Artist/Maker
Barney Tobey
(American, 1906 - 1989)
Homeless Family
ca. 1930
Oil on canvas
Unframed: 11 × 14 in. (27.9 × 35.6 cm)
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. David M. Tobey
2015.40.2
"Homeless Family" reveals the illustrator Barney Tobey’s training as a painter, as well as the influence of the Great Depression on artists in New York. Upon completing high school, Tobey received a scholarship to attend Parson’s New School for Design, then called New York School of Fine and Applied Arts, an early leader in “commercial illustration” and the forerunner to today’s advertising and graphic design. Tobey did not stay in that program, leaving after his first year to take a position in the art department of Batten, Barton, Durstine & Osborn. After six years at BBDO, Tobey became a freelance artist and cartoonist, continuing his artistic education at the Art Students League.
A native New Yorker, Barney Tobey was a prolific cartoon artist and illustrator. During his lifetime, Tobey designed four covers and more than 1,200 cartoons that were published in The New Yorker alone. His cartoons and covers also appeared in Collier’s Magazine, Saturday Evening Post, and Variety, among other periodicals. Magazine illustration was not his only form of artistic expression; his work also enlivened children’s books, such as Ian Fleming’s Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang: The Magical Car and works by Theodor Seuss Geisel (Dr. Seuss), theater posters, stationery, and book covers.
ClassificationsPAINTINGS
