Mary Petty's New Yorker Covers

 

Chris Ware, writing for The New Yorker, profiles Mary Petty (1899 - 1976), in his article The Mysterious Cover Artist Who Captured the Decline of the Rich. I think this may be behind a pay wall if you don't have a subscription, but I wanted to show some of her work and talk about her. 

Mary Dunn, who had no formal art training, had her first illustration in The New Yorker in 1926. She would have 219 cartoons published, as well as 38 covers. All of her work is to be lingered over. So many details to see.

She was married to fellow New Yorker cartoonist Alan Dunn, making them, as Michael Maslin points out, the first of the married New Yorker cartoonists.

"Petty’s covers are defined by specific people—indeed, by a specific family, the Peabodys, who are recognizable by their faces and their moneyed social position, as well as by a peculiar loneliness. The family most often appears ensconced in a large brownstone, and they’re led by the elderly dowager Mrs. Peabody, who clings to her wealth as modernity and irrelevance creep through the walls."

" ... Mrs. Peabody’s foil in the series is Fay, a servant girl who looks after her increasingly isolated matron, and whose own life seems to pass by just as invisibly. In 1948, Fay stands at the top of a shadowed staircase, listening to musicians play at a ball below. On December 31, 1949, she blows a toy trumpet through the burglar bars of a ground-floor window. In perhaps Petty’s most existential cover, Fay, while polishing a silver pitcher, is stopped by the fun-house reflection of her face. One looks for something to laugh at, but the longer one looks, the less funny it gets."

 

Mary Petty disappeared in December 1971. Her husband found her in a hospital. She had been physically assaulted and suffered severe brain damage. She would pass away in a nursing home in 1976.
 

PBS American Masters Documentary: Art Spiegelman: Disaster is My Muse

Via American Masters PBS:

"Explore the work of cartoonist Art Spiegelman and the impact of his Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic novel Maus, about his parents’ survival of the Holocaust.

"A defender of free speech, Spiegelman has spoken out as book bans spread across the country. This documentary originally aired on April 15th, 2025."

 

The Garden As of Mid-September

 

The garden as of mid-September. 

Not a lot to see. The squash, peppers and cucumbers are done and the tomatoes are on their last legs. There are still some lovely flowers, but the trees are going red beginning this week. The zinnias, petunias, cone flowers and the rose bush are all still blooming. The hummingbirds just left for the year. Fall is coming.

 

British Pathé: "Cartoonists Club" (1947)

 

A screen grab of a very serious looking Arthur Ferrier, whose work has been recently reprinted in a three-volume collection by Korero Press.

 

Via British Pathé:

At the White Swan public house in London, we see many cartoonists sketching, including 

 

"Joss of 'The Star', his colleague Norman Williams, Harold Hodges of 'The Express', Arthur Ferrier who created Sally and Dizzie in the 'News of the World', Rowland Davies of 'The Despatch' and Norman Pett, creator of Jane in 'The Mirror'. Trog of the 'Daily Mail' sits with 'Uncle' Illingworth. C/Us of Teddy Tail ('Spot') of the 'Daily Mail', Leo Dowd and Gall of the 'News of the World.'"

 

 

Anthony "Tony" D'Adamo 1931 - 2025

 

Tony D'Adamo shows some of his great original illustrations at a 2010 Berndt Toast Gang get together.

 

New York Newsday illustrator and fellow Berndt Toast Gang member Anthony "Tony" D'Adamo passed away on September 15, 2025. He was 94 years old. 

 

Tony had been a professional illustrator for over sixty years. He was born June 12, 1931. After earning an art degree at the School of Visual Arts, he worked Fiction House as a comic book artist. After a tour of duty in the army in Korea, he freelanced for many of the leading national magazines, including Women's Day, Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, Field and Stream and Children's Digest. Publishing Houses such as Random House, McGraw Hill, American Book Company and many others were also clients. For seventeen years he was senior illustrator for Educational Development Laboratories, a division of McGraw Hill. He created illustrations for over two hundred children's books and textbooks. Advertising clients included Coca Cola, Goodrich and IBM. Beginning in 1979, Tony was a staff illustrator for New York Newsday newspaper, creating art and cartoons for sixteen years. He received his first Publisher's Award in Graphic Arts from Newsday. After 1995, he continued freelancing for Prentice-Hall, Dover Publications and many others. 

 

Above: Art by Tony D'Adamo for Jumbo Comics #161 Space Scout Story Page 2, Fiction House, 1952.

 

Tony was always a terrific presence at the monthly Berndt Toast Gang lunches. He was always interested in talking about other artists and what his colleagues were up to. Many times, his wife Carmen accompanied him. I knew his work from Newsday, and I remember what a thrill it was to meet him for the first time way back at one of my first lunches in 2002, connecting that signature with the man. That was when he was "retired," and still very much in demand.

His interest in Long Island's history spawned the feature "Laws Long Ago." These cartoons were about interesting and odd laws from the Colonial era, and ran in Newsday. They were also featured in the book "Long Island, Our Story."

His self-portrait "Eye of the Beholder" at Fine Art America:

Harvey Aronson former senior editor at Newsday about the above:

"D’Adamo’s best wish is a prayerful resolution that this will be the year he parks himself before an easel and commits a self-portrait to canvas. He says he’s had it in mind for years to present to the world D’Adamo as seen by D’Adamo. But the artist’s tongue is firmly cheek-planted: That’s Tony D on the easel; who’s the guy with the brush?”

From his 2017 gallery show "A Potpourri of Paint, Pen and Pencil:"

From Clayton Funeral Home:

Visitation will be held on Friday, September 19th 2025 from 3:00 PM to 7:00 PM and on Saturday, September 20th 2025 from 10:00 AM to 10:30 AM at the Clayton Funeral Home, Inc. (25 Meadow Rd, Kings Park, NY 11754). A funeral service will be held on Saturday, September 20th 2025 at 11:00 AM at the St. Joseph's RC Church (59 Church St, Kings Park, NY 11754).

In lieu of flowers, and to honor this care, please consider making a donation to: The VA of Northport, https://www.va.gov or, The Visiting Nurses & Hospice Care in Northport, https://visitingnurseservice.org.

1942 American Artist Magazine: A Review of the National War Poster Competition

 

Matlack Price, American Artist's Art-in-War Editor, reviews the National War Poster Competition that, in 1942, was showing at the Museum of Modern Art in New York from November 25, 1942  to January 3, 1943. This December 1942 American Artist Magazine highlights the contest, presenting Jaro Fabry's ("It Won No Prize") entry on its cover. I can't decide if the editors are reprimanding the contest judges or just wanted a Fabry cover -- since Jaro Fabry was a well-known illustrator, and, as Price writes, most of the poster entries were from unknown artists.

"The contest should prove that the visual message is still the most potent medium for reaching the public. It should demonstrate that the overwhelming art resources can be applied usefully to winning the war."

Price delves into the categories and process of the contest. Sadly, since color printing was expensive, the posters are reproduced in black and white. I added a couple in color below. But regardless, some good images and some (sadly) pertinent issues are visualized. 

Here's the article from the December 1942 American Artist Magazine, which I bought last month at the Arundel, Maine flea market. It's still very nicely preserved. 

Here are a few of the entries, in color, pulled from the web:

More at the MOMA site. Here's a photo from the 1942 exhibition.

Steve Brodner on the Charlie Kirk Shooting and the Trump Administration's Response

I am appalled by the assassination this week. We need gun laws. Here's Steve Brodner's take on this week's Charlie Kirk shooting and the Trump administration's response. This is from his Greater Quiet substack. Please consider subscribing.

Mort Walker on Roy Lichtenstein

In honor of the 75th anniversary of Beetle Bailey, here's the time Lichtenstein was invited to a National Cartoonists Society meeting by Mort Walker. This is via Craig Yoe:

Related:

Russ Heath on Lichtenstein

 

-- Edited from a blog post of August 29, 2022.

"Adventures of the Range Rider" Illustrations by Lou Glanzman

 

Here are some of the drawings by Lou Glanzman for the Adventures of the Range Rider, a 1956 kids' book written by Felix Sutton. (I don't believe the cover is Glanzman's work.) This paperback was printed on newsprint and the interior is two-color. The black line drawings, with orange tones, looked pretty unique and the way that Glanzman treated each gatefold like a shot from a big screen Western movie is fun. 

"Lew" Glanzman (1922-2013) was an American painter and illustrator. He started out during the Golden Age of Comics drawing for Centaur Comics (Amazing Man, Blue Fire, etc.). And in the 1940s 

"... he also served as an illustrator on the Air Force magazine for the US Air Forces.

"Glanzman was additionally an illustrator for Life, Collier's, Seventeen and Time Magazine, standing out for his portraits. From the 1950s through the 1970s, he illustrated for several juvenile books, such as the 'Pippi Longstocking' and 'Tom Corbett' series. He also made illustrations for paperbacks, as well as magazines like Boy's Life, National Geographic and National Lampoon." - Lambiek

His work here is loose and confident, and the drawings show an ease with this world, as if he just sketched it in his sketchbook and handed them to the printer. The layout is cinematic, with grand vistas and sweeping action. Well worth a study. 

Here's the first of the three Range Rider stories.