Over the magazine’s almost 100 year history, there are a handful of New Yorker artists that, by drawing the way they do, noticeably impacted the art form. They brought a new style or approach, a unique sensibility. With the publication of his first cartoon in the magazine in 1931, James Thurber’s drawings were unlike anything readers had seen before. And no one draws like him still. Readers were unsure of his style, perplexed by its looseness. But what makes his line so great is that looseness, as if the idea came directly from his heart and intellect. And then there are the captions, which ring true and say so much with so little. The words dance with the art.
Thurber’s childhood home is in Columbus Ohio, which I visited today. Restored, it’s a historical site, and a thriving center for writing workshops and the annual Thurber Prize for American Humor. I’ve been there before, but this weekend I went with my husband to participate with Thurber House’s Humor Prize Awards Ceremony, given every year to a humor book. We were there to announce an additional annual prize, The Thurber Prize for American Cartoon Art. Michael and I have discussed the idea for years, and are so happy to be working with Thurber House to make it a reality, starting in 2024. I will explain more when we have details and there will be a website and written criteria in the fall.
Michael and I have both been fans of his work since we were kids—Michael in NJ and me in Washington, DC—and we are both cartoonists for The New Yorker in part because of Mr. Thurber.
Being at his boyhood home together today was a joy.
Thurber Prize For American Cartoon Art