The Tilburg Gertjan van Leeuwen, also known as Gummbah, won the culture prize of North Brabant 2022 on Friday. According to the jury, the cartoonist is praised for his ‘completely own world view’.
Gummbah is known for his cartoons, but he is also a painter and theater maker. He studied journalism in Tilburg, but ultimately did not pursue this further.
His first comic magazine ‘God’ was published in 1993. Van Leeuwen currently makes cartoons for de Volkskrant, Humo and Nieuwe Revu, among others.
‘The Aldi among the Dutch cities’
Van Leeuwen still lives and works in Tilburg. He described his home city to the Volkskrant as ‘the Aldi of Dutch cities’. However, he comes from Nieuwwaal, a predominantly religious village in the municipality of Zaltbommel.
The 55-year-old was told by the jury that his work has ‘humour in all shapes and sizes’. “We need this in the strange world we all live in,” says the jury of the competition.
The culture prize also includes an amount of ten thousand euros. The prize will soon be presented by the King’s Commissioner, Ida Adema.