The last couple of years I have been collecting James Thurber books, mostly for his illustrations but also to read his humorous stories and fables. I first encountered his work in the1960s, at the drive-in. One of his illustrated stories, The Unicorn in the Garden was an animated version and one of the shorts. Now I have about twenty of his semi-autobiographical books. As a boy Thurber was accidentally shot, by his brother, in the eye by an arrow. The immediately undamaged eye later deteriorated as a result of the shot eye not being removed. His eyesight continued to deteriorate so he became virtually blind. he had to write and draw very large, with the aid of magnifiers. This might have influenced his simple line style.
The picture below sums up a common Thurber theme of the henpecked little man.
The next cartoon sums up, quite brutally, the reality of life -death.
More recently, I discovered, by chance, in an opportunity shop, Ludwig Bemelmans' work. He was an Austrian, apprenticed, in a hotel as kitchen, to physically abusive uncle and eventually shot a waiter, wounding him, before migrating to Germany and then, America. He was of a similar timeframe to Thurber and, like him, died in the 1960s. He is best known for his Madeline series and, in some cases, quaint child-like naive style. I never really read the Madeline books or paid much attention to the series of books and films.
It is his simple linework, which captures his experiences, I especially like. I actually am more interested in his stories that are not for children I like. His short story about visiting Germany in 1939 and finding out what happens when one mocks Hitler is very entertaining.
One thing about the cartoon style is Ludwig's art appears very spontaneous and does not, whether by accident or design, agonize over figure proportions; a section of arm might be proportionately twice as long as what one would be in nature. Yet it all comes together in a very pleasing way.
Below is the book I bought from an op shop. It is a collection of short autobiographical stories, including the visit to Germany in 1939. Unfortunately,
mine is not a first edition. First editions are fairly valuable.
