Fans of comic books, animation and black-and-white drawings will be excited about the exhibition by the Swiss comic book artist, Thomas Ott taking place this spring. This is the first of its kind. Cartoonmuseum Basel - Centre for Narrative Art in Basel has the honour of being the first ever museum to hold a retrospective of Thomas Ott's work.

Thomas Ott retrospective exhibition

Famous for his wordless comics, and particularly known for using the scratchboard medium, the name "From Scratch" is totally apt for this exhibition of his work stretching back though the decades of his illustrious career. At this exhibition, you can see originals from all his comic albums, animations, live-action films, objects and sketches.

Thomas Ott was born in 1966 in Zurich and studied graphic design at the Zurich School of Design. He had his work published in the comic magazine Strapazin while he was still a student. He also studied film at the Zurich University of the Arts, graduating in 2002. In 1994, he won the Audience Award at the Solothurn Film Festival, and in 2017 he became the first comic artist to receive the Swiss Grand Prix of Design. 

Image: © Thomas Ott, "Route 66", 2017, Collection Louis Vuitton, Paris

Thomas Ott, the most famous comic book author in German-speaking Switzerland

Thomas Ott worked as a freelance comic artist and illustrator after graduating from his graphic design degree and worked in Paris for eight years. He has since become the most internationally famous comics author in German-speaking Switzerland.

He widely uses the medium of scratchboard, in which he scratches out images with a craft knife. The use of a black background and white lines, inevitably helps portray a dark mood and an uneasy atmosphere. He is deeply inspired by film noir and stories that are desolate and often rather unsettling.

Recently, he created a visual diary of a journey along the most popular highway in America, Route 66, for the Louis Vuitton Travel Book Series. In 2022, he published a short story The Forest, which was well received publicly.

Events accompanying the Thomas Ott exhibition

Here are the events that accompany the exhibition:

Opening of the exhibition

• Friday, March 21, 2025
• 6.30pm-9pm

Curator-guided tour

• Saturday, March 22, 2025
• 2pm-3pm

Get tickets to the Thomas Ott exhibition: From Scratch 

Get your tickets in person at the Cartoonmuseum Basel – Centre for Narrative Art. If you're going with a group and would like a guided tour, then you're advised to get in touch with the museum in advance - or book a guided tour. Check out the Cartoonmuseum Basel - Centre for Narrative Art website for more details.

The museum is open from Tuesday to Sunday from 11am-5pm. The exhibition takes place during various public holidays, so take note of any special opening times that may occur.

Image: © Thomas Ott, «Construction 2», unpublished, 2018

Header image: © Thomas Ott, "Route 66", 2017, Collection Louis Vuitton, Paris