Cartoon -- Aviation Day on Olympus.

Cushing, Otho, (1871-1942)

1912-05-09

Periodicals -- Illustrations.

Caricatures and cartoons.

American wit and humor, Pictorial.

Life magazine covers were on a variety of topics. Each issue had a theme that was introduced by the cover and reflected throughout the issue.

Otho Cushing was born in 1871 in Fort McHenry, Maryland and attended the Boston School of Arts and the Academie Julian in Paris. He became a professor of drawing at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Later, he returned to Paris to accept the position of art editor for the European edition of the Herald-Tribune. In 1906, he submitted his first cartoons to Life and they were accepted. His cartoons were satirical and political, and his style was distinctively classical. He used Greek Gods and Goddesses as personas for modern political characters, often assigning them roles in classic mythology. Cushing submitted his first cartoons to Life in late 1906, which were accepted and accompanied by an offer to join the magazine's staff. During World War I Cushing left Life and served in the Army Air Corps. After the war he lived in New Rochelle, New York, and was a successful watercolorist. Cushing died in there in October, 1942.

Half page cartoon. Aviation and travel by air were very popular topics, and it is interesting to see that Cushing, whose work usually reflects the classics and antiquity, has embraced the idea of aviation in this cartoon.

Volume 59, number 1541, page 969.

Scholars wishing to cite this item should include item title, volume and issue, Life, New York, N.Y: Life, date, Jen Library Archives and Special Collections periodical collection, the Savannah College of Art and Design, and the item's url.

Life, New York, NY: Life, 1883-1936

Image

Illustration

9 1/2 x 11 inches

Print on paper

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