Arts and Manners

The Cartoonist as Politician

Every society, it seems, has the Daumier it deserves, and ours has “Herblock.” Now “Herblock” (Herbert Block, born 1909 in Chicago) is not at all a bad cartoonist, and he has some of the fast intelligence which leads other people, if they don’t watch out, into writing editorials for the Liberal press. In fact, I am willing to concede that “Herblock” is the most acute editorial mind among the artists. But I am not at all sure that the muses have kissed the man. I am, on the other hand, reasonably sure that, while Honoré Daumier’s drawings have been getting better every day, for almost a hundred years, the lifetime of an authentic “Herblock” is about twenty-four hours.

The Cartoonist as Politician

Every society, it seems, has the Daumier it deserves, and ours has “Herblock.” Now “Herblock” (Herbert Block, born 1909 in Chicago) is not at all a bad cartoonist, and he has some of the fast intelligence which leads other people, if they don’t watch out, into writing editorials for the Liberal press. In fact, I am willing to concede that “Herblock” is the most acute editorial mind among the artists. But I am not at all sure that the muses have kissed the man. I am, on the other hand, reasonably sure that, while Honoré Daumier’s drawings have been getting better every day, for almost a hundred years, the lifetime of an authentic “Herblock” is about twenty-four hours.