Dust, Drought, Depression, and War No. 10
“On my right, folks, we have nature’s imitation of the New York Skyline.”
Richard Decker, August 1935 Life1
Richard Decker (May 6, 1907 – November 1, 1988) a cartoonist and illustrator, studied at the Pennsylvania Museum School of Industrial Art and became famous for his cartoons published in The New Yorker.2
Life was independently published… until 1936 as a general-interest and light entertainment magazine, heavy on illustrations, jokes, and social commentary. It featured some of the greatest writers, editors, illustrators and cartoonists of its time: Charles Dana Gibson, Norman Rockwell and Jacob Hartman Jr. Gibson became the editor and owner of the magazine after John Ames Mitchell died in 1918. During its later years, the magazine offered brief capsule reviews (similar to those in The New Yorker) of plays and movies currently running in New York City, but with the innovative touch of a colored typographic bullet resembling a traffic light, appended to each review: green for a positive review, red for a negative one, and amber for mixed notices.3
- “Richard Decker – Life Magazine Cartoon – August 1935 – Cave Tour.” ComicArtFans. Accessed August 25, 2021. https://www.comicartfans.com…1640311.
- “Richard Decker.” Wikipedia, last edit, April 21, 2021. Accessed August 25, 2021. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Decker.
- “Life (Magazine).” Wikipedia, last edit, July 21, 2021. Accessed August 25, 2021. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_(magazine).
