The New Yorker covers: September 25, 1943

Merriam-Webster defines a garden as “a plot of ground where herbs, fruits, flowers, or vegetables are cultivated,” but the dictionary’s definitions also include this: “a container (such as a window box) planted with usually a variety of small plants.” Houseplants and cut flowers may not meet either definition, but I think they come close.

Helen E. Hokinson
(covers untitled until February 1993)

And now, a few words from . . . Thomas Cole

How I have walked . . . day after day, and all alone, to see if there was not something among the old things which was new!

"What is art but a way of seeing?" Saul Bellow

"Lobstering Off Black Spruce Ledge," 1939, N.C. Wyeth

Movie Posters, 1975: Two adults, please, and a large popcorn!

Today in the history of the American comic strip: August 15

American cartoonists and writers may not have invented the comic strip, but some argue that the comics, as we know them today, are an American creation. Clearly, the United States has played an outsize role in the development of this underappreciated art form.

8.15.1895: Clarence D. Russell, the creator of Pete the Tramp (1932-1963), is born in Buffalo, New York.

 

8.15.1920: Harrison Cady launches Peter Rabbit, a comic strip which he wrote and drew for 28 years.
 

8.15. 1979: Walter Berndt, who drew Smitty for 50 years, dies in Port Jefferson on Long Island, New York. The strip ran from 1922 to 1973.

8.15.1982: Ernie Bushmiller, the creator of Nancy, dies in Stamford, Connecticut, at 76. His comic remains in circulation.

8.15.1998: After a long struggle with Alzheimer's, Congresswoman Lacey Davenport, a character in Doonesbury, succumbs. 

Nancy

Most of the information listed here from one day to the next comes from two online sites -- Wikipedia, and Don Markstein's Toonopedia -- as well as 100 Years of American Newspaper Comics, edited by Maurice Horn. Note that my focus is on American newspaper comic strips (and the occasional foreign strip that gained popularity in the United States). Thus, comic books and exclusively online comics are not included here.

The New Yorker covers: March 11, 1933

Over the years, there have been many magazines whose covers have featured the work of highly talented artists and illustrators. But probably no magazine has had more varied and memorable covers, over a longer period of time, than The New Yorker, which was founded in 1925.

Rea Irvin
(covers untitled until February 1993)

And now, a few words from . . . Mahatma Gandhi

I’m a lover of my own liberty, and so I would do nothing to restrict yours. I simply want to please my own conscience, which is God.

"What is art but a way of seeing?" Saul Bellow

"The Maas at Dordrecht," ca. 1650, Aelbert Cuyp

Movie Posters, 1997: Two adults, please, and a large popcorn!