Drawn

The Art of William Steig is a new retrospective book about the life of the celebrated New Yorker cartoonist, children’s book creator (Doctor De Soto, Pete’s a Pizza, and Shrek), and fine artist. In addition to the book, The Jewish Museum in New York is celebrating his work with an exhibition of his drawings (November 4, 2007 through March 16, 2008).

Though younger generations may not be familiar with Steig’s work, he was one of the most prolific and influential cartoonists of all time. As a cartoonist for the New Yorker, Steig produced over 1600 drawings and 123 covers over the course of 73 years. He started working for the magazine in 1930 (when, astonishingly, they paid $40 per cartoon).

Steig’s energetic style – vibrant lines that make their characters dance and tremble across the page – and youthful humour was revolutionary at the time:

Steig ushered in a new era at the New Yorker by radically transforming the way cartoons were created at the magazine. Before his arrival cartoons relied heavily on gags – short comic – episodes – and were the result of the collaboration between writers, who supplied the ideas and the captions, and cartoonists who provided the illustrations. Steig became the first New Yorker cartoonist to create his own ideas, write the one-line captions, and make the drawings. ‘When I do cartoons,’ Steig later explained, ‘[pictures and words] happen at the same time, because the idea and the execution are one.’

The book features 128 color and 153 black-and-white illustrations, and a series of essays that delve deeply into the three streams of his career. It’s a gorgeous book – worthy of the treasure it carries.

More stuff:
The New Yorker to Shrek: The Art of William Steig – online feature

The Art of William Steig on Amazon