'Jan, Jans en de Kinderen'.
Jan Kruis was a Dutch comic artist, advertising illustrator and painter, best-known for his long-running family comic 'Jan, Jans en de Kinderen' ('Jack, Jacky and the Juniors', 1970- ), which appears on a weekly basis in the women's magazine Libelle. Homely, charming and always evolving with the changing times, 'Jan, Jans en de Kinderen' has become one of the most iconic Dutch comic series. As mascots for Libelle, the characters have appeared in a variety of merchandising, including a TV adaptation. The comic's cultural impact was so great, that a fictional holiday introduced in the series, "Saint Pancake", has gained an actual cult following. Prior to creating his signature series, Jan Kruis was a prominent illustrator and cartoonist for the advertising industry, working on comics for the Shell Junior Club magazine Olidin and a wide range of promotional strips with his co-workers Jan van der Voo and Martin Lodewijk. As a comic artist, Kruis additionally drew the children's gag comic 'Gregor' ('Grégoire', 1965-1966) in Tintin magazine and, between 1969 and 1970, he was the second artist to draw the long-running children's series 'Sjors en Sjimmie' for the magazine Sjors. During his run on the strip, Kruis remodeled the black character Sjimmie to reflect the changing times. To this day, his legacy lives on in the ongoing adventures of his family comic strip 'Jan, Jans en de Kinderen', whose weekly adventures since 1999 have been created by Studio Jan Kruis, operated through the Libelle editorial offices.
'Prins Freddie', as it appeared in De Havenloods in the 1950s.
Early life
Johannes Andries Kruis was born in 1930 in a working class area of Rotterdam. His father was initially a carpenter, but later worked as a porter in the Rotterdam harbors. During World War II, Kruis grew up in the heavily bombed harbor city. As a result, most of his childhood drawings depicted battles, weapons and airplanes while the young cartoonist also made his own papers. As a youngster, he was introduced to the world of professional drawing after receiving tips and tricks from fellow Rotterdam artist Wim Meuldijk, the creator of 'Sneeuwvlok de Eskimo' in Voorwaarts magazine. Another inspiration was Marten Toonder's 'Tom Poes' comic. Toonder's creation was a major influence on Kruis' first comic, 'Prins Freddie', which he sold to a printing company in Dordrecht. This text comic, with text captions beneath the images, centered on the adventures of a young prince. However, the planned booklet was never published.
After attending Saturday courses at the Academy, Kruis enrolled at the Academy of Fine Arts in Rotterdam, where he studied full-time from 1950 to 1954. During this period, he developed a passion for Dutch 16th and 17th-century painters, and impressionists and modernists like Marc Chagall and Georges Braque. In addition, he admired the work of illustrators and comic artists like Pieter Kuhn, Hans G. Kresse, Otto Dicke, Eppo Doeve and Honoré Daumier, while also expressing interest in other art forms, like poetry, film, music and theater.
Postcard for Shell (1959).
Van Maanen
In October 1954, Kruis began his first job at the advertising firm Nijgh & Van Ditmar, where he made lay-outs, graphic designs for advertisements and an occasional drawing. After a year and a half, his desire for freedom urged him to leave the advertising firm to become a freelance artist. Instead of following his interest in fine arts, he pursued a more commercially rewarding career in illustration. In addition to several illustration jobs, Kruis also managed to get an updated version of his 'Prins Freddie' comic published in the Rotterdam newspaper De Havenloods.
Starting in 1958, Kruis spent seven years as a commercial artist with the The Hague office of the advertising firm Van Maanen, doing mainly advertising and illustration assignments for petrol company Shell and the Niemeijer tobacco factory. During this period, he developed his recognizable cartoony drawing style, with its loose lay-outs and shaky ink lines. Between 1958 and 1963, Kruis was assigned to contribute to the Shell Junior Club magazine Olidin, produced by Van Maanen. These first professional efforts as a comic artist included creations like the young cowboy 'Tommy' (five stories, 1958-1963) and the medieval minstrel 'Baldino' (two stories, 1959, 1963). In later years, Kruis revealed that he had no particular knowledge of the Far West or the Middle Ages, but just improvised as he went along. For the second 'Baldino' story, Kruis outsourced the artwork to Jan van der Voo, who became his frequent collaborator. For the dialogues, he received help from his brother Ger. After 'Baldino en de Tovenaarsleerling', the Kruis brothers and Van der Voo created another Olidin serial together, 'De Kleine Hertog' (1963), about a little duke who is mistaken for a cook's boy and sent on a sea trip.
In addition to these two adventure comic features, he drew promotional gags with the characters Stientje and Gertje (1962) for the Shell Junior Club, also published in Olidin. With Wim Giesbers, Jan Kruis produced Olidin's riddle comic 'Japie Eigenwijs' in the early 1960s. Other important contributors to Olidin were Emile Brumsteede, Wim Giesbers, Frits Godhelp, Friso Henstra, Niek Hiemstra, Hans G. Kresse, Ted Mathijsen, Joost Rietveld, Chris Roodbeen, Jan van der Voo, P. Visser, Dick Vlottes, Carol Voges, Joop Wiggers and Piet Wijn.
'Tommy'.
Toonder Studio's
During his Olidin period, Kruis had met scriptwriter Waling Dijkstra, who guided him into the world of comics and introduced him to Franco-Belgian comic book masters like André Franquin, Jijé and Peyo. In 1959, Dijkstra also introduced him to his own employer, the Toonder Studios in Amsterdam. Together with studio head Marten Toonder, he made a first version of the 'Student Tijloos' newspaper strip, about a young student in the city. This prototype remained unfinished and was never used. The project remained shelved until 1961, when Algemeen Dagblad requested a new, realistic adventure comic from the Toonder Studio's. This new version of the comic was written by Lo Hartog van Banda, who turned it into a philosophically-themed adventure comic with mystical elements. While the Jan Kruis artwork for 'Student Tijloos' was never used, the published comic strip was subsequently drawn by Thé Tjong Khing and Gerrit Stapel. Although his period at Toonder was short, Marten Toonder did praise Jan Kruis' talent for atmosphere and character expression.
Advertising comic for Sloan's Liniment.
Advertising strips
Between 1959 and 1965, Kruis made designs and sample strips for a couple of other comic strips, but none of them saw print. His main production was done for advertisements, for which he increasingly used the comic strip format, especially after teaming up with fellow artist Jan van der Voo.
After their first collaborations in Olidin, the duo became responsible for a large number of 1960s advertising comics, which appeared in children's magazines like Donald Duck. Written by Kruis and drawn by Van der Voo, their creations included many strips for chocolate candy bars, for instance 'Max' for Mars, 'Tim' for Treets, 'Bounty Eiland' for Bounty and 'Mieke en Wouter' for Milky Way. Other strips were 'Koos' for Kodak photography, 'Sjokoprins' for De Beukelaer and 'De Broodversierders' for De Ruijter. With another co-worker, Martin Lodewijk, Jan Kruis created the 'Inspecteur Smulleman' strip (1966) for Treets confectionery. Still during the 1960s, Jan Kruis wrote and drew many advertising strips on his own, of which 'Tipje van Bootz' for Bootz brandy was probably the most prominent. Other advertisements in comics format were produced for Claeryn gin, Sloan's Liniment, Nieuwe Revu magazine and the advertising press.
Advertising strip for Tip (Bootz).
Jan Kruis Producties
Besides advertisements, Kruis and his colleagues branched out to work for mainstream magazines too. After leaving Van Maanen in the mid-1960s, Kruis received many assignments, but often outsourced production to fellow artists like Jan van der Voo, Wim Giesbers and Martin Lodewijk. Though not an official studio but more a collaboration between artists, all productions appeared under the banner "Jan Kruis Producties". When Kruis was asked by Pep magazine to make a secret agent parody comic for them, he handed the project to his colleague Martin Lodewijk, who then created his comic series 'Agent 327' (1966). As a result, the early episodes of Lodewijk's signature comic appeared with the "Jan Kruis Producties" copyright byline. Another "Jan Kruis Production" was 'Moeps Pepernoot' (1974) in the early issues of the society magazine Story, drawn by Jan van der Voo. The young artist Carry Brugman later joined the team as well, in their production for Sjors magazine. In his commercial art years, Kruis additionally worked extensively with former Van Maanen colleague Joop Wiggers, who later became the publisher of his books. A notable collaboration between Kruis and Wiggers was the production of the 1967 men's fashion magazine Goed Gekleed.
Illustrations for books, magazines and record covers became an equally important source of income for Kruis. He illustrated book series like 'Bartje' by Anne de Vries and 'Adriaan en Olivier' and Leonhard Huizinga, as well as the novel 'Dorp Aan De Rivier' by Antoon Coolen. Between 1975 and 2013, Jan Kruis also made illustrations for the gardening magazine OnzeEigenTuin, most notably his irony-filled drawings for the satirical column 'Tuinles voor Sukkels' (1982-2013) by Jo Cuijpers. Other regular illustration clients of the Jan Kruis team were the magazines De Spiegel and Margriet, and the Termeulen department store in Rotterdam.
'Gregor' (Kuifje #1, January 1966).
Gregor
In 1965, Kruis and Martin Lodewijk went to Brussels to present their work to Hergé, hoping for a publication in Tintin magazine (and its Dutch-language edition Kuifje). Shortly afterwards, Kruis produced 24 gags starring 'Gregor' ('Grégoire', 1965-1966), a little boy with glasses, for Tintin. In many ways, 'Gregor' was a predecessor to Kruis's later 'Jan, Jans en de Kinderen' comic. It was the first comic in which Kruis used his trademark panel design, with either loosely drawn borders, or no borders at all. Some of the 'Gregor' gags were later reworked for 'Jan, Jans en de Kinderen' episodes. In 1966 and 1967, the 'Gregor' gags were reprinted in Pep, a Dutch comic magazine published by one of the artist's regular illustration clients, De Geïllustreerde Pers.
Sjors en Sjimmie - 'Het Raadsel van Schiermeeuwenoog'.
Sjors en Sjimmie
In the second half of the 1960s, comics became Kruis' main focus. In 1969, he was asked by the editors of Sjors magazine to take over the title comic 'Sjors en Sjimmie' after the retirement of comic artist Frans Piët. Since 1938, Piët had been drawing this Dutch continuation of the American newspaper comic 'Perry Winkle' by Martin Branner, in 1946 adding the black boy Sjimmie to the cast. By 1964, Piët had been forced to drastically redesign Sjors at the command of his editors, who felt that Sjors' long hair was too reminiscent of "those filthy Beatle haircuts". When he redesigned Sjors in 1969, Kruis brought back the character's iconic long haircut, and also took the opportunity to modernize Sjimmie. Up to that point, Sjimmie had been a stereotypically drawn black boy with big red lips and earrings, who spoke pidgin slang and was naïve, scared and otherwordly, leaving it to Sjors to always help him out. Kruis redesigned Sjimmie into a more modern-looking black boy, who speaks normal Dutch and is in every way Sjors' equal.
In his first 'Sjors en Sjimmie' adventure story, 'Het Raadsel van Schiermeeuwenoog' (1969), Kruis also changed the comic's setting to the fictional Wadden Island Schiermeeuwenoog. For the second story, 'De Ring van Schiermeeuwenoog' (1970), the artist received help on the script from Martin Lodewijk and the coloring from his wife Els. The future fine artist Leslie Gabriëlse assisted on the artwork. After only two 'Sjors en Sjimmie' stories, Kruis called it quits, as he didn't enjoy working on long adventure plots. He passed the pencil to Jan Steeman, who continued to create 'Sjors en Sjimmie' adventures in Kruis' designs and set-up in collaboration with a host of scriptwriters for another five years. In 1975, when Sjors magazine merged with Pep into Eppo magazine, Robert van der Kroft became the artist of another updated version of 'Sjors en Sjimmie'. Working with scriptwriters Patty Klein and then Jan van Die and Wilbert Plijnaar, Van der Kroft returned to the series' gag strip origins, dropping all of the adventure and fantasy elements.
'Jan, Jans en de Kinderen'. Introduction of Jeroentje in the second album.
Jan, Jans en de Kinderen
In 1970, Kruis was commissioned by editor Peter Middeldorp to create a weekly family comic for the women's magazine Libelle, published by De Spaarnestad. On 12 December of that year, the first episode of 'Jan, Jans en de Kinderen' ('Jack, Jacky and the Juniors') saw print in Libelle. Since Kruis also provided illustration work for rival women's magazine Margriet, he signed the earliest episodes with his middle name, "Andries". Early gags were sometimes recycled from his earlier 'Gregor' comic for Tintin, and featured traditional visual humor. It didn't take long before Kruis found the right tone and style for his female audience, and focused more on dialogues and relatable situations.
'Jan, Jans en de Kinderen' is a weekly gag comic, following the daily events in the life of the family Tromp. Jan is the well-meaning, but often confused and unlucky father. Jans is the smart mother. They have two daughters, the teenager Karlijn and the bespectacled elementary school pupil Catootje. Both were modeled after Kruis' own daughters, respectively Leontine and Andrea. In 1993, the Tromp family also received a baby boy, Gertje, based on the artist's grandson Bas. Jan's father Gerrit Tromp, always referred to as "Opa" ("Grandpa"), also drops by on many occasions. His cigar-smoking habit is often criticized by the family, much like his old-fashioned opinions. But Opa can also be sweet and sympathetic to his grandchildren when they have arguments with their parents. In later gags, he receives a girlfriend, Moeps. Like the Kruis family, the Tromp family eventually settles in the Drenthe countryside, where most of the gags are set.
'Jan, Jans en de Kinderen'.
The Tromps have three pets. Lotje is a dachshund with a personality disorder. In several gags, she thinks she's somebody else, ranging from Napoleon, football icon Diego Maradona to the holiday character Sinterklaas. Loedertje is a bitchy Siamese cat. The most recognizable pet is a fat, red cat, whose name Edgar Allan Poes (a pun on U.S. poet Edgar Allan Poe and the Dutch word 'poes' for 'pussycat') is hardly ever mentioned. In general, he is referred to as "De Rode Kater" ("The Red Cat") or "De-Je-Weet-Wel-Kater' ("The You-Know-What-Cat"), referring to his castrated status. Whenever Jan Kruis was close to his deadline or suffering from writer's block, he created a full page in which the big red cat expresses his cynical and somewhat melancholic view on life. In several gags, he is lamenting on things that intrigue him, while referring to a personal tragedy that befell him. This tragedy is strongly hinted to have been his castration, though this is never directly mentioned by the pondering cat. Over the years, The Red Cat has become iconic, also due to his extensive exposure in 'Jan, Jans en de Kinderen' merchandising. Like the human characters, the animals were also based on the actual pets of the Kruis household. The Tromp pets often act as commentators on the events in each gag. While they can hear and understand what humans say, the opposite isn't true.
Outside the Tromp household, the neighbor kid Jeroentje frequently drops by. Jeroentje's eyes are covered by his long hair. His odd way of greeting everybody ("Hoi, pipeloi") became a catchphrase. Catootje likes Jeroentje and wants to marry him when they grow up. Jeroentje has a tendency to make poop jokes that rhyme on sentences said by the others. Catootje considers them comedy gold, but the others don't share her opinion. Jeroentje's looks were based on the son of Kruis's colleague, Jan van der Voo. Less beloved is Harold, a rich, spoiled boy who moved into the same neighborhood. His luxurious life is often contrasted with the Tromp's middle-class lifestyle. Jans' cousin Hanna is another memorable character. She is a voluntary single mother, which often leads to arguments with grandpa Tromp, who dislikes her feminist opinions.
'Jan, Jans en de Kinderen'.
The comedy in 'Jan, Jans en de Kinderen' is gentle and cozy. The relatives often have small-minded discussions and arguments regarding the household, school, holidays and other events. But in the end, they are a warm, close-knit family, with tender feelings for each other. All their heartwarming antics are relatable to a Dutch middle-class family and Libelle's target audience of mothers with children in Karlijn and Catootje's age groups. While most events are realistic, the family's talking pets give the feature a more fantastic flavor. When re-reading 'Jan, Jans en de Kinderen', the series offers an interesting reflection on how Dutch society has evolved since 1970. Fashions change, while the family also went along with the times. Jans, at first a housewife, eventually also took a job. The family bought a car and various new trends and inventions, like video games, Internet, cell phones and smartphones entered the narratives.
While the series' mainstream appeal can be credited to its non-offensive, slice-of-life style of comedy, 'Jan, Jans en de Kinderen' never shied away from addressing controversial topics. The Tromps don't live in a "safe" world. Real-life issues like racism, homosexuality, contraception and women's inequality have inspired narratives. Grandfather Tromp's old-fashioned opinions are often contrasted with Jan and Jans' more modern viewpoints. Occasional nudity and parental conversations about sex are recurring topics too. But Kruis always found a way to address controversial topics in a respectful, tasteful and still amusing manner. From this perspective, 'Jan, Jans en de Kinderen' became a mirror of Dutch society, particularly its reputation as a "tolerant, model nation". When Gerrit de Jager and Wim Stevenhagen launched their comic series 'De Familie Doorzon' in 1980, they deliberately wanted to provide a more cynical, satirical answer to 'Jan, Jans en de Kinderen', by centering on a dysfunctional family that isn't tolerant of eccentricities (though De Jager did stress that he respected Kruis' comic).
'Jan, Jans en de Kinderen'. The red cat, from gag #1121.
Jan, Jans en de Kinderen: Success
Since its debut in 1970, 'Jan, Jans en de Kinderen' instantly caught on with readers. For additional exploitation of the series, Kruis teamed up with his friends Joop and Beppie Wiggers, who served as his "commercial right hands" and agents. In 1972, Joop Wiggers Produkties launched the successful series of 'Jan, Jans en de Kinderen' book collections. The series became a mainstream success, one of the best-selling Dutch series of all time. Together with his wife Beppie, Wiggers initiated a wide range of merchandising around the comic strip family, including towels, teapots, canisters, watches, T-shirts, eiderdowns, posters, socks, placemats, service, puzzles and perfumed toilet calendars, which especially propelled the family's big red cat into an instantly recognizable mascot. In the mid-1980s, an animated TV spin-off was made with Wiggers as producer and Wouter Stips as director. In 1985 and 1986, twenty episodes were broadcast by TROS. Two additional prototypes for an animated series were made with animator Gene Deitch, but these projects were canceled. In 1998, the Dutch postal services released a series of 'Jan, Jans en de Kinderen' stamps. In 2015, a theatrical musical premiered. The comic series has also been translated into German. In the Swiss youth magazine Spick, it ran as 'Familie Tromp', while in the German publication Favorit, readers knew it as 'Ulli, Ulla und die Kinder'. In the French-language edition of Tintin, it appeared under the title 'Jean, Jeanne et les Enfants'. Additional translations followed in Danish ('Birte Bent og Børnene'), Swedish ('Die Familie Svensson') and English ('Jack, Jacky and the Juniors'), but most international editions were limited to only the first album. As it turned out, the humor was too typically Dutch for an international audience.
'Jan, Jans en de Kinderen'. The introduction of Saint Pancake in gag #678.
The 'Jan, Jans en de Kinderen' comic has also had an impact on Dutch pop culture. In a 1986 gag, Catootje doesn't want to eat beans, and prefers pancakes. Grandpa Tromp sides with her, claiming that it's "the 29th of November: Saint Pancake's Day" and that it is a tradition to put a pancake on your head and greet the breadwinner of the family when he enters the room. Jans believes the hoax and so Catootje can still eat pancakes for dinner. When the father arrives home, he is startled to see his relatives, each with a pancake on their heads, wishing him a "happy and blessed St. Pancake." Readers enjoyed the idea so much that in some Dutch communities it became an actual annual event on 29 November, particularly in Rotterdam and Groningen. In 2015, Kruis created 'Het Evangelie van Sint Pannenkoek', an illustrated text story in which he invented a backstory to the legend. On 17 August 2016, an official National Committee Sint Pannekoek was founded, for which Kruis designed a special postcard and stamp. The cartoonist's grandson Bas Deelman is chairman of Sint-Pannekoek Groningen.
'Jan, Jans en de Kinderen'. Jan Kruis himself appeared in one of the early episodes, when he sold the Tromp family his antique auto, which has remained their car ever since.
Paintings
In addition to his weekly comic page, Kruis also did other work for Libelle, such as illustrations for text stories and painted portraits for Jojanneke Claassen's series 'Dubbelportretten'. This included portraits of Dutch celebrities like Simon Carmiggelt, Mies Bouwman, Willem Duys, Albert Mol, Toon Hermans, Major Bosshardt and Princess Christina with Jorge Guillermo. Kruis also painted an immense portrait of the Royal Family, on display in the town hall of Ameland since 1978. In 2013, portraits of Dutch jazz legends were on display at the Oude Binnenweg in Rotterdam, drawn by Kruis, Theo van den Boogaard, Wouter Tulp, Louise Lagerwij and Martin Valkhoff.
Studio Jan Kruis
In late 1998, Kruis announced his retirement and sold the rights to his characters to Libelle publisher VNU (whose assets were later acquired by Sanoma and then DPG Media). The book collections were also transferred to the new owners. The final 'Jan, Jans en de Kinderen' page by Kruis was number #1139. The production of the comic pages was transferred to Libelle's editorial offices in Hoofddorp under direction of former Joop Wiggers co-worker Mariken Swildens. In 1999, an in-house art studio was set up with Daan Jippes as art director. The latter oversaw the production of the comic during the first Studio Jan Kruis year. In the early stages of this new set-up, Jan Kruis acted as an advisor, but otherwise he was no longer actively involved in the production or daily business. Even though the series has continued in his spirit, Kruis often expressed discomfort with the new episodes, largely because the characters were so personally related to him and were now out of their hands.
The physical studio was dissolved in 2007, after which the comic has been produced by freelance writers and artists, still under editorship of Swildens. Artists who worked for the studio over the years have been Gerben Valkema, Peter Nuyten, Rob Phielix, Maarten Gerritsen, Michiel van de Vijver, Daniel van den Broek, Linda van Erve, and Irene Berbee. Among the many contributing scriptwriters were Wouter Stips, Jan Kruse, Peter Weijenberg, Eric Hercules, Herman Roozen, Stella de Kort, Piet Zeeman and Richard van Breukelen. Starting in 2013, all episodes were written by Peter Weijenberg until November 2020, when Barbara Stok was appointed the new writer.
Spin-offs of 'Jan, Jans en de Kinderen'
Since the transfer to VNU/Sanoma/DPG, several spin-off series of 'Jan, Jans en de Kinderen' have seen the light. In the early 2000s, toddlers' magazine Bobo ran 'Hoi Pipeloi', a spin-off picture story by Studio Jan Kruis starring the comic's kid characters Catootje and Jeroentje and the family pets. In 2007, a first spin-off centering on teenage daughter Karlijn ran in girls' magazine Tina, written by Maya Frijn and drawn by Michiel de Jong. In 2010, a newspaper strip with the family's red cat, 'De Rode Kater' (2010-2014), was produced by writer Eric Hercules and artist Daniel van den Broek for the free public transport newspaper Sp!ts. A more enduring spin-off was 'Karlijn, Catootje & de Ouders' (2011-2022), a second feature in Tina, this time centering on the children. Instead of Studio Jan Kruis, production of this spin-off was coordinated by the Tina editors, who worked with the scriptwriters Frank Jonker & Saskia Janssen, Ruud Straatman, Bas Schuddeboom, Jan Vijver, Herman Roozen and Carolijn Leisink, while the artwork was provided by Josep Nebot and Joan Espinach of Studio Comicup in Barcelona, Spain.
'Woutertje Pieterse'.
Post-retirement
Since his retirement, Kruis returned to drawing his Tromp family for two special albums for the Lepra Foundation, 'Jan, Jans en de Kinderen in Mozambique' (2001) and 'Jan, Jans en de Kinderen in Suriname' (2004). He was on the board of the Dutch Comics Museum in Groningen, which opened its doors in 2004. Kruis also made an illustrated adaptation of the Multatuli novel 'Woutertje Pieterse', published in two large format books in 2007 and 2010. In 2010, Kruis and Jan van der Voo were involved in the launch of online comic magazine Kwynk, initiated by John Croezen. Kwynk featured a selection of both artists' old Olidin work as well as a new strip by Jan Kruis, 'Kwynk en Zijn Zusje Annabel', which showed a strong resemblance to 'Jan, Jans en de Kinderen'.
'Kwynk' (Kwynk #3).
Graphic contributions
Kruis paid homage to Marten Toonder in the tribute book 'Was Tom Poes Maar Hier - Een Hommage aan Marten Toonder' (De Bezige Bij, 2006).
Recognition
For his entire body of work, Jan Kruis received the 1980 Stripschap Prize from Dutch comic appreciation society Het Stripschap. He was knighted on 27 April 1996, and on 26 February 2010, he became the first artist to receive the Marten Toonder Prize for his contributions to Dutch comics culture. In the Dutch city of Almere, a road was named after Jan Kruis, as part of the "Comic Heroes" district. On the occasion of the artist's 80th birthday in June 2013, a special 'Jan Kruis Glossy' was published by Personalia. It contained articles and testimonials about Kruis and his creations, tributes and other Kruis-related articles. Unfortunately, the editors of Libelle forbade the use of images of his signature creation 'Jan, Jans en de Kinderen'.
2016 cartoon by Jan Kruis, in which he reflected on his upcoming death. "Hello Dennis, sweet of you to call." "Yes, grandma is watching television, alone." "Ow, it's fine. In the end he didn't say that much anyway."
Death and legacy
On 19 January 2017, after a long illness, Jan Kruis passed away in his hometown Mantinge at the age of 83. His longtime business partner Joop Wiggers passed away a little over a week later, on 28 January 2017. During the final stages of his life, Kruis made a series of witty cartoons, which put his upcoming death into perspective. These were collected in a special edition of Stripglossy magazine in August 2017. To preserve Kruis' artistic legacy, a foundation called the Jan Kruis Collection was started by John Croezen, Andrea Kruis and Frans Le Roux. On 22 May 2019, a special Jan Kruis Museum devoted to the man's life and work, opened its doors in Orvelte, not far from the cartoonist's Mantinge home.
Kruis' daughter Andrea Kruis is also a comic artist and illustrator, known for her creations '15½' in Margriet (1990-2000), and 'Sammie & Muis' in Tina (2002-2008). Daughter Leontine Kruis has worked in horse education, and is a driving force behind the Jan Kruis Museum in Orvelte.
A teacher at the Minerva Art Academy for a couple of years in the late 1980s, Jan Kruis has been a mentor for illustrators and designers like Matty de Vries, Egbert Pikkemaat and Meinte Strikwerda.
Self-portrait of Jan Kruis, parodying Norman Rockwell's 'The Artist at Work'.