Bill Peckmann &Books &Illustration 27 Dec 2011 06:35 am
Ralph Barton
- Last week, Bill Peckmann sent me scans from a book about artist, Ralph Barton by Bruce Kellner. I’d like to share some of that book with you. I don’t know much about Mr. Barton or his work, but some of his images are arresting. Here’s what Bill wrote:
- After looking at all of those perusable pages of Disney and EC comic books, I thought that maybe you’d like a change of pace and look at something else, namely the work of artist/caricaturist Ralph Barton.
This intro should have been written by Rowland Wilson, because Rowland was a huge fan of Barton’s and was kind enough to give me this book.
The title of the book is “The Last Dandy, Ralph Barton, American Artist, 1891-1931” by Bruce Keller, published 1991. It’s a very thorough biography of Ralph Barton, with terrific illustrations that show what a great artist he was in the 1920′s. During that time he appeared in The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, Harper’s Bazaar and Photoplay magazines.
the book’s front cover
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The title page
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the book’s back cover
on 27 Dec 2011 at 11:32 am 1.richard o'connor said …
Hopefully this post helps bring a great cartoonist’s work to broader attention. He’s another artist who’s shamefully unknown to many folks today.
Although a Rowland Wilson introduction would have been interesting, Updike was probably the most astute critic of his era and he had an impeccable eye for illustration. Hard to pass on that.
on 28 Dec 2011 at 5:20 am 2.animation institute said …
the art done this is really good !
on 29 Dec 2011 at 12:15 am 3.Eddie Fitzgerald said …
Barton’s terrific! He died much too young!
on 29 Dec 2011 at 5:01 pm 4.Tom Minton said …
Ralph Barton’s Matisse abstract room gag predates a similar one in the film “Casino Royale”, done 46 years later. Barton’s works better and did not involve wasting an acre of good lumber.
on 29 Dec 2011 at 9:23 pm 5.Carla Veldman said …
ooh, these are absolutely terrific!