Paul Crispin Rigby AM (25 October 1924 – 15 November 2006) was an Australian

cartoonist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comic book illustrators in that they produce both the literary and ...

who worked for

newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, sports a ...

s in Australia, the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

and the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. He usually worked under the name Rigby.

Early life

Rigby was born in

Sandringham, Victoria Sandringham is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, south of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Bayside local government area. Sandringham recorded a population of 10,926 at the 2021 census. History ...

,The Independent
(2 January 2007) ''Paul Rigby Australia's - No 1 Cartoonist''. Retrieved 28 March 2015. on 25 October 1924, the second son of James Rigby, a telephone engineer, and his wife Violet Wood. He studied

art Art is a diverse range of human activity, and resulting product, that involves creative or imaginative talent expressive of technical proficiency, beauty, emotional power, or conceptual ideas. There is no generally agreed definition of wha ...

at Brighton Technical School before leaving at 15 to work as a

commercial artist Commercial art is the art of creative services, referring to art created for commercial purposes, primarily advertising. Commercial art uses a variety of platforms (magazines, websites, apps, television, etc.) for viewers with the intent of promo ...

, eventually taking up freelance work. Rigby was a gunner-armourer in the

Royal Australian Air Force "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = RAAF Anniversary Commemoration ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

from 1942 to 1946, serving primarily in bombers in

North Africa North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in ...

and

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 ...

Career

Rigby worked as a commercial artist and teacher before moving to Perth to work as an illustrator for

West Australian Newspapers ''The West Australian'' is the only locally edited daily newspaper published in Perth, Western Australia. It is owned by Seven West Media (SWM), as is the state's other major newspaper, ''The Sunday Times''. It is the second-oldest continuousl ...

(1948–52), notably on the '' Western Mail''. His work as a

political cartoonist An editorial cartoonist, also known as a political cartoonist, is an artist who draws editorial cartoons that contain some level of political or social commentary. Their cartoons are used to convey and question an aspect of daily news or curren ...

started at the '' Daily News'' (

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

) in 1952, where he won five

Walkley Awards The annual Walkley Awards are presented in Australia to recognise and reward excellence in journalism. They cover all media including print, television, documentary, radio, photographic and online media. The Gold Walkley is the highest prize and ...

between 1960 and 1969. From 1949 his work coincided with that of topical columnist Bernie Kirwan Ward on the back page of the ''Daily News''. The pair published a number of books containing reprints of their popular collaborations. From 1959 Rigby's cartoons were syndicated to various newspapers throughout Australia. Rigby worked briefly at

Rupert Murdoch Keith Rupert Murdoch ( ; born 11 March 1931) is an Australian-born American business magnate. Through his company News Corp, he is the owner of hundreds of local, national, and international publishing outlets around the world, including ...

's ''

Sydney Daily Mirror ''The Daily Mirror'' was an afternoon paper established by Ezra Norton in Sydney, Australia in 1941, gaining a licence from the Minister for Trade and Customs, Eric Harrison, despite wartime paper rationing. In October 1958, Norton and his ...

'' from 1969. Murdoch had just purchased English tabloid '' The Sun'' and in the same year Rigby relocated to

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

to work on Murdoch's new acquisition. He spent eight years on the

New York Daily News The New York ''Daily News'', officially titled the ''Daily News'', is an American newspaper based in Jersey City, NJ. It was founded in 1919 by Joseph Medill Patterson as the ''Illustrated Daily News''. It was the first U.S. daily printed in ta ...

and for 15 years was the main cartoonist on the

New York Post The ''New York Post'' (''NY Post'') is a conservative daily tabloid newspaper published in New York City. The ''Post'' also operates NYPost.com, the celebrity gossip site PageSix.com, and the entertainment site Decider.com. It was established ...

. Rigby also contributed work to the ''

News of the World The ''News of the World'' was a weekly national Tabloid journalism#Red tops, red top Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published every Sunday in the United Kingdom from 1843 to 2011. It was at one time the world's highest-selling En ...

'', the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

Springer Group Axel Springer SE () is a German digital and popular periodical publishing house which is the largest in Europe, with numerous multimedia news brands, such as '' Bild'', ''Die Welt'', and ''Fakt'' and more than 15,000 employees. It generated to ...

and the U.S. '' National Star''. Rigby returned to Australia in 1974 to work at the ''

Sydney Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', also nicknamed ''The Tele'', is an Australian tabloid newspaper published by Nationwide News Pty Limited, a subsidiary of News Corp Australia, itself a subsidiary of News Corp. It is published Monday through Saturday a ...

'' and then moved to the United States to work at another new Murdoch acquisition, the ''

'', also contributing to the ''

Star A star is an astronomical object comprising a luminous spheroid of plasma (physics), plasma held together by its gravity. The List of nearest stars and brown dwarfs, nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked ...

''. From 1984 to 1992, he worked at the ''

''. Many later artists were influenced by his book ''Paul Rigby's Course of Drawing and Cartooning'' (1976), which was privately published. He illustrated more than 30 books and produced a number of collections of his drawings.

Style

Rigby worked in

pen and ink A pen is a common writing instrument that applies ink to a surface, usually paper, for writing or drawing. Early pens such as reed pens, quill pens, dip pens and ruling pens held a small amount of ink on a nib or in a small void or cavity whic ...

Bristol board Bristol board (also referred to as Bristol paper or super white paper) is an uncoated, machine-finished paperboard. It is not named after the city of Bristol in the southwest of England but rather after Frederick Hervey, 4th Earl of Bristol, a ...

. In much the same way that

Al Hirschfeld Albert Hirschfeld (June 21, 1903 – January 20, 2003) was an American caricaturist best known for his black and white portraits of celebrities and Broadway stars. Personal life Al Hirschfeld was born in 1903 in a two-story duplex at 1313 Carr ...

concealed the name "NINA" in his own drawings, Rigby usually included hard-to-find images of a tiny dog and a small boy (referred to as "the urchin") somewhere in his cartoons.

Awards

Rigby is a recipient of an Order of Australia for services to cartooning (1999). He won five

, a New York Press Club Award in 1982,Cartoons, British Cartoon Archive
''Paul Rigby Biography''. Retrieved 28 March 2015. and US Newspaper Guild's ''Page One Award'' in 1983, 1984, 1985, and 1986.

Limp falling club

Paul Rigby is credited with founding the Limp Falling Association in

in the late 1950s. "Limp falling" is the art of going limp and falling to the ground. It is usually practiced unannounced in a public place, typically a pub. People working in Perth's media began limp falling while drinking at the Palace Hotel (to the bemusement of other patrons).

Personal life

Rigby married the radio and television journalist Marlene Cockburn in Perth in 1956.Augusta-Margaret River Times
(28 September 2012) ''Cartoon gallery set to close''. Retrieved 28 March 2015. They had two sons and three daughters. Rigby and his wife had retired to

Margaret River The Margaret River is a river in southwest Western Australia. In a small catchment, it is the eponym of the town and tourist region of Margaret River. The river arises from a catchment of just 40 square kilometres in the Whicher Range. The ...

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

in 2003, where they established a gallery and studio. He died of a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which may tr ...

on 15 November 2006.

References

External links

*
Biography
from

British Cartoon Archive The British Cartoon Archive (BCA) is a department of the University of Kent, at Canterbury in Kent, England, and holds the national collection of political and social-comment cartoons from British newspapers and magazines. Created in 1973, the ...

University of Kent , motto_lang = , mottoeng = Literal translation: 'Whom to serve is to reign'(Book of Common Prayer translation: 'whose service is perfect freedom')Graham Martin, ''From Vision to Reality: the Making of the University of Kent at Canterbury'' ...

Paul Rigby cartoons
from

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rigby, Paul 1924 births 2006 deaths Australian commercial artists Australian editorial cartoonists News Corporation people People from Sandringham, Victoria Cartoonists from Melbourne Members of the Order of Australia The West Australian National Gallery of Victoria Art School alumni Royal Australian Air Force personnel of World War II Military personnel from Melbourne Australian expatriates in the United States