Pat Oliphant, former editorial cartoonist for the Denver Post, died July 13 in Santa Fe, New Mexico. He was 90 years old. He moved from Adelaide, Australia, to Colorado in 1964, where he joined the staff of The Denver Post.
He spent 11 years on the editorial page and was an innovator bringing a new approach to the art form. In the 50s and 60s, most American cartoonists drew in a square or vertical format and preferred a heavy-handed approach鈥攕elf-serious commentary. Oliphant opted for a horizontal display, much like a movie screen. This allowed him to create action scenes, movement from left to right. And he used humor to get his point across.
His was a devastating wit.
In the corner of each cartoon, he inserted a tiny penguin named Punk who spouted a second opinion on the issue. His work was an instant success and was noted by other working cartoonists in the U. S. Soon, many others were taking up his approach. None quite as successful as Oliphant抖阴ap.
His cartoons were syndicated both nationally and worldwide. Early on at The Post, he earned a Pulitzer Prize. In 1975, Oliphant left The Denver Post for The Washington Star. His work was so appreciated by the editors there that he appeared daily on the front page. He stayed with the Star until it folded in 1981.
I was both thrilled and overwhelmed in 1975 when I was hired to sit at Pat Oliphant抖阴ap drawing board at The Denver Post. I was well aware of the legend I was following. This was my very first cartooning job after leaving graduate school (math major). For several years, I had drawn a weekly toon for the college paper. Unknown to me, someone had sent samples of my work to The Post when the opening came up.
After a couple of interviews, I was hired. Then I began to hear stories about the great man.
Oliphant was a licensed pilot and owned a small single-engine craft. When most cartoonists sat at a desk staring out of a window, searching for ideas, he was up in his plane, flying over Denver and the nearby mountains, dreaming up today鈥檚 cartoon.
When he had it, he would land, then show up in the office to put ink to paper.
My first week on the job, I was rearranging furniture and stashing my things in file cabinets and the main desk. It was there, at the back of a drawer, that I found a letter. It was from Oliphant in Adelaide and addressed to the editorial page editor.
In it, the young man claimed that if he were hired by The Post, he would come to America and revolutionize cartooning. Pretty brash statement. But that is exactly what he did.
It was clear that Denver was a special place for him. Even after he relocated to the D.C. area, he returned often for visits, dropping in at the editorial page offices. After work, he would hold court at the Sportsmans bar, across the street from the newspaper. A good number of reporters and editors would join him there. Lots of laughter.
Instead of seeking another newspaper position after the Washington Star closed, Oliphant elected to provide his work to Universal Press Syndicate, which sold his cartoons to newspapers around the globe. By this time he was recognized as one of the best in the field, one of the best of all time, and he had great success through syndication.
Oliphant retired in 2015 and moved from Washington, D.C. to Santa Fe, New Mexico, where his good friend Bill Mauldin lived. Mauldin was the legendary World War II cartoonist who chronicled the daily lives of common soldiers through his characters, Willie and Joe.
Mauldin had been an early influence on the young Patrick Bruce Oliphant. While in Santa Fe, Oliphant turned his artistic talents to painting and bronze sculptures based on his caricatures of public figures.
Many of us in Denver have fond memories of this extremely talented man. I was glad to have gotten to know him.
Mike Keefe is a Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist who worked for The Denver Post from 1975 to 2011.
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