Ij summer 2017 final

SUMMER ISSUE

the journal LevinLand’s

TECHNOLOGY AND ART: A marriage made in Heaven?

Laura Zarrin:

Children's book illustrator of the popular Wallace and Grace series and owner of illogical dog, Cody

Illustrators

INTERVIEW WITH:

Cartoonist/Illustrator

Mark Stamaty

Honoré Daumier

18th century French painter/ printmaker/caricaturist is more important than ever

THE POWER OF CARTOONISTS

Two Years after a terrorist attack that left 12 people dead at Charlie Hebdo, we explore the cartoonist as the voice of reason

The Illustrators Journal/Summer 2017 The Illustrators Journal is published by LevinLand Studio PUBLISHER Lon Levin ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER Gregg Masters

4-8 Interview

with Mark Stamaty

10-14 Interview with Kinuko Y. Craft Lon Levin

16-19 Interview with Laura Zarrin

20-21 Digital

Painting It's Not Too Late

by Lon Levin

22-24 Cartoon

Heroes Charlie Hebdo: 2 Years later

26-27 Arnold

Grump The Making of A Character

28-29 HonorĂŠ

Daumier The original cartoon satirist

S

Stamaty mark

Mark Alan Stamaty is an American cartoonist and

children's writer and illustrator. During the 1980s and 1990s, Stamaty's work appeared regularly in the Village Voice. He is the creator of the long-running comic strip Washingtoon, as well as the earlier comic strip MacDoodle Street, and the online strip Doodlennium for Slate magazine He is also a spot illustrator for Slate. He produced a monthly comic strip in the New York Times Book Review called "Boox" in 2001–2004 that made fun of publishing trends.

Stamaty has published several books, including collections of his strips and graphic novels for children, notably Alia's Mission: Saving the Books of Iraq(2004 and the cult classic Who Needs Donuts? (originally published in 1973 and reprinted by Random House in 2003) In 2012, Jeffrey Brown told USA Today about how Stamaty's Small in the Saddle had influenced his own career and about subsequently meeting the author.

Stamaty was commissioned to provide an illustration for the interior of retailer Sonos's new store in New York City's SoHo district, which opened in July 2016.

His late father, Stanley Stamaty, was a professional gag cartoonist, and his mother, Clara Gee Stamaty, is a commercial illustrator and fine artist. Stanley and Clara both attended the Art Academy of Cincinnati.

ause I pushed "Enter"of expecting it to go to the next paragraph and t the rise undergound com

Mark St

" For the most part, my parents gave me lots of encouragement and praise for my work. They were rarely critical, but there were times when they offered constructive criticism."

The difficulty I had with being the only child of two artist parents was that when I did artwork, some people would say "Your parents did it" or "Your parents helped you with it", which gave me some issues that lasted into some of my professional

years. But I got well beyond that eventually.

Are you keeping up with Trump?

I don't have a regular outlet for political cartoons these days. I do keep up with the news pretty well and I am horrified by Trump. Which I always was decades before he got elected and began disgracing the office of the presidency. I've kept personal journals all my adult life and I do vent my frustrations about Trump frequently on those pages.

However, I haven't been doing any Trump stuff

the first paragraph got posted instead. Mark's Maybe I can't makewor separate p mics motivated

tamaty for publication these days. If I got the right offer, I probably would. Or if I came up with something I felt pleased with that felt original, I would probably submit it to some venue. Presently, I'm working on a graphic novel, which will, I think, contain some of the visceral stress of the human condition, part of which is being engendered by our ghastly Oval Office occupant. I like to work intuitively, so this novel is finding out where it's going as it goes. I'm not sure how much it will seem to

specifically reflect our current zeitgeist.

Have you seen a change in the demand for your "voice"?

I'm not sure how much demand there is for my "voice." What I do know is that I continually pursue my "voice." I mentioned that I like to work intuitively. This has always been the sort of value or aim I hold most dear in my work. This, to me, is the notion of the mystery of life and the mystery within us and art and writing seek to go to that place within

us for... well, something beyond words. Something about Why Are We Here? What is this all about? The place where music and lovemaking and wandering happily or hungrily go to. The place where play goes to, where all of the arts come from and aim to go to. I want to go into my own internal mystery and discover something, surprise myself, BE surprised by what comes out of me or through me. I've spent a lot of time in museums. I love Matisse, Picasso, deChirico, Calder, Judy Pfaff, Miro, Diebenkorn, Van Gogh, deKooning, Pollock, Klee, Lipschitz, Red Grooms, Bonnard, Max Beckmann, Alphonso Ossorio, Richard Pousette-Dart, Motherwell, David Smith, Kenneth Snelson, Saul Steinberg, http://www.stamaty.engelbachdesign.com/images/books/covers/MacDoodle.jpg Frank Stella, Manet, Monet, Edward Hopper, David Hockney, etc., etc. My list goes on and on. And this is all about that mystery and things we feel and long for and ache for that are beyond the literal. I guess the word "spiritual" fits in here and that is what I aim to come from in myself and aim for in my work. So I'm happy to hear you say my work is as relevant now as it was 30 years ago.

I think that's true of artists whose work I love.

In 1980-81, I did a year of very experimental comic strips in the Village Voice called "CARRRTTTOOOOONNN", which came pretty nakedly from that place of the mystery within and may have mystified some of my readers, but it also got gratifying feedback from enough of them to strengthen my faith in that intuitive place within us. It also, by the way, helped me eventually to find true love (though that's a longer story I won't go into here.

I have to agree with Mark...his work is as or more relevant today as it was 30 yuears ago for sure!

K

KINUKO Y. CRAFT

Kinuko Yamabe Craft was born in Kanazawa, Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan on January 3, 1940.[She graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1964 from the Kanazawa College of Art. After graduating, she came to the United States in 1964 to study at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago where she continued her studies in design and illustration.

A majority of her earlier work was for the editorial and advertising market.

She has a passionate love of European fine art and draws on a deep knowledge of European art history in creating her work. She is most inspired by the works of Leonardo da Vinci, the Pre-Raphaelites, and Symbolist painters.1 Sometime in late March I was walking my dogs Atticus and April around the neighborhood.

My phone rang and I answered as the traffic on Olympic Blvd bustled around me. A friendly whispy voice introduce themselve as Kinuko Craft. I could barely hear her in the midst of traffic and my barking dogs and I asked her if I could call her later. "Oh I love dogs," she said,"what kind do you have?" "Goldens" I replied. "Ok that's great, call me back...Bye!" I got off the call and realized I had just meet one of the great illustrators of our time, someone who's work influenced a generation of illustrators and one of the key artists to grace the pages of Playboy, Time and other Iconic magazines. Someone whose work I greatly admired. I was stoked!

An hour later I called Kinuko and she picked up immediately. We actually started out talk about dogs and how much she loved them and she was delighted to hear I had two Goldens.

I had a list of questions I wanted to ask her but somewhere in the first few minutes, I ditch my questions and we just engaged in conversation. She told me she knew I had illustrated children's book and she wanted to tell me a story about her latest book, "Beauty and the Beast". I was all ears. "It took twelve years to get it published" she told me, "Now that Disney was coming out with the live-action movie the publisher (Harper Collins) was going to release it." I suddenly didn't feel so bad that my children's book about PT Barnum has been languishing for 8 or 9 years!

"It's funny how those things work, isn't it?" she said. There didn't seem to be any upset about it. We started to discuss her early start and career."I came to America to study at the Chicago Institute of Art in the late 60's. I loved going thru the front doors because it was a museum. There was a lot of French Impressionism.

Seeing these great works had a great impact on me

KINUKO Y. CRAFT

After a year and a half Kinuko got restless and decided she had had enough schooling. So she look for a job. "I didn't know about deadlines or what art directors wanted, but I was determined to get work. Through a series of introductions she found her way into Chicago "art studio system" at SVD Studio. There she came in contact with experienced illustrators and she soaked up all the information she could about how to be a professional illustrator.

"Playboy was the only thing really happening in Chicago that was creative. Only the best illustrators did work for them. My first job was doing shoe illustrations even though my work was inappropriate for the subject matter."

The studio's salesmen had the job of handing out new work to everyone including Joe Shuster of Superman fame. "He made more money

than the President" Kinuko told me. Of course that's not likely to happen these days.

It was a little tougher for Kinuko to make good money "being Asian and female" she made a point to me. But I did finally get an assigment for Playboy. It work out well for her as her work regularly appeared in Hugh Hefmer's pride and joy. I remeber seeing her work and being mystified by her technigue. Throughout the 70's, 80's, 90's and 2000's her work graced the pages of Playboy. "The reps worked out very well for me." An understatement if i ever heard one.

Kinuko believes art should be timeless. "When you look at artwork in person it should be alive." She still works on gessoed startmore art boards

O

KINUKO Y. CRAFT

"I've been to San Diego's Comicon

4 times and I can tell you most people came to see Nicholas Cage and Angelina Jolie,...not me!"

Kinuko does gallery work now which is both Fantastical and Romantic. "I do things that are not threatening, no ghosts or monsters! You have to play the game if you want to stay relevant. I have a Facebook page and followers. and I find Art is necessary to life." but I still do what moves me and I do it my way.

I couldn't agree with her more.

As we were winding down Kinuko suddenly relayed to me a story about meeting President Trump when he was still "the Donald".

It was in '83 or '84.She was at the top of the World Trade Center waiting for an elevator.

She had just attended a big party there. Suddenly Trump showed up with two bodyguards.

He stood there waiting without saying hello or even acknowledging her. The elevator arrived and he turned and said, this is ours and got in.

As the doors closed on her Kinuko thought "What an Asshole!"

O

10 questions with Laura

Zarrin

I came across Laura Zarrin's work quite by accident. I was delighted by her characters and her deft touch and sly sense of humor. I wanted to talk with her to get her take on her own work and influences. She was happy to oblige. - Editor Laura Zarrin spent her childhood in the St. Louis area exploring creeks, woods, and attic closets, with plenty of tree climbing and digging for artifacts in the backyard all in preparation for her future career as an archeologist. She never became one because she realized she's much happier drawing. Laura lives in Silicon Valley in California with her very logical husband and teen sons, and their illogical dog, Cody. (Courtesy of Bloomsbury)

When did you discover your ability to create and how did your parents and family respond to your creativity. Were they supportive?

I started drawing at a very young age and have the sketchbooks to prove it. My parents are both creative people, so they were very supportive.

My mom quilts and sews and my dad was an engineer and woodworker. I have his old notebooks from college complete with doodles in the margins.

How do you think your childhood home and surrounding affected your work? ( I was brought up in an entertainment family so much of what I create has an entertainment flair to it) I had a great childhood in the St. Louis area and though my immediate family was small,

I have a big, tight knit extended family there.

We did a lot of camping and road trips all over the US and parts of Canada. I feel like I was always exploring the neighborhood, campgrounds and forests and the country. That influence really took off when my aunt gave me a copy of Little House in the Big Woods for Christmas when I was seven. It got me hooked on the pioneers and native cultures and the art of Garth Williams. I’m pretty sure I checked out every book the library had on those subjects

Hows does your work take form? Do you use reference or do the characters come streaming out of your head? Do you think about proportions (head to body) eye size etc or is that already locked into your style.

A lot of what I draw comes right out of my head, but I often take a look at reference to make sure I have the basics down. Pinterest, Google, and kids’ clothing catalogs help a lot. I’m always playing with proportions, actions, line, etc. I’m not sure I have anything locked down. Artistic growth is a driving force with me, so I always assume things will keep changing. That said, I am feeling pretty comfortable about how I draw things now.

Do you do experimental work completely different from your published work?

It’s totally different. When I’m stressed or feeling an artistic block, I switch to painting abstracts and collage.

I love color and texture! Painting is absolute playtime for me. There’s no pressure to get it right. If it’s ugly, I just paint over it.

How long do you see yourself doing kid lit art? Is there a book in your head about Cody, the illogical dog?

I have no plans to stop. It’s hard work, but I love it! I have several Cody stories in the works, but nothing solid. He certainly gives me plenty of inspiration on a daily basis. I’m sure something will come out of

it. and filled sketchbooks with what I discovered for years. I still feel very connected to that time and it feeds my work.

How much time per day do you work? How much of that is spent on assignments and how much on self-generated projects. Anything new you've wanted to do for a while that you are excited about?

It varies. Lately, it’s been all day, seven days a week on assignments. That’s a good thing, but I’d love to find a bit more balance. When things aren’t so crazy, I try to spend a couple of hours on personal work everyday. I’m really excited/terrified about leaving my creative bubble when two of the books I’ve illustrated recently come out with Bloomsbury at the end of May. Wallace and Grace Take the Case and Wallace and Grace and the Cupcake Caper by Heather Alexander. The third book in the series, Wallace and Grace and the Lost Puppy comes out in September. I’m planning a book launch at my local kid’s bookstore. I also plan to do school visits. It’s terrifying exciting!

Do you do your work using traditional materials or do you do work digitally or both. How has working on the computer helped or hindered? Do you do any social media marketing?

I draw the sketches on paper with Blackwing pencils, scan them and digitally paint them in Clip Studio Pro and Photoshop. The computer is super helpful! I can edit and experiment quickly. I can switch out the textures easily, too. I definitely use social media to market my work. I use Instagram mostly plus Facebook and Twitter. I think it’s a great way to get my work out there to a bigger audience and I meet lots of lovely people along the way.Do you do experimental work completely different from your published work?

How did your sons reacted (if at all) to your being an artist? Do either of them have a leaning creatively?

In their words, they think “it’s cool” to have an artist mom. I taught their Art Vistas classes for 13 years, which made me pretty popular with their classmates.

They’re both really creative and into filmmaking. They drew a lot when they were younger, though not anymore. My oldest is quite a storyteller, so I bounce story plot lines off of him. He’s my story whisperer. My youngest is trying to teach me to be a better photographer.

How long did it take you to establish yourself in the kid lit area? Was it hard for you or did it happen very easily?

There’s a two part answer to that. When I first started right after college, things happened quickly.

I got a six book deal with a book packager I met at an SCBWI Illustrator’s Day, which was pretty awesome. When I had my boys, I took a ten plus year hiatus from working. Coming back after that has been a long, arduous journey of heartbreak and triumph, lol. Seriously, it was hard! It’s taken years to get my momentum in the business going. I feel like I’m just getting somewhere. Persistence has been key. That and a really supportive kid lit community.

How has your husband reacted to having an artist as a wife. Do you talk about your work or his together?

Haha! He’s gets endless amusement out of it.

He has an engineering background and is very logical. I have my own creative logic. He finds me very entertaining. He has a great business and marketing mind. I’m always talking to him about my business. He works from home too, so we’re always talking.

" I love color and texture! Painting is absolute playtime for me"

digital it's not too late

painting Technology and art: A marriage made in heaven?

Back in 1987 I was picking my 8 year old son up from a playdate at a friend's house. I stumbled into the father's private art studio and encountered a large Mac Classic . The father was a well-known musician and he welcomed me in. The computer was tethered to a huge Electrohome Color Monitor. On screen was a colorful piece of photoart. I walked over to the monitor and stared , then asked what I was looking at. I'd never seen a color monitor and the idea that you could create artwork in full color was stunning.

Fast forward to 2017 and if you're a designer or illustrator and you're not using a computer to create, paint, draw or render artwork then you might find yourself sitting on the sidelines kicking yourself.

Some of the most creative artists in the world work in the gaming industry and almost every

thing created in that arena is computer-based, whether it's a 3D application, Painter, Corel or for diehards like me, Photoshop. 30 years ago I felt like a caveman discovering fire for the first time.

I quickly got myself outfitted with the best computer setup I could afford and started to teach myself how to use it. I knew that my life and artwork was about to change forever.

l

g

Illustration by Ludrovan Lazlo

Some of the most creative artists in the world work in the gaming industry and almost every other area where art is created. The line between handrawn and digitally manipulated is blurring fast.

It has a unique paper to digital workflow, a choice of pens and ways of working, plus an innovative connectivity feature that allows you to share and export your creations with ease.

Leading designers and illustrators have been trialling the new Wacom Intuos Pro Paper Edition, which lets you draw digitally as with previous models – and on paper with the results also appearing on screen for use in the likes of Illustrator or Photoshop. The tablet is available in medium and large sizes.

I use digital media to control the outcome of my work I either sketch directly on screen or on paper then scan the image into my computer. I am a veteran Photoshop user so that is my go to app. Sometimes I'll start with Illustrator so I can get precision linework which I then "rough up" in photoshop. The possibilities are endless.

The tablet has a really slick feel, the surface is really nice. The pen is a great improvement and the power adaptor is much better – the future is here and it's time to adapt.

Illustration by Lon Levin

Wacom’s new Intuos Pro Paper Edition, a pen and touch tablet that brings a wealth of new features and benefits to artists, designers and photographers, including some you’ll never have expected.

Source: Digital Arts/ Illustrators Journal Senior Editor Lon Levin

Illustration by Keith Donald

Cartoon Heroes *At 11:30 local time (10:30 GMT) on Wednesday January 7,2015, a black Citroen C3 drove up to the Charlie Hebdo

building in Rue Nicolas-Appert. Two masked gunmen, dressed in black and armed with Kalashnikov assault rifles got out and approached the offices.They burst into number 6, Rue Nicolas-Appert, before realising they had the wrong

address. They then moved down the street to number 10 - where the Charlie Hebdo offices are on the second floor. Once inside, the men - now known to be brothers Cherif and Said Kouachi - asked maintenance staff in reception where the magazine's offices were, before shooting dead caretaker Frederic Boisseau.

One of the magazine's cartoonists, Corinne Rey, described how she had just returned to the building after picking up her daughter from day care when the gunmen threatened her, forcing her to enter the code for the keypad entry to the newsroom on the second floor - where a weekly editorial meeting was taking place.

The men opened fire and killed the editor's police bodyguard, Franck Brinsolaro, before asking for editor Stephane

Charbonnier, known as Charb, and other four cartoonists by name and killing them, along with three other editorial staff and a guest attending the meeting. Witnesses said they had heard the gunmen shouting "We have avenged the Prophet Muhammad" and "God is Great" in Arabic while calling out the names of the journalists.

*As reported by the BBC

The tragedy that befell artists and workers at Charlie Hebdo was shocking to say the least. However it's not the first time cartoonists have angered a certain group or individual. That's not to diminish what happen but to highlight the strength and power political artists have, There are times when they weiled their pens and pencils like sparkling sabers.

In 1832, two years after King Louis Philippe famously abolished censorship of the press in France, Honore Daumier produced his famous pear-shaped caricature of Louis Philippe called "Gargantua." Daumier, his publisher, Philipon, and his printer were all indicted for "arousing hatred of and contempt of the King's government, and for offending the King's person."

Only Daumier went to prison.

Thomas Nast "Boss Tweed" (cartoon above) Source: Buzzfeed

Thomas Nast's depictions of Boss Tweed are justly credited with bringing him and his corrupt Tammany Hall cronies down. Tweed famously said, "I don't care a straw for your newspaper articles. My constituents can't read. But they can't help seeing them damn pictures.

"During World War I, no cartoonist exercised more influence than Louis Raemaekers of Holland. Charged with "endangering Dutch neutrality," his cartoons led the Germans to offer a 12,000 guilder reward for his capture, dead or alive. A German newspaper, summarizing the terms of peace Germany would exact after it won the war, declared that indemnity would be demanded for every one of Raemaekers' cartoons.

Example shown here: "The German Tango."

In recent times this New Yorker cover piece was just as controversial as any other cartoon ever published.

After the attack the response from the editor of Charlie Hebdo was to not back down, to keep publishing and to meet the ever growing demand for the magazine which had taken on a symbolic stance.

First it was 1 million copies. Then it was 3 million. Then 5 million. The publisher of Charlie Hebdo said it was printing a total of 7 million copies of the once-obscure French satirical magazine.

The new total reflected extraordinary demand for what had become known as the magazine's "survivors issue." It was produced in the days immediately following a terrorist attack at the magazine's office in Paris. The attackers were apparently motivated by the magazine's criticisms of Islam and depictions of the Prophet Mohammed.

"The Politics of Fear," The New Yorker (2008) In Barack Obama's first presidential campaign, The New Yorker featured a cover cartoon by Barry Blitt showing Barack and Michelle Obama dressed in terrorist garb (rifles on camouflage-covered shoulder and all) doing a fist-bump. Not only did thousands of agitated readers protest, cancel subscriptions, and otherwise complain, but the then-candidate for president took time out from an otherwise busy schedule to denounce the cartoon as offensive. In fact, as New Yorker editor David Remnick pointed out, "It's not a satire about Obama, it's a satire about the distortions and prejudices about him."

In the two years that has passed since the two Muslim brothers stormed its offices at 10 Rue Nicolas-Appert in the centre of Paris and massacred 12 people Charlie Hebdo is still at it, however the wrold's response to the increase of terrorist violence has taken a different tone.

Two years ago we were all Charlie Hebdo. Now our willingness to defend freedom of expression has been crushed again. Our brief flirtation with the value of freedom of speech has been replaced by a willingness to ban and condemn.

Not only in Europe but in countries all over the world including the United States. All too quickly, we have forgotten that the mere act of disagreeing with a sentiment does not necessitate its censorship.

It is our free press that differentiates us from the brutal dystopia that the instigators of the Charlie Hebdo attack yearned for. It is our willingness to question the norms of society, to poke fun at prevailing assumptions, and to tolerate sentiments we find unpalatable that prevents us from descending into barbarity.

What are we to make of the power of cartoons. Should To censor images, opinions and jokes we find offensive is to do the Kouachi brothers’ job for cartoonists back off or should they press on? them. "Je suis Charlie" must mean "Je suis toujours Sources: Buzzfeed, UK Telegraph Charlie".

The Making Of A

Character

Shortly after the Presidential election my wife, Ahavia and I sat down to our dinner and started our daily political discourse. Both of us were upset about the outcome of the America's future and what it meant to us. During this conversation we started to joke about what was going on and she suggested we come up with a character we then could use to voice our frustration. America still has free speechand we intended to use it and have fun while we did.

The results were immediate and the character we came up with would embody everything we felt about our new leader. That character's name is Arnold Grump, the supreme leader of Farmlands USA. Here is some of the artwork produced to date.

Daumier Honoré Daumier, in full Honoré-Victorin Daumier (born February 20/26, 1808, Marseille, France—died February 11, 1879, Valmondois), prolific French caricaturist, painter, and sculptor especially renowned for his cartoons and drawings satirizing 19th-century French politics and society. His paintings, though hardly known during his lifetime, helped introduce techniques of Impressionism into modern art.

WRITTEN BY: Lon Levin

I think it's safe to say there are many artists particularly poilitical cartoonists that find inspiration in Daumier's unique and groundbreaking approach to the issues of his time. He was corageous and ingenius in his scathing observations.

No one ws safe when he put pen to paper.

"Physically he was ugly, he had small but lively eyes and a large nose."

Daumier's heritage fostered a violent temperament, a generous and imaginative mind, and an easily aroused capacity for pity—all factored into his art. He grew up in a village a village in which samples of unique ancient sculptured reliefs—fierce primitive human heads—had been found. His grandfather and father both worked in Marseille as “glaziers” basically frame makers and decorative tableaux that they painted themselves. His godfather was a painter. When Daumier was seven, his father abandoned everything, went to Paris to seek his fortune as a poet. He was presented to the king, Louis XVIII, but his swift fall from favour—he was famous only for a fortnight—unbalanced him mentally.

He was confined for many years and died in the Charenton asylum.

Daumier received a typical lower middle-class education

Reference: Britannica/Jean Adhémar

which bored him. He wanted to draw, and his studies did not interest him. His family was able to place him with an old and fairly well-known artist, Alexandre Lenoir.

Lenoir, a student and friend of Jacques-Louis David, a leading classicist painter, was more an aesthetician than a painter. Daumier was the child of artists, so he benefitted from a more interesting artistic education than his contemporaries.

At the age of 13 his father’s breakdown forced Daumier to seek paying work. He first became a messenger boy for a bailiff and, from this experience, acquired his familiarity with the world of the lawcourts. He worked next as a bookseller’s clerk at the Palais-Royal. The Palais-Royal, with its arcades surrounding the garden, was one of the busiest spots in Paris, and there Daumier saw, parading before his employer’s window, all the characters of the Comédie humaine, about whom he would later talk with his friend Honoré de Balzac: not only men and women of fashion, intellectuals, and artists but also “captains of industry,” or swindlers, as they were commonly called— all of whom lent themselves to caricature.

Daumier’s development was thus complete at that moment when, about 1825–28, he decided to give up everything to embark on the artistic career of which he had dreamed so long. He was a young man of about 18 or 20.

In 1830 Daumier began his satirical work lampooning certain contemporary types with scuptures and lithographs. He enjoyed the company of uppercrust men and mainly associated with those on the left. It was at this time that Charles Philipon, a liberal journalist who had founded the opposition journal La Caricature, invited him to become a contributor.

Daumier would go on to create an avalanche of critical work directed at King Louis-Philippe. The King generally tolerated jokes at his expense, but Daumier's brilliance got under his skin. In 1832, he sentenced the rogue artist to six months in prison, Daumier spent two of them in the state prison and four in a mental hospital, the king apparently wanting to show that one had to be mad to oppose and caricature him.

After his release in February 1833, Daumier was never again indicted, even though in his cartoons he continued to attack a regime, a form of society, and a concept of life that he scorned, while at the same time creating unforgettable characters.

It is clear that Daumier's influence is in the art that takes on the hubris of polticos, celebrities and anyone who tries to "play" the public. He was perhaps the first artist who had an opinion, knew that there was power in his pen and was not afraid to use it.

Š2017 Lon Levin/LevinLand Studio All rights reserved. Contents cannot be reprinted or copied in any way without the expressed consent of the publisher