Albania.
Albania
1945
Albania has almost no comics tradition of its own: under the communist regime comics were dismissed as junk reading, and drawn humour grew instead in the satirical magazine Hosteni, founded in 1945.
Albanian caricature took shape in its pages through cartoonists such as Zef Bumçi, Shtjefën Palushi, Dhimitër Ligori and Bardhyl Fico. After communism the painter Shpend Bengu became one of the few comics authors working in Albania, while most Albanian-language comics have come from Kosovo.
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2
1945
1940s
Artists from Albania in the archive.
Comics from Albania in the archive.
Hosteni, the earliest comic from Albania in the archive.
The decade when the most new comics from Albania began.
stripa
Albania in 3 chapters
A short history you can leaf through. Click a page, use the arrow keys, or press Turn the page to read on.
Albania.
3 chapters
Chapter 1
1945
to 1984
Hosteni
1945
to 1984
Chapter 01
Hosteni
Hosteni was founded in 1945 as the country's only satire magazine and sold up to 30,000 copies in its heyday in the 1960s and 1970s. With comics frowned upon, its caricaturists, among them Zef Bumçi, Shtjefën Palushi, Dhimitër Ligori, Ilir Pojani and Bardhyl Fico, carried Albanian graphic humour.
1985
to 1995
Chapter 02
Exhibitions and emigration
In August 1985 a national caricature exhibition at the Gallery of Arts in Tirana marked Hosteni's 40th anniversary with 201 works by 31 artists. In the 1990s cartoonists such as Agim Sulaj, a Hosteni contributor, emigrated and went on to win international cartoon prizes.
1996
to today
Chapter 03
Comics after communism
In 1996 Shpend Bengu, then dean at the Academy of Fine Arts in Tirana, drafted a programme of comics courses, but it was lost when his office was destroyed in 1997. Working as a free artist, he wrote in 2001 that no comics were being published in Albania, while Hosteni carried on with four issues a year by 2010.
The comics to know
- Hosteni1945 · comics magazineVarious caricaturists and humour writers. Albania's satire magazine; edited for decades by Niko Nikolla.
- The Emigrant's Suitcase (Valixhja e emigrantit)1989Agim Sulaj. Cartoon that won a special prize at the Aydin Dogan International Cartoon Competition in Ankara in 1990.
- The CagecomicShpend Bengu. Comic about the situation of free intellectuals in Albania.
The people to know
- Zef BumçiVeteran Hosteni caricaturist and illustrator.
- Shtjefën Palushi1943 to 1985Shkodër caricaturist and humorist shown in international exhibitions.
- Dhimitër Ligori1934 to 2019Hosteni contributor for about seven decades.
- Bardhyl Fico1932 to 2015Hosteni caricaturist who later became a state secretary.
- Agim SulajBorn 1960Hosteni cartoonist turned internationally awarded satirical painter.
- Shpend BenguThe main comics author named in Albania itself.