The History of Graphic Design: 1890-1959

Rom Amazon.

History is a complex business. Fortunes boom and bust, empires wax and wane, and change whether social, political, or technological has its winners, its losers, its advocates, and its enemies. 

Through all the turbulent passage of time, graphic design with its vivid, neat synthesis of image and idea has distilled the spirit of each age.

"History of Press Graphics, 1819-1921"

From Amazon.

In today’s world of instant snapshots, 24-hour news, and round-the-clock connectivity, an illustrated press where the images are as important as the text has become an increasingly rare art form. 

This far-reaching compendium celebrates the golden age of graphic journalism as a distinct and unique genre and a laboratory for developing avant-garde aesthetics.

Spanning from 1819 to 1921, the collection covers a broad range of news graphics and political and satirical cartoons. 

David Horsey on the dying breed of editorial cartoonists

From The Seattle Times.

Political cartoonists took up their pens to offend the powerful and defend the downtrodden as soon as the first publishers began hand-cranking newspapers through their printing presses in the 18th century. 

Benjamin Franklin created his own political art to fire up the American Revolution. So did Paul Revere.

The Ottawa International Animation Festival

From the Festival's website.

The Ottawa International Animation Festival will take place September 20 – 24, 2023.

Metroland newspaper group faces bankruptcy

From The Globe and Mail.

Toronto Star publisher Nordstar Capital LP plans to put its regional newspaper business into bankruptcy last Friday, a move that will see more than 70 weekly papers converted into digital-only platforms and 605 jobs eliminated.

BBC Scotland removes cartoons of politicians from social media

From BBC News.

Caricature of Scottish Greens co-leader Lorna Slater

The assault on ‘nasty’ cartoonists and the censorship of their work continues unabated. The latest bowing to political pressure and culling of satirical commentary comes from BBC Scotland.

Winners of the European Cartoon Award 2023

 

Ben Jennings is the winner of the European Cartoon Award 2023, with a cartoon published by The Economist.

Canadian editorial cartoonists bid farewell to Brian Gable

Cartoon by Wes Tyrell

The Globe and Mail threw a retirement party in Toronto last Friday and presented Brian Gable with six cartoons of himself drawn by his confrères across the country.

Brian Gable turns the page

From The Globe and Mail. 

"I was a Globe editorial cartoonist for 35 years. Now, I turn the page to new adventures."

Finalists of the European Cartoon Award 2023

On September 14, from the Beeld & Geluid museum in The Hague, the European Cartoon Award (ECA) will celebrate its first ‘Cartoons Day’, a day entirely dedicated to editorial cartoons, made of panels, workshops that will culminate with the Award Ceremony of the European Cartoon Award 2023 and the opening of this year’s exhibition.

"Today's cartoonist" on the AAEC website

From the AAEC website.

UPDATE

You can see my profile here.

Globe and Mail cartoonist Brian Gable retires

 

After a long career as editorial cartoonist at The Globe and Mail, Brian Gable announced this morning his retirement to its' readers.

Here is a selection of some of his recent cartoons:

Award ceremony of the European Cartoon Award 2023

From Studio Europa Maastricht.

Join us for the award ceremony of the European Cartoon Award 2023 and the exhibition opening of the cartoons on ‘Cartoons Day’. 

This is a day dedicated to the ECA cartoonists, with panels, book presentations and the Award Ceremony of the European Cartoon Award 2023. 

It is possible to only attend the award ceremony and exhibition opening.

Winners of the 50th Salão Internacional de Humor de Piracicaba

From the Salão Internacional de Humor de Piracicaba's Facebook page.

The winners of the 50th Piracicaba International Humor Exhibition were announced on August 26 at the opening ceremony, held at Teatro do Engenho Central.

"Picturing the Game: An Illustrated Story of Hockey"

 I've just received a complimentary copy of "Picturing the Game" a door-stopper that contains celebrated illustrations of our national game.

Very happy that my modest contribution was included along such an array of wonderful cartoons.

The AAEC has a new website

From the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists.

Welcome to the newest iteration of the AAEC website. 

Here you can find the latest news on the “dying art” of political cartooning — sometimes it’s even good news! — along with profiles of those who still endeavor to create it, as well as connections to other cartoon, free speech and journalists’ rights groups. 

European Cartoon Award 2023 Shortlist

From European Cartoon Award.

We are proud to announce the shortlist for the European Cartoon Award 2023.

After reviewing 414 entries from 25 countries, a jury of five experts in editorial cartoons and journalism has selected the 16 best cartoons.

Winners of the 8th World Humor Awards

From World Humor Awards.

Here are all the prizes of the 8th edition of the World Humor Awards. The theme this year was "biodiversity".

"30 Years of Wallace & Gromit" Exhibition

From the Cartoon Museum.

The Cartoon Museum will be opening an exhibition this September with Aardman to celebrate 30 years of Wallace and Gromit and "TheWrongTrousers".

The museum will be displaying a treasure trove of Wallace and Gromit goodies, including storyboards, sketches, props and insight from the people that made the film. We will also be exploring the cartoons that inspired Nick Park and his team. 

The story behind Twitter's logo rebrand

From Mother Jones.

The new logo on the left and Monotype font on the right.

Yesterday, Twitter launched its logo rebrand, turning its famous bird logo into an “X.”

Since 2022, Elon Musk has said he hopes to make Twitter into a “super app” called X. 

In theory, this would mean the social network would become a catch-all for connecting us in a state of “unlimited interactivity—centered in audio, video, messaging, payments/banking,” as CEO Linda Yaccarino buzzworded. 

But when the new logo went live, users on Twitter (or X, whatever) noted an interesting facet of the new logo: It looks like shit.

Steve Breen Leaves The Union-Tribune

From The Daily Cartoonist.

Another Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist has lost his position with his newspaper.

Steve Breen, cartoonist for The San Diego Union-Tribune, will no longer be a regular presence at the newspaper. 

The steady decline of opinion pages in newspapers

From CTV News.

Cartoon by Scott Stantis

Even during a year of sobering economic news for media companies, the layoffs of three Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonists on a single day hit like a gut punch.

The firings of the cartoonists employed by the McClatchy newspaper chain last week were a stark reminder of how an influential art form is dying, part of a general trend away from opinion content in the struggling print industry.

“The Endless Imagination of Bob Staake”

From the Cape Cod Museum of Art.

Internationally known for his iconic New Yorker covers, best selling children's picture books, award winning illustrations and eclectic art, Bob Staake has always worn a variety of creative hats.

The demotion of political cartoons at the Washington Post

Dan Froomkin at Press Watch.

Cartoon by Pia Guerra and Ian Booothby

The Washington Post’s opinion pages were never particularly good, so the fact that they have devolved into a sad, toxic wasteland mostly inhabited by lazy neocons and right-wing reprobates is a shame, but not tragic.

What the Post opinion pages always excelled at, however, was political cartooning.

The McClatchy chain fires three editorial cartoonists

Mike Peterson in The Daily Cartoonist.

(Jack Ohman — Pulitzer Prize, 2016)

(Joel Pett — Pulitzer Prize, 2000)

(Kevin Siers — Pulitzer Prize, 2014)

The McClatchy chain of newspapers, which has been struggling in bankruptcy for more than three years, has decided to cut costs by eliminating three of the USA’s leading editorial cartoonists. 

You can click on the above links to view their Pulitzer entries. 

When cartoons upset Indian nationalists

From Chappatte's website. 

At the end of April, one of my cartoons published in German magazine Der Spiegel caused quite a stir in India.

Tweets from ministers, a media craze, an embarrassed German ambassador; a simple cartoon suddenly became a geopolitical affair.

But this furore was just part of a bigger story – the Modi government's growing intolerance of the country's humorists and cartoonists.

"Draw for Change!" Exhibition

From Draw for Change. 

The Comics Art Museum in Brussels will host the Draw For Change! exhibition from July 4 to August 28 and from October 21 to November 5, 2023.

Curated by Melanie Andreu, it presents the work of Amany Al-ali (Syria) , Doaa El-Adl (Egypt), Rachita Taneja (India), Victoria Lomasko (Russia), Mar Maremoto (Mexico) and Ann Telnaes (USA). the six cartoonists who star in the 6 episodes Draw For Change! documentary series.

Iranian cartoonist Atena Farghadani transferred to a Tehran hospital

From Cartoonist for Peace.

According to the latest information provided by her lawyer and shared by the Committee to Protect Journalists and Cartoonists Rights, Iranian cartoonist Atena Farghadani was admitted to intensive care on June 21, 2023 after being assaulted in prison. 

She had gone on a hunger strike because her food had been poisoned.

Pedro X. Molina, 2023 Havel Prize Laureate

From the Human Rights Foundation.

Nicaraguan political cartoonist Pedro X. Molina is one of the recipients of the 2023 Václav Havel International Prize for Creative Dissent.

This year’s laureates will be recognized during a ceremony on Wednesday, June 14, at the 2023 Oslo Freedom Forum (OFF) in Oslo, Norway. 

The Havel Prize ceremony will also be broadcast live at oslofreedomforum.com.

Reuben Award finalists in Editorial Cartooning

From the National Cartoonists Society.

The short list for the NCS Reubens are out, and Clay Bennett, Matt Davies and Ruben Bolling are the nominees for the Editorial Cartooning division.

Nancy Beiman Introduces "Fur Babies"

From Fur Babies

Veteran animator Nancy Beiman retired last Fall and then when Winter came, took up comic stripping.

Abecor wins the 2023 Robert Russell Courage in Cartooning Award

From Cartoonists Rights.

Abel Bellido Cordova (Abecor), of the Página Siete news service in Bolivia is the 2023 winner of the Robert Russell Courage in Cartooning Award. 

The End of The Nib

From The Nib. 

Illustration by Jim Rugg

Matt Bors writes:

After ten years of publishing, The Nib is going to close down this summer. 

The new issue of our magazine, the Future issue, will be our last. We will continue to publish online every weekday through August and then shut down.

My caricatures at the World Humor Awards

From World Humor Awards.

Here are my entries for the World Humor Awards, held in Italy since 2016.

Cartoonist Falls for Hoax

From CTV News.

Cartoon by Dana Summers, Triune Content Agency.

The Mid Hudson News reports that the story of homeless veterans being kicked out of hotels in Newburgh in order to take in migrants was a hoax.

Seven homeless men say they were part of a group of 15 who were supposed to act as vets to keep up the scheme. 

They claim they were offered $200 for their job, which none of them ever received

Supreme Court rules against Warhol Foundation

From The Washington Post.

Prince, photographed by Lynn Goldsmith in 1981

The Supreme Court on Thursday sided with a photographer who claimed the late Andy Warhol should have honored her copyright on a photo of the rock star Prince when creating an iconic artistic image of the late singer.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote for the court majority in the 7-2 decision, which legal experts said could carry far-reaching implications for copyright protection and so-called transformative art. 

The issue is the legal doctrine called “fair use,” which encourages artistic expression by allowing for the use of protected works without the original creator’s permission.

"Nineteenth-Century Women Illustrators and Cartoonists"

From Manchester University Press.

Nineteenth-Century Women Illustrators and Cartoonists provides an in-depth analysis of fifteen women illustrators of the later nineteenth and early twentieth centuries: Jemima Blackburn, Eleanor Vere Boyle, Marianne North, Amelia Francis Howard-Gibbon, Mary Ellen Edwards, Edith Hume, Alice Barber Stephens, Florence and Adelaide Claxton, Marie Duval, Amy Sawyer, Eleanor Fortescue Brickdale, Pamela Colman Smith and Olive Allen Biller. 

The House of Editorial Cartooning in Paris

This message is to give you, editorial cartoonists, an update on the project of the Maison du dessin de presse. 

In April 2023, the call for tenders for the Maison du dessin de presse project was published and will allow the selection of the architect who will develop the site.

Clay Bennett Wins the 2023 National Headliner Award

From The Daily Cartoonist. 

The Chattanooga Times Free Press cartoonist Clay Bennett has received the 2023 National Headliner Award for Editorial Cartoons.

Bennett’s work is published on the Chattanooga Times editorial page and on the Sunday Perspective section. His work is also syndicated internationally in about 100 newspapers through Counterpoint Syndication.

Crowdfunding campaign for "The Collected Doug Wright Volume 2"

The Doug Wright Awards is launching a crowdfunding campaign for The Collected Doug Wright Volume 2—the companion book to 2009’s much-loved Volume 1.

Designed and edited by Seth, it’s a 240-page hardcover featuring more than 300 Nipper strips (most of which haven’t been seen since their original publication), and covers the second half of Doug Wright’s career, from 1963 to 1980. 

Please help fund this tribute to one of Canada’s most beloved cartoonists! Full info at https://crowdfundr.com/dougwrightv2

Sam Gross Dies at 89

From Wikipedia.

Photo by Rick Meyerowitz

Famed National Lampoon and New Yorker cartoonist Sam Gross died May 6 at his home in Manhattan. He was 89.

Born in the Bronx on August 7, 1933, Gross was the son of Max and Sophie, who were Jewish immigrants to America.

Bruce McCall Dies at 87

William Grimes in The New York Times.

Bruce McCall, whose satirical illustrations for National Lampoon and The New Yorker conjured up a plutocratic dream world of luxury zeppelin travel, indoor golf courses and cars like the Bulgemobile Airdreme, died from Parkinson’s disease on Friday in the Bronx. He was 87.

Bruce MacKinnon wins National Newspaper Award 2022

From the NNA Twitter account.

Bruce MacKinnon of the Halifax Chronicle Herald was the winner in the Editorial Cartooning category at the 74th edition of the National Newspaper Awards for the eight time.

Serge Chapleau of La Presse, Montreal and Michael de Adder (Halifax Chronicle Herald / Hill Times / Washington Post) were the finalists.

Joel Pett Wins 2023 RFK Cartoon Award

From The Daily Cartoonist. 

Joel Pett of The Lexington Herald-Leader was named the winner of the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Cartoon Award for 2023.

It is the second time Joel took the honor, he had won the Award in 1999.

23rd World Press Freedom International Editorial Cartoon Competition (Results)

First Prize: Ali Miraee, USA

The jury, composed of five members of World Press Freedom Canada committee, met on April 11 to select the winners of the 23rd World Press Freedom International Editorial Cartoon Competition.

The theme, this year, was "Free speech or free for all".

The winners of the 19th annual Doug Wright Awards

From the Doug Wright Awards.

The 2023 Doug Wright Awards, hosted by Dustin Harbin, were held at the Arts & Letters club in Toronto

The winners are:

Treasures of comic strip art on "Sunday Morning"

From CBS News.

An original copy of "Buck Rogers in the 25th Century."

Bill Blackbeard was something of a superhero. During his lifetime, he collected and preserved 2.5 million ephemeral artifacts of comic strip art, including newspapers and Sunday color sections dating as far back as 1893. 

Treasures from his collection are now featured in a new exhibit, "Man Saves Comics," at the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum at Ohio State University. 

"CBS Sunday Morning" is broadcast on CBS beginning at 9:00 a.m. ET.

Interview with Posy Simmonds

From The Big Picture.

Posy Simmonds, The Guardian 2004, Literary Life 2

Born in 1945 in Berkshire, Posy Simmonds drew from an early age. 

After studying at the Sorbonne and Central School - now Central St Martins - respectively, she entered the world of print journalism, working as a cartoonist for several British newspapers from the late 60's onwards. 

"'You're Not A Real Parent Until..."

From Jason Chatfield's Facebook page.

This collection of delightful observations from award winning writers and cartoonists Scott Dooley and Jason Chatfield will reassure all parents that everything’s going to be totally fine. 

Whether it’s accepting dried vomit as a constant presence or helping them move into their first apartment, You’re not a real parent until... joyfully delves into what makes parenting the most rewarding, frustrating, hilarious, gross, and wouldn’t-change-it-for-the-world experience.

Mike Thompson becomes the Star Tribune editorial cartoonist

From the Star Tribune. 

Mike Thompson was hired as the new staff editorial cartoonist for the Minneapolis Star Tribune where he succeeds Steve Sack, who retired from the position last year.

He comes to Minneapolis by way of USA Today, where he was staff editorial cartoonist, and before that the Detroit Free Press, where he worked on staff for more than two decades.

2023 World Press Photo Contest

From World Press Photo.

This year’s World Press Photo Contest global winners highlight the climate crisis, community, war’s impact on civilians, and the importance of press photography around the world.

The four global winners were selected from 24 regional winners, which were chosen from more than 60,000 entries. 

The entries were judged first by six regional juries and all winners chosen by a global jury consisting of the regional jury chairs plus the global jury chair.