Dana Fradon

Dana Fradon (1922-2019) was interested in politics and astronomy as a youth, but he also showed talent as an artist and ended up at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. After serving in the Army Air Forces, he graduated from the Art Students League in New York.  There, he drew some political cartoons for The New Masses, a Marxist political magazine, and learned about The New Yorker from his sister's wife, who wrote for the magazine.  His first cartoon was published in 1948, and for most of the next 55 years he drew almost all his cartoons for The New Yorker -- nearly 1,400 in total.  Although he cast a wide and whimsical net on American society, some of his most memorable work focused on mocking the pomposity and dubious ethics of powerful men.  In the 1970s, he served three terms as councilman in Newtown, Connecticut, where he lived for 62 years.  He also wrote several children’s books, including “Sir Dana: A Knight, as Told by His Trusty Armor” (1988), inspired by his interest in medieval history.