First And Last: W.B.Park
A series of quick looks at an artist’s very first New Yorker cartoon and their last
W.B. Park Born, 1936, Sanford, Florida. Died, January 2, 2021. New Yorker work: 1981 –2000. Cartoon Collections: Off The Leash (Topper, 1989); Far Off The Leash (Ravette, 1989)
I always liked Mr. Park’s work. It looked to be a sort of mash-up of Jack Ziegler‘s style and Gahan Wilson‘s. You can see it clearly in his very first New Yorker cartoon, published July 13, 1981 (below). His style, of course, was very much his own, with his signature unlike any other I can recall.
Below: his very last New Yorker cartoon (his 55th), published March 20, 2000 was less Ziegleresque (altho the attitude of the man in the gray flannel suit does recall a Ziegler “guy”…with just a bit of Joe Farris man on the street flavoring (jumping into cartoon dna can become an endless highway).
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Book On The Horizon: Patricia Marx And Roz Chast’s “Tired Town”
From Roaring Book Press this October, Tired Town, by Patricia Marx, with “pictures” by Roz Chast.
From the publisher: “This is the story of Nellie Bee Nightly, who is not tired at all. And swears she never will be!”
Ms. Marx began contributing to The New Yorker in 1989.
Ms. Chast began contributing to The New Yorker in 1978.