Mel Calman

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Melville Calman (born May 19, 1931 in Stamford Hill ( London ), † February 10, 1994 in London) was a British cartoonist .

Live and act

Melville Calman was the youngest of three children to Jewish parents. His father Clement Calman was a Russian timber merchant, his mother Anna was from Lithuania . They immigrated to England from Odessa around 1912 . Because of the outbreak of World War II and the accompanying air raids, his parents evacuated him to Cambridge , where he attended the Perse School . He attended lectures at the University of Cambridge , but was unable to study. He returned to London with the aim of studying journalism, but in 1949 he began studying art at the Borough Polytechnic Institute . He then studied (book) illustration at Saint Martin's School of Art and Goldsmiths College from 1951 to 1953 .

After graduation, Calman served in the National Service for two years . During this time, some of his cartoons were published in Soldier Magazine . In 1956 he was discharged from the army and worked as a freelance cartoonist, but initially found no buyers for his drawings. The art editor of Punch magazine wrote to him, “I doubt that 'cartooning' (as it is commonly called) is really your thing. ... Unfortunately, neither your drawings nor ideas meet the standard we require. "

In 1957 he started working for the Daily Express . His drawings were printed within the "William Hickey" column and his collaboration with the Daily Express lasted until 1963. In 1962, Calman published the first of a total of 20 cartoon collections under the title Through the Telephone Directory with Mel Calman. In the same year he began to draw the bedsit strip for the Sunday Telegraph and created the character that made people famous - "little man".

"Little man", a middle-aged bald man with a disproportionately large nose, reflected Calman's own lifelong depression . The themes of his cartoons concentrated with minimalist details and self-deprecating humor on the fears of the "little man" regarding health, death, God, achievement, morals and women and the like. a.

The "little man" cartoons were published in numerous British newspapers - u. a. in the Daily Express (1957–1963), the Sunday Telegraph (1964–1965), the Observer (1965–1966), the Sunday Times (1969–1984) and The Times (1979–1994). He also worked for the BBC and magazines such as Cosmopolitan . Many of his cartoons have been published in book form, including a. Through the Telephone Directory with Mel Calman (1962), This Pestered Isle (1973), Help and Other Ruminations (1982), Modern Times (1988) and Merrie England plc (with his cartoons from The Times ) (1990). In 1986 he published his autobiography What Else Do You Do? Sketches from a Cartoonist's Life .

Additionally, Calman worked as an art dealer in his later years and founded The Workshop in 1970 , which became the Cartoon Gallery . In 1988 he co-founded and chaired the Cartoon Art Trust , the aim of which was to promote the art of British cartoons and caricatures and to establish a cartoon museum. This was opened in 2006.

Private

Mel Calman married Pat McNeill in 1957. From this marriage there were two daughters: Claire and Stephanie, who both became writers. In his second marriage, Calman was married to the artist Karen Usborne. This marriage remained childless and was divorced in 1982. From 1984 to 1994 he lived with the writer Deborah Moggach .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e British Cartoon Archives: Mel Calman
  2. ^ The Palgrave Dictionary of Anglo-Jewish History. Ed. By William D. Rubinstein, Michael A. Jolles, Hilary L. Rubinstein. 2011: Calman, Melville (Mel)
  3. ↑ a b c d e The Independent February 12, 1994: Obituary: Mel Calman
  4. ↑ For example, various books dealing with depression were illustrated by Calman - John Rush: "Beating Depression" 1987; Britt Pitt, "Down with Gloom: Or, How to Defeat Depression" 1993
  5. ^ Photo by Mel Calman, National Portrait Gallery
  6. ^ Philip Harper: The Cartoon Museum. Retrieved December 12, 2019 .
  7. ^ The Cartoon Museum. Retrieved December 12, 2019 .
personal data
SURNAME Calman, Mel
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Calman, Melville
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British cartoonist
DATE OF BIRTH May 19, 1931
PLACE OF BIRTH Stamford Hill
DATE OF DEATH February 10, 1994
Place of death London