John Fischetti

John R. Fischetti (September 27, 1916 – November 18, 1980) was an editorial cartoonist for the New York Herald Tribune and the Chicago Daily News. He received a Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning in 1969 and numerous awards from the National Cartoonists Society.

John Fischetti
Born(1916-09-27)September 27, 1916
Brooklyn, New York, United States
DiedNovember 18, 1980(1980-11-18) (aged 64)
United States
NationalityAmerican
Area(s)Cartoonist
Notable works
Editorial cartoons
AwardsPulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning, 1969
National Cartoonists Society Editorial Cartoon Award, 1962–1965

Biography

Fischetti was born in Brooklyn, New York, where his Italian father was a barber. As a teenager during the Great Depression, he worked various jobs, including one at a hotel where Rollin Kirby, one of his influences, lived. At 19, Fischetti began studying commercial art at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, where he continued his education for three years (1937–1940).[1]

Then he moved to California, where he worked for the Walt Disney Studio in Burbank. Fischetti's job with Disney lasted only nine months, due to the work's strain on his eyes.[1]

While pursuing freelance work, Fischetti began his career as an editorial cartoonist at the Chicago Sun in 1941. Some of his freelance work appeared in such publications as Esquire, The Saturday Evening Post and Collier's.[1]

Fischetti served 1942–1945 as a radio operator and army sergeant during World War II.[1] In 1945 he joined the staff of Stars & Stripes as a war-time artist with Dick Wingert and other war-time cartoonists.[1]

From 1951 to 1962 Fischetti was a syndicated cartoonist for the Newspaper Enterprise Association. He then joined the New York Herald Tribune, departing in 1967 when that paper folded. In 1967 he moved back to Chicago and joined the Chicago Daily News, which ceased publication in 1978. He joined Bill Mauldin at the Chicago Sun-Times two years before he died of a heart attack in 1980.

He published a compilation of his cartoons Zinga Zinga Za in 1973.[1]

Style

Fischetti, like many of his colleagues, favored heavy use of crayon, pencil or ink brush in a vertical format at the beginning of his post-war career. By the 1960s, as his style matured, he began using a horizontal pen-and-ink style that betrayed his roots in animation, Fischetti satirized politics, fads and social issues.[2][3]

Awards

In 1969, he won the Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning in honor of the body of his work.[1][4] He also received the National Cartoonists Society's Editorial Cartoon Award in 1962, 1963, 1964, and 1965.[5]

John Fischetti Award

The Fischetti Editorial Cartoon Competition Award, usually referred to as the John Fischetti Award, is given annually to a staff, syndicated or regularly published professional cartoonist for cartoons on current social and political subjects (including sports and entertainment) published in a daily or weekly newspaper or regularly published periodical (including Internet publications) in the United States. They are administered by the Journalism Department of Columbia College Chicago.[6]

References
  1. "John Fischetti Cartoons: An inventory of his cartoons at Syracuse University". Syracuse University. Retrieved September 16, 2010.
  2. "Biographical Sketches of Persons Selected for the Pulitzer Prizes for 1969". The New York Times. May 6, 1969. p. 34. Retrieved April 2, 2015.
  3. "Cartoonist Was a Champion of Underdogs, Pulitzer Winner Sought to 'Dream Impossible Dreams for Mankind'". Los Angeles Times. November 24, 1980. p. B27.
  4. "1969 Winners". The Pulitzer Prizes. Retrieved September 16, 2010.
  5. "NCS Awards". National Cartoonists Society. Retrieved April 2, 2015. (scroll half way down to the "Editorial Cartoons" heading and click on the triangle next to "SEE WINNERS"')
  6. "Fischetti Editorial Cartoon Competition". Columbia College Chicago. Retrieved April 2, 2015.
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