We’re sorry to report, via artist and archivist David Roach, the passing of South African born illustrator Cecil Vieweg, who died earlier this month. He was in his 80s.
Cecil had a highly successful career as an illustrator in the 1970s and 1980s, and found work performing all styles and techniques for all kinds of events and personalities. However, due to health problems, he ended his career as an illustrator in the 1990s, although he still made public appearances discussing his work into the 2010s.
His best known works are probably posters for films such as Play It Again, The Eagle Has Landed, The Molly McGuires, Oh Lucky Man!, and more.
“Cecil was one of the very top artists working in the UK in the 1970s, creating art for women’s magazines, book covers, move posters and lots more, in all sorts of genres,” David Roach notes. “… We spoke for years about putting together a book or an exhibition but it never quite happened though I do still hope to properly scan his art and get it out there for the world to see. Here’s to you, Cecil.”
The TiKiT Resources site devoted to PAN Paperback Books notes Cecil Vieweg graduated from the Johannesburg Art School with the highest honours, receiving the gold medal and was immediately hired by the Central Companies Advertising, J. Walter Thompson Advertising and Zyl Associates and Schulty, to serve as Artistic Director. He was also hired by other large companies such as Peugeot, Chrysler, and more.
“His genuine and passionate interest in photographic images also made him lean towards graphic design and so to carry out a career as an illustrator at international level he needed to be somewhere like London, New York or Los Angeles. He left Cape Town for London with his wife Nola and their children Reinout and Sonia, four and two years old, arrived in 1969 and settled in Richmond where he is still living and working.
“Cecil joined Artist Partners in a studio in the centre of Soho which was the ‘Mecca’ of most of the illustrators in Europe. His reputation and the recognition of his works were growing through a huge amount of work for publishers and advertising agencies concentrating on sports championships or major world events of the moment, such as the Olympic and Commonwealth Games, posters for the BBC, Sunday Independent and movies.”
TiKiT Resources further notes his works for the Readers Digest, The Sunday Telegraph, The Observer, for magazines or books can be numbered in the hundreds.
Magazine work included illustrations for Woman’s Own, Woman’s Realm, and The Journal, and he created many portraits, including a poster of Princess Anne on her horse, Doublet, when she won the European Championship painted for Sun Publications.
Our sympathies to family and friends at this time.
Here is a small gallery of his work, many of the images via David Roach.
Head downthetubes for…
• Bitácora de Corpus: Cecil Vieweg: La máquina de Felisberto
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John is the founder of downthetubes, launched in 1998. He is a comics and magazine editor, writer, and Press Officer for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He also runs Crucible Comic Press.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine and Overkill for Marvel UK, Babylon 5 Magazine, Star Trek Magazine, and its successor, Star Trek Explorer, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics; and has edited several comic collections and graphic novels, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”, and Hancock: The Lad Himself, by Stephen Walsh and Keith Page.
He’s the writer of comics such as Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs”, with Dave Hailwood.
Categories: Art and Illustration, downthetubes News, Features, Magazines, Obituaries, Other Worlds
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