A cartoonist sees other cartoonists

It is seldom that we see the faces of cartoonists. The identity of the cartoonist is known through his style of drawing, his signature at the bottom of the cartoon or through a character he develops often with certain physical features similar to his own. Like columnists, the cartoonists also obviously prefer not to be in the limelight but to use his medium to create his own identity.

It is not often that a cartoonist portrays his fellow cartoonists using the same medium. Shantha K. Herath has given us the rare opportunity of getting a glimpse of some of the prominent cartoonists. Incidentally, Shantha made his name through the daily pocket cartoon he created for the Sinhala daily, the ‘Divaina’ using an inimitable style.

Shantha presented the reputed cartoonists to illustrate an article written by the mass communication academic, Dr. Nandana Karunanayake in a booklet he released to coincide with an exhibition of his pocket cartoons. A brief resume of each cartoonist appeared alongside the picture.

The list starts with G.S. Fernando who started his career as a cartoonist in 1931 with a cartoon for the Sinhala newspaper, ‘Swadesha Mitraya’ ridiculing the Donoughmore Commission report. He had been impressed with the paintings of Henricus George while studying at the Vidyodaya Pirivena and learnt the art himself.  

He joined the Times of Ceylon commercial department in 1934 and after World War II in 1945, joined the English daily. After the ‘Lankadeepa’ was started he did a Sinhala version of Collette’s cartoons until the latter left and he was given the task of creating a cartoon for the Sinhala daily. ‘Appuhamy’, the character he developed became very popular among the readers.

Once when Prime Minister Sir John Kotelawela visited the Polgolla livestock farm, he made a comment that he wished he was born a bull! The next day, GS depicted Sir John in the form of a bull surrounded by a bevy of girls. After the cartoon appeared in the newspaper, Sir John sent word for him and as he saw him at Kandawela Walauwe, Sir John embraced him saying “You are the man I wanted.”  Both of them had a good laugh and had breakfast together enjoying morning hoppers.

Aubrey Collette, the Royal College art teacher used to ridicule Education Minister C.W.W. Kannangara who was pushing for free education when he started creating cartoons for the Times of Ceylon. He scorned the leftist leaders often to the annoyance of the readers. He was criticised by fellow journalists once for his constant attacks on the socialist politicians which was one of the reasons for him to leave the shores of this country.

Starting his career as an artist when he was 22, W.R. Wijesoma rose to be the country’s highly respected political cartoonist. After 20 years service at the Times Group, he moved over to Lake House in 1968 until 1981 when he joined the Upali Group and drew cartoons for the dailies and the Sunday newspapers.

He was quoted as saying that the political cartoonist should be conscious of the need to support the country’s development effort. He wanted those who were criticised for doing something wrong to accept it with a laugh rather than get annoyed.

Another cartoonist who served both the Times and Lake House Groups and then joined the Leader Publications was S.C. Opatha. He insisted that it should not be the task of cartoonists to please the politicians. The cartoonist should always be on the side of the masses. He was a firm believer that a political cartoonist should not go behind politicians but develop his or her art independently. He himself followed this theory to the letter.

Camillus Perera hailing from Negombo is one who drew his first cartoon when he was just five. He had got pulled up by his principal for drawing cartoons. Best known for the popular ‘Gajaman’ character he developed for the ‘Satuta’ newspaper, he later  created ‘Thepanis’ in the ‘Dawasa’ Sinhala daily. ‘Don Setan’ was yet another of his characters he used in the ‘Janatha’. He runs his own publishing firm. A cartoonist from the age of 16 when his first cartoon appeared in the Times, Amita Abayesekera continuously drew for the ‘Lankadeepa’ for about 25 years, and then moved over to the Dawasa Group. He saw the art of cartoons in traditional temple paintings before the Westerners developed the art. He believed that our political cartoons were clearer than the Western ones. He said that politicians feared cartoons more than articles criticising them, because readers remembered a cartoon even if they forgot an article.

The ‘Aththa’ brought Jiffry Yunoos to the limelight in 1968 even though he had earlier been at Lake House. He was of the opinion that it was possible to convey a message more forcefully and effectively through political cartoons than others and that they should also prompt the readers to laugh.