Riber Hansson 1939-2024

From Marco de Angelis' Facebook page.

Swedish cartoonist Riber Hansson has passed away. 

Born in 1939, he lived and worked in Stockholm and was cartoonist and illustrator at the newspaper Svenska Dagbladet from 1990 to 2000.

Ed Hall 1962-2024

Talented artist, editorial cartoonist, designer and teacher Ed Hall lost his battle to cancer last Sunday. 

He bravely battled the disease over the last 8 years, never letting it slow his creativity. 

Gerhard Gepp 1940-2024

Austrian cartoonist and painter Gerhard Gepp died in Tulln an der Donau on 26 March 2024, at the age of 83.

Gepp was born in 1940 on the western edge of Vienna in Pressbaum where he lived and worked until his death.

“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.

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.

Andy Warhol’s Image of Prince Before Supreme Court

From The Hollywood Reporter.

In a copyright battle with major implications, the justices heard arguments in a dispute over whether Andy Warhol’s alterations to a photograph of Prince should be considered a new work.

Marshall Arisman 1938-2022

From Wikipedia.

Photo by Dan Wagner

Born in Jamestown, New York, on October 14, 1938, illustrator, painter, storyteller, and educator Marshall Arisman passed away on April 22.

He studied advertising art at the Pratt Institute and received an Ida Gaskell Grant to travel and study in Europe after graduating in 1960. 

"Streamink" by Boligán

 From Amazon.

The 127 illustrations composing Streamink: Drawings about ourselves delve into the most diverse situations of everyday life and portrait the effects the digital world has had in our collective dynamics. 

Through Boligán’s drawings filled with sensibility and insurpassable graphic talent, we can reflect, understand — and also laugh — about the complexities that we confront in our coexistence with technology and its diverse manifestations.

Anita Kunz interview in the Daily Heller

 From the Daily Heller.

Ruby Bridges (b. 1954) “was 6 years old when she became the first African American child
to integrate an all-white public elementary school in the South.

In her forthcoming (November 8), poignant and most ambitious work to date, Original Sisters: Portraits of Tenacity and Courage (Pantheon Books), Kunz has identified 150 women from all ages, walks of life, races, creeds and accomplishments. 

They range from known to forgotten to misplaced, but all have one thing in common: remarkable achievements in all areas of life.

The full interview here.

Anita Kunz’s COVID-Induced Creative Outburst

 Françoise Mouly in The New Yorker.

“The Daughter of Man, by Renée Francoise Magritte.”

I was locked up for fifteen months,” the artist and illustrator Anita Kunz said, when reached in her native Toronto. 

“What else could I do but a painting a day?” 

Alan King 1947-2021

 

It is with great shock and sadness that I learned of the passing last night, at St. Michael’s hospital in Toronto, of Alan King, former editorial cartoonist at The Ottawa Citizen.

Born in 1947 in Belfast, Ireland, he immigrated, at the age of 2, with his family to Canada. He studied classical music as a child and at university.

Barry Blitt's "America in Line"

 From The New Yorker.

One does not envy the artist assigned to do a cover for a Presidential election. Four years ago, Barry Blitt aced the task, producing an image that, in a polarized country, could resonate with most any American. 

In The New Yorker’s latest issue, he pulls a similar trick, nodding only to what we already know: that many people are eager to vote, and that those who didn’t mail their ballots have often been spending hours in line to cast them. 

We recently talked to Blitt about how he’s preparing himself for the results.

Tales from the Vault: 40 Years / 40 Stories

From the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum.

(Top row, left to right)
1 – Rube Goldberg, Rube Goldberg Views the News for His Latest Invention, March 31, 1951.
2 – Richard F. Outcault, Around the World with the Yellow Kid: The Yellow Kid Invades Germany, 1897.
3 – Al Capp, Li’l Abner, October 21, 1946.
4 – Lyn Chevli and Joyce Farmer, Abortion Eve, 1973.
(Bottom row, left to right)
1 – Various artists, All-Negro Comics No. 1, June 1947.
2 – Lynn Johnston, For Better or For Worse, April 10, 1995.
3 – Victor F. Gillam, Phryne before the Chicago Tribunal, June 4, 1884.

The Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum has launched a new digital exhibition based on our 2017 exhibit, Tales from the Vault: 40 Years / 40 Stories, which celebrated the 40th anniversary of our founding.

Former Province Editorial Cartoonist Strikes Again

From CBC News.

When Vancouver artist Bob Krieger started painting the heroes of his youth 10 years ago, he never imagined how much the portraits would resonate today.

"Quentin Blake: We Live in Worrying Times" Exhibition

From Hastings Contemporary.

Quentin Blake returns to Hastings Contemporary with a startling showcase of new drawings, paintings, and a large-scale mural he has described as ‘his Guernica’, as raw, original and unlikely as anything he has produced in his eight decades of artistic creativity. 

Artist Profile, Cartoonist Jeff Stahler

From PBS station WOSU in Ohio, a profile of cartoonist Jeff Stahler, whose political humor spans 6 U.S. presidents.

Local Cartoonist Peter Waldner

Tara Smith in The Shelter Island Reporter.

Peter Waldner usually keeps a sketch pad within arm’s reach: in his car, on a bedside table, for whenever inspiration strikes.

Facebook Bans Artist For Transforming MAGA Hats

From Medium.

Hate Hat by Kate Kretz, 2019

It appears Facebook is once again censoring political artists from engaging in their First Amendment rights to criticize Hate Groups. 

This is no different than the time they blocked an anti-hate group cartoon by Pulitzer-Prize winning editorial cartoonist Clay Bennett. 

“Cabinet of Horrors,” Exhibition by Robbie Conald

From The New Yorker.

Not long ago, Donald Trump acquired a reproduction of a painting that appears on postcards in gift shops around the capital, depicting a younger, more slender version of himself, with an I-date-models grin, drinking Diet Coke at a private club with Abraham Lincoln, Richard Nixon, and a bunch of other Republican Presidents. I

Jeff Koons Found Guilty of Plagiarism

From artnetNews.

Fait d’Hiver by US artist Jeff Koons at Christie’s auction house is seen before going on sale for an estimated $4-6 million in New York on November 12, 2007. Photo by Emmanuel Dunand/AFP/Getty Images.

Jeff Koons is found guilty of plagiarism in Paris and ordered to pay $168,000 to the creator of an ad he appropriated

A French adman claims victory in his legal battle with the US artist over a surreal campaign featuring a rescue pig and freezing model.