who’s your favorite figure from wartime period
If we’re talking “figure” broadly and not just heads of state, then David Low — his wartime cartoons are some of the sharpest political interventions of the period and have been a consistent favorite since I discovered his work at fifteen.
This past summer, I had the opportunity to visit the Boston Public Library and read his autobiography, which encompasses his account of the war and the events preceding it. Low’s anti-appeasement cartoons, being his major claim to fame, naturally overshadow his earlier Depression-era and National Government-era work (as well as his pre-Evening Standard cartoons). However, his streamlined illustration style and outspoken critiques — embodied through many characters and formats over the course of his career — offer valuable insight not only into his political savvy, but also into his intricate artistic methods and firsthand experience with many of Britain’s most influential prewar and wartime public figures.
While the majority of Low’s autobiography focuses on the prewar years, other anthologies such as Low’s War Cartoons (1941) and Years of Wrath (1946) place the wartime period at the center. I also couldn’t discuss wartime Low without mentioning The Flying Visit (1940) — Peter Fleming’s satirical novel in which Hitler crash-lands in wartime England, illustrated throughout by Low. Many of these works are available in some capacity on Fulltable, though I can’t deny the joy of owning several first-edition Lows — receiving them among the highlights of recent years — and being able to see the cartoons in their full material splendor.
Hope this answers your question 🙂
