Edward Daniel Kuekes (February 2, 1901 – January 13, 1987) was an American

editorial cartoonist An editorial cartoonist, also known as a political cartoonist, is an artist who draws editorial cartoons that contain some level of political or social commentary. Their cartoons are used to convey and question an aspect of daily news or current ...

. Working for the

Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–United States border, Canada–U.S. maritime border ...

Plain Dealer ''The Plain Dealer'' is the major newspaper of Cleveland, Ohio; it is a major national newspaper. In the fall of 2019, it ranked 23rd in U.S. newspaper circulation, a significant drop since March 2013, when its circulation ranked 17th daily a ...

'', he won the 1953

Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning Pulitzer may refer to: *Joseph Pulitzer, a 19th century media magnate *Pulitzer Prize, an annual U.S. journalism, literary, and music award *Pulitzer (surname) *Pulitzer, Inc., a U.S. newspaper chain *Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, a non-prof ...

. Born in

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

, his family moved to

Berea, Ohio Berea ( ) is a city in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, United States. The population was 18,545 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. A western suburb of Cleveland, it is a part of the Greater Cleveland, Cleveland metropolitan area. Berea is home ...

in 1913. He graduated from

Berea High School Berea High School (BHS) was a high school located in Berea, Ohio, United States. It was founded in 1882 and served students in grades nine through 12. Its most recent campus, located immediately east of Baldwin Wallace University, was built in ...

in 1918. After graduating

Baldwin–Wallace College Baldwin Wallace University (BW) is a private university in Berea, Ohio, United States. Established in 1845 as Baldwin Institute by Methodist businessman John Baldwin, it merged with nearby German Wallace College in 1913 to become Baldwin-Wallac ...

, he studied art at Cleveland School of Art and the

Chicago Academy of Fine Arts The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) is a private art school associated with the Art Institute of Chicago (AIC) in Chicago, Illinois. Tracing its history to an art students' cooperative founded in 1866, which grew into the museum a ...

. Early influences on his work were Gaar Williams,

Ding Darling Jay Norwood Darling (October 21, 1876 – February 12, 1962), better known as Ding Darling, was an American cartoonist who won two Pulitzer Prizes. He was an important figure in the 20th century conservation movement and founded the National Wil ...

, and

Billy Ireland William Addison Ireland (1880 – May 29, 1935), a native of Chillicothe, Ohio, was a self-taught cartoonist well known throughout Ohio. The Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum was named in his honor in 2009. Career Shortly after his 1898 hi ...

. His career at the ''Plain Dealer'' began in 1922 as understudy to editorial cartoonist Hal Donahey. Kuekes handled general art chores for the ''Plain Dealer'', such as illustrating news events. Over the years he drew a number of regular features for the paper, including a movie-themed feature called ''Closeups'', an editorial cartoon called ''All in a Week'', and a Sunday feature called ''Cartoonist Looks at the News''. For much of the 1940s, his trademark was a rabbit named "The Kernel", which came from his work as an amateur stage magician. Following Donahey's death in 1949, Kuekes became chief editorial cartoonist of the ''Plain Dealer''. Kuekes won the Pulitzer Prize for a

Korean War The Korean War (25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953) was an armed conflict on the Korean Peninsula fought between North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea; DPRK) and South Korea (Republic of Korea; ROK) and their allies. North Korea was s ...

cartoon called "Aftermath". In the cartoon, two soldiers carry a third on a stretcher. One asks "Wonder if he voted?" while the other replies "No, he wasn't old enough." (In the United States, the voting age was not lowered from 21 to 18 until the passage of the 26th Amendment in 1971.) In addition to the Pulitzer Prize, Kuekes won three

Freedoms Foundation Freedoms Foundation at Valley Forge (now Founding Forward) is an American non-profit, non-partisan, non-sectarian educational organization, founded in 1949. The foundation is located adjacent to the Valley Forge National Historical Park, near Val ...

medals in 1949, 1950, and 1951, a Silver T-Square in 1953, and a

Christopher Award The Christopher Award (established 1949) is presented to the producers, directors, and writers of books, films and television specials that "affirm the highest values of the human spirit". It is given by The Christophers, a Christian organizatio ...

in 1955. Kuekes also drew a number of

comic strip A comic strip is a Comics, sequence of cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often Serial (literature), serialized, with text in Speech balloon, balloons and Glossary of comics terminology#Captio ...

s. With writer Olive Ray Scott, he drew the strip ''

Alice in Wonderland ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (also known as ''Alice in Wonderland'') is an 1865 English Children's literature, children's novel by Lewis Carroll, a mathematics university don, don at the University of Oxford. It details the story of a ...

'' and its accompanying strip '' Knurl the Gnome'' for

United Features Syndicate United Feature Syndicate, Inc. (UFS) is a large American editorial column and comic strip newspaper syndication service based in the United States and established in 1919. Originally part of E. W. Scripps Company, it was part of United Media ( ...

in 1934. For the ''Plain Dealer'', he drew the Sunday comic strip '' Funny Fables'' from 1935 to 1937 and this work was collected in a 1938 book, ''Funny Fables: Modern Interpretations of Famous Fabulists''. With Steve Freely, he drew the daily panel strip ''Do You Believe'' for the

LaFave Newspaper Features Lafave Newspaper Features was a syndication service that operated from 1931 to 1963. It was founded by Cleveland businessman Arthur J. Lafave and specialized in comic strips and gag cartoons. It is most well known for syndicating Clifford McBride ...

from 1955 to 1962. Kuekes died in

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Oklahoma, most populous city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat ...

References

External links

Edward D. Kuekes Cartoons
at the

Syracuse University Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York, United States. It was established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church but has been nonsectarian since 1920 ...

library
Lambiek Comiclopedia
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kuekes, Edward Daniel 1901 births 1987 deaths American editorial cartoonists American comics artists Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning winners Artists from Pennsylvania School of the Art Institute of Chicago alumni