Australia's vibrant commercial art community is outlined in this illustration from the circa l950s Melbourne Art Training Institute's book. Some of the cartoons included in the publication are applicable to modern Australia and issues featuring in the election.
The caption for the above cartoon by Ted Scorfield, of The Bulletin, reads : "Don't look now, but I think we are being followed . " Readers are told there is no better way of pointing out the faults of the world and humanity than cartooning . The Art Institute has members who can guide anyone intent on becoming a cartoonist.
The world, it declares , is at the feet of the man or woman who can flagellate it with fun . If you are such an aspiring person , let the Institute "put into your hand that pen or brush which, under the guidance of our experts, may ultimately become the whip to flagellate the follies of the present-day world ." That " kindly whip " had been wielded by such masters as Phil May , David Low , Norman Lindsay and Ted Scorfield!
Cartoonist Emile Mercier , born 1901, son of a French baker in New Caledonia, came to Australia at the age of 19 , unable to speak much English , experienced tough times, often going without meals . He worked in a variety of jobs-office boy, shipping , stage melodramas and attended the Julian Ashton Art School in Sydney . Various publications ran his cartoons and he became famous for his whimsical humour, portrayed across two pages in the Art Training publication , a sample follows .
Emile catered for lower to middle class readers with bizarre drawings of domestic scenes in which a room was suspended on springs , as above , a human skull visible underneath with other oddities, a bone , empty tins . There was often a portrait on the wall of Uncle Ezra , which may have been a dig at controversial media owner , Ezra Norton .
It is said he used "nonsense words " formed by the first two lines in the keyboards of old linotype machines -ETAOIN and SHRDLU . For instance, SHRDLU Gravy ; gravy also featured in the names of racehorses.
Keys in the third line on the lino -CMFYP - became the name of a fictitious politician , the Honourable C. M. FYP. Mercier died from Parkinson's Disease in l981 .
Cartoonist Emile Mercier , born 1901, son of a French baker in New Caledonia, came to Australia at the age of 19 , unable to speak much English , experienced tough times, often going without meals . He worked in a variety of jobs-office boy, shipping , stage melodramas and attended the Julian Ashton Art School in Sydney . Various publications ran his cartoons and he became famous for his whimsical humour, portrayed across two pages in the Art Training publication , a sample follows .
In this typical Aussie household with a radio set about to explode, flowers drooping in a vase, odd looking pet animals , Grannie apparently getting into the gin, the caption reads : "And don't forget that this exciting serial is brought to you every night at this time by THWACKO, the remedy for Nervous Depression, Shakes and Jitters ."
Emile catered for lower to middle class readers with bizarre drawings of domestic scenes in which a room was suspended on springs , as above , a human skull visible underneath with other oddities, a bone , empty tins . There was often a portrait on the wall of Uncle Ezra , which may have been a dig at controversial media owner , Ezra Norton .
It is said he used "nonsense words " formed by the first two lines in the keyboards of old linotype machines -ETAOIN and SHRDLU . For instance, SHRDLU Gravy ; gravy also featured in the names of racehorses.
Keys in the third line on the lino -CMFYP - became the name of a fictitious politician , the Honourable C. M. FYP. Mercier died from Parkinson's Disease in l981 .
