Helen Elna Hokinson (June 29, 1893 – November 1, 1949) was an American cartoonist and a staff cartoonist for ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

''. Over a 20-year span, she contributed 68 covers and more than 1,800 cartoons to ''The New Yorker''.

Life and career

She was born in

Mendota, Illinois Mendota is a city in LaSalle County, Illinois, United States, in the state's north-central region. The population was 7,061 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Ottawa, IL Micropolitan Statistical Area. Mendota is located approximately 85 miles ...

, the daughter of Adolph Hokinson, a farm machinery salesman, and Mary Hokinson, the daughter of Phineas Wilcox, the "Carpenter Orator". She studied at the Academy of Fine Arts (now known as the

School of the Art Institute of Chicago The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) is a private art school associated with the Art Institute of Chicago (AIC) in Chicago, Illinois. Tracing its history to an art students' cooperative founded in 1866, which grew into the museum and ...

), and worked as a freelance fashion illustrator in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

for department stores such as

Marshall Field's Marshall Field & Company (commonly known as Marshall Field's) was an upscale department store in Chicago, Illinois. Founded in the 19th century, it grew to become a large chain before Macy's, Inc acquired it in 2005. Its eponymous founder, Mar ...

The New Yorker 0020, 1925-07-04 - page 4 - cartoon by Elna Hokinson

In 1920, Hokinson moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

to work as a fashion illustrator and study at the School of Fine and Applied Arts (now Parsons School of Design). Encouraged by an instructor she began submitting comic drawings to magazines, and became one of the first cartoonists to be published in ''

'', appearing in the magazine for the first time in the July 4, 1925 issue. She specialized in wealthy, plump, and ditsy society women and their foibles, referring to them as 'My Best Girls', those

dowager A dowager is a widow or widower who holds a title or property—a " dower"—derived from her or his deceased spouse. As an adjective, ''dowager'' usually appears in association with monarchical and aristocratic titles. In popular usage, the noun ...

denizens of woman's clubs, beauty parlors, art galleries, summer resorts and

Lane Bryant Lane Bryant Inc. is an American women's apparel and intimates specialty retailer focusing on plus-size clothing. The company began in 1904 with maternity designs created by Lena Himmelstein, Lena Himmelstein Bryant Malsin. Lane Bryant, Inc., i ...

; they were also popularly known as “Hokinson Women”. According to

James Thurber James Grover Thurber (December 8, 1894 – November 2, 1961) was an American cartoonist, writer, humorist, journalist and playwright. He was best known for his cartoons and short stories, published mainly in ''The New Yorker'' and collected ...

and

Brendan Gill Brendan Gill (October 4, 1914 – December 27, 1997) was an American journalist. He wrote for ''The New Yorker'' for more than 60 years. Gill also contributed film criticism for ''Film Comment'', wrote about design and architecture for Architectu ...

, Hokinson relied on the magazine's staff writers to provide captions for her cartoons, a common practice at ''The New Yorker'' in the

Harold Ross Harold Wallace Ross (November 6, 1892 – December 6, 1951) was an American journalist who co-founded ''The New Yorker'' magazine in 1925 with his wife Jane Grant, and was its editor-in-chief until his death. Early life Born in a prospector' ...

era, until entering into a professional partnership with James Reid Parker in 1931. Hokinson and Parker also provided a monthly cartoon, "The Dear Man," for the '' Ladies' Home Journal'' as well as occasional cartoons for advertising campaigns and other magazines. Hokinson died in the Eastern Airlines Flight 537 mid-air collision at

Washington National Airport Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport , sometimes referred to colloquially as National Airport, Washington National, Reagan National Airport, DCA, Reagan, or simply National, is an international airport in Arlington County, Virginia, across ...

on November 1, 1949, en route to an appearance at the opening of a Community Chest Drive in DC. She left dozens of cartoons, many of which were published by ''The New Yorker'' in subsequent months.

Books

In addition to her own cartoon collections, she also illustrated books by others. Her estate published three volumes of her cartoons during the 1950s.

Bibliography

Works by Helen Hokinson *''So You're Going to Buy a Book!'' Minton, Balch & Co. 1931 *''My Best Girls'' E. P. Dutton 1941 *''When Were You Built?'' E. P. Dutton & Co. 1948 *''The Ladies, God Bless 'em'' (memoir by James Reid Parker) E. P. Dutton & Co. 1950 *''There are Ladies Present'' E. P. Dutton & Co. 1952 *''The Hokinson Festival'' E. P. Dutton & Co. 1956 Illustrated by Helen Hokinson *Edith M. Barber, ''What Shall I Eat'' Macmillan 1933 *Margaret Fishback, ''Safe Conduct: When to Behave—And Why'' The World Publishing Company 1941 *Laurence McKinney, ''Garden Clubs & Spades'' E. P. Dutton & Co. 1941 *Helen Hayes Peffer, ''Madam Chairman, Members, And Guests'' Macmillan 1942 *Emily Kimbrough, ''We Followed Our Hearts to Hollywood'' Grosset & Dunlap 1943 *Emily Kimbrough, ''How Dear to My Heart'' Dodd, Mead & Co. 1944 *Emily Kimbrough, ''It Gives Me Great Pleasure'' Dodd, Mead & Co. 1948 *Mannix Walker, ''Everything Rustles'' Dodd, Mead & Co. 1945 Publications *James Thurber, ''The Years with Ross'', Harper Perennial Modern Classics, New Edition, paperback 2001, . *Brendan Gill, ''

Here at The New Yorker ''Here at The New Yorker'' is a 1975 best-selling book by American writer Brendan Gill, writer and drama critic for ''The New Yorker'' magazine. The book Published on the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of ''The New Yorker'', Gill's book i ...

'', Da Capo Press, paperback 1997, .

References

External links

Helen Hokinson - Beinecke Library, Yale UniversityR.C. Harvey, "Helen E. Hokinson" - The Comics Journal - 2013
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hokinson, Helen E. 1893 births 1949 deaths American women cartoonists Accidental deaths in Washington, D.C. The New Yorker cartoonists School of the Art Institute of Chicago alumni Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in the United States Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in 1949 American cartoonists 20th-century American women 20th-century American people