'20.000 Leagues Under the Sea' (slide).
Born in Budapest, Antal Szemere worked at the Ministry of Heavy Industries as chief illustrator until 1956. The self-taught artist's first graphic works appeared on the pages and covers of Tábortüz, a magazine launched in 1957 that can be considered the Hungarian equivalent of the French Caméra.
'20.000 Leagues Under the Sea'.
Soon thereafter, Szemere published his most notable works, like the comic book adaptation of Jules Verne's '20.000 Leagues Under The Sea'. The drawings brought back the atmosphere of the original French woodcuts.
Cover illustrations for Tábortüz.
Szemere created comics between 1956 and 1961. During this period, he also produced his classic slides, most of which were based on Verne novels ('Captain Nemo', 'Robur the Conqueror'). He was greatly influenced by the works of Imre Sebök and the comics published in the French magazine Vaillant. This is particularly notable in Szemere's comics 'Apéolón' and 'A Végtelen Vándorai' ('The Errants of Infinity').
'Captain Nemo'.
Szemere worked together with the doyen of Hungarian comic book art, Ernö Zórád, at Ifjúsági Lapkiadó. They also illustrated quite a few slides together.
'The Errants of Infinity'.
In the 1960s, Szemere was employed as illustrator at Duclos, (a company that manufactured mining equipment. Later he produced drawings for Kiállításszervezo és Kivitelezo Vállalat (Exhibition Organizing - and Executing Company). He died in Budapest on 17 September 1999.
Antal Szemere.