Mischa Richter (1910 – March 23, 2001) was an American

cartoonist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comics illustrators/artists in that they produce both the litera ...

best known for his numerous cartoons published in ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...

'' over decades.

Early life

Richter was born in

Kharkov Kharkiv, also known as Kharkov, is the second-largest List of cities in Ukraine, city in Ukraine.

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

, where his father was the city's Commissar of Waterworks. Young Mischa learned drawing from art tutors and went on family vacations to

Berdyansk Berdiansk or Berdyansk (, ; , ) is a port city in Zaporizhzhia Oblast, south-eastern Ukraine. It is on the northern coast of the Sea of Azov, which is connected to the Black Sea. It serves as the administrative center of Berdiansk Raion. The ...

. After his uncle joined the Red Army and was killed in 1917, his parents decided to flee the Revolution. Traveling by train to the Polish border, they went by cart through the forest and then in a rowboat into Poland. Mischa continued his art training while they spent a year waiting for a visa. They arrived in the United States in 1922 when he was 11 years old. Studying at Boston's Museum School, he became friends with

Will Barnet Will Barnet (May 25, 1911November 13, 2012) was an American visual artist and teacher, known for his paintings, watercolors, drawings, and prints depicting the human figure and animals, both in casual scenes of daily life and in transcendent d ...

. In 1934, Richter graduated from Yale and returned to Boston where he was a WPA muralist.

Personal life

Barnet later introduced Richter to his sister-in-law, the painter Helen Sinclair Annand, and the couple married. In 1958, they moved to

Provincetown, Massachusetts Provincetown () is a New England town located at the extreme tip of Cape Cod in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, in the United States. A small coastal resort town with a year-round population of 3,664 as of the 2020 United States census, Provi ...

. The two made extended trips to France and Italy during the 1950s and 1960s. They remained together until her death in 1992 after battling multiple sclerosis. One son, Tom Richter, died at an early age.Ross, Emma. Provincetown Artist Registry: Mischa Richter
/ref> Another son, Daniel Richter is an actor and author.

Cartoons

Richter was a contract cartoonist for ''The New Yorker'', and he contributed cartoons to ''

Collier's } ''Collier's'' was an American general interest magazine founded in 1888 by Peter F. Collier, Peter Fenelon Collier. It was launched as ''Collier's Once a Week'', then renamed in 1895 as ''Collier's Weekly: An Illustrated Journal'', shortened i ...

'', ''

The Saturday Evening Post ''The Saturday Evening Post'' is an American magazine published six times a year. It was published weekly from 1897 until 1963, and then every other week until 1969. From the 1920s to the 1960s, it was one of the most widely circulated and influ ...

'' and '' This Week''. He drew his ''Strictly Richter'' cartoon panel for

King Features Syndicate King Features Syndicate, Inc. is an American content distribution and animation studio, consumer product License, licensing and print syndication company owned by Hearst Communications that distributes about 150 comic strips, columnist, newspape ...

. For ''PM'' and ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', Richter drew political cartoons and spot illustrations. He also illustrated

Bugs Baer Bugs may refer to: * Plural of Bug (disambiguation), bug Arts, entertainment and media Fictional characters * Bugs Bunny, a character * Bugs Meany, a character in the ''Encyclopedia Brown'' books Films * Bugs (2003 film), ''Bugs'' (2003 film), a ...

's humor column, "One Word Led to Another", for King Features. Mischa Richter's political cartoons were often featured in the Communist Party's literary journal "New Masses" in the late 1930s.

Books

In addition to children's books, there were several collections of Richter's cartoons, including ''This One's on Me!'' (1945) and ''The Cartoonist's Muse: A Guide to Generating and Developing Creative Ideas'' (1992), co-authored with Harald Bakken.

Awards

Richter received the

National Cartoonists Society The National Cartoonists Society (NCS) is an organization of professional cartoonists in the United States. It presents the National Cartoonists Society Awards. The Society was born in 1946 when groups of cartoonists got together to entertain the ...

Advertising and Illustration Award for 1979 and their Gag Cartoon Award for 1974.Saxon, Wolfgang (27 March 2001)
Mischa Richter, 90, a New Yorker Regular
''

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...

(24 March 2001)
Mischa Richter Dead at 90
''

Sun Journal (Lewiston) The ''Sun Journal'' is a newspaper published in Lewiston, Maine, United States, which covers central and western Maine. In addition to its main office in Lewiston, the newspaper also maintains satellite news and sales bureaus in the Maine towns ...

Exhibitions

Richter had one-man shows of his cartoons and paintings at the Hartford Atheneum, Cincinnati's Miller Gallery, the Chrysler Museum and the Silver Mine Guild of Artists. His work is included in the collections of Mr. and Mrs. Hudson Walker, Jock Whitney, the Rockefeller Science Museum, the Library of Congress and the

Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum The Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum is a research library of American cartoons and comic art affiliated with the Ohio State University library system in Columbus, Ohio. Formerly known as the Cartoon Research Library and the Cartoon Libra ...

.National Cartoonists Society: Mischa Richter
/ref> Jane Winter was the curator of ''Mischa Richter: A Retrospective'' at the Provincetown Art Association and Museum from July 30 to August 23, 1999.

References

Sources

*Jenkisson, John. "Former WPA Muralist Succeeds as Cartoonist," ''New York World-Telegram'', April 30, 1945.

External links

National Cartoonist Society Awards
{{DEFAULTSORT:Richter, Mischa 1910 births 2001 deaths Artists from Massachusetts People from Provincetown, Massachusetts American magazine cartoonists American humorists American political artists American children's book illustrators The New Yorker cartoonists Federal Art Project artists White Russian emigrants to the United States