, and in a 2019 interview he says he is looking forward to continuing. A simple wish from a great man.

Razor-sharp cartoons

Indictments of injustice that remind us of paintings.

Code name GAL

‘Dipping his pen in bile’ refers to how the inspiration for his works comes from the evildoers themselves.

Exhibitions and awards

1980: Belgian Entry for the Venice Biennale

1980: Louis Paul Boon Prize

1988: Prize of the Flemish Community for Visual Arts

1994: Ark Prize of Het Vrije Woord

2004: Bene Prize

Cartoonist: To this day, his cartoons leave neither friend nor foe unmoved.

Artist: Inspired by Picasso.