ARTISTS - CARTOONISTS, ILLUSTRATORS & PHOTOGRAPHERS

PATHWAY OF THE ARTIST AS POISONED PENMAN:
Storyline: The ill-tempered illustrator is always one of the pre-eminent cartoonists of his time, but can never get past the contumely and bile that lies at the heart of his jaundiced jesting.
Al Capp (Alfred Caplin) (1909-1979) - American cartoonist. Outer: Of Jewish descent. Parents were Latvian immigrants. His father studied law, then became an unsuccessful industrial oil salesman with a penchant for cartooning, but little real sense of the world. Eldest of 4, younger brother Eliot became a cartoon story-boarder. Grew up in Bridgeport, Conn, Brooklyn and Boston, and started drawing cartoons in school. The popularity of his nude projections of his teacher gave him the impetus to be a cartoonist. Injured in a trolley car accident at 9, and lost his left leg. Physically active despite the handicap, hitchhiking to the South for several weeks on a whim when he was 15. Never graduated from high school, but was well-read and well-informed. Studied art at a number of schools, but always stalled paying them, which is why he left each one, doing odd jobs for their registration fee. Dark, heavyset, chain-smoker and teetotaler with a chronically upset stomach and a great booming voice. Studied landscape architecture at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts and Penn. Academy of Fine Arts then quit to become a ghost artist on Bud Fisher’s “Mutt and Jeff.” In 1932, he married Catherine Cameron, a fellow art student, 2 daughters from union. The same year he created “Mr. Gilfeather,” for the Associated Press, becoming the youngest syndicated cartoonist in the country, although was unhappy with it and left soon afterwards to continue his art studies. Moved to New York and was hired as an assistant to Ham Fisher, creator of “Joe Palooka,” a boxing strip, although the relationship twixt the 2 ultimately devolved into rancor and bitterness. While working for him, he saw a vaudeville show featuring a hillbilly act, which crystallized an idea he had long held. After introducing a prototype in the “Palooka” strip he quit and created the comic strip “Li’l Abner,” in 1934, with his wife initially drawing the backgrounds. Its host of characters from the mountain town of Dogpatch and its broad burlesques resonated with the public, and it became one of America’s most popular syndicated features. L’il Abner was a tall, idealized version of himself. Also conceived “Abbie & Slats,” and “Long Sam,” which he passed along to his brother, while 2 other cartoonists drew them. Supported liberal causes during the 1950s, but became conservative during the 1960s, as his work turned harsher and more bitter. Increasingly dyspeptic as he grew older, venomously satirizing left-wing public figures. In 1972, he pleaded guilty to sexual harassment charges of a Wisconsin coed. Became a recluse afterwards, and died from emphysema. Inner: Angry, venomous, feisty, despite a broad-humored gift to entertain. Strong-lined stylist, although all his voluptuous women looked the same. His stomach reflected his problems with power, while his loss of leg was his spiritual ungroundedness and lack of any true sense of the feminine. Disintegrating lifetime of allowing his innate bile to ultimately overwhelm him, while exhibiting the same failure to allow his ongoing love of craft to extend to other arenas of his life. Thomas Nast (1840-1902) - German/American cartoonist. Outer: Born into a military family, he spent his childhood in a German barracks, where his father was a musician with a Bavarian regiment band. 2 brothers died as babies. His mother came to America with him when he was 6, and his sire joined them later. A gift of crayons from a neighbor started his art career. Studied art at the National Academy of Design, and began working as a draftsman for Frank Leslie’s (Phil Graham) Illustrated Weekly in 1855. Short, roly-poly and feisty. Went to England to do the heavyweight championship bout between John Heenan (Floyd Patterson) and Tom Sayers (Joe Louis), then joined Guiseppe Garibaldi (Antonio Banderas), for The Illustrated London News, artistically mirroring his campaign to unite Italy, and popularizing it in the U.S. Returned home from Europe and married in 1861, then covered the Civil War for Harper’s Weekly, from a Republican pro-Union standpoint, with an emphasis on border state and southern battlefields. Later opposed the Reconstruction policies of Pres. Andrew Johnson (George Wallace). Produced over 2000 works for Harper’s, the first magazine to achieve national circulation, so that each mutually benefited from the other, in their muscular influence on national politics. Most of his graphics were excellent likenesses, filled to the brim with figures and notations, in the impossibly busy manner that was popular at the time. Also employed updated Shakespearean scenes as a means of storytelling, and usually worked from photographs. Held in high regard by the public, he wielded an incredible amount of power for a caricaturist, effectively helping to bring an end to the corrupt Boss Tweed (Steve Wynn) ring that dominated New York politics in the early 1870s. Turned down a huge bribe by the latter to desist, in recognition of the huge influence he had with ordinary Americans. Such was the effectiveness of his drawings, that a fleeing Tweed was nabbed by authorities in Spain, when they recognized him from one of his cartoons. Popularized the Democratic Party’s donkey in 1868, and invented the symbol of the elephant for the Republican Party in 1874. Also gave lasting visual ballast to the image of Santa Claus, publishing a Christman cartoon every year, and in 1885, establishing the latter’s home at the North Pole. His prime target, though, was the Democratic Party, which fed into his prejudices against the Irish, Catholics, the Church and southerners. Vigorously supported U.S. Grant (Omar Bradley) in his two successful presidential bids, while mercilessly picking apart Horace Greeley (Walter Lippmann), who was a caricaturist’s delight, with his various exaggerated features, and became a lifelong friend of the former, who felt he had been pivotal in putting him in the White House. Traveled and lectured, and had one last hurrah in 1884, in the slim margin of victory for Democrat Grover Cleveland (Jerry Brown/Joe Biden), thanks to his support of the latter’s civil service reform, as a Mugwump, or turncoat Republican. Fell into disagreement with his editors at the same time and ended his tenure with Harper’s, to the mutual loss of political importance of both, as the industrial world began to pass him by. Turned to book illustration and oil paintings, although his work in those media were far less memorable. Younger cartoonists soon supplanted him in their simpler styles, as his graphics began to look more and more dated, although he made one final bid for influence by taking over a failing magazine and renaming it Nast’s Weekly. It, however, soon folded, after his candidate of choice, Benjamin Harrison (Walter Mondale), failed to win a second term in 1892. Went on to lose most of his savings through the failure of his brokerage house, and became destitute. Eventually appointed consul general to Ecuador by Pres. Theodore Roosevelt (Kathleen Kennedy), but died soon after arriving there of yellow fever. Inner: Venomous, disagreeable and power hungry, although also a champion of human rights, not only for ex-slaves, but Asians and indigenous Americans as well. Nasty lifetime of wielding enormous power through his creations, including the ability to bring down corrupt institutions, while being unable to deal with the same corruption in his own personal character, which he projected onto social objects of his scorn. James Gillray (1756-1815) - English caricaturist. Outer: 3rd of 5 children of a soldier who lost his arm, became a pensioner, and eventually served as a sexton with the Moravian Brethren, an extreme Calvinist sect that fervently believed in the underlying depravity of humanity. Lost all his siblings before the age of 10, while also growing up in an extremely somber and disciplined household. His early training remains largely unrecorded, and he may have been largely self-taught. Apprenticed to a letter engraver, whose techniques greatly aided his later work, he then briefly joined a company of strolling players, and after many adventures, was admitted as a student to the Royal Academy Schools in London in 1778, which gave him the draftsmanship he needed. Gaunt, stooped, and careless about his person. Supported himself by engraving as well as etched caricatures done under various pen names. Found he was too idiosyncratic to pursue a straight artistic career, and soon focused on satire as his mainstay. By his mid-20s he was exclusively political in his renderings, freely ridiculing everyone from the royal family on down, while considerably raising the artistic level of his chosen genre, in most spectacularly innovative manner. Lived in the house of his publisher and printseller, Hannah Humphrey, although the true emotional or sexual nature of their relationship has never been revealed. At one point, he may have wanted to marry her, but then thought better of it, since they were so useful to one another financially, and she was also closer to his mother’s age than his own. His work was widely circulated, with the unfortunate George III (Jeffrey Archer) as a particular target for his venomous and often violent humor. Satirized most of the major political figures of his time, with no loyalty to either major political party, and enjoyed great popularity, thanks to a biting wit, and innate sense of the depravity of one and all, thanks to his upbringing. Held a particular loathing for the French Revolution, whose excesses exposed his own increasingly conservative nature, and neither the French, nor the emperor Napoleon, escaped his scathing pen. Also did a smattering of serious portraiture, and in all his works showed a marked ability to deftly capture the essence of his subject matter, be it social or political. By 1806, his eyesight began failing, just as several of his favorite subjects disappeared in death from the political scene. Spectacles proved no help, so that by 1809, his career was completely over. Fell into deep depression during this period and began drinking heavily, which brought on gout. Tried killing himself by jumping out an attic window above Humphrey’s shop, and eventually disintegrated into dementia and premature senility at the end of his life, spending his last 4 years as a dithering imbecile, under the care of his publisher. Inner: Shy, melancholic, and hypersensitive. Eager, feverish worker, filled with bile and ridicule, with a great thirst for revenge over all perceived enemies. Keen observer of life around him, both political and public, with the ability to extract its full absurdity. Bilious lifetime of experiencing great power through his mordant wit and supple etching stipple, only to eventually retreat and disappear inside himself, thanks to his ongoing blindness to his own egregious faults. Lorenzo Lotto (c1480-1556) - Italian artist. Outer: Nothing known of his early life or training. Strongly influenced by the works of Giovanni Bellini (Paul Cezanne). Led a highly eccentric and restless existence. Lived in numerous places around Italy, including Rome and Venice, but most of his work was done in the provinces, away from the competition of the time. Probably met Albrecht Durer (D.W. Griffith) in Venice, and from then on, his work had an affinity with Germanic painting. After living in Rome, he was equally influenced by Raphael (Pablo Picasso). Began with a somber palette, then ran the rainbow on it, ending with a violent, brilliant sense of coloration. Most of his work was of a religious, mystical nature, although he did perceptive portraiture later in his career. Considered one of the best of the second-rate artists of his time. Exhibited a difficult personality and was hard to get along with. In his old age, he was destitute and partially blind, and was forced to paint numbers on hospital beds. Retired to a monastery to escape both his debts and his critics, where he died. Inner: Nervous, irritable temperament. Difficulty in sustaining relationships or remaining long anywhere. Mysteriously lyrical and brilliant colorist, showing a much divided character, capable of producing great beauty and yet with an ugly, asocial persona. Hypersensitive loner, with the ability to see the natural in the divine. Self-defeating lifetime of much unhappiness because of his unintegrated character, causing him to ultimately lose his sight because he refused to see himself as his own worst ongoing problem, an ongoing dilemma of his.

*

PATHWAY OF THE ARTIST AS MORDANT SOCIAL COMMENTATOR:
Storyline: The quintessential geek turns his telling eye to skewering social commentary, so as not to look at himself with the same searing vision.
Robert Crumb (1943) - American cartoonist. Outer: Father was a brutally oppressive ex-marine, who tyrannized his family, breaking his son’s collarbone when he was 5. Mother became an amphetamine addict to keep her weight down to please her husband. His nightmare family looked all-American from the surface, but was knotted internally from the bullying of its head of house. 3 boys, 2 girls. His older brother Charles drove his younger siblings into drawing comic books as youths, serving as a subordinate tormenter to his sire’s tyranny. Charles never left home and eventually killed himself, while his younger brother Max, also an artist, became an ascetic monk. Did not fit in at all growing up, a cartoon caricature himself, with a large adam’s apple and thick glasses. Pale and frail, he was forced into himself through an alienating childhood, finding art and old popular music as his singular release. Sexually attracted to cartoon characters, and then to his own creations. Compulsive masturbator with a huge organ, and later a piggyback rider attracted to women with strong thighs and legs. Miserable in high school but he eventually got his revenge by using his enemies as prototypes for his unattractive caricatures. Began his career as a colorist for a greeting card company, and then moved to Haight-Ashbury in San Francisco, becoming the most prominent artist of the alternate culture of the 1960s, producing myriad drawings and comics, most notably Zap Comix, that mirrored the drug and sex subcultures of the time, while employing LSD as a liberating force to bring forth his strange interior. A strong social critic, with a brilliant sense of comic style, he based his work on acute draftsmanship and an unerring eye for caricature. Also an accomplished musician, piano, banjo player and guitarist, with his own band, as well as an abstract painter. Stopped doing drugs in the 1970s, and fell into debt to the IRS during this transition period. Misogynistic towards women in his drawings, showing an arrested adolescent vision of sexuality. In addition, extremely racist, despite a sensitivity towards social inequities. MarriedDana Morgan in his mid-20s, divorced in the late 1970s, one son from the union, Jesse, who also became an artist, although he left the family when his son was 5. Later married a painter and fellow underground cartoonist, Aline Kominsky, and the duo had daughter, Sophie, who became a skilled caricaturist. Fed up with fundamentalism, he and the whole family eventually moved to a medieval village near Montpellier in the south of France in the early 1990s in an unconscious attempt at reconnecting with his past. Wound up in a 13 room house, part of which dates back to the 11th century. He and his wife maintain an open marriage, with the latter taking on a printmaker, Christian Coudures, as a second husband, while he goes to Oregon once a year to rekindle an old flame. A documentary was made in 1994 of his dysfunctional family and himself, called Crumb, after which Charles committed suicide, having finally had his public say. Released his most ambitious project in 2009, on which he spent five years, an illustrated Book of Genesis, replete with his usual coterie of cartoon exaggerations, although the sexual content would be decidedly contained, and any sense of the saced missing entirely. Far more calm and peaceful as he has gotten older, as he keeps on truckin’, despite both fame and fortune. Inner: Very strong sexual inner life, including erotic fixations on cartoons, particularly his own. Alien consciousness with a great deal of integrity and satiric bite. Incapable of expressing affection, and unable to truly love, a casualty of his own volatile upbringing. Heavily damaged lifetime of sorting himself out from his brutal childhood and his self-defined grotesque homeland, while seeing little in America that does not deserve savage skewering. Honore Daumier (1808-1879) - French artist. Outer: From a family of Provencal tradespeople. Son of a glazier who wished to be a poet. Father moved his family to Paris in hopes of a literary career, but suffered extreme poverty instead, and eventually became mentally unbalanced and died in an insane asylum. Worked as a messenger for a law court, which later inspired his art, as did his stint as a bookseller’s clerk watching the parade of Paris before his astute eyes. Acquired a modest training in art, and began doing catchy lithographs, gradually becoming more emboldened with his political satires. Worked for Charles Philipon (Garry Trudeau) and both were sent briefly to prison for satirizing the newly crowned king, Louis Philippe (Boris Yeltsin), as swallowing the wealth of France. Began painting while in prison, and on his release, found himself a hero of sorts. In his late 30s, he married Marie Alexandrine Dassy, a young dressmaker who was also the daughter of a glazier, one son born several months before the union was made official. Did lithography, cartoons and sculptures for the first part of his career, and impressionist paintings in the later half. The very first of the impressionists, and a highly original painter, although it is the lithographs by which he is widely known, and which supported him his entire working life. His only really close friends were sculptors. Harbored strong republican sympathies, and was involved in leftist politics, joining the Paris Commune at the fall of the second Empire in 1871. Almost blind at the end of his life, he was finally stricken with paralysis, and died unnoticed, save for close friends. Inner: Quiet and observant, with a devastating sense of satire and a strong sympathy for the downtrodden. Unbalanced childhood, once again, thanks to a fantasizing father who could not find his way out of his own mind. Skewered and skewering lifetime of coming into the world on a warp, which divided him in twain twixt the observant sketcher and the immortal artist, without his realizing the two were one and the same. Charles-Nicholas Cochin II (1715-1790) - French cartoonist and engraver. Outer: Of Dutch descent on his mother’s side of the family. Son of an accomplished engraver of the same name, from whom he learned his trade. His two maternal aunts were also engravers and wed to saidsame. Studied at the Academie Royal and at 22, began working for the Menus Plaisirs du Roi, drawing all the major court celebrations of births, marriages and funerals. Made an associate member of the Academie Royal in his mid-20s, through his skills and excellent connections via his father. Went to Italy in his mid-30s, returned and became keeper of the king’s drawings. Lived in the Louvre and was given all the official engravings, doing mostly illustration work, vignettes and portraits. Exerted enormous influence on art via his writings and as a spokesman for the Academie. Often defended artists that the Salon attacked. After his mid-50s, his influence waned. Lost official favor when his longtime patron, a marquis, retired, and struggled financially his last years. Inner: Strongly opinionated, saw himself as an educator to the public. Viewed technique as more important than subject matter. Establishmentarian lifetime of exercising enormous artistic power over public taste, without the vision to complement it, which he would reverse in his next go-round.

*

PATHWAY OF THE ARTIST AS LIBERAL CARICATURIST:
Storyline: The syndicated satirist synthesizes a trenchant social eye with a gift for creating memorable comic characters to become the pre-eminent comic page editorialist of his times, while using his own privileged background as a springboard to lampoon those who misuse power and privilege and public trust.
Garry Trudeau (Garry P. Trudeau) (1948) - American cartoonist. Outer: Great-great grandfather was a caricaturist who was driven out of New York. 5 generations on his father’s side had been doctors. From a wealthy family, father was connected to a tuberculosis institute. Enjoyed a privileged upbringing, and had a strong interest in theater as a child. His parents divorced when he was 12. Educated at prep schools, but felt himself an outsider, developing an ulcer in reaction to them. Graduated from Yale, where he had coedited the humor magazine, and had begun drawing the “Doonesbury” comic strip, which was quickly picked up for syndication. Attended Yale Art School, but the immediate success of the strip allowed him to cartoon fulltime. Using a stable of collegiate characters from the 1960s, he has woven them into the issues of the times, touching on taboos and his own subjective gallery of despicable public figures, ranging in his subject matter from the specifically political to the widespread social, with a decidedly liberal bent, while willing to take on whatever offends or fascinates the public-at-large. Won a Pulitzer Prize in 1975. In his early 30s, he married TV journalist Jane Pauley, twins from union. Took an unprecedented 21 month sabbatical from the strip to do other projects, such as an anti-Reagan rap musical. Allowed the characters to grow older after the sabbatical, so that a second generation of children could complement their parents in their ongoing evolutions as reflections of social archetypes. His work would often be censored by newspaper editors, as well as put on editorial, rather than the comic’s page. Numerous collections have been published of his strip, while its content has remained at a fairly consistent trenchant level, reflecting his own ongoing liberal bias. Given access to soldiers wounded in the Iraq conflict by no less than the Pentagon, during the Iraq war, the strip was able to rise to a new level of urgency through it after the turn of the century. Inner: Perennial outsider who has nevertheless made himself a celebrity. Strongly opinionated, with a particular animus towards clueless Republicans. Social critic lifetime of playing with the repercussions of privilege and power through both his upbringing and his unusual position of being a four-paneled editorialist. Charles Philipon (1806-1862) - French journalist, caricaturist and lithographer. Outer: Father was a wallpaper merchant. Went to Paris as a teen, and studied with painter Antoine Gros (Andre Derain). As an admirer of English caricaturists, he soon abandoned painting for cartooning. Settled in Paris and began drawing caricatures for a living, showing a lively imagination, so that magazines became afraid of his reputation as an agitator. Along with a brother-in-law, he set up a highly successful dealership in engravings, and eventually had 20 presses working for him. Staunchly republican, he began the journal La Caricature, which employed the photographer Nadar (Tony Richardson). Within 4 years, 28 editions were seized and he the paper underwent 10 court trials. Finally imprisoned for mocking king Louis Philippe (Boris Yeltsin), he spent 13 months in a sanitarium, after having pleaded “mental debility,” which was accepted by the authorities, since they felt only a mental deficient would dare criticize the regime. Several years later, he did a classical cartoon of the fat king gradually turning into a pear. His use of caricatures in a journal was a novel idea, earlier they had been a one-sheet phenomena, but it was suppressed after a host of legal actions against it. Began Le Charivari afterwards, which would inspire the English humor magazine Punch. After the revolution of 1848, he started Le Journal pour rire, and employed 16 year old Gustav Dore (Tomi Ungerer) as a regular contributor, as well as Nadar. Also issued many occasional publications. Was godfather to many of France’s most notable caricaturists, as well as an important influence on lithography as a viable commercial, and artistic, medium. Died of hypertrophy of the heart. Inner: Highly imaginative, with the ability and energy to not only produce his own work, but encourage others as well. Good businessman and astonishingly prolific. Tall, bristling, with a passion for reform and endless energy. Lancing pen lifetime of giving artistic and journalistic vent to his highly liberal views without fearing the repercussions of his impaling wit. Don Marquis (1878-1937) - American writer. Outer: Father was a physician. Received a high School education, and became in serial order, a country school teacher, a clerk, a hay baler, a census taker for the Census Bureau and a part-time reporter for the Washington Times. Also an actor with a traveling troupe, before settling into a career as an editorial writer on the Atlanta Constitution. Joel Chandler Harris (Garrison Keillor) took an interest in him, and made him assistant editor of Uncle Remus’ Magazine. Married twice, very heavyset. Left for NYC in his mid-30s, where he worked for several newspapers, creating Archy and Mehitabel, a cockroach and a cat, with the former telling tales of the latter, by stepping down on lower case keys of the typewriter. Wrote humorous satire, prose and plays as well. Penniless and a hopeless cripple the last 6 years of his life. Died of a cerebral hemorrhage. Inner: Cynical, caustic and corrosive, and quite embittered, realizing his lasting legacy would be that of an articulate cockroach. Self-debilitating lifetime of experimenting with verbal satire to ease his trenchant interior before developing the artistic talents to complement them, which appear in later lives in this series, after first spinning back in time to integrate his mordant insides with his ability to do effective battle with the exterior world.

*

PATHWAY OF THE PORTRAITIST AS FAR TOO SENSITIVE AN EYE:
Storyline: The absolute outsider candidly documents society’s freaks and misfits, until overcome by her unerring attraction to sorrow, summarily exits this veil of tears, after earlier being far too protected from life’s horrors for a heart as open and vulnerable as hers.
Diane Arbus (Diane Nemerov) (1923-1971) - American photographer. Outer: Father owned a fur and women’s clothing store, Russek’s Fifth Avenue, founded by his father-in-law. Her older brother Howard Nemerov became America’s poet laureate in 1988, while her younger sister Renee Sparkia became a sculptor and designer. On retiring, her sire, David, began a second career as a successful painter. Had an affluent upbringing, as well as a staff of nannies and chauffeurs, but felt guilty about it, while their overprotectiveness made her fearful. Her artistry was encouraged by her father, although he also wanted her to be ‘normal,’ creating a dualistic relationship twixt the two. Went to private school, then studied fashion drawing, before working as a fashion artist in her sire’s store, although lost interest in painting, oddly, because of all the praise she had received for her skills. Slim, with an elfin beauty. At 18, she married a fellow employee, Alan Arbus, later an actor, whom she had met at 13, 2 daughters from union, Doon, who became a writer, collaborating on several magazine projects with her mother, and Amy, a future photographer. Recognizing her talent, her husband gave her a camera, and then did the technical side in a studio they operated together. Became a fashion photographer, although despised the work, and the duo separated and eventually divorced nearly a decade later. Studied under Viennese-born docu-photographer, Lisette Model, for 2 years, beginning in 1958 and with her encouragement, she gave up her sleek profession in favor of pursuing a career in the fine arts. In 1962, she switched from 35 mm to a 2 1/4 format camera, which allowed her to create the sharply detailed images for which she would become known. Taught at various schools, then used 2 Guggenheim fellowships, in 1963 and 1966, to document American rites and customs. Had several showings, moving from the stilted stylistics of fashion to picturesque outsiders - transvestites, dwarves, giants, junkies and hermaphrodites, among others, while probing their lives for telling details, through an insatiable curiosity about them. Had an unerring eye for freaks and misfits, while creating a sense of mutual connection between her and her subjects. Basically a portraitist, she took unblinking pictures of the odd and the unusual, catching them in stark postures, and as they were, with no desire to augment or soften their blatantly provocative imagery. Sometimes spent days, and occasionally years, shooting her subjects again and again. Although money eluded her, fame did not. Taught at Parsons and Cooper Union in NYC. Had many exhibitions, but was ultimately overwhelmed by her unerring eye for sorrow. After publishing a collection of her works, she spent her last day doing errands and meeting with friends, before returning home, slitting her wrists, taking barbiturates and curling up in an empty bathtub to die alone. Wasn’t discovered until 2 days later by a friend. Became a cult figure afterwards, thanks to a major retrospective a year after her death. Inner: Perennial feeling of being an outsider, extremely sensitive to the sufferings of others. Emotionally quite open, intense and extremely direct with a keen eye for awkwardness. Fascinated by myth. Felt “all families are creepy,” and wanted to capture “the space between who someone is and who they think they are.” Wrenched heart lifetime of looking for beauty in the disjointed and disconnected, and ultimately being consumed by her own profound sense of disconnection. Julia Margaret Cameron (1815-1879) - English photographer. Outer: Father was a high-ranking member of the British Civil Service, mother was descended from French royalists. 4th of 7 daughters, who were considered beautiful and slightly eccentric. Born and raised in Calcutta, although she received most of her education in France. Married Charles Hay Cameron, a civil servant and liberal reformer at 23, 6 children from union. Socially prominent with a reputation for high intelligence. In her early 30s, she raised large amounts of money in India for victims of the Irish famine. When her husband retired, 13 years into their marriage, the family moved to London where her children were educated. Did a translation and had many poems published, while becoming an intimate of many of the best known cultural figures of her day. Moved to the Isle of Wight in her mid-40s, and 3 years later, one of her daughters gave her a camera. Became an amateur photographer in her late 40s, demanding long, arduous sittings from her illustrious friends, who in turn, were unsmiling and serious by the time she finally snapped the shutter. Used mainly a soft-focused lens, and was the first photographer to search for the heroic in her shots, perhaps because of the eminence of manys of her sitters. Also posed groups in romantic allegories. Achieved considerable fame, winning several medals, and exhibiting her portraits in London. At 60, she traveled with her spouse to Ceylon, came back once to England, and then returned to Ceylon to die. Her later work would prove to be much more sporadic, while her photographs were in keeping with the Victorian values of the time, presenting men heroically, and women and children in all their domestic splendor, although she was able to capture the essence of her subjects through her sharp-eyed portraiture. Inner: Excellent conversationalist, socially adept, with an eye very much tuned to her social times and class. Privileged lifetime of soft-focusing her sense of reality, while shooting its human elite, so as not to disturb her delicate sensibilities the way she would the next time around in this series. Jacques Callot (1592?-1635) - French etcher and engraver. Outer: Father was king-at-arms to the Duke of Lorraine, at whose court he grew up. Ran away to Italy twice, wanting to be an artist. Was in Rome between the ages of 16 and 19, where he was trained by a French engraver. The next decade, he was attached to the court of the de’ Medicis in Florence, where he produced etching of fairs, festivals, commedia dell’arte characters and assorted grotesques - hunchbacks, beggars, the misshapen and the misbegotten. Returned to his hometown of Nancy on the death of his patron, and continued to work in the same vein, but added religious subjects and siege compositions to his work. Commissioned by the king of France, as well as the infanta of Brussels to etch sieges. Too independent for court favor, and deeply moved by the horror and brutality he witnessed, he eventually retired to Nancy, where he executed his masterpiece, the Grandes miseres de la guerre (Miseries of War). Produced nearly 1500 plates and 2000 drawings in a wide variety of styles, influencing many great artists to come. His technical innovations proved highly effective as well. Inner: Highly independent. One of the first true realists of 17th century painting. Etched exactly what he saw, with a particular sensitivity towards the misfits of his time, as well as the horrors of war. Clear-eyed lifetime of maintaining an independent and idiosyncratic vision, while serving as a master of the misbegotten, from a more emotionally protected male perspective. Carlo Crivelli (c1430-c1493) - Italian artist. Outer: From an artistic family. Father was a painter, and his brother Vittorio became well-known as well, as the closest adherent to his unusual style, despite being far less talented. May have apprenticed in the studio of Jacopo Bellini (Jacques Rivette), after learning the rudiments of art from his sire. Used the madonna as his primary visual icon, and did exaggerated figures and forms, making many of his subjects seem neurotic and hyperemotional. Imprisoned for adultery for six months in his 40s, for an affair with the wife of a sailor. Left Venice afterwards and never returned, living in the cities of the Northern Marches the rest of his life. Refused to work in the new medium of oils, sticking with tempera, which ultimately made his works better preserved than those who followed him. Probably ran a large workshop, and his painterly traits were continued after his death. Knighted in 1490 by a Capuan prince, which appealed to his vanity, and he included the designation in his signature. In his later years, his style froze. Inner: Careful and conscientious, as well as highly individualistic. Wry and dry, with a grotesque, deeply self-involved character. A vigorous draftsman, with a passion for detail, liked showing wrinkles and veins. His inner tensions were probably reflected in the attitudes of his subjects. Eccentric lifetime of exploring psychological states through the painterly traditions of the Italian Renaissance, while evincing a continued fascination with the grotesque in his succeeding lives in this series.

*

PATHWAY OF THE ILLUSTRATOR AS MASTER OF THE MAUDLIN:
Storyline: The quintessential sentimentalist carves a unique illustrative niche for himself out of his contemporary landscape, painting life as he wished it were, rather than as it was, and endearing himself to everyone, save the art establishment, for doing so.
Norman Rockwell (1894-1978) - American illustrator. Outer: Father was an office manager for a textile firm, mother was the daughter of an English artist who had emigrated to the U.S. after the Civil War, and had made a meager living as a landscape painter. She, in turn, was a self-proclaimed invalid. His sire copied illustrations in his spare time as a hobby, although he was never close to either parent. Thin, bespectacled, poorly coordinated as a youth, with his craftsmanship serving as a redemption for his lack of physicality. Left high school as a sophomore to study art fulltime at the National Academy of Design, then the Art Student’s League. As a student, he signed his name in blood, swearing never to prostitute his gift, do advertising jobs or allow himself to make more than $50 a week as an artist, a trinity of projections he managed to handily break. Illustrated his first book at 16, and was made art director of Boy’s Life magazine at 19. Did his first cover for Saturday Evening Post in May of 1916, and would go on to do 321 more covers for that publication over the next 47 years. Married the same year to Irene O’Connor, a school teacher, no children from the union. Did the official boy scout calendar for 50 years. His style matured as he began doing work for adult magazines. Enlisted in the Navy for WW I, despite failing the physical, and wound up illustrating the camp newspaper. His popularity as a portrait painter allowed his early discharge the following year, but his wife subsequently left him for another man and he went into a deep funk afterwards. In 1930, he divorced and married Mary Barstow, another school teacher 2 months later, 3 sons from the 2nd union. Found little real inspiration in the early 1930s, while questioning what he was doing. Moved to Paris for 7 months, took courses in modern art and thought of abandoning illustration, although realized he could never become a really good abstract artist. Periodically suffered bouts of depression afterwards over his limitations as an expositor of the ordinary. After illustrating Mark Twain’s Tom Sawyer, in the mid-1930s, he returned to his calling and rededicated himself to celebrating the commonplace. Moved to a Vermont farm at the end of decade. First started using photography in the 1930s to capture more spontaneous poses, taking between 50 and 100 photos for each cover he did, which were all carefully and painstakingly created. Much preferred amateur to professional models, occasionally cajoling people on the street to pose for him. In 1943, his studio and records were destroyed by fire, which he accidentally started. The same year prints of his patriotic “Four Freedoms,” were bought by 25 million people. Moved to Stockbridge, Mass. in 1953, which ultimately built a museum for his works. 2nd wife died in 1959, from a combination of sleeping pills, alcohol and tranquilizers. In memorium, he painted The Family Tree with his wife at the top of the work. Married a retired school teacher in his late 60s. Tried to be a more serious moral artist in some of his later work, taking on social themes, although his didactic approach to specific messages weakened his special gifts. Left the Post for Look magazine, but both ceased publication at the end of 1960s. Wrote his autobiography, My Adventures as an Illustrator. Died of emphysema at home with an unfinished painting of a Christian missionary trying to convert a Stockbridge Amerindian chief. Inner: Sentimental, honest, humble. Always nervously waited for public reaction to his covers, viewing his audience as his ultimate judge. Methodical, moralizing, liberal, with an affinity for the aesthetics of the ordinary. Painted life as he’d like it to be, eliminating the ugly and the sordid. Delimiting lifetime of deriving power and influence for crisply celebrating the ordinary, although never quite able to accept his own superb illustrative gifts in the process, and always secretly wanting to be more than who he was. Thomas Hovenden (1840-1978) - Irish/American artist. Outer: One of 3 children orphaned at an early age, when both parents died from the Irish potato famine. Spent his childhood in an orphanage in Cork, where he was apprenticed to a tradesman gilder and carver, who recognized his talents and enrolled him in the Cork School of Design. Began his own artistic career, and in his mid-20s, emigrated to America in order to be an artist. Joined an older brother in Greenwich Village, NYC, and went to the National Academy of Design there. Also apprenticed with a well-known NY lithographer. Established his own reputation as an illustrator/artist, and received patronage, permitting him to study further in Paris, and then at an art colony in Brittany, where he met his future wife, also an artist. Began documenting the lives and his/story of the Bretons in monumental canvases. Set up a studio in Paris and continued exploring monumental themes, before returning to NYC, where he became an active member of the NY art scene. Married Helen Corson in his early 40s, and went to live in the home of his father-in-law, who was a Quaker and abolitionist. One daughter from the union,, who became an artist. Began an association with the Penna. Acad. of Fine Arts and in his mid-40s, became a professor of painting and drawing there, influencing several artists-to-be. His most famous work was Breaking Home Ties, a sentimental morality piece that was a great favorite in its time. Although extremely popular, he never warranted serious critical response to his unchallenging works. Focused on ordinary people and was one of the few 19th century American artists to portray African-Americans honestly and directly. Hit by a train while disembarking from a trolley. Supposedly tried to save the life of a ten year old in his dying act. Precursor to Norman Rockwell’s maudlin storytelling. Inner: Sentimental, honest, humble. Believed in conventional homilies - family, God and work. Used family, friends and neighbors as his models. Good colorist, facile painter, fine sense of composition. Sentimental penman lifetime of chronicling his own strong moral sense through visual storytelling and an accurate illustrative rendering of what he perceived around him.

*

PATHWAY OF THE ARTIST AS HIGHLY ADVENTUROUS EYE:
Storyline: The nonstop f-stop adventurer recreates himself as an international rogue, and then spends his entire existence living up to his design, while always making sure that the essence of himself is squarely in all of his pictures.
Robert Capa (Endre Erno Friedmann) (1913-1954) - Hungarian/French photographer. Outer: Born to Jewish parents, with a full head of dark hair at birth, and also had an extra finger. Always his mother’s favorite, and she, in turn, knew he would be famous, and loved him more than her husband. She was the formidable, strong-willed proprietress of a successful fashion salon, and an excellent businesswoman. His father was head tailor of the salon, dapper and irresponsible, living on his charm. His parents fought constantly, but he loved both deeply and became a combo of the two. Younger brother Cornell followed in his large footsteps and also became a well-kown photographer. Forced out of Hungary for anti-government activities, he then lived by his wits on the European continent, teaching himself how to use a camera. Hired at 18 to travel to Denmark to photograph a political rally led by exiled Russian communist Leon Trotsky. Quickly developed a style that put him squarely in the middle of the action, even at risk of life and limb. Became lovers with a German immigrant, Gerda Taro, who helped him invent the suave, successful fictitious American photographer, Robert Capa, who could command higher prices for his work. Spent the rest of his life, on some level, trying to become Capa, retaining the name after the deception was discovered. Gained fame with a memorable photo of a militiaman dying during the Spanish Civil War, although the famous shot may have been staged. Taro died in Spain, having rejected his proposals, while he felt he had to lie about being with her when she passed on. Occasionally staged and invented shots, while having a pathological need to embellish his adventures around them, no matter how strong they stood on their own. Worked for Life magazine during WW II, photographing much of the heaviest fighting in Africa, Sicily and Italy, with his takes on the Normandy invasion, particularly memorable. One of the first to shoot war in color, and the first photographer to enter Paris after its liberation. Settled there following the war, as part of a cultural group that included writer Ernest Hemingway and painter Pablo Picasso. Had countless affairs, including one with actress Ingrid Bergman. Along with fellow photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson and a third picture-taking partner, formed Magnum Photos, the first cooperative agency for international free-lance photojournalists. Spent most of his time selling the works of its younger members. Covered the founding of Israel. Killed by a land-mine while photographing the French Indochina War for Life. Inner: War lover, with a great need to continually re-invent himself. Compulsive gambler, inveterate seducer, with an absolute entropy for danger. Snap-happy lifetime of living fast and dying young and capturing the essence of his inner violence through the outer excitement of photojournalism. Jean-Frederic Bazille (1841-1870) - French painter. Outer: Son of wealthy parents from the south of France, and at their behest, unenthusiastically pursued medical studies, before his parents permitted him to embark on a painterly course. Went to Paris in his early 20s to study art, and became a friend of Claude Monet (Claude Lelouch) and Pierre Renoir (Louis Malle), exhibiting with them in the early Impressionist shows. Also helped them financially with his generous allowance from home. Had an excellent sense of color, although a somewhat stiff sense of landscape and figure. Also less innovative than his confreres, more interested in form and representation than a true impressionistic sense of the scenes he depicted. Often used friends and intimates in his work, recording ordinary life. Enlisted at the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian war, and was killed in action shortly afterwards, ending his early promise. Inner: Strong dedication to nature and reality as he viewed it, using his canvases to record his direct wold. Expressed a desire to “live his paintings and paint his life.” Sketchy lifetime of exhibiting an interesting potential before his draw towards heroic martyrdom proved far greater. Jean-Etienne Liotard (1702-1789) - Swiss artist. Outer: Born in Calvinist Geneva, after his French Protestant parents had fled France following the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. Had a provincial education, then studied in Paris, and adopted a completely realistic style, at a time when rococo was all the vogue. Began his career as a portrait miniaturist, showing a particular affinity for pastels. Taken to Naples by a French patron, he hied himself to Rome in 1735, where he painted the portraits of both the pope and several cardinals, while expanding his repertoire to equal good effect to enamels, copperplate engravings and glass paintings. 3 years later, he went to Constantinople with another patron, and adopted the costumes of the area for his own during his 6 year stay in the country, growing a long, bushy and unruly beard, as well. Traveled to Vienna in 1743, and painted the portraits of the empress Maria Theresa (Queen Victoria), as well as her family, and was given the sobriquet of “the Turkish painter,” for his eccentric outfits and bearing, while being munificently rewarded for his efforts. Maintained a longterm contact with the court, which was noted for its austere probity that the Swiss part of his exotic character must somehow have reflected. Always a spectacle himself, even when casually strolling down the street, he would prove to be his most effective creation. In 1753, he visited England for 2 years, painting portraits of the upper crust, then came to Holland, where at 54, he shaved off his beard and married Marie Fargues. Now rich and famous, he no longer had the need to be on parade. Had a full household with numerous children, and continued working steadily, including using his own family in his unvarnished portraits. Returned to England in 1773, and exhibited at the Royal Academy, before finally coming full circle back to Geneva in 1776, spending his last 13 years there. An enthusiastic art collector, who traded in paintings of value, he also wrote “A Treatise on the Art of Painting.” Inner: Eccentric, adventurous and very well-rewarded for his efforts. Great desire to catch observable truths through his deft touch with pastel, and extremely well-ground in the economic sphere. Itchy footed lifetime of knowing his own worth, as well as how to sell himself, while skillfully exploiting the powers-that-were of each country he visited, in an all-around enjoyable adventure and love-filled go-round.

*

PATHWAY OF THE ARTIST AS CAT AND MOUSE MEMORIALIST:
Storyline: The animal animator serves as a penman of love and loss in a series of go-rounds testing his capacity for tragedy, in an attempt to elevate himself from the unhappy circumstances surrounding his ongoing trials with the frailties of mortality.
Art Spiegelman (1948) - American cartoonist. Outer: Father had been a wealthy Jewish textile salesman and manufacturer in Poland, before the Nazi occupation. Both parents survived the Auschwitz concentration camp, while an older brother had been poisoned by an aunt before the Nazis came for them. The family emigrated to the U.S. when their 2nd son was 2, and worked in the garment trade and the jewelry exchange in NY. His parents often woke up screaming at night, and his father was excessively frugal. Escaped into comic books to counterbalance home tensions. Also suffered from ambylopia, or lazy eye, which makes it difficult to see things in three dimensions, so that comics would serve as the perfect alternate reality for him. At 18, he began laboring as a designer for Topps, working on bazooka comics and baseball cards, and was employed by them for 2 decades. At 20, he entered a mental hospital because of acute sleep deprivation and delusions of grandeur, unconsciously aping his father. After his mother committed suicide following the death of his remaining brother, he immersed himself in his work, including doing underground cartooning. Studied art and philosophy at Harpur College. Married in 1977, to an émigré French architecture student, Francoise Mouly, who would later help him with his publications and collaborate on children’s books, 2 children from union. Haunted by the Shoa death camps from childhood, he began to explore them through cartoons to get some sort of inner resolution for himself. Used cats and mice as prototypes of Nazi guards and inmates in Maus, which was published in 1980, followed by a further body of work looking at the Jewish Shoa and the darkness within much of humanity, and won a Special Pulitzer Prize in 1992 for his efforts. Mouly became art editor of the New Yorker, the following year, and he was a controversial contributor over the next decade, particularly with a tax-form crucifix, and a cross-racial kiss on the covers. At millennium’s nearend he embarked on overseeing an ambitious series of children’s books geared towards classic fables and non-condescending tales. After the fall of the Dark Towers in NYC in 2001, which he witnessed from close range, he penned a strip called “In the Shadow of No Towers,” for the Jewish Forward and various European newspapers. They were created on large sheets like early 20th century comics, and roughly paralleled the tragedy with the Shoa. Because of his strident anti-Bush sentiments, however, they were deemed verboten by the U.S. press, although were published in book form in 2004. An active promoter for his art-form, he has served as lecturer, teacher and comics ambassador extraordinaire throughout his active working life. Inner: Serious, driven, voluble, wry and highly introspective. Obsessively personal in all his work, largely a fatalist and pessimist. Haunted lifetime of trying to integrate a deep sense of alienation brought about by his parents’ suffering and its unhappy aftermath, through his own highly moral artistic consciousness, while repeating his ongoing theme of loss of loved ones as a spur to penetrating his barbed and barb wire interior. George Herriman (1881-1944) - American cartoonist. Outer: Both his parents were light-skinned Creole mulattos, although he passed himself off as white his entire life, usually wearing a hat in public to cover his telltale hair, and never allowing himself to be photographed without it, so that people thought he was Greek. Shortly after their son was born, the family moved from New Orleans to Los Angeles, although he maintained his Creole New Orleans accent well into adulthood. Mild-mannered, short, slightly built and a snappy dresser. Despite a distinct talent for it, his sire disapproved of his cartooning, and instead, he dropped out of school and began working at his father’s bakery, but was let go for eating too many cream puffs. Became a grape peddler afterwards, but was too soft-hearted as a salesman. Worked as a house painter, but fell off a scaffolding, injuring himself, making physical labor difficult. Briefly toiled in the engraving department of a Los Angles newspaper, beginning in 1897, then started illustrating advertisements and doing an occasional political cartoon. Moved to NYC, via hopping a freight train, and by 1901, had his first magazine cartoon published in Judge. Married Mabel Bridge the following year, two children from the union. The same year he launched his first regular feature in a Pulitzer newspaper, before getting a staff job on the NY World, where he did political cartoons. Later worked at the NY Journal, and returned briefly to the West Coast, as an employee of Hearst, before coming back to NY and the American. Created a number of strips, Professor Otto and His Auto, Doc Archie and Bean, and The Dingbat Family, which were largely unoriginal, before settling on Krazy Kat in 1913, which proved enormously successful, running for over 3 decades, first as a daily, then as a weekly strip, as well. It was based on the simple premise of a cat in love with a brick-throwing mouse named Ignatz. His unusual style featured bleak surreal landscapes, which made for unique graphics, coupled with an extraordinary originality which never seemed to repeat itself in format, as the logo moved all over the page, while the box sequences varied from week-to-week. Also painted and worked in clay modeling, although Krazy Kat was always his mainstay. Returned to Southern California in his early 40s, and settled in Hollywood, remaining there save for brief trips until his death from nonalcoholic cirrhosis of the liver. Lost his wife and a daughter in an auto accident just prior to his exit, to once again suffer family tragedy, as he has in all the lives in this series, although this time at the end, rather than in the beginning or middle. Inner: Easy-going, unassuming, with a bland exterior and a deliberate sense of deception belying the extraordinary comic genius beneath it. Comic/tragic lifetime of exploring the endless theme of the violence of the attraction and repulsion of love, before suffering extreme misfortune at life’s near-end to sober his life-view and prepare him for a far more difficult go-round his next time up in this series. Grandville (Jean-Ignace-Isidore Gerard) (1803-1847) - French cartoonist. Outer: Father was a fashionable portrait painter of miniatures, grandfather was a famous stage actor. Often did caricatures of his sire’s subjects as a youth. Moved to Paris at the age of 20, and took the name of “Grandville,” which was his grandfather’s stage name, in order to distinguish himself from his father and uncle. Contributed to the political humor magazine Charivari, which had been started by Charles Philipon (Garry Trudeau). Did human characters with animal heads as his trademark. His first book, Les Metamorphoses du Jour, was a sensation, as were his others. Took up a whole series of radical and liberal causes, mercilessly attacking the king. Also did book illustrations. 2 young sons died in the 1840s, followed by his wife, which embittered him greatly, and he started doing morbid, nightmarish scenes as an antidote to his losses. When his 3rd son died, it broke his heart and he died soon after in an asylum for the insane. His self-composed epitaph read, “...he gave life to everything and made everything move and speak. The only thing is, he did not know how to make his own way.” Inner: Held a mordant view of the world as a zoo. Tragic lifetime of suffering great losses at end, a theme he would repeat the next go-round from a less bitter perspective, before exploring loss from life’s beginning in the 3rd go-round in this series.

*

PATHWAY OF THE ARTIST AS POLITICAL COMMENTATOR:
Storyline: The moral messenger eschews an interior life in favor of his ongoing relationship with the exterior world, as a poignant critic of the excesses of power.
Herblock (Herb Block) (1909-2001) - American cartoonist. Outer: Father was a chemist and electrical engineer, mother was an accomplished cook, whose recipe for custard appeared on ‘Grape Nuts’ boxes for 40 years. Began drawing at an early age. Won a scholarship to the Chicago Art Institute at 12, attending classes at night. Spent 2 years at Lake Forest College, and adopted the pen name Herblock, at his father’s suggestion. Hired by the Chicago Daily News at 19, he then worked for a decade at the Cleveland office of Newspaper Enterprise Assoc., an anti-New Deal syndicate that resisted his liberal view and were about to shrink his contributions when he won the first of his 3 Pulitzer Prizes. Joined the army in 1943 and drew cartoons for the Information and Education Division in Florida and NY, gaining the rank of sergeant. After the war, he became the cartoonist for the struggling Washington Post, which gave him the independence he wanted, and also mirrored his politics. Quickly established himself with his cutting ability at capturing the visual essence of complex situations, although was briefly dropped when he supported Stevenson over Eisenhower in the 1952 election, and then summarily reinstated when its subscribers protested thunderously. Invented the term, ‘McCarthyism.’ Exhibited widely, and was given enormous powers as the chief visual voice of liberalism in the United States for a several decade period. A bachelor, and a constant reader, with no other hobbies. Won Pulitzer Prizes for cartooning in 1942, 1954 and 1979. Managed to maintain an undiminished capacity for moral outrage over an astonishing period of time. Wrote his autobiography, Herblock: A Cartoonist’s Life in 1993. Represented in a number of galleries, and had several retrospectives. Died of pneumonia, and left $50 million to create a philanthropic foundation, which stunned his friends, since they had no idea he was so wealthy. Inner: Liberal, with a strong sense of political good & evil. Non-introspective, more tuned into the foibles of the world than himself, with little need for intimacy save for an intimate knowledge of the political world. Cheerful and accessible. Barbed pen lifetime of focusing his power on the potency of his work, and letting everything else be secondary. George Cruikshank (1792-1878) - English artist. Outer: 2nd son of a popular and prolific illustrator and caricaturist, Isaac Cruikshank, who was given to drink. His brother Isaac also became a caricaturist, and his sister was a talented designer. Had little or no formal education, learned from observation and assisting his father. Short, thick-chested, well-built and large-headed. Good boxer in his youth. While still in his teens, he gained notice with his political caricatures, and continued to lampoon both Tories and Whigs with equal impunity for a variety of magazines. A disciple of James Gillray (Al Capp), although without his bile. Briefly a teacher, a profession he did not like. Added book illustrations to his repertoire, most notably for the work of Charles Dickens (Richard Burton), and his masterpiece were his etchings for the Grimm brother’s “Popular Tales,” in the mid-1820s. Published several comic works himself over a 4 year span in the late 1820s and early 1830s. His oeuvre was eagerly collected by others, which he accommodated. Also exhibited oil paintings at the Royal Academy on humorous subjects. Became extremely well-known, a virtual household name during his lifetime, but continually worried about finances despite his celebrity. An inveterate letter writer, penning some 8500 epistles, most of them having to do with money. Married in his early 40s, after having lived with various members of his family. Later in life, he became an enthusiast over temperance, having renounced both tobacco and alcohol earlier on. Energetic and prolific until life’s end. Inner: Moralistic, but good-humored, scatter-shooting his concerns, rather than focusing on narrow targets and eventually softening his satire to accommodate a broader audience. Well-received lifetime of enjoying the fruits of fame from young adulthood, while continually worrying about the fortune that was supposed to accompany it, a situation he would redress 50,000,000 times over in his next go-round in this series.

*

PATHWAY OF THE ARTIST AS SPIRITED INNOVATOR AND ELEVATER:
Storyline: The pop culture classicist raises comics to the level of art, through his hidden background as both literateur and artiste, and his ability to reinvent the graphic language of his times, in his ongoing self-appointed role as cultural maestro of secondary forms.
Will Eisner (William Erwin Eisner) (1917-2005) - American artist, writer and entrepreneur. Outer: Parents were Jewish immigrants from Vienna. Father had been a scene painter who became a garment manufacturer. Began drawing when he was young, and contributed to his high school’s newspaper and literary magazine. Made his professional debut in 1936 in “Wow,” where he met his future partner, Jerry Iger. They subsequently partnered as Eisner & Iger, and wound up with an all-star stable under them, including Jack Kirby, one of the creators of the Fantastic Four as well as the X-Men, and Bob Kane, the creator of Batman. Sold his half of the partnership in 1939 and set up in his own studio. Came to mass public notice via his weekly newspaper supplement comic strip “The Spirit,” which began in 1940. Its anti-hero, Denny Colt, was a resurrected detective with no superpowers and many vulnerabilities, but behind his blue mask lay a determination to right wrongs through his mastery of Central City’s mean streets. Did both the writing and illustrating and constantly experimented with lettering, layout and format, while employing everything from Expressionism to surreal humor in his renderings. “The Spirit” used unique angles under an ever-changing masthead, while its characters were filmic in their gamut of wordless expression. Brought a full range of both literary and artistic styles to the comics, while championing them as a distinct artform, when they were largely viewed as lesser expressions of pop culture at the time. Drafted into ordnance in 1942, but trusted his stable of assistants to continue the strip while he was away. In the army he worked for the Pentagon, doing instructional strips for soldiers, using a bumbler named Joe Dope in some of them. Continued “The Spirit” on his return, employing other artists, including cartoonist/playwright, Jules Feiffer, until the strip’s conclusion in 1952. Failed in his other strip attempts, and seeing a decline in the comics market, switched gears to run the American Visual Corporation, which produced educational army and government comic books, in his usual innovative and unique manner, covering a full range of subjects. Also did advertising and marketing, as well as headed numerous visual art companies. In 1950, he married Ann Weingarten, a director of hospitalvolunteer services, son and daughter from the union. The latter died while still a teen from leukemia, and her existence was subsequently shrouded to all save his closest friends. Helped create the genre of the graphic novel, a term he coined, with his A Contract With God and Other Tenement Stories, which was published in 1978. Went on to write and illustrate 19 more, which all focused on commonality. Ended his literary career with The Plot, about the spurious anti-Semitic “Protocols of Zion,” which had earlier helped inform the Nazi movement. From 1973 onward, he lectured and taught at the NY School of Visual Arts, and in 1985, wrote “Comics & Sequential Art,” a seminal academic view on that subject. In 1971, he was inducted into the Academy of Comic Book Arts Hall of Fame, and later the Jack Kirby Hall of Fame in 1987. The recipient of a host of awards, he garnered the Reuben, comics’ highest accolade in 1988. In 1975, he was awarded the second Grand Prix de la ville d’Angouleme, in a crypto-nod to his earlier go-rounds in France. The only other American recipient was R. Crumb. In 1988, the comics industry created the Eisners, a yearly award for outstanding achievement in their industry, which he helped present. Died of heart failure, after quadruple bypass surgery. The Spirit would see film form in 2008, via the auspices of director and comic book artist Frank Miller. Inner: Extremely inventive with a genuine concern for commonality, and elevating the ordinary into the extraordinary. Obsessively frugal and capable of great outbursts of anger. Competitive and filled with religious doubts, particularly after the premature death of his daughter. Pop visionary lifetime of exploring secondary artistic forms and elevating them to a primary level through his innovations and self-view that he was a true artist who produced lasting art. Alphonse Allais (Charles Alphonse Allais) (1854-1905) - French writer, humorist and artist. Outer: Father was a pharmacist. Didn’t speak for the first three years of his life, making his parents think he was mute. Studied to follow his father’s profession, but after successfully completing his exams, abandoned it to pursue his true calling, making people laugh. Moved to Paris, where he became a journalist, ultimately contributing humorous pieces to a host of journals. A punster, as well as literary trickster, he loved put-on mock-literary and mock-academic works. Exhibited a surreal sense of humor, as well as a wide range of expressive modes from whimsical to the bitterest of irony, in his taking the simplest of situations and twisting and turning it in all directions, in order to extract its dottiest essence. Extremely popular, his fans would gobble up the periodicals in which he appeared as soon as they were printed. Wrote poetry in a style where lines rhyme within themselves known as “holorhyme.” Playful in all he did, he once composed a musical composition for the deaf in which all the measures were blank, a ploy of later 20th century avant-garde composers. Did the same in his artwortk, joining the Salon des Arts Incohérents in 1883 and 1884, which predated the Dadaists and Conceptualists of the 20th century. Made scientific studies of color photography, regarding it as an artform, when contemporaries did not. An absurdist at heart, his best known invention was Le Captain Cap. Ignored doctor’s order for bedrest and the night before he died, he announced to his friends in a bistro that his death would be on the morrow, although no one believed him. Had a pulmonary embolism the following day and moved on to the next world. Inner: Whimsical, sharp-humored, highly social and experimental. Eclectic lifetime of working in a full monty of forms in order to give his innovative and equally fanciful imagination its full money’s worth.

*

PATHWAY OF THE ARTIST AS PUNCHED-UP MAD MAN:
Storyline: The perennial prankster never really grows up despite his ‘Elder’ surname, and finds he does not have to, thanks to an ongoing gift for artistically sticking his tongue out at the world, and being well-rewarded for his efforts.
Will Elder (Wolf William Eisenberg) (1921-2008) - American cartoonist and illustrator. Outer: Grew up in the Bronx, with at least one brother, and was known as a prankster throughout his life. Physically unprepossessing. As class clown, he showed himself to be a skilled mimic of physical comedians, with a certain sadistic edge to his shenanigans, which were geared towards totally freaking people out. Once whitened his face with chalk dust and hung from a cloakroom hook to the horror of his teacher and classmates. Became a lunchroom friend of Harvey Kurtzman at NYC’s H.S. of Music and Art, and the two would later be indelibly entwined in the minds of comic book aficionados. An extremely skilled artist, who could render with precision anything he saw, he quickly settled on cartooning as his favorite mode of expression. Served in WW II with a mapmaking team that prepared for the 1944 Normandy invasion. On his return, he changed his name to Will Elder. Married Jean Strashun in 1948, son and daughter from the union. Joined Kurtzman and another artist to form a studio in 1948, which worked for Prize comics, as well as other publishers. Hooked up with the EC comics stable, and worked as an inker, before Kurtzman launched Mad comics in 1952. While the former provided the stories and verbal tone, he gave the pages their look, with marginalia and multiple drawings, as well as competing foregrounds and backgrounds. An excellent comic mimic, he could imitate the style of virtually anybody, which the original Mad did in its satirizing of other strips, before it broadened its range of parody when it became a magazine in 1955. Both he and Kurtzman left in 1956 over creative differences. Also drew for Panic at the same time, where an irreverent and faintly obscene “Night Before Christmas,” that he did, caused the comic book to be banned in Massachusetts. Joined Kurtzman on several humor magazines including, Trump and Humbug, which failed despite being bankrolled by its artists, as well as Help! for which they created the naif Goodman Beaver, who would later be transgendered and transposed into Little Annie Fanny. The latter would be an irregular feature for Playboy magazine over a quarter of a century from 1962 to 1988 through some 107 stories. The effort, which was executed in watercolor and tempera, largely straitjacketed their talents, although it provided both with a stable living. Married, at least one son from the union. Once sent his wife a heart from a slaughterhouse on Valentine’s Day. Formally retired in 1988. Suffered ill health his last years, undergoing triple bypass surgery in 1999, and moved into a nursing home following the death of his wife in 2005. Worked in a variety of genres, including advertising, as well as straight magazine illustration, although his true métier would remain satire. Ultimately had his oeuvre published in 2003 in a retrospective called “Will Elder: The Mad Playboy of Art.” The same year he was inducted into the Comic Book Hall of Fame. Died of complications from Parkinson’s Disease. Inner: Zany, and sweet-natured, although his darker side would come out in his pranks. Always meticulous in his work, taking great pride in his craft. Never really grew up, which allowed him never to really grow old. Parkinson’s is always indicative of rigidity, which may have been his resistance to age. Creator of ‘Chicken Fat’ art, where excess gave his drawings their full flavor. Forever young lifetime of using his high humor to stave off any semblance of maturity for as long as he could, before he rigidified around his resistance to it. Richard Doyle (1824-1883) - English illustrator. Known as “Dickie.” Outer: Father was noted political caricaturist and portraitist John Doyle, who had been exiled from Ireland through religious persecution. His uncle was Michael Doyle, an editor for the “Art Journal” and an expert on the Medieval Renaissance. Second son of seven children, including two brothers who also took up the family trade as artists, while his other siblings exhibited talent in that arena as well. Learned in his father’s studio, with a particular facility for the grotesqueries of fairy tales, which fascinated him throughout his life. Also taught to closely observe nature. Began keeping a journal at the age of 15, which limned his childhood, particular the way he and his siblings vied for their sire’s approval in the family’s Sunday morning art shows. One brother, whom he thought was the most gifted of the lot, died young. Initially painted parades and pageants as a teen, and his style never really matured afterwards. His first published work was “The Eglinton Tournament,” in 1840, giving him precocious and early success, which he executed with Chinese ink and a quill pen. Liked to distort his subjects, enlarging their heads, then dwarfing them with grotesquely-shaped hats, while also appending animal heads to human bodies. Joined the staff of the humour magazine Punch when he was 19, and drew the cover of its first issue as well as designed its masthead, which was used for over a century. Spent 7 years at the periodical, before leaving because of the magazine’s anti-papacy attacks. Devoted his full-time to book illustration afterwards. Collaborated with several other Punch artists in illustrating 3 of Charles Dickens (Richard Burton) Christmas tales, then focused on the fantastic and fairy tales afterwards. In 1846, his illustrations for a reissue of the brothers Grimm (J. J. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis) “The Fairy Ring,” cemented his reputation in that genre. During the 1850s, he focused on fantasies, with his acknowledged masterwork, “Fairyland: Pictures of the Elf World,” published in 1869. Never married, and always felt the fact he produced no children as one of the tragedies of his life. Spent the latter part of his career working in water color. Suffered from apoplexy towards the end, and died after a seizure from it, when he was leaving the Athenaeum Club, never regaining consciousness. His sister helped get his works published posthumously and also froze his studio as he had last left it, in a testament to both him and his resistance to change. An uncle through one of his brothers of author A. Conan Doyle (J.K. Rowling), the creator of Sherlock Holmes. Inner: Lively personality, with a deft wit and a brilliant sense of humour. Sweet and kindly and a devout Roman Catholic. Never-ending childhood lifetime of extending his fantasy life into deep maturity via his skills with a pen and brush, and his ongoing fascination with the mythos of his own early well-fed imagination.

*

PATHWAY OF THE ARTIST AS CARICATURIST OF COMMONALITY:
Storyline: The tenacious tinkerer learns to pay attention to his body through disability, and winds up producing an impressive body of work that offers a paean to the pain of war and the profligacy of peace, while continuing to struggle at coming to peace with himself in the process.
Bill Mauldin (William Henry Mauldin) (1921-2003) - American cartoonist. Outer: From a family of mechanics, father did odd jobs, and considered his son a useless runt. Mother was mentally unstable, but thought him a genius. Had rickets as a child, and was often confined to bed, where he began drawing. Took a correspondence course in cartooning in high school, then studied at the Chicago Acad. of Fine Arts. Enlisted in the Arizona National Guard, without having to take a physical, and the Guard was federalized 5 days later. Never would have passed the military physical, but didn’t have to take it, thanks to the hand of fate. Married in his early 20s, 2 sons, then was sent overseas in the middle of WW II. Served as an infantryman in a unit that suffered hundreds of causalities fighting its way north to Sicily. His drawing skills got him a post on Stars and Stripes, the overseas army daily, which in turn, got him his own jeep, which was outfitted like a traveling studio. Created the characters of Willie and Joe, two dirt-caked archetypal G.I. dogface soldiers caught up in the unglamorous anonymity of war. Although regular soldiers loved and identified with them, the army brass did not, feeling they fostered an antiauthority attitude. A paean to them by Ernie Pyle (Daniel Pearl) in 1944, got him civilian syndication, and he enjoyed huge popularity as a delineator of the real rigors of war. Won his first Pulitzer in 1945, while still a sergeant in uniform, and the same year, had his first collection of cartoons and commentary, Up Front, published. Had difficulty in adjusting to civilian life after the war, while briefly considered killing his two antiheroes at the end of the fighting, although they wound up in two films in the early 1950s. Also felt guilty about profiting from the carnage. Married Norma Jean Humphries in 1942, and divorced after the war. In 1947, he wed Natalie Sarah Evans, 4 sons from the union. Went to Hollywood in his late 20s, and briefly had a career as an actor. Ran for Congress in NYC in the mid-1950s, as a left-of-center Democrat but lost to the conservative incumbent Republican. Because his pull-no-punches style was out-of-touch with more conservative areas during the decade, he gave up cartooning for a while, before returning to larger urban area newspapers, where his contrarian viewpoint could be more readily understood. Finally found himself again as an editorial cartoonist in the late 1950s, garnering a 2nd Pulitzer in 1959, as well as other honors and awards. Wound up at the Chicago Sun-Times in 1962, which became his home for many a year. Published 15 books, wrote many magazine articles and covered 2 more wars, while learning how to fly a plane. Following his 2nd wife’s death in a car accident, he married Christine Lund, and had 2 more sons. Ultimately had 7 sons all told, as well as a daughter. Retired in 1992, after maiming his arthritic drawing hand in order to pursue his lifelong interest in mechanics, vehicles and tinkering. Eventually slipped into Alzheimer’s and died of its complications, including pneumonia, in a nursing home. Inner: Earthy, amiable, and good-humored when sober, but also self-tortured. A binge drinker, he could easily turn irritable, paranoid and mean, when given to his ongoing alcoholism. Avid reader and pilot. Man’o’war lifetime of giving commonality its political and social due, while suffering mightily for his self-appointed role as limner of the horrors of battle. Phil May (1864-1903) - English cartoonist. Outer: Grandfather was an amateur caricaturist and sportsman. 7th of 8 children. His improvident father was an engineer who worked in an artist’s drawing office, and died when he was 9. Mother was from a theatrical family. Learned to draw by copying cartoons from Fun and Puck. Left school early, originally wanting to be a jockey. Began working as a teen in a solicitor’s office, then labored for an estate agent, and finally as a timekeeper in an iron foundry. Married Lilian Farrar, a widow, at 19, with no issue. Fascinated by the theater, he worked for 6 years behind and in front of the scenes, doing sketches of actors and playing small parts. At the same time, he contributed to local comic papers, then began contributing theatrical caricatures. Traveled to Australia in 1885, and became staff cartoonist for the Sydney Bulletin. Earned the astounding sum at the time of £1000 pounds per annum, while cultivating a circle of bohemian artistic and theatrical friends. Returned to London in 1888, and continued contributing to the Australian paper, while also working for the Daily Graphic. Traveled to Rome and lived briefly in Paris, before returning permanently to London. Captured the common life of London street and gutters, portraying his observations with sympathy, accuracy and attention to detail. Worked for Punch the last 7 years of his life. A heavy drinker, he also lived in poverty, which greatly affected his health. Died at home of tuberculosis and cirrhosis of the liver, weighing barely 70 pounds. Created a modern, simplified school of cartooning, as a master of the art of black and white representation. Inner: Good-humoured, gentle, amiable, and extremely sociable. Sentimentalist and sportsman. Earned large sums, but was also overly generous. Drew only the essentials in a rapid and sure-handed style. Unrestrained lifetime of chronicling the common life around him, while indulging in the fine art of self-destruction in the process.

*

PATHWAY OF THE ARTIST AS GIANT PEANUT FANCIER:
Storyline: The beloved blockhead reexamines his childish fears and insecurities through endless projections on his well-conceived characters, earning immortality in the punch-line pantheon in the process.
Charles Schulz (1922-2000) - American cartoonist. Outer: Only child of a German-born barber, who had grown up with German-speaking parents. Mother never got beyond third grade, and was from a clannish, depressive hard-drinking Norwegian farm family. The latter could be both cool and scornful, and gave her son a lifelong feeling of being unloved. Nicknamed “Sparky,” by an uncle after a woebegone cartoon race horse. Used to pour over the Sunday comics with his father, which inspired him on his life’s path. Carried a sense of abandonment and not being loved all through his life, often feeling completely alone, despite always being surrounded by family. Extremely shy, he was moved up a grade to add to his ongoing discomfort, so that he was always the smallest and skinniest in his class, and wound up flunking English in high school. Took drawing lessons from a correspondence school although he got only a C+ in a course in drawing children. His mother died of cancer in 1943, the year he was drafted, which heightened his fears of abandonment and loss of control. 5’11 1/2”, 180 lbs, blond and blue-eyed. Never smoked or drank or swore, because he felt his icon Jesus never did either. Served as an infantryman during WW II, rising to staff sergeant, although saw little action. Worked as a comic book letterer, while teaching at his Minneapolis correspondence art school. Struggled mightily to sell his fledgling comic strip, which originally appeared in the St. Paul Pioneer Press, in 1947, before finally finding a buyer in United Feature Syndicate in 1950. It was named “Peanuts,” although he originally wanted to call it “Li’l Folks.” The strip was a huge success, eventually making the Guiness Book of Records when it was sold to its 2000th newspaper in the 1980s. Eventually added some 600 more to wind up appearing in 2600 newspapers in 75 countries in 21 languages, with some 300 million readers all told. Kept the strip alive by continually adding characters to his basic threesome of a boy, Charlie Brown, his dog, Snoopy, and their fussbudget friend, Lucy. Used the names of some of his high school classmates as well as his correspondent school cohorts in his characters, while Snoopy was based on his childhood dog, Spike, and ultimately became the star of the strip from the late 1960s on. Married Joyce Halverson, the sister of a co-worker at the correspondence school, in 1951. His wife had a daughter, whom he later adopted and insisted was his, from a short-lived marriage with a cowboy. The couple had four more children, but he remained wed to his work and they divorced a little over 2 decades later. Remarried Elizabeth Jean Forsyth, who was some 16 years his junior, in 1973, in a happier union. A non-involved parent, he had great difficulty in showing emotional connection, while also conducting an extra-curricular affair with a woman several decades his junior, while actually proposing to her, while still married, to underscore his intense sense of insecurity. Workaholic, who never took more than 10 days off in a near 5 decade career. Made a fortune through licensing characters, television specials and advertising, never saying ‘no’ to anybody who wished to exploit his creations. Continued doing his own lettering and drawings 5 days a week, long after most of his contemporaries had retired. His far flung international marketing company, Creative Associates, was the source of most of his wealth, which generated a billion dollars a year in merchandising by the end of the 1980s. Inducted into the Licensing Industry Merchandiers’ Assn. Hall of Fame. His work was also exhibited in the Louvre in Paris, and he won numerous awards, including being made a French Commander of Arts and Letters. Despite heart surgery in the 1980s, he continued his output, until hospitalized with colon cancer in 1999, and then suffered a series of small strokes. Refused to have anyone continue the strip and retired it after the turn of the millennium, dying hours before his final Sunday salute was published. Wound up penning 17,897 strips. Inner: Sad, prickly and extremely melancholic, with a little bit of all his characters in him. Felt he was a bland loser and projected it on his main character, Charlie Brown. Dedicated worker, highly responsible, untrusting of his own success, with great fears of creative diminishment. Charlie Brown lifetime of trying to work out his complex character through projections of li’l folks, while avoiding having his passionate attachment to his work yanked out from under him, by coordinating his death with his farewell, and putting all his emotion into his oeuvre rather than his life. Wilhelm Busch (1832-1908) - German cartoonist, painter and poet. Outer: Parents were middle-class merchants. Sent to an uncle, a pastor, at 7 for his education. Studied at 3 different academies, in Germany and Belgium, beginning at age 16, then joined the staff of Fliegende Blatter, to which he contributed humorous drawings for over a decade. Wrote a humorous illustrated book of children’s poems. A series of wordless pictures that he executed proved highly influential to the subsequent development of the comic strip. His simply drawn pictures maintained a high vitality to them. In his late 30s, he became fed up with cartooning, and turned to writing and illustrating, living a hermit’s life. Best remembered for Max and Moritz, who became the Katzenjammer Kids under artist Rudolph Dirks. Inner: Hidden character, worked out his ongoing sense of alienation through humor. Hermetic lifetime of giving grounding to the art of the comic strip, before disappearing into himself to try to sort out his highly self-critical character.

*

PATHWAY OF THE ARTIST AS POINTED SATIRIST:
Storyline: The mordant madman serves as a cultural beacon in limning the absurdities of ordinary life, while doing ongoing battle with his own nervous interior and its inability to mirror the sharp-edged sword of his febrile mind.
Harvey Kurtzman (1924-1993) - American cartoonist and editor. Outer: Of Jewish descent. Father died when he was young, and his mother remarried. Grew up in 3 of New York’s boroughs. Obsessed with comics, with a great love for the full page comic sections of the Sunday newspapers, he became a street artist as a child, drawing a strip he invented, Ikey and Mikey on the pavement with chalk, and publishing his first cartoon at 14, on the amateur art page of Tip Top Comics. Attended Cooper Union, served in the army during WW II, then, after working on other people’s strips, opened the Charles William Harvey studio with longtime collaborator Will Elder, and Charles Stern, and finally found his own frenetic style. Married Adele Hasan, a proofreader, in 1948, 3 daughters and a son from the union. Went to work with E.C. Comics in 1949, editing, writing and drawing horror, sci fi, and then war stories. All were well-researched, showing the human, rather than the heroic side of war, and were so tightly laid out, that whoever drew them, gave noticeable reflection to his compositions. Suffered an attack of jaundice in his mid-20s and was bed-ridden, during which time, he came up with the idea for a satirical comic book dedicated to skewering the whole gamut of cartooning. Got E.C.’s backing, and launched Mad Comics with a small stable of artists in 1952, including Jack Davis, Wallace Wood and Will Elder. Did all of the original layouts and editing, allowing his imagination free reign, first satirizing other genres in the E.C. stable, and then all of the entertainment media, as well as advertising. Revolutionized America’s view of its own pop culture, affecting the generations of cartoonists and comics who followed him. After 28 issues of Mad, during which time it had became a magazine, he had a disagreement with the publisher, William Gaines, over creative control and left to start Trump, which was bankrolled by Playboy publisher Hugh Hefner, although it only lasted 2 memorable issues. Then started two maverick magazines, Humbug and Help, which ran from 1960 to 1965, giving a number of young cartoonists an opportunity to begin their careers, including R. Crumb. After they folded, he went to work for Hefner, and along with Will Elder did Little Annie Fanny, for Playboy magazine for the next 26 years. Found the work stifling but lucrative, because of its limited premise of a wide-eyed, big-bosomed voluptuary’s misadventures. Later a teacher at the School of Visual Arts. Afflicted with Parkinson’s Disease, a symbol of inner rigidity, he died from liver cancer. Wrote his autobiography, My Life as a Cartoonist, as well as several other tomes. Inner: Kind, charming, unassuming family man. Enthusiastic teacher, revolutionary pop culture visionary, and yet very much part of that verysame culture he ridiculed. Satirist extraordinaire lifetime of allowing his wit free comic reign, profoundly influencing the very culture he so scathingly skewered. John Leech (1817-1864) - English caricaturist. Outer: Of Irish descent on his sire’s side. Very close to his mother, who was descended from Richard Bentley, a scholarly clergyman. Father was a vintner, and proprietor of a London coffeehouse, as well as a Shakespearean scholar and a good draftsman. Began drawing, while sitting on his mother’s knee, evincing a marked talent from a precocious age. Educated at Charterhouse, where he became a lifelong friend of William Makepeace Thackeray (Tom Stoppard). Studied medicine at his father’s urging, despite being a poor student, and did excellent anatomical drawings, which showed him his preference for art, and his sire’s failing fortunes turned him towards that career. At 21, he became a fulltime illustrator, doing etchings which he published under the pen name of A. Pen. Began contributing to magazines, and collaborated with George Cruikshank (Herblock), whose style his resembled. Became a transition figure between the crudities of the past and the subdued satire of the later century. Married in his mid-20s, 2 children, one son drowned in Australia, after showing similar drawing skills. Went against the grain of the horrific in his caricatures, preferring to limn warmly humorous middle-class life. Did numerous etchings for book illustrations, and had many literary friends. Began contributing to the English humor magazine, Punch, doing both social and political cartoons, but felt more at home with social caricature, and making fun of the foibles of commonality. Wound up doing over 4000 drawings for the magazine. One of the first artists to work in comic-strip format. Along with John Tenniel (Jack Davis), he created the lasting pictorial image of John Bull, the archetypal Englishman. Did artwork for various other periodicals, as well as some landscapes. Had a nervous temperament which increased as time went on. Close friend of artist John Millais (John Schlesinger), with whom he hunted and fished. Died of angina pectoris. Inner: Handsome and well-built. Charming, naturally amiable, tender and devoted family man. Extremely rapid worker. Soft pen lifetime of gentle satire, focusing on the observable life all around him, while trying to deal with an unintegrated interior through direct creative expression.

*

PATHWAY OF THE ARTIST AS HIGHLY COMMERCIAL CARTOONIST:
Storyline: The inventive illustrator expands his metier to embrace the world of commerce, after first madly satirizing it, and then realizing it would serve him far better to illuminate it.
Jack Davis (John Burton Davis) (1924) - American cartoonist. Outer: His early influences included Walt Disney and the radio, while his first work appeared in Tip Top Comics as a 12 year old. Graduated from the Univ. of Georgia, where he founded the off-campus humor magazine, Bullsheet. Illustrated a training manual for the Coca Cola Company, bought a car and came to NYC in 1949, and was promptly fleeced and had his car stolen. Studied at the Art Student’s League, then tried his own strip “Beauregard,” set in the Civil War, before joining the stables of Tip Top Comics, and then EC Comics, where he eventually became part of the original “usual gang of idiots,” who labored for Harvey Kurtzman’s Mad comic books, specializing in extremely busy panels filled to the borders with exaggerated figures. Redid the illustrations of “Alice in Wonderland,” for its successor, Mad magazine, in an unconscious re-rendering of his previous life’s work, showing the evolution of his style in his exaggerations of his earlier tighter lines. Had his own brief-run comic in 1961, “Yak Yak.” By the end of the decade, he had expanded into bubble gum cards, advertising and movie ad illustration, continuing with his highly distinctive mode of many figures in one busy frame. Ended his comic book career in the early 1960s, while adding album and magazine covers to his burgeoning resume. Enjoyed a long and lucrative career, to ultimately become the most widely known of the early Mad crew. Returned to Georgia, and went into semi-retirement, while continuing to work in advertisement illustration. In 2000, he won the Reuben Award, as Cartoonist of the Year, from the National Cartoonists Society. Inner: Genial and good-tempered, a Southern gentleman to the core. Quick-draw artist, always able to produce swiftly. Well-rewarded lifetime of loosening his style and sense of line considerably, while working with former life Punch artists, and putting his life once again largely into his work. John Tenniel (1820-1914) - English artist. Outer: Father was a well-known dancing master and instructor in arms. Had a strong interest in costumes and armor from an early age. Blinded in his right eye by his sire in a fencing match, and had to rely on memory for his depth perception. Attended the Royal Academy schools, where he began exhibiting, although left disappointed. After sending a 16 foot cartoon to compete for a mural decoration for the Palace of Westminster, he won a commission for a hall in the House of Lords. In his late 20s, his illustrations for Aesop’s Fables brought him to public attention, and 2 years later he was invited to work with John Leech (Harvey Kurtzman) on the newly started humor magazine, Punch, which he toiled on for most of his life. Initially doubted both his sense of humor, and the pursuit of low art as a proper professional pathway for himself. Rarely left London afterwards. Had a brief marriage, wife died 2 years later, no children. Did the weekly political cartoon, although he was a Tory, while many of his fellow staffers were liberals. Blind in one eye, he employed a visually photographic memory, rather than working with models or photographs. Best remembered for illustrating Lewis Carroll’s (Walt Disney) “Alice in Wonderland,” and being able to deal with its difficult and demanding author, one of the few to successfully do so. Knighted and retired from Punch. Inner: Genial, equitable temper, had no enemies, many friends. Never used models, idealist rather than realist. Punched-up lifetime of putting his life into his work, and being well-remembered for his efforts, thanks to an instinct for illustrating lasting classics.

*

PATHWAY OF THE ARTIST AS EVOLVING DREAM/MASTER:
Storyline: The fanciful fantasist gradually descends ever deeper into his considerable imagination by holding onto childhood and making it a lifetime affair, after earlier failing to complete his search for the divine through elaborate dreamscapes and conventional family life.
Maurice Sendak (1928) - American artist. Outer: Son of Polish Jewish immigrants, father was a dressmaker. Older brother and sister, who were the stimuli for his imagination. Suffered an unhappy upbringing, with brooding parents, and a highly fearful view of life. His sire’s made-up stories fascinated him as a child, particularly that of Jewish shtetl life. Sickly as a boy, he spent a lot of time at home drawing pictures and later making up tales to accompany them. Born the same year as Mickey Mouse, he used him as a tool to learn to draw, and later became an inveterate collector of his 1930s memorabilia. Received his art education at the Art Students’ League in NYC, and did comic-book backgrounds, as well as window displays while studying. 5’7”, and green-eyed. Began illustrating children’s books in 1951, before going onto to do more than 80 of them by different authors. In 1956, he issued his own first tome, Kenny’s Window, then went on to do a score of his own, displaying an unusual style and content, delineating the imaginative world of childhood in striking manner. His best known work is Where the Wild Things Are, published in 1963. Also did work for TV, opera and the theater. A lifelong bachelor, despite a great love for children, although his In The Night Kitchen, published in 1970, ran into censorship for its view of a naked boy throughout the story. Taught at Yale and Parsons School of Design, and eventually acquired a Connecticut estate on an unpaved road, through a successful career as a delineator of youthful interiors. In addition to his other works, he has created opera versions of some of his own stories, and has designed a number of pieces for the stage, while living a quiet country gentleman’s life, replete with reading, writing, and long walks. Inner: Gentle, modest, shy and soft-spoken. Also social and extremely loyal in his longheld friendships. Extended romper room lifetime of exploring the emotional memory of childhood’s stresses and urgencies, in a gradual process of getting ever more deeply into himself in order to expand his considerable imagination. Henri Rousseau (1844-1910) - French artist. Outer: Son of a petit bourgeois-tinsmith, and grew up in a French market town, where he was a mediocre student, and left school without finishing his studies. Served in the army as a regimental musician, where he heard stories of soldiers who had lived in the subtropics, which he would later use as backgrounds for his dreamscapes. Claimed to have fought in the Mexican War of 1862, although no real record exists, but his landscapes attest to that possibility. Eventually rose to the rank of sergeant, and was released from service to support his widowed mother and settled in Paris where, in his mid-20s, he married Clemence Boitard, the daughter of a cabinetmaker, several children from the union. Held a post in the customs bureau, collecting tolls on the outskirts of the city, earning himself the nickname “le Douanier Rousseau.” Had musical talents and played the violin, and became a self-taught artist beginning in his mid-30s. Did not seriously begin painting until the age of 40, in a colorful, primitive dreamlike style, and began exhibiting regularly afterwards in the salon of the Societe des Artistes Independants, showing every year from 1884 until his death, although he was savaged by critics for his naive compositions. Retired in 1893 with a small pension, but he had to augment it with small-time jobs. Peopled his works with animals, symbols and jungle foliage, and also did primitivistic portraits, while employing a bright palette that was not constrained by naturalistic color effects, providing ambrosial dreamscapes from his wondrously and innocently exotic imagination. After his wife died, as well as all his children save for one daughter, he devoted himself entirely to painting. Knew many of the avant-gardists, and began to get recognition for his work through them, but found few buyers for his pieces. His best known works were “The Sleeping Gypsy,” and “The Dream.” His 2nd wife died after 4 years of marriage, and the continued rejections by the woman he wished to be wife number 3 probably contributed to his death. Toward the end of his life, he was implicated in a fraud connected with the Bank of France, but his sentence was remanded. Inner: Gentle, modest, humble, with a great love of order. Felt himself to be a total painterly channel, saying, “It is not I who paint, but someone else who holds the brush.” Had the ambition to become an academician, but was far too original for such a limited desire. Sleeping bureaucrat’s lifetime of waking up to touch on his inner dream world through his artistic facilities, as escape from an outer world filled with sorrows and misfortune.

*

PATHWAY OF THE ARTIST AS BAD BOY CARTOONIST:
Storyline: The provocative penman uses his scatological sensibilities to paper the cultural landscape with his X-rated vision of life around him, while serving as a pioneer in opening up cartooning to its larger, and more libidinous possibilities.
Ralph Bakshi (1938) - American cartoonist. Outer: Son of Russian Jewish immigrants who came to the U.S. via Palestine. Father was a low-paid sheet metal worker. Raised in poverty in Brooklyn. Once as a child, he was splattered with the blood of a Mafiosa whose head was blown off nearby. 6’2”, well-built. Wanted to be a newspaper comic-strip artist. Went to the High School of Industrial Arts, then began to work as an animator for Terrytoons, eventually becoming the outfit’s creative director in 1965, and the following year, president of Paramount’s New York cartoon division. The department, however, disbanded shortly afterwards, and he began working independently. Married in his late teens, divorced 5 years later, one son Preston became a writer. Remarried in his 20s, son Eddie became involved in his productions and daughter Victoria provided voices for him, while a third son, would be his only child not involved in the industry. In his 30s, he began producing and directing X-rated animated features, with strong sexual content and equally shocking language, beginning with Fritz the Cat, which thoroughly disgusted its original creator, R. Crumb. His 1974 combination live action and animated feature Coonskin, was particularly abrasive to African-Americans, for its blatant stereotypical racism and he was roughed up during a demonstration against it. Shot J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings in live action, then traced each frame to try to turn it into an animated film, although the result was stilted, as were other attempts to do the same in further films, and his later works lacked his earlier defiance, as well as his unique streetwise overview. Wound up doing some of his best later work for the “Mighty Mouse” TV series, although it was canceled in 1988, after plaints that the robust rodent had snorted cocaine in one episode that saw him inhale the remains of dried flower. His vision would prove far too dark and decadent for the medium her chose, and he eventually left Hollywood for New Mexico in the 1990s to earn his keep as a painter, feeling depressed that he had failed in his filmmaking. After the turn of the century, however, a re-interest in his oeuvre sparked a return to the silver screen, with yet another project, Last Days of Coney Island. Inner: Provocative, self-assured, with a great desire to both shock and titillate his audiences, along with a curious insensitivity as to what would blatantly offend them. Streetsmart lifetime, once again, of pioneering an art form, and using “bad boy” humor to launch it, before being dismissed for his obtuseness and then rediscovered for his innovative abilities. Richard Outcault (1863-1928) - American cartoonist. Outer: Had middle-class upbringing, and was determined to be an artist from a young age. Educated at McMicken College, then went to Paris for further art study, before returning to the U.S. in beret and velveteen jacket. Married in his mid-20s and moved to NYC to become a draftsman for 2 journals, while contributing to various humor magazines. Began doing comic cartoons based on slum life in New York. His drawing of an urchin in a nightshirt was used as a color test for the newspaper production and it attracted such widespread attention, it became known as “the Yellow Kid.” Inaugurated newspaper comic/strips on 11/18/1894 with a drawing entitled “The Origin of the New Species.” Shortly afterwards, he launched the Yellow Kid, to a sensational reception. Put slangy messages on his nightshirt, and the highly popular strip resulted in a bidding war between 2 press lords, Joseph Pulitzer (Rudolph Giuliani) and William Randolph Hearst, which led to the term “yellow journalism,” to denote the unscrupulous publishing practices of the time. Lured away from the NY World to the NY Journal with a tremendous salary. A rivalry developed between him and artist George Luks (David Lynch), who took over the drawing of the Yellow Kid for the NY World. The 2nd character he created was “Buster Brown,” a prissy-looking mischief-maker, and his dog Tighe, who eventually became advertising symbols and made him a fortune. Returned to the NY Journal, and retired 13 years later. Inner: Provocative, self-assured, with an artistic affinity for lower-class life, and an economic affinity for the handsome rewards garnered in portraying it to popular effect. Loved theater, took part in amateur dramatics. Pen-in-hand lifetime of pioneering an art form, using “bad boy” humor to launch it, and profiting mightily from his efforts.

*

PATHWAY OF THE ARTIST AS CELEBRATED CELEBRITY PHOTOGRAPHER:
Storyline: The perceptive portraitist switches genders but not focus, in her ongoing fascination with big names and faces, and her need to record them according to her own firm esthetic, as an astute near-sighted eye of her times.
Annie Leibovitz (Anna-lou Leibovitz) (1949) - American photographer. Outer: Mother was a dance instructor, who was once part of Martha Graham’s troupe, while her father was a lt. colonel in the U.S. Air Force. One of 6 children. The family moved frequently, and she used both music and art as a means to ground herself. 5’11”, cultivated an androgynous look. Went to the San Francisco Art Institute, with the thought of becoming a painting instructor, and became interested in photography while visiting her family in the Philippines, buying her first camera in 1968. Did a variety of jobs, and lived on a kibbutz in Israel in 1969, working on an archaeological dig for several months. On her return to the U.S., she began shooting for Rolling Stone magazine, a new publication of the time, dedicated to chronicling pop culture, after submitting a shot of poet Allen Ginsberg smoking a joint. By 1973, she was chief photographer, and stayed in that position for a decade, photographing most of the cultural icons of the time, with numerous iconic shots of her own of them, including John Lennon several hours before his death. Became a celebrated celebrity photographer, herself, with the ability to put her sitters at ease, and extract their nicely composed essences by allowing them to just be with her, rather than merely pose for her, as separated individuals. In the process, however, she completely neglected her personal life for her first 40 years, existing largely as an extraordinary eye. In 1983, she joined Vanity Fair, and that far more sophisticated magazine, would serve as her base from that time onward. In 1986, she added ads to her resume, finding more freedom of expression, particularly through the series she did for American Express. In the late 1980s, she met writer & critic Susan Sontag and the two wound up as a longterm romantic item, though neither publicly admitted it. Although they lived nearby, rather than with one another, they traveled together often, and the latter served as an astute critic for her work, as well as an extended member of her ultimate family, which consisted of a daughter in her early 50s, then a pair of twins who were born to a surrogate mother. Took photos of Sontag during her last days, as well as a poignant death shot, as a means of both memorializing her and working through her own sense of loss. Had an exhibition in 1991 at the National Portrait Gallery, and has published 6 books of photography, including “A Photograph’s Life:1990-2005.” Owns several homes, but despite all her commercial successes, including a 7 figure salary from Vanity Fair, her financial failures would become overwhelming, including being sued for nonpayment of fees of a $24 million loan, as well as tax liens of over $1 million, and other lawsuits, in a reflection of her previous go-round in this series, and its casual attitude towards money. Able to subsequently win an extension on the debt, as her plight became highly public. Inner: Warm, reserved and engaging, albeit incredibly careless about debt. Repeat lifetime of her fascination with the famous, but from a female, rather than male perspective, allowing her to focus on life’s positives, instead of its harsh negatives, for a far smoother ride the second time through the same basic roll of film, before once again finding herself in financial arrears. Matthew Brady (c1823-1896) - American photographer. Outer: Parents were Irish immigrants, although nothing is recorded of his mother. Had little formal education, but was encouraged by portrait painter William Page, to explore his skills. Came to NYC at 16, and worked as a dept. store clerk, before starting his own small business manufacturing jewelry cases. 5’6”, with a refined, intelligent face, thick curly hair, and a mustache and goatee, along with glasses. Studied photography and was Introduced to Samuel F. B. Morse (R. Buckminster Fuller), who taught him how to take daguerreotypes, and in 1844, he opened his own studio, and was soon hailed as a master of the new medium. Decided, soon after, to take photos of all the well-known men and women of his time. In 1850, he published a book of them, Gallery of Illustrious Americans, and wound up doing all the presidents from John Quincy Adams (Rob Lowe) to William McKinley (Richard Nixon). Met his wife, Juliette Handy, in his Washington studio, and married her in 1851. Exhibited in London in the same year, and was introduced to the new wet-plate technique, which he adopted as his own. Had an excellent business sense, and kept opening larger and larger gallery-studios, making himself an international figure, and by far, the most famous photographer in America, despite the fact his eyesight was now failing. Opened a studio in Washington, D.C. in 1856 to better shoot the nation’s leaders, as well as foreign political eminences. Felt absolutely compelled to document the Civil War, and won approval, along with others, from Pres. Abraham Lincoln in 1861 to photograph the union army in their camps and on the field, and here is where he did most of his most exemplary work. Spent his entire fortune, some $100,000, to hire teams of 23 photographers, and they did an extraordinary job of recording the war from the union side, taking over 3500 pictures, under his astute organization. In 1862, he gave a photographic public display of the battlefield dead, bringing the actualities of war directly to a shocked public. Despite the astonishing achievement, the outlay ruined him, and the public showed little interest in being so directly reminded of the horrors of the war, after it was over. Ultimately forced to sell his studio in 1873, and his negatives the following year, while his eminence as a portraitist took a nosedive as well. Received some recompense from the government when they bought about 2000 of his works for $25000 in 1875. Spent the latter part of his life mostly in Washington, with his one remaining studio. When his wife died in 1887, he fell into absolute despair, and gave himself completely over to drink. In 1895, he was run over by a carriage in Washington, then was cared for by friends, before going to NYC. Eventually died penniless in a NY hospital charity ward. Left the most extraordinary legacy of any of the early practitioners of the still new art of photography. Inner: Shy, reserved, obsessive, but charming, with the ability to put his sitters completely at ease, particularly through the long gruel of a 19th century photograph. Genial, friendly, modest, with a fascination for all new techniques, which he would quickly adopt for his own. Four-eyed lifetime of seeing fame and fortune clearly, as well as the power, gore and glory of his time, but not their opposing states, necessitating an ultimate stumble downward, to give a blind under-view to his extraordinary sense of overview, as a humbling means to remind him of the need for insight as well as outsight.

*

PATHWAY OF THE ARTIST AS PURVEYOR OF MIDDLE-CLASS CONSCIOUSNESS:
Storyline: The recovering recluse celebrates materialism and the cultural artifacts of independent, co-dependent working women, then finally opens herself up to sharing her isolated stay-at-home proclivities with intimate others.
Cathy Guisewite (1950) - American cartoonist. Outer: Mother was an advertising writer and grade school teacher, father was an advertising executive who worked his way through college as a stand-up comic. 2nd of 3 children. Had a happy upbringing, and her parents were very supportive of her creativity. Graduated Michigan Univ. and went to work for an ad agency where she was a copywriter. Her cartoons grew out of illustrated letters to her mother, who was quite the opposite of the anxious, hovering figure in her cartoon, “Cathy.” Began in her mid-20s to syndicate “Cathy,” keeping her day job for the first year, then moving to California and giving her strip full-time. Her creation is a junior executive in an advertising agency, taking on the problems of dependence & independence of a young working woman who defines herself by her progress and regress through the material world and its emotional offshoots. All her figures are drawn curiously asexual, despite an underlying thematic of relationships and interconnections, with little real differentiation between males and females on the inner or outer level. Adopted a baby girl in her early 40s, and married Chris Wilkinson, a Hollywood screenwriter in her late 40s, and then wed ‘Cathy,’ to her longtime inamorata, ‘Irving,’ as reflection of her altered status around the altar. Inner: Good-humored, independent, with an earlier preference for isolation. Gradually self-integrating lifetime of publicly limning her emotional interior and material obsessions on the comic pages, in order to better privately see herself, while serving as a humorous voice for one of femaledom’s acquisitive and neurotic sectors of the of the populace. Helen Hokinson (c1900-1949) - American cartoonist. Outer: Father was a farm machinery salesman. Parents were reluctant over her chosen art career. Studied for five years at the Academy of Fine Arts in Chicago, and supported herself doing fashion illustration. Completed her education at the Parsons School of Design in NYC, after moving there in 1920. Worked for department stores, then was a fashion illustrator, while also trying her hand at painting. Did a short-lived cartoon-strip with fellow artist, Alice Harvey. Sent a drawing into New Yorker magazine in 1925 shortly after it began, and immediately found her niche as a cartoonist of the foibles of overweight matronly clubwomen. Initially, drew without captions, but after 1931 teamed with a male collaborator. Never married. En route to a speaking engagement, she died in a plane crash, the worst American civilian air-crash up to that time. Inner: Shy, largely a stay-at-home, with an apartment in NYC and a cottage in Connecticut. Isolated, self-involved lifetime of limning projections of herself, and enjoying her own sense of independence through it, before literally crashing through to another plane of herself the next time around.

*

PATHWAY OF THE ARTIST AS POP-EYED CARTOONIST:
Storyline: The cheerfully defiant chronicler of dysfunction and dystopia proves life in hell has its bounteous rewards when you can consistently ridicule it with high, good humor.
Matt Groening (1954) - American cartoonist. Outer: Father was a cartoonist, filmmaker and writer, mother was a teacher. 3rd of 5 children. Parents were very supportive, creating a creative household but he rebelled at school, and was often a visitor to the principal’s office. Attended progressive Evergreen State College, where he became a friend of future cartoonist Lynda Barry. Moved to Los Angeles in 1977, hoping to become a writer. Often unemployed, he finally turned to cartooning. “Life in Hell,” featuring a pair of fez-wearing twins, became a staple of an LA alternative weekly, where he worked as circulation manager, and ultimately wound up in 250 papers. Met his future wife, Deborah Caplan there, and married in his early 30s, 2 sons from union. “Life in Hell,” led to animated shorts in 1987 for “The Tracey Ullman Show,” of a pop-eyed, dysfunctional family called “The Simpsons,” which he conceived in 15 minutes, using the names of his own family. They soon warranted their own animated show, which became a long-running hit for over two decades, showing life from the kids’ perspective where the entire grown-up world is corrupt. Able to maintain a high standard for its record run through a host of characters, with a 10 year old uberunderachiever, Bart Simpson, at its core. Continued in the role as the producer and writer of the show, which spawned a whole manufactured line of products celebrating its unique characters, although failed in his attempts at spin-offs. In 1994, he formed Bongo Comics Group which transliterates his TV creations into comic form, and the following year, created Zongo Comics for more mature readers of the funnies. Made wealthy by his efforts and expanded into an animated version of the dystopic future in the 31st century, “Futurama,” which proved less successful, although managed a 5 year run. Also a member of an all-author rock’n’roll band, The Rock Bottom Remainders, which include several best-sellers among their members. Divorced in 1999, he hooked up with dating expert Lauren Frances, whose expertise have allowed them a longterm relationship sans ring. Garnered 9 Emmys for “The Simpsons,” and one for “Futurama,” as well as the ultimate accolade in cartoondom, a Reuben Award in 2002. Inner: Offbeat humor, integrating his own rebellious interior via his successful cartoon limning of it. Named his Simpson family after his own, Homer and Margaret are his parents, while his sisters are Lisa and Maggie. Healing lifetime of reaping the handsome benefits of being able to celebrate cultural dysfunction in an entertaining fashion, while working out his own pop-eyed alienation in the process. Elzie Segar (1894-1938) - Father was a housepainter and paperhanger. Grew up in small-town Illinois, near the Mississippi River, as the youngest of five boys and three girls. Had an athletic childhood, and at 12, began playing trap drums to accompany silent films and vaudeville acts at a local opera house. Helped his father as a housepainter and sign painter and eventually became a movie projectionist, before deciding to become a cartoonist. After numerous rejections, he took an 18 month correspondence course, then went to Chicago where cartoonist Richard Outcault (Ralph Bakshi) got him a newspaper job drawing “Charlie Chaplin’s Comic Capers,” in 1916, which soon folded. In 1918, he married Myrtle Johnson, a secretary, daughter and son from the union. Headed for New York afterwards and convinced King Features Syndicate for a new strip called “Thimble Theater” which featured Olive Oyl, Castor Oyl and Harold Hamgravy. Popeye the squint-eyed sailor was added 8 years after the strip began in 1919, and quickly became its focus, with his bulging forearms and his taste for spinach. The character would be a projection of his own emotional make-up, including a desire to pound people, despite his own diminutive size. Although a limited artist, his storytelling abilities made up for his deficiencies. Popeye became a staple of animated cartoons a decade later through the auspices of animator Max Fleischer (Seth MacFarlane), and went on to lead a life of his own that far exceeded the relative brief span of his creator. In 1923, he moved out to Southern California, and bought a home near the Santa Monica pier, where he could indulge in his love of fishing. Created several other strips, although none would have the impact of Thimble Theater. Initially tried to write Popeye out of the strip in 1929, although public protest was so great, he became its permanent star. Did quite handsomely from his creations, making $100,000 a year by the mid-1930s. Had to have his spleen removed in 1938, and several months later made a relatively early exit, from portal cirrhosis, a liver disease, although may also have been suffering from cancer. Inner: Highly inventive, with excellent mechanical abilities. Used to get ideas sitting in a boat from 7 P.M. to 4 A.M., while fishing. Pop-eyed lifetime of adding a memorable set of characters to the American cultural pantheon, while learning to complement his innate storytelling abilities, with simple but effective drawings, which he would continue to pursue in his next full length go-round in this series.

*

PATHWAY OF THE ARTIST AS SOCIAL COMMENTATOR:
Storyline: The penguined penman creates an outlandish landscape of characters to limn his skewed social views, then, like many of the other cartooning hands of his generation, had his say and moved on, before returning determined to uplift the comics page.
Berkeley Breathed (Guy Breathed) (1957) - American cartoonist. Outer: Son of an oil equipment executive. A loner who collected snakes as a youth. At 14, his family moved to Houston for the oil boom. Attended the Univ. of Texas, and received a degree in photo-journalism. Started a comic strip there which developed into “Bloom County,” which starred Opus the Penguin, a host of animal characters and their human counterparts. Began small and became syndicated in 1980, ultimately appearing in over 1000 newspapers, during a nine year run. Won a Pulitzer Prizer for editorial cartooning in 1987. Often controversial in its limning of social foibles, he eventually scaled it back in 1989 to a Sunday strip called, “Outland,” with most of the same characters, although a somewhat diluted point of view, which ran until 1995. Married Jody Boyman, a photographer in his late 20s, whom he had met at a county fair goat milk-off, where he came in last. Daughter and son from the union. Far less of a public presence in the 1990s, when he painted children’s books and worked in Hollywood. Returned to the Sunday funnies, with “Opus,” with an emphasis on the art, and a desire to uplift the graphics of that institution. Inner: Good satiric eye and sense of character. Alien, but gentle and good-humored, lifetime of writing with pictures, with a later desire to explore other avenues for his unique sense of expression and to be less of a public commentator, much like many of his contemporary cartoonists. Gelett Burgess (Frank Gelett Burgess) (1866-1951) - American cartoonist and writer. Outer: Son of a prosperous painting contractor. As a youth, he carved his initials in monogram form based on the Phoenician alphabet near the top of every church steeple in his native Boston. Wheedled his way into print at 15, through a deception, as a further means of introducing himself to the world-at-large as a trickster to be beheld. Received a BS degree from MIT in engineering, then moved to San Francisco, finding Boston too severe and limiting for him. Worked for 3 years as a draftsman for Southern Pacific RR, then became an instructor in topographical drawing at UC, Berkeley, until he toppled a statue he considered an eyesore and found the administration had little tolerance for his oddball antics. His next position was as an associate editor of Wave, a San Francisco society paper with literary pretensions. Wanted to make SF into a major literary center, and in 1895, he founded The Lark with friends, then, the Yellow Bamboo Paper. By 1897, he was focusing on writing and illustrating books, having given up on his earlier ambition. Best known for the poem, The Purple Cow, he became famous as “the Purple Cow man,” afterwards, which ultimately annoyed him. Drew “goops,” ill-mannered, boneless, tri-eyed and mouth-less humans, and wrote a series of books using them to teach children manners. Started 2 other magazines, then moved to NYC in his early 30s and stayed there most of the rest of his life, where he was an editor and magazine contributor. Invented the word ‘blurb,’ in 1907, when he attributed a gushing book jacket bouquet for one of his works to one Brenda Blurb. Married Estelle Loomis, a former actress in his late 40s, who also wrote. Composed some 35 books and contributed many words to the English language, including bromide. Spent his long life actively producing a ton of work, of mixed quality. 2 years after his wife’s death, he moved to Carmel, California, where he died. Inner: Gentle satirist, with strong literary pretensions. Trickster lifetime of taking a modest talent as far as he could, while dipping into the cultural life of both coasts in order to broaden his experience.

*

PATHWAY OF THE ARTIST AS HOBBESIAN CALVINIST:
Storyline: The uncompromising chronicler of childhood’s extraordinary landscape refuses to materially exploit the success of his creation, nor extend it a minute beyond the freshness and creative sparkle he could bring to it.
Bill Watterson (1958) - American cartoonist. Outer: Father was an attorney, mother was on the city council. One younger brother. Drew as a child, manufacturing a rich inner life to counteract his sense of worldly imbalance. Did political cartoons in high school and college, majoring in political science at Kenyon College. Worked as an editorial cartoonist for the Cincinnati Post but was fired after three months. Spent 5 years submitting cartoons to syndications, before coming up with an excessively imaginative and totally alienated 6 year old, named Calvin, after the pessimistic theologian John Calvin (Martin Heidigger), whose closest companion is a toy Tiger, to whom he gives life and wit, named Hobbes after the philosopher who observed the brutality and brevity of life. Married, no children. Resisted all attempts at commercializing his creation, while taking several sabbaticals from the strip and maintaining an extremely low public prolife, despite its huge success in giving wildly liberated life to the uninhibited interior of childhood. Refused to be either photographed or interviewed, although from earlier pics, looked as if Calvin’s father is a personal projection of his adult self. After ten years, from late 1985 to late 1995, and 3160 strips, which appeared in more than 2400 papers, he abruptly retired, feeling he had done all he could within the limitations of the form. Became a painter instead, once more retreating into himself. Inner: Prickly and private, probably spurned $100 million for not licensing his characters. Uncompromising standards, with a strong desire not to be tapped dry by the well of public needs, or give in to conventional commercial pressures to grow rich and soft. Line-in-the-sand lifetime of working out his projected imagination through his creation, while maintaining an extremely strong sense of integrity, so as not to be seduced into compromising himself for a fast buck and a slow descent into predictability. Frederick Burr Opper (1857-1937) - American cartoonist. Outer: Father was an Austrian immigrant who came to America and was involved in various mercantile businesses. Mother descended from the founders of Hartford, Conn. Eldest of 3. Had a scant education, was artistic since childhood, attended schools until 14, then went to Cooper Union and became an assistant to a cartoonist/illustrator. Labored for a year in the printing office of his hometown Madison Gazette, then moved to NYC at 16 and worked in a dry goods store. Only had one term of art instruction at Cooper Union. Began sending drawings to comic magazines, then joined the staff of magazine publisher Frank Leslie (Phil Graham), for 4 years, doing illustrations. Married Nellie Barnett in 1881, son and daughter from the union. Following Leslie’s death, he spent the next 18 years at Puck, a humorous weekly. In his early 40s, newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst hired him. Did political cartoons, which were not his forte, and invented the comic strip character, Happy Hooligan, a simple good-humored tramp with a tin hat which he drew for 25 years, after his first appearance in 1900. Also did Alphonse and Gaston, a pair of hyper-polite Frenchmen, as well Maud, a mule. Painted as a hobby. Showed great loyalty, staying with his organization until his eyesight forced him to retire 5 years before his death from heart disease. Although other cartoonists of the time were constantly moving back and forth, with publishers waving large sums of money at them, he refused to do so. Published a series of books with his cartoon characters, one of the first to do so, and was given the accolade of the funniest man who ever labored for the American press by his cartooning peers in the 1930s. Inner: Filled with integrity, honesty and loyalty. Uncompromising lifetime of testing his principles with a high-priced skill that he refused to commercially exploit.

*

PATHWAY OF THE ARTIST AS INVENTIVE TECHNICIAN:
Storyline: The light-show luminary doubly concocts new reproductive processes to help bring the world into its technology obsessed modern-age, building from one life to the next on his enterprising inventiveness.
Louis Lumiere (1864-1948) - French inventor, pioneer director and producer. Outer: 3rd of 6 children of a photographer and manufacturer of photographic products, called Lumiere and Sons. Father was a sign painter and decorator before becoming a photographer, and was also improvident, authoritarian and violent. Son was quiet and introverted and given to chronic headaches, which stopped his formal education. At 17, he invented a dry-plate process that enhanced his family business. Within 5 years he and his brother, Auguste, had expanded their factory to produce roll films and printing papers. Fascinated by Thomas Edison’s Kinetoscope, he went on to invent with his brother, the Cinematographe, a combination camera-projector, which had a driven claw for moving film-strips, thus enabling true motion pictures to be shown. Demonstrated the device’s viability with a clip of workers leaving their factory, and on December 28th, 1895, projected their films for the first time to a paying public, including the shot of an oncoming train. The date is considered the birth of world cinema, 33 people attended. Most of their earliest work were records of real life and current events, which were the forerunners of newsreels and documentaries. Married Rose Winckler, the daughter of a brewer and the sister of his brother’s wife in his late 20s, the 2 couples lived in the same villa. Two children from the union. Directed and shot his first films himself, but soon delegated that job to skilled photographers. Built up his catalogue of short subjects by sending his staff all over the world to sell his invention, exhibit his works and shoot such footage as the coronation of Nicholas II (Lex Barker) of Russia and the inauguration of William McKinley (Richard Nixon). After producing some short films, he abandoned film production following the Paris exposition of 1900 and devoted all of his energies to the invention and manufacture of photographic equipment. Developed a still projector, a successful color process for still film, and a 3-dimensional film process in later life. Considered by many as the inventive father of movies. Devoted himself to lifelong research into photographically-related subjects, while his brother branched off into biological and physiological research. Inner: Continuation lifetime of pursuing his fascination with the photographic process and taking it to its next level, as this being will undoubtedly continue to do whenever he, or she, makes another appearance. Louis J.M. Daguerre (1789-1851) - French artist, inventor and physicist. Outer: Began his career as an apprentice to an architect at 13, but 3 years later, he became the pupil of a scenic designer, painting stage sets. Invented, along with a partner, a process called diorama, by which pictorial views could be seen with changing light. By his mid-30s, he had achieved a measure of fame through his work on theatrical panoramas. Began experimenting with photography, then teamed up with chemist J. Nicephore Niepce (Auguste Lumiere), who had made the first negative on paper, and the first photograph on metal. Until Niepce’s death, the duo continued working together, then he completed his invention on his own over the next 6 years, accidently discovering the key to the process in his late 40s. The discovery was made public in 1839, making a positive image on a silver plate, which he called the daguerreotype, and the process was purchased by the French Academy of Sciences and given free to the world of patent restrictions, only a few weeks before an Englishman also discovered it. Secretly patented the process in England, before selling it to the French government. Much honored, he retired with his wife soon after, and for the last decade of his life, did little to further photography. Inner: Darkroom lifetime of beginning to explore an ongoing technological process, so as to give his lives in this series, a continuous sense of invention and discovery and all the joy, passion and frustration that goes with them.

*

PATHWAY OF THE ARTIST AS DAREDEVIL ADVENTURER:
Storyline: The macho motorcyclist leaps over grand chasms, although none larger than his considerable ego, as he paints and postures his way into the national psyche with his usual unusual elan.
Charles Marion Russell (1864-1926) - American artist. Outer: From a wealthy family, father was a successful industrialist involved in coal mining and brick-making, although son always had a preference for the outer edges of civilization. Grew up in sumptuous circumstances. Modeled figures since childhood, showing an early talent for art, while his mother encouraged his abilities. Skipped school to listen to tales of mountain men at wharves. Went to Montana shortly before he turned 16, and worked for a friend’s family tending sheep, singing to them and observing and drawing his environs, then spent 2 years in a cabin, learning the ways of the west. Became a cowboy, with a particular affinity for rough out-of-doors adventure. Known as “Kid Russell.” Lived for 6 months with the Blood Amerindians, who gave him the name, ‘Antelope,’ during an 11 year stint as a wrangler and cowhand, when he established himself as a cowboy artist. Self-taught, he began drawing for his own amusement, proving himself an adept chronicler of his environs, the personalities it spawned and its wildlife. Moved to Great Falls, Montana in 1897, and in his early 30s, he married Nancy Cooper, a 17 year old with an equally formidable personality, who initially turned him down, then proved a stabilizing influence in his life, managing his sales and arranging for shows in Europe as well as the United States. The duo adopted a son in 1918. Also worked in bronze, doing action reliefs. Had an excellent facility for capturing action on canvas, as well as telling stories via paint, and was extremely popular during his lifetime, as the first artist to live his entire adult life in the West. A museum was subsequently built in Great Falls to honor his work. Grew more and more nostalgic for the old ways as he aged. Produced over 4000 works of art. Collapsed in his home at the top of the stairs, and died of a heart ailment, which was weakened by a goiter removed too late. Inner: Physical, adventurous, well-liked, with a powerful sense of self. Strong resemblance to cowboy/comedian Will Rogers (Arlo Guthrie). Great storyteller, claimed to live for the past while his wife lived for the future, and ultimately went back in time to find his true metier. Rough-and-tumble lifetime of forsaking privilege for out-and-out adventure in order to bring out the incipient artist-within, and memorialize a soon-to-be lost world. Robert Evel Knievel (1938-2007) - American daredevil and artist. Outer: Father was a car dealer. His parents separated when he was 6 months old, and he was raised by his grandparents in Butte, Montana. Wound up having a wild youth with little real supervision. Bought a motorcycle as a teenager, and did stunts to draw attention to himself. Also stole hubcaps and purses for the same reason. A cop called him “Evil Knievel” while sitting in a jail cell, but he also said the name was given to him as a child. Worked for Anaconda Mines while in high school, but was fired for doing wheelies with a fully loaded earth/mover. Tall and slim. Left high school without graduating, while proving himself a skilled athlete, as both a ski jumper and hockey player. Played pro hockey on a minor league level, but felt he wasn’t good enough to shoot the puck with the top professionals. Instead, he became an owner, manager, star and coach of a semi-pro hockey team. Also worked as a hunting guide but took clients to illegal places and his business folded. In 1959, he married Linda Joan Bork, a hometown girlfriend, after kidnapping her 3 times, later divorced. 3 children, including daredevil son, Robbie, who also did motorcycle jumps, but ultimately became estranged from his father because of their competitive egos. Broke his collarbone and shoulder in a motorcycle race, then briefly became a spectacularly successful insurance salesman. Claimed to have been an equally crackerjack safecracker, entering through roofs, although the boast remained undocumented. Also a hold-up man in a criminal career that evaded capture. Became a Honda dealer, then, at the age of 27, formed a troupe called Evel Knievel’s Motorcycle Daredevils, where he rode through firewalls and jumped rattlesnakes and mountain lions. Built his own racetrack, but eventually his troupe dropped out one by one. Barnstormed the Western states, did progressively larger jumps, which led to the fountains at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas in 1968, which landed him in a hospital in a coma for a month. His most spectacular failure was an attempt in 1974 to clear the Snake River Canyon in Idaho in a rocket-powered ‘skycycle,’ for which his parachute malfunctioned, and he just missed landing in the swirling river below. Noted for his red, white and blue jump suits. Broke every bone in his body during his jumps, save for his neck, calculating some 35 fractures, and 14 operations to redo them, making for an entry in the Guiness Book of World Records. Retired after breaking both arms and suffering a concussion jumping a shark tank in 1976, and fully retired from motorcycle exhibitionism four years later. Turned to painting, afterwards, of mostly western subjects. With a distinct flair for art, and typical immodesty, he declared himself the equal of Picasso. Also did a little TV work, and had several films made of his life. In his early 60s, he married Krystal Kennedy, who was 3 decades his junior, and though they divorced several years later, they continued to remain together. A victim of arthritis from his various crashes, as well as hepatitis C. Underwent a liver transplant in 1999. Wound up suffering from diabetes, as well as incurable pulmonary fibrosis, making it extremely difficult to breathe. Added two strokes to his deteriorating health problems, and wound up exiting from a host of ailments. Inner: Exhibitionistic mischiefmaker, part criminal, part conman, total adventurer. Pedal-to-the-metal lifetime of drawing attention to himself through death-defying self-destructive acts, before settling into a more creative mold to round out his “Hey, dig me!” personality.

*

PATHWAY OF THE ARTIST AS WELL-INTEGRATED HUMANIST:
Storyline: The guileless guide synthesizes his vision of the family of man with being a conscientious family man, himself, and manages to make both his private and public lives exemplary in their unified reflection of his deep humanity.
Edward Steichen (Eduard Jean Steichen) (1879-1973) - Luxembourg/American photographer. Outer: Parents were peasants. Came to the U.S. at the age of 2 from Luxembourg, and settled in Michigan, where his father worked in the copper mines, before the family moved to Milwaukee. Close to his mother, who ran a millinery shop, and was a powerful, encouraging force in his early life. Brought up strictly as a Roman Catholic, and went to Catholic Normal School, where he discovered art. Became an apprentice designer at 9 to a Milwaukee lithographic firm, and left school at 15. Showed an interest in photography, buying his first camera in 1895 and was soon making advertising posters for the firm. His first set of pictures at 16 so shocked him, he almost gave up the medium. 6’, with wide-set piercing blue eyes. Became a driving force behind Milwaukee’s first art school, and in 1899, he had his first public exhibition of a few of his photographs in Philadelphia. His sister married poet Carl Sandburg, and he was close to both. While on his way to Paris to study painting after the century’s turn, he met photographer Alfred Steiglitz (Steven Soderbergh). Along with him, he established photography as an art form, through soft focus aesthetic pictures, mimicking the impressionists with his darkroom manipulations. Vomited the first time he saw a Van Gogh painting, although later came to respect him as a master. Studied in Paris and London, and continued his pursuit of photography, while receiving portrait commissions in the latter city. On his return to NYC, he continued doing portraits of well-known people, although much of his early work is murky and artsy, before he attuned himself to more conventional tastes. Married Clara Smith in his mid-20s, 2 daughters, a doctor and writer, from the union, which ended in a bitter divorce in 1922. In 1905, he joined Stieglitz in establishing the Photo-Secession Gallery, which exhibited all forms of art, including photography. Returned to France in 1906, staying until the outbreak of WW I, when he came home to NYC, then in 1917, he joined the U.S. Army and created an aerial photography unit in northern France to gather intelligence around troop movements and artillery placements behind enemy lines for the American Expeditionary Force. Gave up painting entirely in order to focus on sharp-focus photography, after earlier renouncing the form, while changing the spelling of his first name of Eduard to Edward. Returned to NY in 1923, where he pursued photography exclusively, after destroying all his paintings. Took up with actress and aspiring photographer, Dana Desboro Glover, who would be his companion until her death in 1957, at which point he grew a beard, to signify his perpetual mourning for her. A lifelong interest in horticulture, as well as a newfound fascination with physics, mathematics and geometric forms, resulted in some of his best-known work, abstracted images of plants and flowers, although he also had a commercial bent, which he fulfilled by doing advertising and promotional work for Conde Nast Publications, serving as chief photographer for 15 years at Vogue and chief portraitist for Vanity Fair, to cries of ‘sell-out’ from some of his earlier and purer cohorts. Closed his studio to devote himself to crossbreeding plants at his Connecticut farm, although he remained America’s best-known photographer. During WW II, he served as director of photography for Naval aviation, and retired with the rank of captain. After the war he became head of the dept. of photography at NYC’s Museum of Modern Art, from 1947 to 1962, sponsoring many exhibitions there, including the memorable Family of Man in 1955. White-bearded since 1957, giving him a biblical look. At 81, he married a woman in her 20s, reinforcing his ancient patriarchal look. Retired in 1962 and published his autobiography a year later, spending his last years gardening, before dying at his farm, two days short of his 94th birthday. Inner: Kindly, well-loved and warm, with a deep enthusiasm for art and life. Humanist, great sensitivity, a classic 19th century romantic. Far more effective with intimate subject matter, than grandiose statement. Passionate in his beliefs, with an all-abiding love for natural beauty. Solemn and spiritual-looking, particularly after growing a white beard late in life. Well-integrated lifetime of continuing his role as an artist of both upliftment and integrity. Thomas Sully (1783-1872) - English/American artist. Outer: Parents were actors. Came to the United States at 9 with his family and settled in South Carolina. Placed with an insurance broker to learn a business career, but showed a far stronger interest in art. Moved to Richmond, Virginia to live with an older brother and began painting. Came to NYC, was financed by a group of merchants, and studied with Gilbert Stuart (John Huston) in Boston in his mid-20s, then Benjamin West (Steven Soderbergh) in London two years later, before finally settling in Philadelphia in 1810. Lived with his brother and his wife, and after the former’s death, married Sarah Annis Sully, his sister-in-law. 3 children from his brother’s marriage, 9 children from their marriage, in a happy and harmonious union for one and all. Became one of the most highly regarded portrait painters of his day. Visited England in 1837, to paint a full-length portrait of young Queen Victoria. Extremely prolific painterly life, doing some 2600 works, mostly portraits, while knowing exactly how to capitalize on his successes. Painted in the style of the English school, with a clear sense of color and fluent brushstrokes, although was sometimes too facile in his work. Son-in-law also became a well-known painter. Inner: Well-loved, a perfect gentleman, fair and honest, and a shrewd businessman. Never really understood feminine anatomy, which shows in his works. Well-integrated lifetime of exploring portraiture as his primary means of expression, while influencing a host of younger artists, in yet another go-round where his humanity and his talents were mutually supportive of one another.

*

PATHWAY OF THE ARTIST AS INDEPENDENT EYE:
Storyline: The visual herstorian opens up her esthetic to embrace the world around her, through the sheer dint of her drive to teach others to see the pictorial possibilities of life, science and humanity as she does.
Berenice Abbott (1898-1991) - American photographer. Outer: Mother had wanted her to be a teacher, but she preferred journalism as a career. Spent 3 semesters at Ohio State Univ., then went to live in NYC for 3 years, before feeling compelled to go to Paris, where she studied drawing and sculpture. 5’5 1/2”, 135 lbs. Attended Berlin’s prestigious Kuntschule, then when her funds ran out, she became an assistant to artist and photographer Man Ray, and found her life’s work. Opened her own portrait studio 3 years later, and showed a single minded dedication to her craft, winning acclaim for her truthful eye, while snapping many of the City of Light’s cultural lights. Collected the photographs of Eugene Atget, who had spent years recording Paris, and unconsciously served as a motivating force for her to later do the same with New York. Revisited NYC in 1929, and decided she would become its recorder. Took on freelance assignments in order to support herself, and later taught at the New School for Social Research. Compiled her paean to NYC in Changing New York, then turned her attention to explaining scientific principles through photography, although once again found little initial support for her project, but persevered through her own unending curiosity. Fascinated with the technical aspects of photography, she wrote 2 books on the subject. Left NYC in 1968, and settled permanently in Maine, where she would live the rest of her life. Organized shows and supported younger photographers, particularly women, although was disappointed many forsook potential careers for marriage, which she never did. Died at home of congestive heart failure. Inner: Active, restless, independent and highly self-motivated. Self-creating lifetime of exploring her art from both a technical and esthetic vantagepoint, while continuing her role as teacher of new ways to see old things. Berthe Morisot (1845-1895) - French artist. Outer: Great grand-daughter of Honore Fragonard (Pierre Renoir), and daughter of a high governmental official. Had a bourgeois upbringing, although her family encouraged her and her sister, Edma, in their creative pursuits. Decided at an early age to become an artist, but found classical training unsatisfactory, and eventually studied with Camille Corot (Jean Renoir). Came under the influence of Edouard Manet (Diego Rivera) in 1869, who used her as a model and had a liberating effect on her work, while she in turn urged him to paint outdoors and use light colors. In 1874, she married Manet’s brother, Eugene. It was the same year that the impressionists first exhibited, and from the beginning, she was part of their group, suffering the initial slings and arrows of criticism along with them. Had one daughter, whom she often painted, devoted wife and mother. Eventually evolved her own style in her early 30s, which was closer to that of Renoir’s than Manet’s. Her subjects were usually women and children and outdoor scenes, as well as members of her own family, all done with an acute sense of the play of light. Experimented with techniques, and became interested in French rococco work towards the end of her relatively foreshortened life. Her letters and journals have proved an invaluable source for the his’n’herstory of impressionism. Inner: Charming, cultured, with a strong dedication to her art. Self-discovery lifetime of having direct access to her artistic ambitions, and taking full advantage of them, while serving as both a recorder of her cultural times and a delicate, esthetic voice of her own interior.

*

PATHWAY OF THE ARTIST AS UNCOMPROMISING EYE:
Storyline: The anonymous observer tries not to be seen in order to clearly see all that goes on around him, and, in so doing, capture the decisive moment that gives clear visual truth to his observations.
Henri Cartier-Bresson (1908-2004) - French photographer and artist. Outer: Eldest of 5 children of a prosperous textile family so frugal he thought he was poor while growing up. Mother tried to instill the Catholic faith in him, but failed to do so. She, did, however, imprint her own esthetics on him. A rebellious youth, he was tall, with darting eyes and a patrician bearing. During his apprenticeship, he hung out with the Surrealists, from whom he got his free, iconoclastic style. Studied with a pedagogic painter who taught him the geometry of composition, and also instilled within him a lifelong interest in painting. Went to Cambridge afterwards and studied literature and painting there for a year. In 1931, he traveled to Africa to hunt and contracted blackwater fever which nearly killed him. While recuperating, he acquired a Leica camera, beginning a long and fruitful career as a photographer. The lightweight instrument allowed him both freedom of movement and spontaneity in his picture-taking. Cloaked his camera in tape or behind a handkerchief to be an unseen recorder, and maintained a similar silence about his life and work. In his late 20s, he married a Javanese dancer and poet, Ratna Mohin, divorced 3 decades later. Produced a documentary film on medical aid in the Spanish Civil War, and also collaborated with Jean Renoir on a film for the French Communist Party that denounced the 200 richest families in France, including his own. Enlisted in the Army as a member of a film and production unit at the outbreak of WW II, was captured and escaped 3 times from German labor camps, before joining the Resistance. After the war, he helped found the Magnum photo agency and spent the next 20 years on assignment, establishing a world-wide reputation for himself, through the poignancy of his work, and his ability to capture indelible moments on the fly. Given an exhibition in 1947 at the Museum of Modern Art, and in the 1950s, published several books of his photography, including “The Decisive Moment,” which sums up his basic intent in picture-taking. Eventually felt still photography was being swallowed alive by television, and in the late 1960s, he began shooting more films. Married photographer Martine Franck in his early 60s, one adopted daughter. The last 3 decades of his life, he hardly photographed at all, concentrating on drawing and painting, while embracing Buddhism. In 1994, he opened the Henri Cartier-Bresson Foundation in Paris, to display his work, as well as others. Died in his hometown. Inner: Charming, gregarious, knew many of the dominant artistic personalities of France. Great sympathy for the poor and downtrodden. Thought of his camera as a gun geared towards the decisive moment. Didn’t like the technical aspect of his works, never developed his own film, and always used other cameramen on his movies. Practiced eye lifetime of carefully looking at things, with the instinct of the great photographer in order to capture them at their exact proper moment. Eugene Boudin (1824-1898) - French artist. Outer: Father was a sea captain. Worked as a cabin boy on his father’s ship until the age of 11, and developed a lifelong love of the sea from childhood onwards. His family moved to Le Havre in 1835, where his sire settled into a stationer’s shop. Became a painter’s apprentice and a clerk in a store for artist’s materials. At the age of 20, he opened his own shop, which was frequented by Jean Millet (Ben Shahn) and Eugene Isabey, who took an interest in his work. Went to Paris in 1846 to study with Isabey, and made friends with a number of noted artists. Married a Breton woman in his mid-20s. Returned to the Atlantic coast in 1853 in order to make the sea his primary landscape, while taking careful note of light, weather conditions and time of day so as to render as accurate an impressionistic view of it as possible. Encouraged Claude Monet (Claude Lelouch) to become a landscape painter, while imbuing him with his own sense of light and color, and how they play off the constant shifting water. By the 1860s, his paintings began to sell, albeit at low prices. One of the first landscapists in paint in the open air, or plein air, rather than in a studio, relying on his first impression of a scene to give it the visual impetus he wanted. Never an innovator, but his deep love for his subject matter was evident in all he did. Poor for most of his working life. In 1874, he exhibited with the impressionists at their first group show, and was a successful artist from that point onward, eventually becoming known as the king of the sea. Received into the Legion d'Honneur in 1892. Inner: Plein air lifetime of seeing the sea through new eyes, and recreating it on canvas as a means of expressing his own inner waters in an integrative go-round of capturing the fleeting nature of the moment, which would serve him well in his next go-round when he extended his eye outwards towards the great sea of humanity.

*

PATHWAY OF THE ARTIST AS ACTIVE SPORTSMAN:
Storyline: The action artisan learns how to capture power, movement and a distinctively male world on canvas and in bronze and fashions several workaholic go-rounds dedicated to pure self-expression.
Leroi Neiman (1927) - American artist. Outer: Of Turkish and Swedish descent. Father was an unskilled laborer who abandoned the family. Took his name from one of his stepfathers. Raised in poverty in a rough Minneapolis neighborhood, becoming a street kid. Drew as a youngster, getting special privileges for his skills. Quit school at 15, after a Roman Catholic education, and enlisted in the U.S. Army. Served as a cook in Europe, limning sexually suggestive murals on walls. After WW II, he painted stage sets for Red Cross shows, under the Special Services division. His military experience confirmed his desire to be an artist. After the service, he took courses at St. Paul Gallery and School of Art. Interested in various social strata of society. Married at 30 to Janet Byrne, a colorist, close relationship with wife. Under the G.I. Bill, he went to the Art Inst. of Chicago, spending 4 years there before joining the faculty, and also taught elsewhere. Became a freelance fashion illustrator, experienced poverty, then found his own niche. Discovered a unique technique in his mid-30s of fast-moving strokes to portray fast action. Had his first solo show the same year, 1953, and met publisher Hugh Hefner, who hired him as a Playboy artist. Had a 15 year feature in the magazine called, “Man at his Leisure.” Lived in France in the early 1960s, as well as in Italy. Went on to illustrate 5 Olympiads and enjoy huge popularity, as well as win many awards despite being dismissed by critics as superficial and vulgar. Compulsive sketcher, highly public figure, appearing and working on TV, sketching events. Continually working, with no vacations or hobbies. Inner: Quiet and warm, with a flamboyant sense of self, including a handlebar mustache. Quick stroke lifetime of catching action on canvas and being well-rewarded for being a master of fast-moving surfaces. Frederick Remington (Frederic Sackrider Remington) (1861-1909) - American illustrator and sculptor. Outer: Father was a retired major and staunch Republican who became a newspaper publisher, and steeped his son in combat lore, creating a lifelong fascination in him with battle. Close family. Grew up around horses, and had an outdoorsy childhood, with an abiding passion for the north-woods. Went to military school and attended Yale’s School of Fine Arts for 2 years, playing on the football team, but quit when his sire died. 6’+, blue-eyed, with a prominent nose, a sullen mouth and a thick neck. Affected a small mustache, and eventually grew heavy in later life. After briefly clerking, he headed out West at 19 as a cowboy and ranch cook, although only stayed initially for a short stretch. However, the glimpse gave him the landscape and personae he would continue to explore the rest of his artistic life. Returned home, then after receiving his inheritance at 21, bought a Kansas sheep ranch, only to soon dispose of it, and move to Kansas City. Married Eve Caten, whose father had originally rejected him because of his lack of prospects, although his wife initially had to go back to her parents because of financial difficulties. The two eventually settled in NYC, with the realization that they would never live in the West. Instead he would periodically ramble its vast expanse on his own on assignment, once he had established himself as an illustrator. After making the cover of Harper’s in 1886, he realized he needed more instruction, and enrolled at the Art Student’s League, but only lasted a few months, so that he would remain largely self-taught. By the end of that year, his work was beginning to appear with more frequency, and thanks to Outing magazine, whose editor and publisher was a former classmate of his, his career was soon assured. By 1890, he was well-known and making enough money to live in far grander style, as an Easterner with an all-abiding love for the West. Partnered up with writer Owen Wister (Oliver Stone), with whom he shared a macho view of the degradations of civilization and a romantic view of the outdoors and those who inhabited it, and then illustrated a series of articles by future president, Theodore Roosevelt (Kathleen Kennedy), before winning a silver medal at the Paris Exposition, then joining the army to fight against a Sioux uprising. Did numerous book illustrations, and was sent by Hearst publications to cover the Spanish/American War, which finally satisfied his life-long fascination with combat. Began working in bronzes in 1895, trying to capture the muscular movement of both cowboys and horses, and it is through the 22 pieces he completed in this series that he is best remembered. Remained both prolific and famous throughout the latter part of his life, although his work was inconsistent with the realities of his subjects, and often inaccurate. Also wrote journalistic prose, maintaining the same standards as a realistic storyteller, delineating character through action. Developed his painterly techniques in his final decade, that helped his last works rise above the level of mere illustration, in a conscious attempt on his part to be a true artist. Almost 300 pounds at life’s end, so that even walking became an effort. Completed a country estate in Connecticut, and soon after, died of peritonitis following an emergency appendectomy. Left behind nearly 3000 works of art, as well as two novels and five collections of stories, with almost all of them centered around the Wild West. Inner: Workaholic, with a particular affinity for men of action. Driven to be successful, tremendous energy and vitality. Never successful at drawing women, much preferring his own muscular view of the world. Macho lifetime of adventurous observation, lived largely to capture action in the narrower confines of art.

*

PATHWAY OF THE ARTIST AS ILLUSTRIOUS ILLUSTRATOR:
Storyline: The romantic moralist proves himself an artistic adept in any genre he assays, be it children’s ware, classical fare or humanity’s grosser and more erotic side, as a draftsman for the ages in any age he finds himself.
Tomi Ungerer (Jean Thomas Ungerer) (1931) - French/Irish illustrator and writer. Outer: From a family of clockmakers. Father was an artist, engineer and clockmaker who died when his son was 5. Deeply disturbed by his sire’s death, he would later try to recapture his childhood through both writing and illustration. His family was forced to move to a nearby village because of limited finances, and he grew up under the Nazi occupation of Alsace. His school was compelled to teach in German, and though it reverted to French following WW II, he was expelled because of his resistance to the change. Struggled through his teens, then did his military service in Algiers, before falling ill and returning to his native Strasbourg, where he studied art, only to be expelled once again from school for his decided lack of discipline. Began working in advertising as an illustrator in 1954, and two years later, with $60 to his name, he moved to the U.S. and began doing children’s books, as well as illustrating articles for the New York Times and TV. Continued his children’s work, as well as other illustrated fare in book form and became a prominent antiwar artist during the Vietnam era with his graphic posters attracting a worldwide audience. During this period, he married Yvonne Wright and in 1970, he moved to Nova Scotia, to live on an isolated farm, before making his permanent home in Ireland in 1975. His later work would be far more erotically-charged, and he would continue to enjoy renown for his distinctive oeuvre. Has actively worked on improving Franco-German relations the last three decades of his life, while preserving the bilingual identity of his native Alsace. Had a museum dedicated to his works in his hometown in 2007. Inner: Eclectic, rebellious and political, with a strong identification with those oppressed by the fallout of war. Principled pen lifetime of working as a moral conscience for both the adult and children’s world, while exploring a host of venues, from the amative to the disarmative, in his unique fashion. Gustave Doré (Paul Gustav Doré) (1832-1883) - French illustrator, engraver and sculptor. Outer: Father was a civil engineer. Showed himself to be a child prodigy from the age of 5 onwards. By 12, he was carving his own lithographic stones and creating both engravings and stories to complement them, without ever taking a formal art lesson. At 15, he came to Paris, and so impressed publisher/illustrator Charles Philipon (Garry Trudeau), that he moved in with him, and began contributing to his newfound humor weekly, Journal por rire. Had his first book, a satire on the labors of Hercules, published at the same time and within the year was France’s highest paid illustrator. Short, stocky, dark-haired and broadly-built, as well as an indifferent dresser. Never married, choosing to live quietly with his mother, while declaring he was wed to both her and his art. After doing a host of satirical engravings, he began looking at classical literature for his models, and in 1854, illustrated the works of Rabelais (Charlie Chaplin), followed by his contemporary Honore Balzac (Michel Foucault). Per his usual prolific output, he did dozens of books, before embarking on his best-remembered series, illustrating Italian poet Dante’s (Ezra Pound) Inferno, although he was initially turned down because of the huge expense that a work of that magnitude would have to sell for. After offering to pay for the entire folio himself, with the publisher playing the mere role of printer, he produced 76 engravings for the original edition, which was limited to 100 bound copies, and came out in 1861. The work proved a huge success and cemented his reputation as the country’s foremost illustrator, with his folio an effort for the ages, going through some 200 editions. Turned to more youthful classics, with Don Quixote and various fairy tales next, while constantly churning out work of the highest standard, so as to enjoy a larger reputation beyond the borders of France. Always looking for challenges, he opened himself up to new fields every five years or so. His singular disappointment was that the French art establishment never recognized him as painter. May have been color blind, since he had difficulty with shadings. Turned to the Bible in the mid-1860s, and then British authors afterwards, so that he was soon as well-known in England as he was in his native France. Took advantage of the widespread use of the electrotype, which reproduced engravings through molds, and allowed his work to be published in a host of countries and languages. Did some illustrative work on the Franco-Prussian War, then in 1872, published yet another masterpiece, “London, a Pilgrimage,” whose social commentary would transcend his age, although contemporary critics carped on his focusing on the impoverished underside of London life. The work was produced over a five year period, and he was paid an astonishing £10,000 a year for it. Continued his output of portfolios, expanding into travel, as well as his/story, while also adding to his literary classic oeuvre. Found great acceptance in London, including a gallery dedicated to his work. Turned to sculpture the last decade or so of his life, and was working on a monument to writer Alexander Dumas (Charlie Chaplin), at his relatively premature death. Extraordinarily prolific, with some 10,000+ engravings to his credit, as well as over 400 oil paintings, hundreds of watercolor landscapes, and a host of sculptures. Inner: Populist, caricaturist and romantic at heart, using the technology of his times to reach as large an audience as possible. Voluble, extremely well-liked and an inveterate prankster. Fascinated with the grotesque and horrifying, but a moralist in his subject matter, despite preferring the hellish side of life to the heavenly in many of his representations. Prodigy and prodigious lifetime of literally working himself to death through his compulsive need to be constantly productive, and produce an oeuvre for the ages, through his choice of subject matter, and his phenomenal ability to render it in most memorable fashion.

*

PATHWAY OF THE ARTIST AS REFORMIST TEACHER:
Storyline: The gender missionary employs her adept skills at self-expression and iconic representation to bring much needed balance to the esthetic playingfield between men and women through her own ongoing efforts as a promoter of the feminine as an enduring eye through which existence may be viewed.
Judy Chicago (Judy Cohen) (1939) - American artist. Outer: Of Jewish descent. Mother was a doctor’s secretary, father was a union organizer and Communist activist who was hounded out of his job, and died when his daughter was 13. Older of 2 children. Her family was highly political and radical, and brought her up to believe she could be whoever she wanted to be. Began drawing at 3, and taking lessons at 8. Realized male dominance of aesthetics early, and saw she wanted to draw specifically for a female community, while feeling art could change the world. Studied at UCLA, married Jerry Gerowitz in 1961 in what would be a contentious union, and her husband died 2 years later in an auto accident. Taught external courses at the University of California for six years. Remarried and continued teaching in California and Washington. Began as a minimalist sculptor and abstract painter, and became increasingly involved with the feminist art movement, and was one of the founders of the Feminist Studio Workshop in Los Angeles. Exhibited and worked in films, while attacking taboos about female sexuality and femininity in her works. In the early 1970s, she inaugurated a program at Fresno State College for young women artists, then moved it, along with a partner, to the newly California Institute of the Arts, but began feeling like a therapist to her students, who resented her pushing them. After starting a feminist art school with several colleagues, she gave up teaching for a while to return to her studio. Best known for The Dinner Party, a three-winged triangular piece, with each wing 46 1/2 feet long, and 39 place settings in all, 13 to a wing, the traditional number of a wicca coven, representing different aspects of womanhood from primordial goddesses to contemporary writers and artists. Conceived by her and executed by hundreds of women, although she gained a reputation as a taskmaster in her overseeing capacity, while there was nothing subtle about her symbology. First shown in the San Francisco Museum in 1979, it created a huge controversy, and has since become an icon of the feminine as a representational work of art, although at the time it was panned by the male critical establishment, leaving her both demoralized and $30,000 in debt. Set up a nonprofit organization, Through the Flower, which became a support network for both her future projects and other feminist art. Far more the effective organizer and publicist than an original artist, with a galvanic gift for uniting artists, iconography and the public. Married photographer Donald Woodman, after working with him on a Holocaust project in the mid-1980s. Wrote her autobiography, Through the Flower: My Struggle as a Female Artist. Inner: Energetic, media-savvy and outspoken. Part Two of her ongoing missionary lifetime of upgrading feminine consciousness and celebrating the achievements of women in a male-dominated world, through her gifts for both teaching and giving visual display to her ideals and agenda. Emily Sartain (1841-1927) - American artist and teacher. Outer: From a multi-generational family of artists. Her great-grandfather and grandfather were both noted English engravers. Father was an artist. Raised in Philadelphia, showing an early aptitude for the family profession. Attended the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts for 6 years, before traveling and studying in Europe for another four. Returned to the U.S., worked as a painter and engraver, and became art editor of the magazine Our Continent. In her mid-20s, she was appointed principal of the Philadelphia School of Design for Women, a position she held for the next 3 and 1/2 decades, until she was succeeded by her niece. Encouraged the teaching of industrial design to women and proved a progressive influence on her generation of artists, as well as nurturing the ambitions of numerous students. Never married, was wed to her calling instead, and died of acute heart trouble. Inner: Progressive, teacherly, with a strong desire to uplift the artistic skills of women. Missionary lifetime of putting her considerable energy into teaching and improving the artistic lot of her gender, within the limits of her stifled times.

*

PATHWAY OF THE PHOTOGRAPHER AS PICTORIAL PURIST:
Storyline: The underground eye ducks out before fame can overwhelm his purity of purpose, preferring the freedom of unrestricted self-expression to the boxed-in constraints of meaningless celebrity.
Robert Mapplethorpe (1946-1989) - American photographer. Outer: Father worked as an underwriter, and was also an amateur photographer. Raised a Roman Catholic, and grew up in middle-class suburbia, which he found suffocating. Deathly afraid of revealing his same-sex orientation to his parents. Studied painting and sculpture at Pratt Institute, after deceiving his father into thinking he was pursuing a commercial graphics career, and began to display a surety of photographic style from the very beginning of his career. Enjoyed a decidedly erotic sensibility, elevating his preoccupations to high art, while using his previous go-round as inspiration for some of his images. Drifted into photography after picking up a Polaroid. Lived with punk rocker Patti Smith, and often used her as a subject, as well as a validating mirror for himself, although never admitted to either himself or her his homophile urges. Til the end of his life, he feared his middle-class parents discovering his outlaw sexuality, pretending to them that he was married to Smith. Had a strong desire for fame, which allowed him to explore the sensationalistic and superficial. Employed uninhibited stark imagery in his work, using everything from advertising images to sado-masochistic gay subculture. Earned instant notoriety with his erotica, but also applied the same diligence with light and composition to his portraiture, flowers and sensuous nudes. Always a collaborator with his subjects, giving a sense they were part of him. Often photographed himself, the artist as narcissistic canvas, and purveyor of his own obsessions. Heavy drug user, and homoerotic satyr, an image he promoted of himself. Sadomasochist and a copraphile. Supported by a former curator and collector, who eventually died of AIDS. Died of AIDS himself in his early 40s, and his work was subject to even more controversy immediately following his demise, due to protests over a public exhibition in Cincinnati. Inner: Ambitious, calculating and charming, as well as extremely self-confident in his abilities, with an artist’s precision to all he undertook. Reluctant craftsman, never developed his own prints. Used both art and sex to momentarily forget himself, while dividing himself into his good and evil halves. Curious fear of the condemnation of authority, which probably hastened his relatively early exit. Underground lifetime of bringing forth the beauty of his sexual underworld with an incredible clarity of vision, and then disappearing right before he achieved overwhelming public fame, so as not to confuse his purity of purpose. F. Holland Day (Fred Holland Day) (1864-1933) - American photographer. Outer: From a wealthy family, mother was extremely domineering, father was an industrialist. An only child, he was tutored at home until high school, and never went to college. Accompanied his mother to Denver at 15, where she recovered from a lung disease, while he was exposed to a Chinese community there, which had a lasting impact on him. Began drawing with Chinese inks, and became an enthusiastic bibliophile, collecting an impressive personal library, with a particular interest in the romantic movement of the early 19th century and the symbolists who came at century’s end. Moved to an apartment on Beacon Hill in Boston and became part of that city’s cultural ferment. Affected a turban, smoked a hookah and was a Theosophy enthusiast, as well as a central figure of that spiritual movement in the city. Influenced by poet Louise Guiney, a devout Catholic and ardent admirer of John Keats (Jeff Buckley), whom he championed as well. Became a photographer in his early 20s, teaching himself the rudiments, and within 15 years was a leader in the Pictorialist movement, which intertwined romantic story-telling traditions with painterly techniques. Focused on young males, often in homoerotic poses, as well as religious photos, using himself as a model for Jesus, for a series called “The Seven Last Words of Christ,” after going to Germany in 1890 and seeing the Oberammergau passion play there. His visits to Europe made him a passionate esthete, as well as a publisher of poetry. In 1896, he made 13 year old Kahlil Gibran, who would later pen "The Prophet," his pupil and assistant, imbuing him with a sense of specialness, which he would feed into the latter’s later best-selling mystic ruminations. Became a controversial figure for his admixture of piety and drama, as well as his subject matter. Launched a display of American photography, with his own works in prominent display, and exhibited it in London, and then Paris, in the early 1900s. After his return to America, he became far less prolific, and in 1904, a fire consumed his studio, destroying not only his prints, but also his art collection. Changed the focus of his work afterwards from staged and showy studio work to improvisatory outdoor work, including studies of school children, and then the Maine coastal landscape, where he built a house, while also photographing young house guests, particularly a young Boston shoeshine boy in a variety of staged and portrait poses. A homophile, although his sexuality was probably repressed, and expressed esthetically rather than physically. Spent most of his last 15 years in his family home, studying horticulture and genealogy. Stopped taking pictures altogether after his mother’s death, and took to his bed, surrounding it with bookcases, so that he was enclosed by his own intellectuality and removed from the world. Inner: Intellectual romantic, using the camera to explore his own odd combination of spirituality and repressed or active sexuality. Pinky-in-the-air lifetime of exploring the art of photography in its adolescent stages, while creating a body of images and work that he would continue to delve into the next time around in this series in far more explicit fashion, both behind the camera and in his life.

*

PATHWAY OF THE ARTIST AS SELF-SACRIFICING SHAMAN:
Storyline: The martyr-prone artisan uses her life and herself as her larger canvas, but cannot get past the innate belief that self-destruction is her most viable pathway to creativity and self-recreation.
Ana Mendieta (1948-1985) - Cuban/American photographer, filmmaker, sculptor and artist. Outer: Family was prominent in Cuban politics and society. One older sister and younger brother. Airlifted out, along with her sister, at the age of 12, following the Cuban revolution, by the US-assisted Operation Pedro Pan. Shuffled back and forth between institutions and foster homes in Iowa, while her father was imprisoned, after earlier having been a close associate of dictator Fidel Castro. Her mother and brother remained stranded in Cuba as well, until 1966. 4’10”, slim. Spent her summers with her mentor and lover, artist Hans Breder, in Mexico, where she tapped into that country’s aesthetic as well as unconsciously tracing her development as an artist in her previous go-round in this series. Studied at Iowa State Univ., and spent considerable time in the state afterwards. Although initially a traditional artist, she felt the form was too limiting, and started experimenting with her own innate sense of shamanhood. Held a lifelong fascination with the sacrificial rites of Afro-Cuban religious societies, and incorporated them into her art. Through her unique ‘Siluetas’ or silhouettes, she imprinted her own body onto landscapes, or traced her form in blood, gunpowder or flowers and then photographed them, uniting a sense of primordial iconography with ancient earth practices. Held death and regeneration as her overriding themes, and left her works to decay afterwards. Made nearly 80 films, in an extraordinarily prolific output, for the brief dozen years of her artistic life. In 1980, she began returning to Cuba, making the trip 7 times, while participating in government-sponsored exhibitions. Became involved with the minimalist sculptor Carl Andre, a large bear of a man, in a volatile relationship punctuated by his frequent infidelities, and a liberal use of alcohol and drugs. Nevertheless, married him in 1985, while spending her last years dividing her time between Rome and New York, once more touching her earlier root through the former, where she was awarded a residency at the American Academy there, via a Prix de Rome. Always harbored a great fear of heights. Fell or was pushed from the window of her 34th story Greenwich Village apartment, right at the point when she was considering divorcing Andre. He subsequently had scratches and bruises on him, and it was seen as impossible that she could have plunged of her own volition from the size of the window and her minimalist height. The establishment art scene rallied round her husband, however, and when he was finally brought to trial 3 years later, it was in front of a single judge, rather than a jury, and he was acquitted, much to the outrage of her women friends. Andre’s prices immediately went up, but his pariah status sent him packing to Europe. An inspiration and teacher to many following her unjust death. Inner: Descending to death from the 34th floor, can also be seen as an integration of 34 stories, and perhaps a finalization of her need to sacrifice herself to her larger ambitions. Charming and extremely dynamic, with a great desire to make her mark. Primal, provocative and imaginative. Lack of a motherland made her extremely sensitive to nature. Shaminista lifetime of rediscovering herself by exploring the feminine through its most primordial representations, only to fall victim to an as-yet unresolved need for ultimate self-sacrifice. Tina Modotti (Assunte Adelaide Luigia Modotti) (1896-1942) - Italian/Mexican photographer. Outer: 3rd child of a large, poor family. Father was an Italian machinist and labor organizer who emigrated to the U.S. in 1906. Began toiling in sweatshops from an early age, which gave her identification with the workers of the world, before emigrating in 1913, to join her sire in San Francisco, where she labored as a seamstress and dressmaker. Beautiful and mercurial, she became a stage actress for a local Italian-language company, wrote poetry, designed her own clothing, and achieved a modest fame for her efforts. In 1918, she married leftist poet and illustrator Roubaix de l’Abrie de Richey, which led her to further explore left-wing politics, before moving to Hollywood, where she appeared in 3 silent films, beginning with The Tiger’s Coat in 1920, in which she starred. No children from union. In 1921, she began an affair with photographer Edward Weston, and the following year, her husband died in Mexico. Became Weston’s assistant, and then his professional partner, and the two moved to Mexico City in 1923, becoming an integral part of the avant-garde scene there, and a sought-after portraitist, after developing her own style quite quickly. Over the next seven years she did the bulk of her work, using still lifes to make political statements, and the female form as a reflection of the monumentality of the flesh. Showed a sharp esthetic eye for image, but was at her best with simple and direct constructions. Possessed a telling wit, using marionettes in one sequence to portray human political frailty. After Weston returned to his family in 1926, she remained in Mexico and the following year, joined the Communist Party, while gradually allowing politics to take over her life, showing great sympathy towards the Mexican peon. Became involved with a series of revolutionaries, and was with a handsome young Cuban firebrand, Julio Antonio Mella, when he was gunned down on the streets of Mexico City in 1929. Acquitted of complicity in the crime, she was deported from Mexico, along with others of her ilk in 1930, after she fell under suspicion of being part of a cabal to assassinate the president. Kept a picture of Mella in her pocket ever afterwards. Went to Moscow, and ultimately Berlin while quitting photography altogether, giving her Leica to a young comrade as a gift in 1932. Took on spy missions, performed dull office work, and helped build the Moscow subway system. Her final romance was with a ruthless Italian-born secret-police agent. After working as a hospital administrator and propagandist during the Spanish Civil War, she was forced to flee following the victory of the fascists in 1939, but was refused entry to the United States. Allowed to return to Mexico in 1939, she either died of heart failure in a cab, three years later, or was murdered by her lover, on orders of Joseph Stalin. Her death remains a mystery. Inner: Passionate, highly political and a magnet for men of power. Deeply engaged lifetime of trying to wed art and politics, as well as political romance, before ironically returning to the same idealistic milieu in her next go-round and thoroughly rejecting it, for the life of the pure shamanic artist.

*

PATHWAY OF THE ARTIST AS ANIMATED ANIMATOR:
Storyline: The impish impresario builds an empire on his previous expertise in the realm of cartoondom, transliterating his early Depression-era inventiveness to the humor of a brand new century, while making sure to cover himself financially, so as not to fall victim to the bean counters who did him in previously.
Seth MacFarlane (1973) - American animator, producer and actor. Outer: Of English, Scottish and Welsh descent, with some of his ancestors having arrived on the Mayflower. Parents were teachers at a private school that he attended, and then later resigned when the headmaster protested over his animated TV series “Family Guy.” His younger sister, Rachael, an actress, would give voice to some of his shows. Drawing from childhood on, he eventually received a BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design, then got a job at Hanna-Barbera from his senior film thesis. 5’10”. While there he worked as an animator on a number of cartoon series, and also labored on a Disney TV series. A short he produced in 1996, “Life of Larry,” eventually led to “Family Guy,” and the distinction of being TV’s youngest executive producer. The show first aired in 1999, and he would give voice to several of its main characters. It would revolve around a blue-collar family and its centerpiece would be Stewie, an infant with an upper-class British accent, and malefic instincts, as well as Brian, an anthropomorphic dog, which his creator would feel to be the strongest reflection of his own sensibilities. The show would receive its fair share of criticism, and twice would be canceled, in 2000 and 2002, only to be brought back by loyal fan demand, while its writing crew was restaffed. Just missed being on one of fated hijacked flights on September 11th, 2001 that struck the World Trade Center in NYC. Extremely entrepreneurial, he would add a video game, as well as a show album to his mix, while expanding his empire to include “American Dad,” and “The Cleveland Show,” which would play off the exact same familial dynamics of his flagship effort, with similar archetypal characters, anchored by a clever animal. Participated in the 2007 Writer’s Guild strike, halting production on his shows in solidarity with them. The success of his series ultimately made it a $1 billion franchise, thanks to a $100 million deal in 2008 with Fox network, which would make him TV’s best paid writer. At the same time, he invaded the Web with his own eponymous “Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy,” a series of shorts distributed weekly by a huge hamburger chain. Has also made frequent guest TV appearances on a host of different kinds of shows, making him a familiar figure on all levels in TV land. HIs production company, Fuzzy Door, comes from a fur-covered door in a house he lived in as a college student. Inner: Huge scifi fan, as well as an atheist and progressive Democrat. Entrepreneurial lifetime of building on his previous go-round, and taking his game up to the next level, via the new media available to him. Max Fleischer (1883-1972) - Polish/American animator, writer and inventor. Outer: From a Polish/Jewish family of inventors. 2nd oldest of 6 children, and one of 5 brothers, with a younger brother Dave, who would become a cartoonist and film director, working closely with him. When he was 4, his mother immigrated to NYC’s lower east side, where he grew up. Never finished high school, but went to several trade schools, as well as Cooper Union, where he got commercial art training. While still a teenager, he worked for the Brooklyn Eagle as a cartoonist, photographer and photoengraver, before becoming art director of “Popular Science” magazine. In 1905, he married Essie Goldstein, daughter Ruth worked in film, while his son, Richard, became a well-known director. Made training films during WW I following a brief commission. In 1917, he invented the rotoscope, which transliterated live action into cartoon form via tracing, and got him job with John R. Bray, who hired him out to Paramount Picture’s NY studios. In 1921, he and his brother formed Out of the Inkwell Films, which became Fleischer Studios in 1928, whose main character was Koko the Clown. Released, along with his sibling, the first sound cartoon, Come My Airship in 1924, and then produced the initial effort in that genre, My Old Kentucky Home in 1926 some 3 years before Walt Disney came out with Steamboat Willie. Continued experimenting and came up with the rotograph, an even more sophisticated improvement which allowed live action to be transliterated in ever more sophisticated fashion to animation. Continually tinkered with technology, and was constantly looking for the next breakthrough, so that he rarely refined any of his processes. Greatly respected Disney, the superior showman to him, while the latter was always aware of his innovations, and eager to exploit them. Ultimately held 20 motion picture patents, while also introducing the bouncing-ball sing along cartoons. In 1930, he introduced his best known character, Betty Boop, a child-woman singer with huge eyes, and as unDisney as possible, with her overt sexuality, which was contained by the Hayes Code in 1934, and she eventually ran her course by decade’s end. Elzie Segar’s (Matt Groening) “Popeye” would be their next highly popular series of shorts. Moved his base of operations to Miami following a strike in 1938, and “Superman” subsequently became the studio’s mainstay, although the brothers began fighting and bickering over a variety of issues, including Dave’s marital inconstancy. Disney’s success with full-length animation features, led to Gulliver’s Travels, which exacerbated the studio’s financial travails. America’s entry into WW II proved its death knell, and he was forced out of his own studio in the early 1940s. The operation moved back to NYC, and was redubbed Famous Studios. Headed the animation department of an industrial film company afterwards, where he produced training films for the army and navy. In 1954, he returned to the Bray Studios as a production manager, then lost a law suit over credits with Paramount, before resurrecting Out of the Inkwell, with a new partner, to produce cartoons for TV. Finished his career by working for Disney, with some of his old animators until he eventually retired in the 1960s. Died of heart failure, on the future fated date of September 11th. Inner: Extremely innovative, with a tendency to surge ahead without looking behind, so that he was eventually sideswiped by those far less ingenious. Highly inventive lifetime of giving literal scope to movie animation, before being undone by his lack of attention to the financial aspects of his undertakings, a situation he would more than remedy in his next go-round in this series.

*