biography of Rudolph DIRKS (1877-1968)

Birth place: Heide, Germany

Death place: New York

Addresses: NYC

Profession: Painter, cartoonist

Exhibited: Armory Show, 1913; Salons of Am.; WMAA, 1924; S.Indp.A., 1917-20, 1922; PAFA, 1925

Work: Ogunquit Mus. of Amer. Art

Comments: At age seventeen Dirks sold cartoons to Judge and Life magazines. The Katzenjammer Kids" first appeared in 1897. During the Spanish-Am. War the strip was discontinued while Dirks served as a corporal in the army. Later a battle over publication rights of the strip ensued. Dirks was associated with many artists' movements, including the Ash Can School. Together with Walt Kuhn and Yasuo Kuniyoshi, Dirks was one of the founders of the Ogunquit, Maine artists' colony. He was a friend of Ernest Hemingway. After his death his comic strip was continued by his son, John, under the title, "The Captain and the Kids."

Sources: Add'l info. courtesy of Selma Koss Holtz, Waban, Mass.; Brown, The Story of the Armory Show; Falk, Exh. Record Series.