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INK BLOTS
by ED McGEEAN
OBITUARIES
Roland Topor, a Polish-born Jewish
immigrant, died April 16, at the age of 59. Witty World's Joe Szabo wrote,
"his overworked heart couldn't keep pace with his genius." In
addition to cartooning and satirical art, he thrived on expressing himself
in every possible way, including writing, acting, designing, and directing
television, film and theatre.
Robert LaPalme, 89, died June 19 in
a Quebec hospital after undergoing hip surgery. Born in 1908, in Montreal,
he was a leading political cartoonist in French Canada and one of the country's
most internationally renowned cartoonists.
A longtime AAEC member, his work appeared in almost every
important French-language publication. In 1972 he was awarded the Order
of Canada.
He never formally studied art, having been refused entrance
to the Ecole des Beaux-Arts at age 17 because he lacked talent. In the mid-1930s,
he spent two years in New York, contributing to a variety of publications
and the Philadelphia Ledger. On returning to Canada, he also taught at Laval
University until 1949. His cartoons won him the 1952 National Newspaper
Award.
In 1960, he left his daily newspaper career and became
involved with organizing Montreal's International Salon of Caricature and
Cartoon, which soon became the largest cartoon competition in the world.
He was named artistic director of Expo 67 and was noted for spending time
to help others in his field. He was often called the ambassador of political
cartoonists.
Len Norris, Vancouver Sun cartoonist
died Aug. 12 in the Langley, British Columbia Memorial Hospital, from complications
resulting from surgery. He was 83.
Norris illustrated his view of the world on the Sun's editorial
pages for 38 years. It was a view of politicians in swallow tail coats,
inhabitants of the Victoria Conservative Club, odd looking children, old
time motor cars, comical gingerbread filigreed buildings. CAPSer Steve Greenberg
introduced me to his beautiful cartoons about six years ago, via a book
he donated to our auction. These are the type of cartoons, filled with detail,
that I love and which are rarely seen anymore.
Born in London, England in 1913, Norris came to Canada
with his family in 1926. Educated in Port Arthur, Ontario, he moved to Toronto
during the depression and loaded coal on the waterfront, until his talent
got him a job illustrating for the coal company.
After a brief stint at the Ontario College of Art, he worked
at an ad agency, joined the Royal Canadian Electrical and Mechanical Engineers,
spending the war in Ottawa editing a magazine called CAM.
After the war he worked on other magazines until he was
hired by the Sun, illustrating news stories and doing a comic strip called
"Filbert Phelps," before becoming an editorial cartoonist.
He was the recipient of the Bruce Hutchison Award for lifetime
achievement in journalism and in 1951 won the National Newspaper Award for
the best cartoonist in Canada. Norris retired at age 75, with his last original
cartoon appearing in the Sun on Dec. 24, 1988.
Norris enjoyed playing snooker with friends, he was a skilled
model ship builder and an avid golfer, said his son Stephen. He is survived
by his wife of 58 years, Marguerite; two sons, Stephen and John; his brother
Stan; five grandchildren and five great grandchildren.
Roy Lichtenstein, 73, a pioneer pop
artist best known for his oversized comic book panel paintings that were
swiped directly from the work of comic book cartoonists of an earlier era,
died Sept. 29 at New York University Medical Center. He had been hospitalized
for several weeks with an undisclosed illness and died of pneumonia, said
Arya Liberman, of Leo Castelli Gallery, his representative since 1962.
He was 38 when he painted "Look Mickey" in 1961,
his first picture to use comic material ("Mickey Mouse" and "Donald
Duck"). Another early comic painting in 1963 showed the face of a fighter
pilot with a shell exploding nearby, the balloon read, "Okay, hot-shot,
okay! I'm pouring!"
His cartoon images were dismissed by hostile critics as
jokey and empty-headed, but Lichtenstein was allowed a last laugh, when
in 1989 his cartoon painting "Torpedo...Los!" sold at Christie's
for a record $5.5 million.
The most notable feature of his cartoon paintings were
his bold black outlines and his use of the photoengraver's Benday dots.
He achieved this effect by laying a metal stencil over his canvas, spreading
paint with a roller and rubbing it in with a toothbrush for the large dot
effect.
Twice married, he is survived by his wife, Dorothy Herzka,
who he wed in 1968 and by his sons, David and Mitchell, from his first marriage.
©Ed McGeehan. All rights reserved. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited. | 
