Fritzi Harmsen van Beek

Frederike Martine ten Harmsen van der Beek (June 28, 1927 – April 4, 2009), known as Fritzi Harmsen van Beek, was a Dutch writer.

The daughter of the cartoonist Harmsen van der Beek, she became an illustrator and poet, receiving significant attention for her debut collection Geachte Muizenpoot en Achttien Andere Gedichten. Her work, which also included short stories, was noted for its grotesque and subversive elements.

Harmsen van der Beek resented the media's portrayal of her as a wild bohemian, and she retreated for the latter decades of her life to a small village in the far northeast of the Netherlands.

Early life A statue of Flipje, the subject of her father's best-known work, in Tiel, Netherlands. Frederike ten Harmsen van der Beek, known as a child by the nickname Fritzi, was born in 1927 in Blaricum, Netherlands, outside of Amsterdam.

Her father, Eelco Martinus ten Harmsen van der Beek, was the creator of the popular Dutch comic strip , and her mother, , was also an illustrator, working on comics and children's books.

She began helping her father with his work on the comic strip when she was only 4 years old.

Career

Illustration After her father died in 1953, Harmsen van der Beek finished the run of Flipje comics he had been working on. She then produced a new Flipje comic, but her work was considered not gentle enough for the publisher, and this comic was subsequently deemed "lost" and not republished until September 2015. She also contributed illustrations to the magazine Vrij Nederland

Personal life alt=The Jagtlust villa in Blaricum where Harmsen van Beek lived. The Jagtlust villa in Blaricum where Harmsen van Beek lived for many years. While working as a housekeeper and studying in France in her mid-20s, Harmsen van der Beek met Eric de Mareschal, a geology student. After she became pregnant, the two married under pressure from her father, and she gave birth to a son, Gilles (1951–2006). The marriage lasted only a year, ending in 1952, with the divorce becoming official in 1955. Her move was financed by family friends and fellow members of the Amsterdam art scene.

In 2018, she was the subject of a biography by the Dutch literary scholar Maaike Meijer.

Selected works

Poetry

Geachte Muizenpoot en achttien andere gedichten (poetry, 1965) Kus of ik schrijf (1975)

Prose

Wat knaagt? Verhalen (1968) Gewone Piet & Andere Piet (1969) Neerbraak. Verhalen (1969) Hoenderlust (1972)

Posthumous

In goed en kwaad. Verzameld werk (collected works, 2012)