Trove of Richard Taylor New Yorker cartoons donated to Canadian Archives

The Library and National Archives of Canada has received a trove of 1,400 drawings and original cartoons, texts and photographs including many colour covers from the family of Canadian-born New Yorker cartoonist Richard Denison Taylor. It's part of the large number of donations that the archives receive each year, reflecting the cultural and social history of the country, according to a recent release.

Taylor, born in 1902 in Fort William (now part of Thunder Bay) and became known for his wry humour and whimsical drawings that featured prominently in the magazine in the '30s, '40s and up into the '60s. (His characters always seemed to have pointed noses.)

He got his early art training in Toronto under the tutelage of members of the Royal Canadian Academy. He continued more formal classes at Central Technical and, later, at the Ontario College of Art. His first published comic strip, entitled "Mystery Men", appeared in the Toronto Evening Telegram where it ran for a year. Early freelance work included illustrating the pages of the University of Toronto's renowned Goblin Magazine until it folded in 1929. (The picture is of Taylor posed in his studio.)

His drawings began to appear in the New Yorker on a regular basis in the mid-30s. In order to be closer to his American publishers, Taylor moved to Bethel, Connecticut, and shortly thereafter married Maxine McTavish, the daughter of Canadian Magazine art critic and editor Newton McTavish who was a family friend of William Lyon Mackenzie King.

Taylor's signature cartoon style [says a biography on the archive's website] was soon in evidence on the pages of many prominent American publications, including Collier's and the Saturday Evening Post. In addition to his humour work, Taylor also worked on a series of watercolours, prints and oils, based on surrealistic creatures and landscapes. An exhibition of works from this series was held in 1940 at the Walker Galleries and the following year at the Valentine Gallery, both in New York City. He also participated in several group shows, including an exhibition on surrealism at the Whitney Museum which later travelled internationally. Taylor continued both facets of his artwork over the next three decades. He expanded his market even further with regular contributions to Playboy and Esquire Magazines. Described by one reviewer as the Rubens of the New Yorker, he was always included in that magazine's enormously popular cartoon annuals, together with such cartooning legends as Peter Arno.

In 1947, the artist authored and illustrated a "how-to" book entitled Introduction to Cartooning which was published by Watson-Guptill Inc. in 1947. He stressed the necessity of honing skills in composition and life drawing before tackling a professional career. Taylor went on to illustrate and publish many of his own humour books. Titles included The Better Taylors (1944), One for the Road (1949), Fractured French (1950), Compound Fractured French (1951), Fall of the Sparrow (1951), By the Dawn's Ugly Light: A Pictorial Study of the Hangover (1953), Never Say Diet (1954), and Nothing Brightens the Garden like Primrose Pants (1955). As well, he published numerous written articles on his humourous observations of everday life.

Richard Taylor was one of the most successful cartoonists in a period which saw the resurgence of the art form, in part due to the prominence given to cartooning by the New Yorker. His more serious works are represented in collections at the Museum of Modern Art, Boston Museum of Fine Art, Albright Art Gallery of Buffalo and the New York Public Library. Taylor died in 1970.

Thumbnails of some of Taylor's work for the New Yorker can be seen at its online store.