A cartoon illustration of a confused looking Freddy Kreuger getting directions from a man and his dog on Elk Street. Caption reads "Freddy finds himself on the wrong street."
I have two bones to pick with this otherwise terrif piece — both concern “a thousand illustrations” found in this sentence:
“Steig began selling his art to publications including The New Yorker, to which he’d ultimately contribute more than a thousand illustrations.”
Bone #1: technically, “…more than a thousand…” is correct, but of the very few New Yorker cartoonists who have contributed 1000 or more cartoons to The New Yorker (approximately 20 something out of the approximately 850 cartoonists who have contributed since 1925), only four have contributed in the range of 2000: Steig, James Stevenson, Alan Dunn, and Lee Lorenz. A (perhaps weedsy) feat worth mentioning, at least here on the Spill.
Bone #2: cartoons are not illustrations, and illustrations are not cartoons. The New Yorker has had a 100 year practice of making sure the cartoons in the magazine do not refer to the accompanying text. Illustrations accompany and refer to accompanying text — cartoons do not. Cartoons stand alone — they are graphic islands.
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William Steig’s A-Z Entry:
William Steig (photo above) Born in Brooklyn, NY, Nov. 14, 1907, died in Boston, Mass., Oct. 3, 2003. In a New Yorker career that lasted well over half a century and a publishing history that contains more than a cart load of books, both children’s and otherwise, it’s impossible to sum up Steig’s influence here on Ink Spill. He was among the giants of the New Yorker cartoon world, along with James Thurber, Saul Steinberg, Charles Addams, Helen Hokinson and Peter Arno. Lee Lorenz’s World of William Steig (Artisan, 1998) is an excellent way to begin exploring Steig’s life and work. New Yorker work: 1930 -2003.
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A cartoon illustration of three fish in a motor boat holding their breath and riding around. Caption reads "They found they could hold their breath just long enough for a quick spin around the lake."
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