RIP Paul Conrad

What a wonderful obit. I was unfamiliar with Conrad's work until reading this.

However, it's sad that the demise of newspapers means there are fewer people such as him. From the story:

Just before his death in 2007, the onetime editor of The Times' editorial pages, Anthony Day, worried that the skittish and contracting newspaper industry would no longer support a "genius" like Conrad. "It's easier to not make trouble," Day said, "than to make trouble."

 

. . . said Day, adjusting his kneepads.

 

One of the most influential, talented cartoonists in the history of the medium. Period. Thomas Nast, Herblock and Paul Conrad pretty much form the Holy Trinity of editorial cartoonists. I may be missing someone (Bill Mauldin, perhaps), but you'd scramble to find one in their class.

That awesome obit that MileHigh posted should be required reading for anyone seeking a sense of what this business used to embrace. Conrad's cartoons used to piss over EVERYONE, including this Jew who was genuinely torqued at Conrad's notorious cartoon of the bodies of Palestinian refugees forming the Star of David.

To wind up on Nixon's Enemies List and have Ronnie and Nancy putting your boss on the 1970s and 1980s version of speed dial -- does it get any better for a cartoonist? Conrad understood his role better than anyone and executed it better than anyone.

There's an exhibit of his work at College of the Canyons in Santa Clarita. Nothing against COC, which is 45 minutes from my house, but Conrad's work deserves a wider, more accessible audience.