Herbert Lawrence Block, commonly known as Herblock (October13, 1909October7, 2001), was an American editorial cartoonist and author best known for his commentaries on national domestic and foreign policy.

During the course of a career stretching into nine decades, he won three Pulitzer Prizes for editorial cartooning (1942, 1954, and 1979), shared a fourth Pulitzer Prize in 1973 for Public Service on Watergate, the Presidential Medal of Freedom (1994), the National Cartoonist Society Editorial Cartoon Award in 1957 and 1960, the Reuben Award in 1956, the Gold Key Award (the National Cartoonists Society Hall of Fame) in 1979, and numerous other honors.

Early life and education

Block was the youngest of three boys born in Chicago to a Catholic mother, Theresa Lupe Block, and a father of Jewish descent, David Julian Block, a chemist and electrical engineer.

His brother Rich became president of an industrial laundry, and his brother Bill was a newspaper reporter for the Chicago Tribune and later for the Chicago Sun.

He began taking classes at the Art Institute of Chicago when he was eleven, winning a scholarship there at age 12. He adopted the "Herblock" signature in high school. After graduating in 1927, he attended Lake Forest College for almost two years.

Herblock said that his family was conservative and that his father voted for Herbert Hoover in 1928.

Career

Late in his second year at Lake Forest College, Herblock was hired after submitting some cartoons he had done in high school and college for the Evanston News-Index to replace the Chicago Daily News departing editorial cartoonist. He never returned to school. He then spent two years in the Army doing cartoons and press releases.

Upon discharge in 1946,

Stating that he never got tired of his work, Herblock continued as the 21st century began by lampooning the newly elected president George W. Bush.

Personal life and death

Herblock never married, and, in the Post<nowiki>'</nowiki>s employee index, his address was listed as simply "The Washington Post".

In 1966, he was selected to design the U.S. postage stamp commemorating the 175th anniversary of the Bill of Rights.

On January 27, 2014, HBO premiered a documentary, Herblock: The Black & The White, which was executive produced by George Stevens Jr., produced and directed by his son, Michael Stevens, who also co-wrote with Sara Lukinson. The documentary interviews Jon Stewart, Lewis Black, Tom Brokaw, Bob Woodward, Carl Bernstein, Jules Feiffer, Ted Koppel and Ben Bradlee as witnesses to Block's life, work and indelible contribution to American satire.

Legacy: the Herb Block Foundation

When Herb Block died in October 2001, he left $50 million with instructions to create a foundation to support charitable and educational programs that help promote and sustain the causes he championed during his 72 years of cartooning. The Herb Block Foundation awarded its first grants and the annual Herblock Prize in editorial cartooning in 2004. According to its website, the Herb Block Foundation "is committed to defending the basic freedoms guaranteed all Americans, combating all forms of discrimination and prejudice and improving the conditions of the poor and underprivileged through the creation or support of charitable and educational programs with the same goals. The Foundation is also committed to improving educational opportunities to deserving students through post-secondary education scholarships and to promoting editorial cartooning through continuing research."

Exhibitions

In 2008 Herblock's work was the subject of exhibitions entitled Herblock's Presidents at the Smithsonian Institution's National Portrait Gallery (United States), and Herblock's History at the Library of Congress. In late 2009 and early 2010, the Library of Congress showcased a new exhibition called Herblock!. This exhibition included cartoons that represented Block's ability to wield his pen effectively and artfully. He used it to condemn corruption and expose injustice, inequality, and immorality. His topics included the Great Depression; the rise of fascism and World War II; communism and the Cold War; Senator Joseph McCarthy; race relations; Richard Nixon; the Reagan era; the 2000 election and more.

Books of collected cartoons by Herbert Block

  • Block, Herbert. Herblock: The Life and Works of the Great Political Cartoonist ed. by Harry Katz (W. W. Norton, 2009), 304pp; prints more than two hundred fifty cartoons in the text; comes with a DVD containing more than 18,000 Herblock cartoons
  • Herblock's History: Political Cartoons from the Crash to the Millennium (Library of Congress, 2000)
  • Herblock: A Cartoonist's Life (Maxwell Macmillan International, 1993)
  • Herblock at Large: "Let's Go Back a Little ..." and Other Cartoons with Commentary (Pantheon Books, 1987)
  • Herblock Through the Looking Glass (Norton, 1984)
  • Herblock on All Fronts: Text and Cartoons (New American Library, 1980)
  • Herblock Special Report (Norton, 1974)
  • Herblock's State of the Union (Simon & Schuster, 1972)
  • The Herblock Gallery (Simon & Schuster, 1968)
  • Straight Herblock (Simon & Schuster, 1964)
  • Herblock's Special for Today (Simon & Schuster, 1958)
  • Herblock's Here and Now (Simon & Schuster, 1955)
  • The Herblock Book (The Beacon Press, 1952)
  • Herblock Looks at Communism (Simon & Schuster, 1950)

See also

References

Further reading

  • Many of Herblock's works can be found at the Library of Congress.
  • Herblock's History (online exhibition from the Library of Congress)
  • The Herb Block Foundation (archived)
  • Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum Art Database