#Nixon visits china political cartoon series#

#Nixon visits china political cartoon series#

In the summer of 1971, the painter Philip Guston, one of the greatest artists of the twentieth century, began a series of drawings under the working title of “Poor Richard” that grew out of his disgust and fascination with Richard Nixon. In the grocery store of art, political cartooning has the shelf life of an avocado. Plus-though I never actually say this part-the last thing I would want as my artistic legacy would be a stack of Mitt Romney, George Bush, and Strom Thurmond cartoons. On top of that, I’m no good at likenesses.

“Freedom is the only possession an artist has.”Īs a graphic novelist, I’m occasionally asked by civilians if my work is “political.” I usually explain that the time it takes to draw lengthy pictorial narratives (years) isn’t commensurate with the cultural immediacy (days, if not hours) that political cartooning and its creepy uncle, caricature, demand. “And one thing led to another, and so for months I did hundreds of drawings and they seemed to form a kind of story line, a sequence.” Philip Guston: Untitled (Poor Richard), 1971 The Estate of Philip Guston/Courtesy Hauser & Wirth