Michael Leunig cared little about fitting in, even less about adapting to woke cultural demands and not even a whit about being particularly relevant, his peers say.
That’s probably why it was so popular, they add.
In the unconventional and colorful world of editorial cartooning, the late artist, poet and social philosopher, who died Thursday at the age of 79, was never worried about being considered unconventional.
And it certainly was, according to fellow award-winning newspaper cartoonist Warren Brown.
“Leunig was not a conventional cartoonist at all, far from it,” Brown told Daily Mail Australia.
‘He was not a daily editorial cartoonist, nor a political cartoonist, in the sense that he drew caricatures of businessmen and politicians or the issue of the day.
‘His comments were often social, but don’t get me wrong, the social part always had a strong political edge.
‘Leunig was unlike any other cartoonist; his work was a wonderful combination of writing, drawing and ideas that actually became his own art form.
The late cartoonist, poet and philosopher Michael Leunig, died on Thursday at the age of 79, surrounded by his children and to the sounds of Beethoven and Bach.
Leunig’s successful books and calendars made him a household name throughout the country.
“He was obviously a deep thinker, a complex character and that’s why people adored him.”
Revered among both his contemporaries and fans, Brown said it was unlikely Australia had seen other cartoonists make such a wide impact.
Born in Melbourne in 1945, Leunig attended Footscray North Primary School and Maribyrnong High School and briefly attended university before dropping out and focusing on drawing.
He eventually found his way to his hometown newspaper The Age, where he would work for 55 years. before finally parting ways with the company in September amid a round of furious cost reductions.
His work, however, transcended the reach of the Melbourne newspaper, with his beloved cartoons, filled with iconic characters such as the round-nosed Mr Curly and his clique of ducks, appearing in whimsical calendars that won him fans across the country. and the world.
His ability to find the humor and, more importantly, the humanity in the silly connects with people from all walks of life.
“You would often see in the newspapers that Leunig would fill in for another editorial cartoonist, who was on leave or whatever, and his cartoon would always show the Prime Minister or the Prime Minister doing something,” Brown recalled.
“Then suddenly there was a week or so of Leunig, and all the cartoons were about something completely irreverent, like, ‘Oh, we have, you know, ducks doing something or other,’ and the readers loved it.
Award-winning Daily Telegraph cartoonist Warren Brown
Leunig with two of his most popular cartoon characters in Sydney in 2001.
‘It didn’t matter that it wasn’t difficult in the news comments. It was a kind of social commentary. He had a capricious nature.
“There was a childlike innocence to a lot of his work, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t have a sort of swordsman’s mind and didn’t assume what was right; he certainly had a pretty clear view of what was right.” mistaken.
“It was like he was almost trying to make sense of the world and, through the prism of his mind, he opened doors for other people to think differently, to think like him.
‘And we appreciated it and understood that he was doing things differently: “Oh, it’s a Michael Leunig!” Because if it were anyone else we would say, “What is this? I don’t understand it.”
Despite his childhood innocence, Leunig generated considerable controversy in his later years at The Age for his brash opinions (and confrontational cartoons) at the height of the coronavirus pandemic.
An outspoken critic of mandatory vaccination, he used his platform to spark debate about government policy at a time when doing so was often met with criticism. social ostracism.
Brown, who has won countless awards for his thought-provoking editorial cartoons in The Daily Telegraph for almost four decades, knows only too well the challenges Leunig faced in expressing his views.
“In recent times he has received a lot of criticism for various cartoons,” he said.
Leunig sparked controversy for his outspoken views on mandatory vaccination during the coronavirus pandemic.
‘On this day and age when, and I hate this word, but when everyone is so “woke” – sorry, I can’t think of any other word to use – it’s really hard for cartoonists.
“There’s an appetite out there for people to attack on all kinds of fronts and get offended; people enjoy being offended by things.”
“It’s very difficult for cartoonists because, certainly, you don’t necessarily have to be an agent provocateur, but the job is to make people think.
“Sometimes it’s a really complex relationship… because you want to make people laugh, but you also want to make them think about life or a topic or the world in a different way.”
What’s more, Brown, the cartoonists had the briefest of windows to accomplish their mission.
“A cartoon has a life expectancy of about four seconds: then someone opens a newspaper, looks at it, sees it, reads it, and kind of looks at it again, then laughs, or whatever, and that’s it.” all the time you have,” he said.
“It’s the whole Oscar Wilde thing: ‘Brevity is the soul of wit.’ That’s the trick: You have to be able to get that message across very quickly, in four seconds.
“If you’re able to get that message across, and it’s a hand grenade and it explodes, it can be fantastic.”
Leunig’s best-selling cartoon collections earned him a worldwide following.
‘Sometimes I’ve been on a train and sitting on the train full of people, and someone has the newspaper and I’m waiting anxiously for them to get to the cartoon.
‘Then they get there, and you watch their eyes, you watch the smoke or whatever, and then you move on.
‘If I smiled, it worked, you know, you’ve done your job and it’s really rewarding.
“But sometimes you can lay it all out in the cartoon, and it’s a hand grenade that you didn’t expect to go off, and it goes off in a way you didn’t expect.
“I think that’s what happened with Michael Leunig during COVID.
‘Cancel culture was headed his way in a big way.
“It was very difficult for him, as it would be for anyone, to see people walk away from him and let him go.”
Goodbye Michael Leunig… a touching caricature from one of the artist’s popular calendars
As difficult as that moment was, Brown said Leunig’s lasting memories will actually remain one of joy and wonder.
‘H“This legacy will be all his lovely characters, Mr. Curly and the ducks and that kind of stuff,” he said.
‘And the wonderful innocence of theirs, I think that could have been their legacy.
“We were almost at the point where we thought, ‘Michael, he’s going to be here forever.’
“Sadly, none of us will be… but his art will certainly live on forever.”