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John Kane, 1935-2010
posted March 16, 2010
John Kane, a
New Yorker cartoonist that came to that particular vocation and venue later in life than many of that magazine's devoted artists, passed away on March 10 after what appears to be a modest period of illness. Kane may have been best known as a friendly and supportive member of the cartoonists' circle that went to lunch every week after showing their work at the
New Yorker offices.
Kane worked in graphic design for several years, and approached cartooning with a broad enthusiasm that dug into the details of what made one joke work over the other. In his lovely remembrance
here, Derek Van Gieson describes Kane showing up at the offices with multiple variations on individual gags. "Most people had about ten gags to show but John would come in armed with 20 or so cartoons, many of them approaching jokes from different angles or were fascinating executions of an idea constantly working itself out. You'd see an idea germinate and resolve to its final limits within his batch."
Similarly touching personal reminiscences can be found from
Mike Lynch and
Eli Stein.
Kane's work was first published in the
New Yorker in November 2003. He lives in New York City.