After 50 years of drawing and publishing a half-dozen political cartoons a week, 52 weeks a year, through 11 presidential administrations, well, that will get you some enemies. Paul Conrad should know.
This staff cartoonist for the LA Times was honored to be put on Nixon's famed hate list. He has received death threats and political heat, but in the end, it was a corporate change in the newspaper business that shut him--and many other staff cartoonists--down, but not out.
According to Chris Lamb, author of Drawn to Extremes: The Use and Abuse of Editorial Cartoons (Columbia University Press, 2004), the state of the political cartoonist is dependent on the artists' adaptation to new media outlets:
The future of cartooning is tied to the future of newspapers. If either is going to survive, they’ll need to successfully make the transition to new media. The Internet makes it possible to see dozens of editorial cartoons every day on sites such as PoliticalCartoons.com, EditorialCartoonists.com and CagleCartoons.com. The Internet gives newspapers the opportunity to embrace television’s traditional strengths of strong graphics and instantaneous news, but the Internet is still a loss leader for newspapers.
From the documentary on Conrad by Independent Lens:
Brilliant, prolific and always unafraid, Paul Conrad has brought more than five decades’ worth of American presidents under the scrutiny of his pen. Beginning with Harry S. Truman, Conrad’s scathing artistic commentary has left no administration—or political issue—untouched. His cartoons in the Los Angeles Times commented on the Vietnam War, Watergate, the Cuban Missile Crisis, Reaganomics, the Monica Lewinsky scandal and the Iran Contra Affair, as well as more recent newsworthy items such as the Iraq war and the Patriot Act, to the delight and scorn of generations of readers. As fellow cartoonist Mike Keefe notes, “If you’re not pissing people off in your cartoons, you’re not doing the job.”
Pro and Conrad
The filmmakers’ site for PAUL CONRAD: Drawing Fire features a cartoon
gallery of the artist’s work, a ConSalon with companion essays on
related social and political issues and more.
Conrad Bronze Sculptures and Political Cartoons
Visit Paul Conrad’s home on the Web to view recent cartoons, read a
biography and learn more about his famed bronze sculptures of political
figures from Abe Lincoln to “Billary” Clinton.
Daryl Cagle’s Professional Cartoonists Index: Paul Conrad
See Conrad’s most recent cartoon for the Los Angeles Times syndicate, or search the archives by date to view his older works.
ComicsPage.com: Paul Conrad
Updated weekly, this online gallery showcases the latest Conrad cartoons.
The Library of Congress Information Bulletin: “Afflicting the Comfortable”
Find out more about Conrad’s 1999 talk at the Library of Congress, in
which he discussed his start in cartooning, his hatred of the “yuppie
generation” and more.
PlanetCartoonist.com: Paul Conrad
Read an interview with Conrad and find out about his thoughts on
drawing and ideas, the future of cartooning and television news.
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