A Great Cartoonist.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXVI, Issue II, 12 January 1901, Page 58

A Great Cartoonist.

The news which arrived by cable last week that Sir John Tenniel has retired from the position he so long occupied on the staff of “Punch” will be received with profound regret by an innumerable body of admirers in every quarter of the globe. To the days when Sir John's eartoons would no longer appear each week in “Punch” we have all of us, I suppose, looked forward apprehensively at some time or other, for the great age of the veteran made it possible that at any time we might hear that the hand of the master was stilled for ever. Yet as week succeeded week with Tenniel at his post, as strong of hand and as consummate: in creation as ever, we put our fears and forbodings aside and thought of him as one seemingly endowed with perennial youth and vigour. Happily the news to reach us is not the worst. Sir John lives, and will, we all trust, spend a long evening of days amid such happiness and prosperity as his splendid career and blameless reputation have so justly earned for him. That this may be the ease will be the wish of thousands upon thousands whom he has during decades given weekly food for thought or laughter, and in which he has set down pictorially an absolutely faithful history of our own time. To some—especially to some of our younger readers—the retirement of even the most eminent of cartoonists may seem a somewhat slight subject for an article such as this. But it would in my opinion be hard indeed to pronounce too high a panegyric on the work and influence of Sir John Tenniel. For years he has given us a cartoon in which there was not a trace of vulgarity or to insult a foe or pain a fellow creature. It is true the subjects are not decided by one man. At the famous “Punch” dinner the cartoon is the first subject discussed. “Now, getlemen, the big cartoon” is the time-honoured formula with which proceedings are opened when the cloth has been removed from that famous table. It is by the way called the big cartoon in contradistinction to the second cartoon usually drawn by Lindley Sambourne, on whom now falls Sir John’s garment. But if the subject of the cartoon was not always his own, it was usually his suggestion that was eventually carried out, and in any case the manner of treating the subject was solely and entirely his own. We may therefore allow him full credit for the purity, the freedom from coarseness or vulgarity, and the splendid strength, of his cartoons. His versatility is only equalled by his vigour,, and perhaps the most pronounced characteristic of his work is its absolute evenness, at the highest possible level. Now and then a cartoon would rise clear above the rest, but never a one sank below the level; no one can remember a bad or even

a weak cat toou by Tenniel. On the other hand it is euiy, however, slightly over a year since he scored one of his greatest hits with the never-to-be-forgotten “fight to a finish” cartoon which sold by hundreds of thousands, for which there was so great a demand that it had to be re-printed and in colours. His cartoons have undoubtedly influenced public opinion to an extent scarcely credible, and which exceeds perchance that of even the most eminent leader writers in the most influential journals, and that influence has been for good in all instances. Surely this is a life's work which merits such world-wide appreciation as Tenniel enjoys, and which I have with such halting words so imperfectly expressed. In retiring from “Punch” Sir John Is withdrawing from many of us one of our earliest friends. There must even amongst our readers be many hundreds whose youth anil childhood were spent in the Old Country, and who will remember how delightedly we hailed Wednesday as “Punch morning.” and how we always gloated over the cartoon. We did not of course always understand its real meaning, but it was always delightful to tis, and anything we did learn from it was for good. We have grown to men and women and seen our children exhibit the same delight, and now we are called ’ upon to say farewell. Well ’tis hard; but life is so frequently hard in this respect that we perforce learn a sail aud rather weary resignation. And yet, and yet, this is indeed a hard farewell to make. Better, therefore, have done, and in briefly saying it, give to Sir John a vote of thanks which is as deep and sincere as it is impossible of adequate expression.