Jan van Haasteren (84) puzzles are more popular than ever

Now that we are all staying at home, the old-fashioned jigsaw puzzle is suddenly experiencing its heyday again. Thanks to his puzzles, artist Jan van Haasteren is at the height of his popularity at the age of 84.

Anyone who opened a site of a major internet seller in recent weeks found them under the heading ‘runners’ or ‘best sellers’. Jan van Haasteren’s jigsaw puzzles were also placed between the hand gel, the webcam and the fever thermometer. One of his permanent sales agents, René van der Zwet, records a turnover that easily doubles that of the Christmas season, which is by far the peak period in a normal year. “I’m 80 percent out of stock,” he says, with slight surprise in his voice.

Although manufacturer Jumbo does not share exact figures, it is clear: the jigsaw puzzle, for many a nostalgic phenomenon from the times of black and white television, has started a second youth. The explanation is simple, says artist Van Haasteren on the phone. “People are now at home because of that rotten virus and are looking for something to occupy themselves, to forget that misery for a while. Board games and computer games are also booming.”

In addition, says Van Haasteren immediately after: his puzzles immediately went well when he started his collaboration with the large game manufacturer 30 years ago. Modern, agitated people rediscovered the jigsaw puzzle as an anti-stress medicine. No longer with the traditional Swiss mountain landscape as the image, but especially the cartoonish drawings by Van Haasteren. “Puzzling would be old-fashioned, only for old people. I’ve seen that change. I now even get messages from teenagers who enjoy it a lot.”

But as popular as now? No, that has never happened. The artist celebrates his success these days in complete isolation in his home in Bergen. At 84, Van Haasteren, who has been a widower for several years, is in the middle of the corona risk group. A walk through the garden, a stroll to the bakery on the corner – that’s about it. “I avoid the supermarket. Fortunately, my daughter comes to bring me groceries.”

Nevertheless, little has changed in his daily rhythm. He has been working from home for half his life. “Beautiful place. I have seen my children grow up up close. Who can say that?” So the schedule remains the same these days: up early and then as soon as possible behind the drawing board, grinding on a new poster for the puzzles. “I do everything by hand. Sketching, drawing, coloring. I like those movements, scribbling with a pencil and then inking with a pen.”

He has not received an improved contract now that things are going so well, says Van Haasteren. Not necessary either. “I have a great contract, one for life. I can keep drawing.” His working method produces three new posters in poster format per year. These are then glued onto puzzle cardboard. “It’s really not possible anymore. It is about three months of full-time work per drawing.”

 

Rainbow decor

In order to meet the demand, a studio was already set up in 2013 in which two other artists also work under the name Jan van Haasteren. In this way production could be increased and continued when, as he himself puts it, ‘Jan van Haasteren no longer walks around on this globe’. A nice idea that puzzles with his cartoon characters will still appear by then? There is a brief silence on the other end of the line. “If puzzling doesn’t die out, I’ll be immortalized. I don’t feel it, but I’m proud of it now.”

The puzzle revival has already led to an official Dutch championship in the jigsaw arena. Teams of four pounce on a 1000 piece copy. Unfortunately postponed this year, but the memory of the previous edition is still alive. That set a record: in the preliminary round, a quartet managed to complete a puzzle for the first time in less than three quarters of an hour.

Van Haasteren had prepared a surprise puzzle for the Dutch National Championships. It has now been commercially published: 1000 pieces about the Eurovision Song Contest, aimed at the canceled edition in Rotterdam. Van Haasteren drew a stage with rainbow decor, smoke machines and a participant who sings so out of tune that the audience rushes to the exit in horror.

 

 

Marten Toonder

That’s the humor he loves: giving a familiar situation something absurd. “I like something that isn’t really possible. A hand shooting up from the bottom of a soccer field and indicating a banana. Or a hippo that bites a canoe in half during a safari trip.” Laughing: “Well, I’ve never seen that happen in real life.”

Drawing is his nature, says Van Haasteren. He did it almost before he could walk. “Drawing is part of the human being, just look at small children. Give them a sheet of paper and some crayons and it will happen naturally. Later, that instinct usually disappears, but I held onto it. I found peace in it. My parents sometimes sent me out: ‘That’s healthy for you.’ But I was usually back to my pencils very quickly.”

He actually wanted to be a painter as a teenager. His uncle was too. He made beautiful paintings, Jan thought, but his father forbade enrolling at the art academy. “It was the post-war years, wasn’t it? My father said I wouldn’t make a red cent. I chose the direction of publicity. There I learned to draw letters, how perspective worked. And I got anatomy too. Handy that knowledge, because if you want to draw a human body, it has to be somewhat correct.”

He drew as a permanent fixture in the studio of comic book great Marten Toonder. He asked him to accompany him when he left Amsterdam for Ireland. Van Haasteren hesitated, but stayed and started his own business. An important decision: there was room for his own ideas, such as the strip Baron van Tast. If you look at those drawings today, you will see the contours of the figures that now populate Van Haasteren’s puzzles.

That style is appreciated from beginners to experienced puzzlers. They search for Van Haasteren’s fixed elements: a shark fin, a red-faced Sinterklaas, a sprinting snail and – for the real connoisseur – a mini self-portrait of the artist.

An almost equally important part of the appeal: each piece shows a different detail from the drawing. That’s nice building. Addictive even, Van Haasteren hears from his fans, who send him letters and e-mails. “I hope they watch out for their night’s rest. People always seem to have a hard time with ‘that last bit before going to bed’. That is of course just not to be found.

 

Forget sadness for a while

He has been getting more mail in recent years. “I’ve had emails from people who have lost a loved one. They wrote: ‘The cheerfulness of the records allowed me to forget the sadness for a while.’ That makes me proud, yes.”

Finally, the question that has been floating above the conversation for an hour: does Jan van Haasteren actually puzzle himself? The answer follows immediately: “No. I already know what those plates will look like in the end. Another puzzle then? No, I don’t have the patience for that. I’d rather come up with something myself.”

https://www.parool.nl/nieuws/de-puzzels-van-jan-van-haasteren-84-zijn-populairder-dan-ooit~bec470be/?referer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.nl %2F

That’s the humor he loves: giving a familiar situation something absurd. “I like something that isn’t really possible. A hand shooting up from the bottom of a soccer field and indicating a banana. Or a hippo that bites a canoe in half during a safari trip.” Laughing: “Well, I’ve never seen that happen in real life.”

Drawing is his nature, says Van Haasteren. He did it almost before he could walk. “Drawing is part of the human being, just look at small children. Give them a sheet of paper and some crayons and it will happen naturally. Later, that instinct usually disappears, but I held onto it. I found peace in it. My parents sometimes sent me out: ‘That’s healthy for you.’ But I was usually back to my pencils very quickly.”

He actually wanted to be a painter as a teenager. His uncle was too. He made beautiful paintings, Jan thought, but his father forbade enrolling at the art academy. “It was the post-war years, wasn’t it? My father said I wouldn’t make a red cent. I chose the direction of publicity. There I learned to draw letters, how perspective worked. And I got anatomy too. Handy that knowledge, because if you want to draw a human body, it has to be somewhat correct.”

He drew as a permanent fixture in the studio of comic book great Marten Toonder. He asked him to accompany him when he left Amsterdam for Ireland. Van Haasteren hesitated, but stayed and started his own business. An important decision: there was room for his own ideas, such as the strip Baron van Tast. If you look at those drawings today, you will see the contours of the figures that now populate Van Haasteren’s puzzles.

That style is appreciated from beginners to experienced puzzlers. They search for Van Haasteren’s fixed elements: a shark fin, a red-faced Sinterklaas, a sprinting snail and – for the real connoisseur – a mini self-portrait of the artist.

An almost equally important part of the appeal: each piece shows a different detail from the drawing. That’s nice building. Addictive even, Van Haasteren hears from his fans, who send him letters and e-mails. “I hope they watch out for their night’s rest. People always seem to have a hard time with ‘that last bit before going to bed’. That is of course just not to be found.”

Forget sadness for a while

He has been getting more mail in recent years. “I’ve had emails from people who have lost a loved one. They wrote: ‘The cheerfulness of the records allowed me to forget the sadness for a while.’ That makes me proud, yes.”

Finally, the question that has been floating above the conversation for an hour: does Jan van Haasteren actually puzzle himself? The answer follows immediately: “No. I already know what those plates will look like in the end. Another puzzle then? No, I don’t have the patience for that. I’d rather come up with something myself.”

https://www.parool.nl/nieuws/de-puzzels-van-jan-van-haasteren-84-zijn-populairder-dan-ooit~bec470be/?referer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.nl %2F