Sam Viviano
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Sam Viviano (born March 13, 1953 in
Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...
,
Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...
) is an American
caricature A caricature is a rendered image showing the features of its subject in a simplified or exaggerated way through sketching, pencil strokes, or other artistic drawings (compare to: cartoon). Caricatures can be either insulting or complimentary, a ...
artist and
art director Art director is the title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, film industry, film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supervise and ...
. Viviano’s caricatures are known for their wide jaws, which Viviano has explained is a result of his incorporation of side views as well as front views into his distortions of the human face. He has also developed a reputation for his ability to do crowd scenes. Explaining his twice-yearly covers for ''Institutional Investor'' magazine, Viviano has said that his upper limit is sixty caricatures in nine days.


Early life

Viviano grew up on Detroit’s east side, and attended the
University of Michigan at Ann Arbor , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...
, graduating
summa cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sou ...
with a
Bachelor of Fine Arts A Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) is a standard undergraduate degree for students for pursuing a professional education in the visual, fine or performing arts. It is also called Bachelor of Visual Arts (BVA) in some cases. Background The Bachelor ...
degree.


Career

In 1975, he drove up the East Coast to
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
, where he attempted to show art directors his portfolio, which consisted of various types of work he did in art school, including cartoons, abstract
expressionist Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it rad ...
paintings, etc. When no assignments came his way, he took a job as a
textile Textile is an umbrella term that includes various fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, filaments, threads, different fabric types, etc. At first, the word "textiles" only referred to woven fabrics. However, weaving is not the ...
designer, while he pondered his lack of success in the illustration market. He soon came to the realization that, in order to compete in the field, he needed to choose a specialty, stating that what one sacrifices in width and breadth one gains in depth. He decided that he enjoyed doing caricature the most, and took out ads featuring his caricature work in trade directories such as ''Showcase'' and ''Black Book'' (against the advice of publishers who insisted that depictions of children and products would be more marketable). These advertisements yielded his first notable advertising illustration, a full-page ad in the ''
New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'' for "On TV", a satellite service presenting the 1979
James Bond The ''James Bond'' series focuses on a fictional British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. Since Fleming's death in 1964, eight other authors have ...
film '' Moonraker''. By this time, Viviano was already working for many titles published by '' Scholastic Magazines'' (most notably ''
Dynamite Dynamite is an explosive made of nitroglycerin, sorbents (such as powdered shells or clay), and Stabilizer (chemistry), stabilizers. It was invented by the Swedish people, Swedish chemist and engineer Alfred Nobel in Geesthacht, Northern Germa ...
'' and ''
Bananas A banana is an elongated, edible fruit – botanically a berry – produced by several kinds of large herbaceous flowering plants in the genus ''Musa''. In some countries, bananas used for cooking may be called "plantains", distinguis ...
''). Because of the nature and style of his illustration, he was encouraged by a number of colleagues to show his work to ''Mad'' Magazine. Although Viviano’s samples were well-liked, he was told that there were no openings at that magazine, as it was a "closed shop" of about a dozen artists. However, in 1980, he was contacted by ''Mad'' Editor Al Feldstein, who told him that their usual cover artist (
Norman Mingo Norman Theodore Mingo (January 25, 1896May 8, 1980) was an American commercial artist and illustrator. He is most famous for being commissioned to formalize the image of Alfred E. Neuman for '' Mad.''Lambiek Comiclopedia, https://www.lambiek.net/ ...
) had died, and asked Viviano if he would provide one for the magazine. The cover, Viviano's first, was for '' Mad'' #223 (June 1981). Advertising
Lou Silverstone Louis Donald Silverstone (May 17, 1924 – March 9, 2015) was a comedy writer who was one of "The Usual Gang of Idiots" at ''MAD Magazine'' from 1962 to 1990. At ''MAD'', he was primarily, though by no means exclusively, a writer of television and ...
and
Mort Drucker Morris "Mort" Drucker (March 22, 1929 – April 9, 2020) was an American caricaturist and comics artist best known as a contributor for over five decades in '' Mad'', where he specialized in satires on the leading feature films and televisio ...
's take-off ''Dullus'', the cover of #223 depicted actor
Larry Hagman Larry Martin Hagman (September 21, 1931 – November 23, 2012) was an American film and television actor, director, and producer, best known for playing ruthless oil baron J. R. Ewing in the 1978–1991 primetime television soap opera, ''Dal ...
in his role of
J. R. Ewing John Ross "J.R." Ewing Jr. is a fictional character in the American television series ''Dallas (1978 TV series), Dallas'' (1978–1991) and its spin-off (media), spin-offs, including the Dallas (2012 TV series), revived ''Dallas'' series (2012– ...
from the
television series A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite television, satellite, or cable television, cable, excluding breaking news, television adverti ...
''
Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...
'' being shot through the ear with an
Alfred E. Neuman Alfred E. Neuman is the fictitious mascot and cover boy of the American humor magazine '' Mad''. The character's distinct smiling face, parted red hair, gap-tooth smile, freckles, protruding nose, and scrawny body, first emerged in U.S. iconog ...
-emblazoned flag. Viviano has stated that he was so nervous about his first job for ''Mad'' that he made the illustration (with six-fingered hand) twice. The issue sold so poorly (eventually becoming the worst-selling issue of ''Mad'' up to that point in time) that Feldstein did not allow Viviano to contribute any further to ''Mad'' until his retirement four years later, at which point Viviano began regular contributions, including the movie
parodies A parody, also known as a spoof, a satire, a send-up, a take-off, a lampoon, a play on (something), or a caricature, is a creative work designed to imitate, comment on, and/or mock its subject by means of satiric or ironic imitation. Often its sub ...
and mock
advertisements Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a product or service. Advertising aims to put a product or service in the spotlight in hopes of drawing it attention from consumers. It is typically used to promote a ...
that magazine is known for. He has since done work for corporations and for the advertising industry. He has contributed to ''
Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...
'', ''
Family Weekly ''USA Weekend'' was an American weekend newspaper magazine owned by the Gannett Company. Structured as a sister publication to Gannett's flagship newspaper ''USA Today'' and distributed in the Sunday editions of participating local newspapers, ...
'', ''
Reader's Digest ''Reader's Digest'' is an American general-interest family magazine, published ten times a year. Formerly based in Chappaqua, New York, it is now headquartered in midtown Manhattan. The magazine was founded in 1922 by DeWitt Wallace and his wi ...
'' and ''
Consumer Reports Consumer Reports (CR), formerly Consumers Union (CU), is an American nonprofit consumer organization dedicated to independent product testing, investigative journalism, consumer-oriented research, public education, and consumer advocacy. Founded ...
''. Viviano taught a caricature class at
Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
’s
School of Visual Arts The School of Visual Arts New York City (SVA NYC) is a private for-profit art school in New York City. It was founded in 1947 and is a member of the Association of Independent Colleges of Art and Design. History This school was started by ...
from 1981 to 1992, where he expressed the viewpoint that the goal of caricature is to use exaggeration to express an inner truth about an individual. Among the students of his who went on to enjoy prominent careers as illustrators specializing in caricature is
Hanoch Piven Hanoch Piven (born August 21, 1963 in Montevideo, Uruguay) is an Israeli mixed media artist best known for his celebrity caricatures. History Piven was born in Uruguay and moved to Israel with his family at the age of eleven. He grew up in Ramat ...
. Viviano produced the first
digital illustration Digital illustration or computer illustration is the use of digital tools to produce images under the direct manipulation of the artist, usually through a pointing device such as a tablet or a mouse. It is distinguished from computer-''generated' ...
for ''Mad'' Magazine. The illustration, a series of nine satirical road signs parodying aspects of
rock concert A rock concert is a performance of rock music. During the 1950s, several American musical groups experimented with new musical forms that fused country music, blues, and swing genre to produce the earliest examples of "rock and roll." The coin ...
s, accompanied an article written by
Desmond Devlin Desmond Devlin is an American comedy writer. His work has appeared in '' Mad'' since 1984, and with more than 450 bylined articles, he ranks as one of the magazine's three most frequent non-illustrating writers. Devlin's recurring features have i ...
titled "''Mad''’s International Signs for the Rock World”", which appeared in ''Mad'' #328 (June 1994). In 1994, ''Mad'' editors
Nick Meglin Nick Meglin (July 30, 1935 – June 2, 2018) was an American writer, humorist, and artist. He was known for his work as a contributor, comics writer, illustrator and editor for the satirical magazine '' Mad''. He also scripted ''Superfan'', a 1 ...
and
John Ficarra John Ficarra (born ca. 1956) is an American publishing figure. He was hired as assistant editor of the American satire magazine '' Mad'' in 1980, shortly after his debut as a contributing writer. He became editor-in-chief (a position he shared wi ...
invited Viviano to come on staff at the magazine, but he declined in order to focus on his freelance career. In late 1999, they again extended the invitation, this time for the position of the magazine’s Art director, and Viviano, now the father of a four-year-old girl, accepted. He currently oversees a staff of three that designs, layouts, and produces the art that appears in ''Mad''. Viviano is listed in the most recent edition of ''The World Encyclopedia of Cartoons'' by
Maurice Horn Maurice Horn (born 1931) is a French-American comics historian, author, and editor, considered to be one of the first serious academics to study comics. He is the editor of ''The World Encyclopedia of Comics'', ''The World Encyclopedia of Cartoon ...
. Horn, Maurice. ''The World Encyclopedia of Cartoons''. Chelsea House Publishing, 1999.


Personal life

Viviano is married to a New York physician, and is known to include his wife and daughter, as well as various other members of his family, in the backgrounds of scenes he illustrates. He is a cousin to New Testament scholar and author
Benedict Viviano Benedict Thomas Viviano (born January 22, 1940, died May 24, 2023) a New Testament scholar and author, was a member of the Chicago Province of the Dominican Order of the Roman Catholic Church. He was on the faculty of the University of Fribourg, ...
.


Notes


References


A & D News interview with Sam Viviano

National Cartoonists Society’s Biography of Sam VivianoThe Grand Comics Database page on ''MAD'' #223


External links


''The Complete Book of Caricature''
by Bob Staake
''The Disco Handbook''
by Bruce Pollack, 1979, Chapter 8 illustrations by Sam Viviano {{DEFAULTSORT:Viviano, Sam 1953 births University of Michigan alumni Artists from Detroit Living people American people of Italian descent American caricaturists Mad (magazine) cartoonists School of Visual Arts faculty American art directors