Kirby, Rollin

Rollin Kirby, (born September 4, 1875, Galva, Illinois, U.S.—died May 8, 1952, New York, New York), American political cartoonist who gave modern cartooning decisive impetus in the direction of graphic simplicity and high symbolic value.

Kirby studied painting in New York City and Paris as a young man but switched to magazine illustrating and then cartooning. Kirby made his reputation during the 18 years (1913 to 1931) he spent on the New York World, where he won three Pulitzer Prizes for cartooning (1922, 1925, 1929). He stayed with the paper when it merged with The World Telegram in 1931; and in 1939 he went to the New York Post, where he remained until 1942. His cartoons later appeared in Look magazine and The New York Times Sunday Magazine. He criticized Wall Street, New York’s political bossism, imperialism, fascism, and the Ku Klux Klan and crusaded for civil liberties, woman suffrage, and the New Deal. He invented the long-nosed, sour Mr. Dry, who became widely known as the symbol of Prohibition. Although his drawing was outstanding, he considered the idea behind a cartoon far more important than the way it was drawn. In addition to his cartoon work, Kirby wrote verse, short plays, articles, editorials, and book reviews for various newspapers and magazines.