First and Last…Nora Benjamin
Another in a Spill continuing series looking at a contributor’s very first New Yorker drawing and very last.
Today we take a look at Nora Benjamin’s First and Last.
Here’s her Spill A-Z:
Born, New York City, January 4, 1899. Died, Connecticut, September 8, 1988. New Yorker work: Five drawings between May 12, 1928 – April 12, 1930.
Ms. Benjamin’s first New Yorker drawing, published May 12, 1928:
and her last, published April 12, 1930:
According to Liza Donnelly’s must-have Very Funny Ladies: The New Yorker’s Women Cartoonists (Prometheus, 2022), Ms. Benjamin was the daughter of a steamship executive, she grew up to become part of the social artistic elite of Westport [Connecticut]…[she was] a well educated woman who honed her skills at the Art Students League under Boardman Robinson, Charles Locke, and Kimon Nicolaides. Her favorite medium was lithography, but she was also a prolific oil painter…”