Some historical essays from the past week.
William Gropper: Social Justice Cartoonist
GROPPER, who was contributing to other radical magazines (like The Rebel Worker, The Morning Freiheit, and The Revolutionary Age) as well as mainstream magazines (The Bookman, The Dial, and Frank Harris’ New Pearson’s Magazine), married his second wife in 1924, and the two spent a year in Russia, where William Gropper was employed briefly by the All-Union Communist Party’s newspaper, Pravda.
In 1925, Gropper was hired by the New York World. And in 1926, he joined several alumni of The Masses and The Liberator to found The New Masses, to which he contributed regularly through the 1930s and 1940s. He also began doing book illustration, painting generally and painting murals particularly.
In his monthly Humor Times column R. C. Harvey profiles Wialliam Gropper.
Illustrating Poe
Edgar Allan Poe’s tales of horror and wonder have inspired the more morbid among us for generations, including some exceptional illustrators from days gone by.
Here, for your edification, are fascinating Poe illustrations by five of the illustrators whose work appeared in historical editions of the writer’s work.
Jessica Farris, for Print Mag, selects five 19th and 20th Century illustrators to showcase.
A Complete List of King Features Syndicate Offerings in 1922
Robert Beerbohm, at his Platinum Era Facebook page, shares a ten page brochure.