Richard Gordon Guindon (December 2, 1935 – February 27, 2022) was an American cartoonist best known for his gag panel ''Guindon''. Guindon's cartoons have appeared in the ''

Minneapolis Tribune The ''Star Tribune'' is the largest newspaper in Minnesota. It originated as the ''Minneapolis Tribune'' in 1867 and the competing ''Minneapolis Daily Star'' in 1920. During the 1930s and 1940s, Minneapolis's competing newspapers were consolida ...

'', ''

The Realist ''The Realist'' was a magazine of "social-political-religious criticism and satire", intended as a hybrid of a grown-ups version of ''Mad'' and Lyle Stuart's anti-censorship monthly ''The Independent.'' Edited and published by Paul Krassner, an ...

'', and the ''

Detroit Free Press The ''Detroit Free Press'' is the largest daily newspaper in Detroit, Michigan, US. The Sunday edition is titled the ''Sunday Free Press''. It is sometimes referred to as the Freep (reflected in the paper's web address, www.freep.com). It primari ...

''.Stearns, Patty LaNoue. "The Inscrutable Mr. G," ''Traverse''. February 2005.
/ref>

Biography

During the late 1950s, Guindon attended the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...

, where he drew cartoons for ''The Minnesota Daily'', as recalled by Stan Gotlieb: Living in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

during the early 1960s, Guindon began contributing to ''

The Nation ''The Nation'' is an American liberal biweekly magazine that covers political and cultural news, opinion, and analysis. It was founded on July 6, 1865, as a successor to William Lloyd Garrison's '' The Liberator'', an abolitionist newspaper tha ...

'', ''

Playboy ''Playboy'' is an American men's lifestyle and entertainment magazine, formerly in print and currently online. It was founded in Chicago in 1953, by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. K ...

'', ''

Esquire Esquire (, ; abbreviated Esq.) is usually a courtesy title. In the United Kingdom, ''esquire'' historically was a title of respect accorded to men of higher social rank, particularly members of the landed gentry above the rank of gentlema ...

'' and ''

Down Beat ' (styled in all caps) is an American music magazine devoted to "jazz, blues and beyond", the last word indicating its expansion beyond the jazz realm which it covered exclusively in previous years. The publication was established in 1934 in Chi ...

''. He also drew cartoons for

Paul Krassner Paul Krassner (April 9, 1932 – July 21, 2019) was an American author, journalist, and comedian. He was the founder, editor, and a frequent contributor to the freethought magazine ''The Realist'', first published in 1958. Krassner became a key ...

's ''

'' and was associated with Krassner's class at the Free School. Guindon's best known work from the 1960s was published in ''The Realist'', which included adult-themed references to

politics Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that studies ...

and current events of the time. Leaving New York, Guindon returned to

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

, where ''Mpls.St.Paul Magazine'' said in its "Encyclopedia Minnesotica" that Guindon is "Minnesota's greatest satirist". In 1981, Guindon moved from Minnesota to work in

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

for the ''

'', which issued a 1984 datebook, ''Guindon's Detroit''. In May 1984, he made an appearance on ''

The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson ''The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson'' was an American late-night talk show hosted by Johnny Carson on NBC, the third iteration of the ''Tonight Show'' franchise. The show debuted on October 1, 1962, and aired its final episode on May 22, ...

''. He had a three-month art exhibition, "Richard Guindon, 1981–1984", at the

Flint Institute of Arts The Flint Institute of Arts, also called FIA, is located in the Flint Cultural Center in Flint, Michigan. The second largest art museum in Michigan, it offers exhibitions, interpretive programs, film screenings, concerts, lectures, family events ...

from March 10 to May 26, 1985. That same year, he took an extended vacation, continuing to draw his cartoons while driving around

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

. Guindon began his self-titled cartoon series for the

in 1974. At first it appeared three to four times per week, then became a daily in 1978 when it was picked up by the

Los Angeles Times Syndicate The ''Los Angeles Times'' Syndicate was a print syndication service that operated from 1949 to 2000. Owned by the Times Mirror Company, it also operated the ''Los Angeles Times'' Syndicate International; together the two divisions sold more than ...

. In 1981, the syndication was moved to

Field Newspaper Syndicate The Field Newspaper Syndicate was a syndication service based in Chicago that operated independently from 1941 to 1984, for a good time under the name the Chicago Sun-Times Syndicate. The service was founded by Marshall Field III and was part of F ...

, and then in 1984 to

News America Syndicate The Field Newspaper Syndicate was a syndication service based in Chicago that operated independently from 1941 to 1984, for a good time under the name the Chicago Sun-Times Syndicate. The service was founded by Marshall Field III and was part of F ...

. The syndication of the panel appears to have ended in 1985, but the cartoon may have survived as a feature of the ''

'' until later, perhaps 1987. When he returned to the United States, he moved to

Traverse City, Michigan Traverse City ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is the county seat of Grand Traverse County, although a small portion extends into Leelanau County. It is the largest city in the 21-county Northern Michigan region. The population was ...

in March 1986, and the following August he set up his studio in the Masonic Hall building in downtown Traverse City with a third-floor view of

Grand Traverse Bay Grand Traverse Bay is a deep bay of Lake Michigan formed by the Leelanau Peninsula in the northwestern Lower Peninsula of Michigan. The bay is long, wide, and up to deep in spots. It is further divided into two east and west arms by the Ol ...

. Eight months later, the historic four-story building was destroyed by fire. "I've lost 30-some years of work", said Guindon. "It's funny this building should wait 97 years for me to move into it before burning. It really hasn't hit me yet. I think tomorrow is going to be a very grim day." More than 5,000 cartoons and sketches burned in the April 1987 fire, but a few weeks later Guindon learned that Irv Letofsky, Sunday editor of the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

'' "Calendar" section, had saved a copy of every Guindon cartoon syndicated over a decade. In 1988, Guindon broke out of the single-panel mold and began a multi-panel comic strip, ''The Carp Chronicles'', commenting, "Nothing ever works out in Carp City. I don't know why. They're very nice people. It's not a pretty story, but it has to be told." Guindon announced his retirement in 2005 and lived in

Northern Michigan Northern Michigan, also known as Northern Lower Michigan (known colloquially to residents of more southerly parts of the state and summer residents from cities such as Detroit as " Up North"), is a region of the U.S. state of Michigan. A popul ...

in the village of Suttons Bay in his later years. Guindon died in

Northport, Michigan Northport is a village in Leelanau Township within Leelanau County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 526 according to the 2010 U.S. census. When Leelanau County was formed in 1863, Northport served as the first county seat from 1 ...

, on February 27, 2022, at the age of 86.

Bibliography

Guindon's cartoons have been collected in several books: *''Guindon'' (Minneapolis Tribune, 1977), *''Cartoons by Guindon'' (Putnam's/Quick Fox, 1980), *''The World According to Carp'' (Andrews McMeel, 1983), *''Together Again'' (Andrews McMeel, 1986) *''Michigan So Far'' (Detroit Free Press, 2003)

References

External links

The Realist Archive ProjectThe Richard Guindon official site
archived fro
the original
on 11 May 2018.
''The Education of a Comics Artist: Visual Narrative in Cartoons, Graphic Novels, and Beyond'' by Michael Patrick Dooley and Steven Heller "Richard Guindon, quirky and satirical former Free Press cartoonist, dies at 86," by Patty LaNoue Stearns, Feb. 28, 2022

{{DEFAULTSORT:Guindon, Dick 1935 births 2022 deaths American comic strip cartoonists American comics artists American humorists Artists from Saint Paul, Minnesota University of Minnesota alumni