Oscar Cesare

Oscar Edward Cesare
File:Oscar Cesare self-portrait.png Self-portrait of Oscar Cesare
Born	1885 Linköping, Sweden
Died	July 25, 1948(1948-07-25) (age 63) Stamford, Connecticut, United States
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Oscar Cesare (1885 – July 25, 1948) was a Swedish-born American caricaturist, painter, draftsman and editorial cartoonist.

Early life

Cesare was born in Linköping, Sweden. At eighteen he moved to Paris to study art, then traveled to Buffalo, New York, to continue his studies. In 1903 he moved to Chicago, and by 1911 he was living in New York City.

Career

One of his first jobs was illustrating The King of Gee-Whiz by Emerson Hough in 1906. By 1913, his success as an illustrator allowed him to exhibit at the legendary 1913 Armory Show. Cesare worked at several publications throughout his career, including the Chicago Tribune, New York World, New York Sun, New York Evening Post, Our World, The Century Magazine, Bookman, Outlook, Nation's Business, Literary Digest, Fortune, and The New Yorker. In 1920, he became a regular contributor to the Sunday magazine of the New York Times and continued until a few years before his death in 1948.

In October 1922 Cesare had the very rare privilege of gaining admittance to the Kremlin to paint sketches of the Soviet leader Vladimir Lenin. He was also able to make sketches of Leon Trotsky on the same trip.

File:BONNET ROUGE by Oscar Cesare.wittig collection oscarcesare01.preliminary image.JPG

The original drawing for a WWI-era political cartoon by Oscar Cesare

Style

Cesare was active in opposing World War I. He adopted the grease crayon technique that had been adopted by other radical cartoonists such as Boardman Robinson, Robert Minor, K. R. Chamberlain, and Rollin Kirby.

Personal life

On July 15, 1916, Cesare married Margaret Porter, the daughter of the American writer O. Henry. They divorced four years later.

External links

• Works by Cesare @ Library of Congress
• Oscar Cesare Collection of original cartoons at the Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library at the University of Virginia