Posted today are Garrett Price, David Preston, and John Norment‘s bios from the Westport Historical Society current exhibit, Cover Story: The New Yorker in Westport. My thanks to the Society for permission to post these wonderful pieces.
And…
The opening of the Westport show was attended by three of The New Yorker‘s most veteran artists: Dana Fradon, James Stevenson, and Frank Modell. By my rough calculation, they contributed a combined total of nearly 5000 cartoons to The New Yorker.
I usually don’t post personal email (other than those coming through the “Comments” area of the site), but I received an email from James Stevenson’s wife, Josie, the other day, with a few photographs attached from the Westport opening. She’s kindly agreed to share these with Ink Spill visitors. So here’s Josie’s email, followed by the photographs of Frank Modell and his dear friend, James Stevenson:
Greetings, Michael… I had hoped to meet you in Westport that cold Sunday a few weeks ago. We were meeting Frank [Modell] there who was so revved to be present promptly at noon [when the pre-opening reception began]. We had a very jolly time with Frank who looked like Julius Caesar in his special haircut…for the occasion? (“More like an oligarch,” said Frank’s friend, Flicker). Luckily, Frank was interviewed! [the Westport Historical Society videotaped interviews with friends, relatives and co-workers of the artists in the exhibit].
Left: Frank Modell, front and center speaking with one of James Geraghty’s children, Sarah Geraghty Herndon. Behind Mr. Modell, to the right is Barbara Nicholls, once an assistant to James Geraghty, and later a gallery owner specializing in New Yorker artists. (Mr. Modell was himself an assistant to Mr. Geraghty in the 1940s, before beginning his career as a contributing artist). Below is James Stevenson speaking with James Geraghty’s two children, James Jr., and Sarah Geraghty Herndon.
Further reading…here’s James Geraghty’s entry on Ink Spill’s “New Yorker Cartoonists A-Z”:
James Geraghty * (photo above, Geraghty in his office at The New Yorker, 25 West 43rd St., 1948. Used with permission of Sarah Geraghty Herndon). Born Spokane, Washington, 1904. died Venice, Florida, January, 1983. While not a cartoonist, Geraghty’s contribution to the art of the New Yorker was substantial. He contributed material to cartoonists before and during his association with The New Yorker, where he served as art editor from 1939 until 1973, when the title passed to Lee Lorenz. In Geraghty’s NYTs obit (Jan 20, 1983), William Shawn said: “Along with Harold Ross, who was the first editor of the magazine, Geraghty set the magazine’s comic art on its course and he helped determine the direction in which the comic art would go and is still going.”