Tuesday, March 06, 2007

 

Nate Collier on Cartooning

Nate Collier was a journeyman cartoonist, active mainly in the 1920s. He had work published in Judge and Life, plus many more small-time publications. He also had several syndicated features published, unfortunately all with smaller outfits who didn't have much luck with them. He was an outstanding cartoonist and was one of those guys who seemed to know everyone in the business.

Collier began writing a monthly column for Guy Lockwood's Art & Life magazine, a curious amalgam of art instruction, philosophy essays and nude photos, in 1924. His column covered cartooning news, advice to amateurs, and right in line with Lockwood's oddball vision, philosophical essays.

Reproduced below is one of his first columns, a particularly interesting one as he's slamming Cartoons magazine for publishing swiped material. I think Collier's columns are fascinating, but I realize some of it can be a little esoteric for the typical comic strip fan. If you folks would like to see more of Collier's Art & Life columns please post a comment below on the post. If I don't hear a reaction I'll assume this material isn't of interest and I'll not publish more of them.

Oh, and a reminder that you need to click on the images once or twice to see them at proper readable size.




Comments:
Great stuff. It has the insiders perspective that Cartoonists PROfiles used to have, with a bit more edge.
 
Very entertaining - Collier indeed seems to know all of his peers on a first-name basis.
 
Nate was my first cousin twice removed.

He was interested in the Collier family history, but died before he could complete the project.

I treasure his drawings of his parents' and grandparents' farms in Stephenson County, Illinois.

About a decade ago, I found a copy of the Illiterate Digest at Perkins Library of Duke University.

Now, so much more is available on the Internet because of people like you. Thank you so very much (and hope nobody cares that I've "lifted" as many pictures as possible for inclusion in the family history.
 
Hello, I'm a researcher at the University of Michigan. I'm searching for any available copyright information on Nate Collier cartoons, particular one from the May 8, 1927 issue of the Washington Post. I am able to send my own version to whomever is interested, and was hoping Mr. Holtz or one of his readers might know which direction to point me.

(The Post claims it does not own the image, FYI.)

Any help would be immensely appreciated!
 
Post a Comment

This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?

Subscribe to
Posts [Atom]