Tuesday Spill: First & Last New Yorker Drawing…Frank Modell

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First & Last New Yorker Drawing… Frank Modell

A series of quick looks at an artist’s very first New Yorker cartoon and their last

Frank Modell was one of The New Yorker‘s cartoonist anchors during the James Geraghty/Lee Lorenz eras. In his fifty-one years at the magazine he was one of the few artists who contributed over a 1000 drawings (1,401 according to The New Yorker‘s database). He also contributed 6 covers.

Here’s Mr. Modell’s very first New Yorker drawing, published in the issue of July 20, 1946:

And his last, published in the issue of December 22, 1997:

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Frank Modell Born, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, September 6, 1917. Died, May 27, 2016, Guilford, Connecticut. New Yorker work: 1946 – 1997. Mr. Modell began his New Yorker career as assistant to the Art Editor, James Geraghty. He soon began contributing his cartoons (and cartoon ideas for others), with his first drawing appearing July 20, 1946. Besides his work for The New Yorker, he was a children’s book author and an actor (he appeared, most notably, in Woody Allen’s 1980 film, Stardust Memories). Key collection: Stop Trying To Cheer Me Up! (Dodd, Mead, 1978). In 2013, Modell’s friend, and New Yorker colleague, James Stevenson, published The Life, Loves and Laughs Of Frank Modell — a terrific book; it’s the closest to a biography we’ll likely ever have of the man.

More Modell:

Here’s Ink Spill‘s Modell appreciation.