Embedded Files
New: Fenimore Art Museum exhibition
Bill Watterson worked for Sun Newspapers in while attending Chagrin Falls High School, while at Kenyon College, and from 1976 to 1984. Watterson also worked for The Cincinnati Post for six months after graduating from Kenyon in 1980.
Chagrin Herald Sun. 1978.
Editorial Cartoon by Bill Watterson, October 1979.
Editorial Cartoon Illustration Original Art (Cincinnati Post, 1980).
Bill Watterson original art from this era is as rare as a talking tiger! It pre-dates his much-beloved Calvin and Hobbes comic strip by five years. Watterson was only an editorial cartoonist for this paper for a matter of a few months, and this political cartoon is sadly still relevant today. It features a caricature of then-current USSR leader Leonid Brezhnev as Yogi Bear, and Uncle Sam as the near-ineffectual Park Ranger. Created in ink over graphite on 13.25" x 9" Bristol board, with some whiteout art correction. Signed in the lower left of the image area. Toned and in Very Good condition.
Source: Heritage Auction
Here is a very similar cartoon from 1979 Kenyon Collegian
Editorial Cinci Post Original Art 1980
Editorial Cartoons by Bill Watterson in Cincinnati Post, 1980
(I am still researching Cincinnati Post)
The Prayer Release...
1980
Editorial Cartoons by Bill Watterson in Sun Newspapers 1981
Editorial Cartoons by Bill Watterson in Sun Newspapers 1982
January 14, 1982
Skeel. Source: Bonus video material from Dear Mr. Watterson documentary
Bill Watterson cartoon from 1982
"You said that computer would do everything. Well, how about the lawn, the leaky faucet, the mess in the garage, the..."
Rendered in ink on 28" x 22" poster board.
Source: Heritage Auction sold the original art on May 11, 2012, for $7,767.50
Description:
Bill Watterson Editorial Cartoon Original Art (1982). Pre-Calvin and Hobbes work by Bill Watterson is rare, indeed. Before his worldwide fame as the creator of C&H, Watterson pursued a fleeting career as a political cartoonist, drawing cartoons for his college paper, The Kenyon Collegian and for the quarterly political cartoon magazine, Target. This illustration has the caption: "You said that computer would do everything. Well how about the lawn, the leaky faucet, the mess in the garage, the..." Rendered in ink on 28" x 22" poster board, the work has some light paper aging and soiling; otherwise it is in Very Good condition. Signed by Bill Watterson at the lower left.
Bill Watterson cartoon from 1982
"I think I want to leave my wife for this great little computer I've been seeing. It sits still, speaks only when spoken to, remembers everything I tell It, never complains..."
Source: Heritage Auction sold the original art on May 11, 2012, for $$7,528.50
Description:
Bill Watterson Editorial Cartoon Original Art (1982). Before the enormous success of Calvin and Hobbes, Bill Watterson pursued a brief career as a political cartoonist, with a brief stint drawing cartoons for The Kenyon Collegian and for the political cartoon quarterly magazine, Target. This large, expressive illustration has the caption: "I think I want to leave my wife for this great little computer I've been seeing. It sits still, speaks only when spoken to, remembers everything I tell it, never complains..." Rendered in ink and watercolor on poster board, this work measures 28" x 22". Aside from some light paper aging, the art is in Excellent condition. Signed by Bill Watterson at the lower right.
Editorial Cartoons by Bill Watterson in Sun Newspapers 1983
Editorial Cartoons by Bill Watterson in Sun Newspapers 1984
Sun Newspapers 1986
Photo taken at Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum
Sources:
Chagrin Falls Historical Society
Kenyon connection
Kenyon connection
Jim Borgman was a rising cartoonist in the early 1980s. Borgman attended Kenyon College and created political cartoons for the campus newspaper, The Collegian. When Borgman graduated in 1976 it made room for Bill Watterson to walk on to the lead political cartoonist as a freshman.
Borgman landed a job in Cincinnati, Ohio at the Cincinnati Enquirer. Then the real one-in-a-million-chance happens in 1980 when Bill Watterson lands a job at the newspaper across town, The Cincinnati Post.
That said, I have enjoyed collecting and researching Borgman's career to get a sense of context and comparison.
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