Peter Arno

by Peter Arno

This collection of cartoons gathers together over two hundred fifty examples of Arno's best work

Genres: Cartoon, Comics, Humor, Comic Strips, Graphic Novels

Hardcover

First published February 1, 1979

Reviews

[Nate · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting book with some funny cartoons and some not. There were so many about older men with younger attractive women that the topic just got boring. It would have been nice to have the date of publication on some of these.

[Prince Cad Ali Cad · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great collection by a talented cartoonist. Surprised how flirty some of the gags were, considering Arno drew for the New Yorker and many of these were pulled from the 1920s and 30s.

[Nick Nguyen · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

Nice collection of Arno's gag comics (236 out of the 248 presented here were published in The New Yorker between 1925-1944, 1946-1961, and 1963-1968). Editorially, this collection would have benefited from publication/creation dates to help situate each piece in an historical context of Arno's artistic development.

[Ted · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dated and sexist by today's standards.

[Dominick · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great collection of cartoons by one of the masters of the form. There are few clunkers here and more than a few laugh out loud ones--especially impressive when you consider that these are all New Yorker cartoons, and, despite its reputation as one of the great bastions of American cartooning, the New Yorker more often than not features cartoons that just plain are not funny--the magazine is generally too high-tone and urbane for something as unsophisticated as a belly-laugh-inducer to qualify for appearance within its august pages. But Arno is frequently not merely amusing or clever but often outright hilarious. He's master at conveying a lot of information simply and quickly, with a few well-chosen lines, but also of providing considerable detail and texture when it will help the joke. His cartoons are masterfully designed; one almost never has any difficulty knowing where to look or how to read. and his wit covers quite a range of topics, including of course standard cartoon targets such as gold-diggers, cads, drunks, etc. Most notable for me is the frequency with which Arno takes on stuffed-shirt pretention, exposing the underlying buffoonery, venality, and sheer obliviousness of the so-called upper classes. Admittedly, some cartoons have not stood up well to the passage of time (one might easily read sexism rather than humour about sex into several strips, for instance, and at least a few depend rather uncomfortably on the idea of sexual assault for their humour) Others perhaps require some historical context--even if only a date of publication--for their points to be clear. Regardless, though, they are always a joy to look at, and the size of the book and of the images--coffee-table size, with only one per page, usually at full page size--makes looking at them easy. Great stuff.

[James Mitchell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Classic New Yorker cartoons from 1925-1968; gorgeous drawings, sometimes hilarious, occasionally racist or sexist.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brilliant -- but also hopelessly dated.