Note: As we’re in the second week of the July double issue, there’s no new selection of cartoons to look at this Monday. The Monday Tilley Watch will return next week.
Fave Photo Of The Day: A Gathering OF Cartoonists
While we don’t have a new issue’s cartoons to look over today we do have this terrif group photo of cartoonists that came in to the Spill last night, courtesy of Jeremy Nguyen (thank you, Jeremy). — Many thanks as well to Zoe Si for permission to use the photo!
Pictured left to right: Zoe Si, Johnny DiNapoli, Adam Sacks, Akeem Roberts, Jeremy Nguyen, Soumya Dhulekar, Anjali Chandrashekar, Amy Kurzweil, Suerynn Lee, Asher Perlman, Avi Steinberg
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The New Yorker’s (Online Only) “Therapy Issue”
Another in a series of online only issues, with a fun cartoon section, introduced by The New Yorker‘s cartoon editor, Emma Allen. Using a decade by decade grid, one can see a sampling of therapy cartoons from the magazine’s past. Here’s what the page looks like:
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This recent article about the cartoonist, Alex S. Graham has caused me to think about his first and last New Yorker cartoons. To acquaint us a little with Mr. Graham, here’s his entry on the A-Z:
Alex S. Graham Born, Glasgow, Scotland, 1917; died, Dec.3, 1991. Graham was responsible for a single panel series called “The Eavesdropper” —a man overhears passersby conversation and imagines something (in a thought bubble) most likely entirely unrelated to the conversation. Very funny. New Yorker work: 15 drawings, 1953-1961. See his Wikipedia entry for more information.
His first New Yorker drawing appeared in 1953, in the issue of March 21. Here it is:
(The drawing was included in The New Yorker Album Of Drawings 1925-1975).
His last was in the issue of January 14, 1961:
There is often some mystery attached to why some cartoonists stop appearing in The New Yorker in the so-called prime of their life. Here’s a case where we can assume that Mr. Graham’s comic strip “Fred Basset” became his main professional concern. Go here for more on Mr. Graham (the piece includes this great photo of Graham and Charles Schulz in London, 1977):
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Two non-Graham related cartoonist notes. In that first issue of March 21, 1953, I came across this full page ad for Columbia Records — if I ever saw it before, the accompanying Charles Addams illustration didn’t register til now:
…and in Mr. Graham’s last New Yorker appearance, there is this now poignant (and quite beautiful) Alan Dunn cartoon showing movers collecting President Eisenhower’s stray golf balls as the White House is readied for the next President:
More A-Zs:
Alan Dunn (self portrait above from Meet the Artist) Born in Belmar, New Jersey, August 11, 1900, died in New York City, 1975. NYer work: 1926 – 1974 Key collections: Rejections (Knopf, 1931), Who’s Paying For This Cab? (Simon & Schuster, 1945), A Portfolio of Social Cartoons ( Simon & Schuster, 1968). One of the most published New Yorker cartoonists (1,906 cartoons) , Mr. Dunn was married to Mary Petty — together they lived and worked at 12 East 88th Street, where, according to the NYTs, Alan worked “seated in a small chair at a card table, drawing in charcoal and grease pencil.”
Charles Addams (Born in Westfield, New Jersey, January 7, 1912. Died September 29, 1988, New York City. New Yorker work: 1932 – 1988 * the New Yorker has published his work posthumously. One of the giants of The New Yorker’s stable of artists. Key cartoon collections: While all of Addams’ collections are worthwhile, here are three that are particular favorites; Homebodies (Simon & Schuster, 1954), The Groaning Board (Simon & Schuster, 1964), Creature Comforts (Simon & Schuster, 1981). In 1991 Knopf published The World of Chas Addams, a retrospective collection. A biography, Charles Addams: A Cartoonist’s Life, by Linda Davis, was published in 2006 by Random House. Visit the Addams Foundation website for far more information : charlesaddams.com/