Tonight at The State Library of Victoria: Ledger Awards

The revamped Ledger Awards are on tonight at the State Library of Victoria. The ceremony starts at 7:30pm and features a performance of the Shipwright and the Banshee by cartoonistmuso's Christopher Downes and Joshua Santospirito.

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Among the sponsors of this years awards are the wonderful Jeffries Printing in Sydney. Admire their stunning Pat Grant graphics below:

The shortlist for the Bronze, Silver and Gold awards are:

Ambient Yeast. Pat Grant (self published)

The ANZAC Legend. Dave Dye (self published)

Art as Life. MP Fikaris (Silent Army)

At Work Inside Our Detention Centres: A Guard’s Story. Sam Wallman, Pat Grant et al. (The Global Mail)

Awkwood. Jase Harper (Milk Shadow Books)

Brothers. Andrew Fulton (self published)

Blood and Bone. Tom O’Hern (San Kessto)

Bug. Scarlette Baccini (self published)

Burger Force #15-18. Jackie Ryan (self published)

Captain Congo: The Perils of Pug. Ruth Starke, writer. Greg Holfeld, artist. (from The School Magazine)

Dark Hope Legacies. Phil Spinks, Chris James Melkizedek (Dark Hope Comics)

Dies Horny and Afraid. Andrew Fulton (self published)

Fortress of Regrets. Katie Parrish (self published)

Frankie Holliday. Nic Lawson (self published)

Gasoline Eye Drops. Chris Gooch (self published)

Gazer. Carla McRae (self published)

Gente Corriente. Vincent Zabus, writer. Thomas Campi, artist. (Ediciones La Cúpula)

In the Tasmania. Christopher Downes (self published)

Itty Bitty Bunnies in Rainbow Pixie Candy Land Save Xmas. Dean Rankine (Action Lab/Danger Zone)

Kudelka and First Dog’s Spiritual Journey. Jon Kudelka and Andrew Marlton (self published)

Megahex. Simon Hanselmann (Fantagraphics)

Modern Polaxis. Sutu et al. (self published)

Monster Zero. Frank Candiloro (FrankenComics)

Mr Unpronounceable and the Sect of the Bleeding Eye. Tim Molloy (Milk Shadow Books)

Ned Kelly. Monty Wedd (Comicoz)

Neomad #3. Sutu & Love Punks (Gestalt)

OI OI OI #2 .Various (Comicoz)

Onna-bugeisha. Frank Candiloro (FrankenComics)

Pinocchio. David Chauvel, writer. Tim McBurnie, artist. (Editions Delcourt)

Pistoleras. Frank Candiloro (FrankenComics)

Seven #4. Alisha Jade (self published)

The Squidder. Ben Templesmith (44Flood/IDW)

Squishzine Brunstown. Various (Squishface Studio)

Teen Dog #1-3. Jake Lawrence (Boom! Studios)

Thistle. Sarah Howell (self published)

Tristian and the Gaza Strip. David Blumenstein (self published)

Two Posh Old Ladies Who Found Themselves in a Bit of a Zombie Apocalypse. Nic Lawson (self published)

Very Quiet, Very Still. Chris Gooch (Optic Pop)

We’m. Andrew Fulton (self published)

“When is A Door Not a Door?” Jen Breach, Douglas Holgate (from Explorer: The Hidden Doors, Amulet Books)

Tonight at Brunswick Arts Space: A Thousand Words

$5 entry donation (proceeds go to Brunswick Arts)

- 7 artists talk about projects

Featuring:
Bruce Mutard
Christopher Downes (Tassie)
Sarah Howell
David Blumenstein
Mirranda Burton
Joshua Santospirito (Tassie also)
Eri Kashima

MC'd by Bernard Caleo
Films by Tom O'Hern

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David Low in The Daily News (Perth)

David Low's cartoons started featuring in The Perth Daily News in 1940:

DAVID LOW
Grinning gadfly in Britain's public life is David Low, political cartoonist for Lord Beaverbrook's London Evening Standard. Low's satiric, fascist-hating brush earns him the reputation of being the world's best cartoonist, £ 10,000 a year. Squat. bearded, beetle-browed David Low is a New Zealander, 49. He has been cartooning in London since World War 1.

Exclusive W.A. rights to Low's cartoons have been secured by The Daily News. They will appear often, and will be the talk of the town. Here (below) is the first:

David Low (7 April 1891 – 19 September 1963)

David Low photograph from The Political Cartoon Gallery.

Today marks 124th anniversary of the birth of David Low, one of New Zealand's most influential political cartoonists. Born in Dunedin and educated in Christchurch, Low sold his first cartoons at 11 to The Christchurch Spectator. Low worked for a variety of papers throughout his teens and twenties before moving to Sydney in 1911. After a career in Australian newspapers in 1919 Low moved to England where Low's cartoons in British papers proved an immediately success. Low's antipodean upbringing and attitudes provided a satirical bite in his work in contrast to his peers whose work was still rooted in staid Victorian society. Before and during World War Two Low's stinging depictions of Adolf Hitler and Mussolini led to his work being banned in Italy and Germany, and his being named in The Black Book, a list of prominent Britons to be arrested upon the successful invasion of Britain by Nazi Germany.

From Dr Timothy S. Benson essay on Low.

"A few months later, Bruce Lockhart, as foreign correspondent of the Daily Express visited Germany to interview Hitler. During the interview, Hitler surprisingly mentioned Low in conversation and was full of praise for him in his mistaken belief that the cartoonist's attitude was anti-democratic because of the way he derided politicians and parties in his daily cartoons. According to Low: "At the time I was upbraiding democracy rather drastically for its attitude to European events and Hitler got the impression I was anti-democratic." Hitler then asked Lockhart if he could arrange for Low to let him have some originals to decorate the Brown House, the national headquarters of the Nazi party in Munich. When Lockhart relayed Hitler's request to Low upon his return, the cartoonist obligingly sent a couple as from in his words 'one artist to another'.

Read the full David Low essay by Low Historian Dr Timothy S. Benson.
 
Read New Zealand cartoonist/historian Alan Moir's essay on David Low.

Gallery of Low's work on Te Pikitia tumblr.

The Billy Book: Hughes Abroad, collected 50 satirical drawings by Low about the wartime visit by Australian Prime Minister William Morris Hughes to Britain and the Western Front to attend the Imperial War Cabinet from June to August 1918. Copies of the book received by various English editors led to the book became a bestseller and critical praise.  This also led to Low moving to England to take a salaried job at the London Star newspaper in 1919.

David Low cartoons from the Billy Book.

David Low cartoons reprinted from British papers in Australian newspaper The Worker (1921).