Robert C. Osborn
Encyclopedia
Robert Chesley Osborn was an American satiric cartoonist, illustrator and author.
, Wisconsin
. He entered the University of Wisconsin in 1923, then transferred to Yale
in 1923. At Yale, together with Dwight Macdonald
, Wilder Hobson
, Geoffrey T. Hellman
, and Jack Jessup, Osborn helped publish The Yale Record and was accepted into Yale's Elizabethan Club
. After graduating from Yale in 1928, he studied painting in Rome and Paris, then returned to the U.S. and began teaching art and philosophy at the Hotchkiss School in Lakeville, Conn.. He found breaking into the ranks of serious artists difficult, and he soon turned to caricature.
Osborn was in Austria in 1938, working as a tutor, when he was taken to a Hitler rally. His reaction to this event prefigured his famous disgust with mindless obedience and obeisance: "I was sickened and convinced that before us was a demon," he wrote. War seemed to him acceptable, "if that was the only way to rid the world of his evil.". He attempted to join the Spanish Republicans to fight Franco
, and later applied to the Royal Canadian Air Force
, being turned down on both occasions because of his chronic duodenal ulcer.
in a special information unit in which pilot training manuals were produced. Osborn began drawing cartoons of a pilot who was hapless, arrogant, ignorant and perpetually blundering in ways that put himself and his crew at unnecessary risk. The name of this character was "Dilbert the Pilot", and "Dilbert" was soon to become a slang term used to refer to "sailor who is a foul-up or a screwball." Scott Adams
credits Osborn as an indirect source of inspiration for the main character in his own Dilbert
cartoons. It is not certain how many drawings Osborn produced for Navy manuals; estimates range from 2,000 to 40,000. His Dilbert was used in numerous educational posters for Navy pilots, appeared in the New York Times and Life magazine
; for a while, "dilbert" became a synonym for "blunder" for Navy pilots.
's caption, "People are no damn good."
Osborn later produced political cartoons, ridiculing Senator Joseph McCarthy
, and a number of presidents, from Lyndon Baines Johnson through Ronald Reagan
. His cartoons for magazines were frequently published in The New Republic
, and also appeared in Fortune
, Harper's, Life
, Look
, Esquire
, and House & Garden
. He was a political activist for a number of causes, including nuclear disarmament.
Osborn characterized himself as "a drawer" whose figures "seemed to come right out of my subconscious." Garry Trudeau
called him "one of the very few masters of illustrative cartooning." Robert Motherwell
wrote that his drawings were "so alive that they seemed to writhe on the page with an uninhibited energy .... Osborn's art is a call to responsible action."; Motherwell was among those who compared Osborn's graphic work to that of Daumier, Goya, Saul Steinberg
, as well as to the sculpture of Alexander Calder
, who was a friend of Osborn's.
Reviewing that show in The New York Times, New York Times art critic John Russell wrote of Osborn's exhibited Chaplin drawings that
Pre-World War II Career
Osborn was born October 26, 1904, in OshkoshOshkosh, Wisconsin
As of the census of 2000, there were 62,916 people, 24,082 households, and 13,654 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,662.2 people per square mile . There were 25,420 housing units at an average density of 1,075.6 per square mile...
, Wisconsin
Wisconsin
Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...
. He entered the University of Wisconsin in 1923, then transferred to Yale
YALE
RapidMiner, formerly YALE , is an environment for machine learning, data mining, text mining, predictive analytics, and business analytics. It is used for research, education, training, rapid prototyping, application development, and industrial applications...
in 1923. At Yale, together with Dwight Macdonald
Dwight Macdonald
Dwight Macdonald was an American writer, editor, film critic, social critic, philosopher, and political radical.-Early life and career:...
, Wilder Hobson
Wilder Hobson
Wilder Hobson was an American writer and editor for TIME , FORTUNE , Harper's Bazaar , and Newsweek magazines. He was also a competent musician , author of an history of American jazz, and long-time contributor to Saturday Review magazine...
, Geoffrey T. Hellman
Geoffrey T. Hellman
Geoffrey T. Hellman was the son of writer, George Hellman. Born in New York City, he attended Yale and contributed to the Yale News, Yale Record and the Yale Literary Magazine. Upon graduating in 1928, he wrote for the New York Herald Tribune's Sunday book supplement thanks to a recommendation by...
, and Jack Jessup, Osborn helped publish The Yale Record and was accepted into Yale's Elizabethan Club
Elizabethan Club
The Elizabethan Club is a social club at Yale University named for Queen Elizabeth I and her era. Its profile and members tend toward a literary disposition, and conversation is one of the Club's chief purposes....
. After graduating from Yale in 1928, he studied painting in Rome and Paris, then returned to the U.S. and began teaching art and philosophy at the Hotchkiss School in Lakeville, Conn.. He found breaking into the ranks of serious artists difficult, and he soon turned to caricature.
Osborn was in Austria in 1938, working as a tutor, when he was taken to a Hitler rally. His reaction to this event prefigured his famous disgust with mindless obedience and obeisance: "I was sickened and convinced that before us was a demon," he wrote. War seemed to him acceptable, "if that was the only way to rid the world of his evil.". He attempted to join the Spanish Republicans to fight Franco
Francisco Franco
Francisco Franco y Bahamonde was a Spanish general, dictator and head of state of Spain from October 1936 , and de facto regent of the nominally restored Kingdom of Spain from 1947 until his death in November, 1975...
, and later applied to the Royal Canadian Air Force
Royal Canadian Air Force
The history of the Royal Canadian Air Force begins in 1920, when the air force was created as the Canadian Air Force . In 1924 the CAF was renamed the Royal Canadian Air Force and granted royal sanction by King George V. The RCAF existed as an independent service until 1968...
, being turned down on both occasions because of his chronic duodenal ulcer.
World War II: the Dilbert Years
Osborn enlisted when World War II began, hoping to become a U.S. Navy pilot. However, the Navy apparently decided that he would be better employed with his hand wrapped around a pen rather than around a joystick: he was soon learning, then applying the art of "speed drawing", under the command of the photographer Edward SteichenEdward Steichen
Edward J. Steichen was an American photographer, painter, and art gallery and museum curator. He was the most frequently featured photographer in Alfred Stieglitz' groundbreaking magazine Camera Work during its run from 1903 to 1917. Steichen also contributed the logo design and a custom typeface...
in a special information unit in which pilot training manuals were produced. Osborn began drawing cartoons of a pilot who was hapless, arrogant, ignorant and perpetually blundering in ways that put himself and his crew at unnecessary risk. The name of this character was "Dilbert the Pilot", and "Dilbert" was soon to become a slang term used to refer to "sailor who is a foul-up or a screwball." Scott Adams
Scott Adams
Scott Raymond Adams is the American creator of the Dilbert comic strip and the author of several nonfiction works of satire, commentary, business, and general speculation....
credits Osborn as an indirect source of inspiration for the main character in his own Dilbert
Dilbert
Dilbert is an American comic strip written and drawn by Scott Adams. First published on April 16, 1989, Dilbert is known for its satirical office humor about a white-collar, micromanaged office featuring the engineer Dilbert as the title character...
cartoons. It is not certain how many drawings Osborn produced for Navy manuals; estimates range from 2,000 to 40,000. His Dilbert was used in numerous educational posters for Navy pilots, appeared in the New York Times and Life magazine
Life (magazine)
Life generally refers to three American magazines:*A humor and general interest magazine published from 1883 to 1936. Time founder Henry Luce bought the magazine in 1936 solely so that he could acquire the rights to its name....
; for a while, "dilbert" became a synonym for "blunder" for Navy pilots.
Postwar career
After Osborn's stint in the Navy ended in 1946, he wrote a book called War is No Damn Good!, including a nightmarish skull-like depiction of an atomic bomb's mushroom cloud drawn only two weeks after Hiroshima, which prompted critic Steve Heller to call it "the first antiwar book of the nuclear age." The title alluded to cartoonist William SteigWilliam Steig
William Steig was a prolific American cartoonist, sculptor and, later in life, an author of popular children's literature...
's caption, "People are no damn good."
Osborn later produced political cartoons, ridiculing Senator Joseph McCarthy
Joseph McCarthy
Joseph Raymond "Joe" McCarthy was an American politician who served as a Republican U.S. Senator from the state of Wisconsin from 1947 until his death in 1957...
, and a number of presidents, from Lyndon Baines Johnson through Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
. His cartoons for magazines were frequently published in The New Republic
The New Republic
The magazine has also published two articles concerning income inequality, largely criticizing conservative economists for their attempts to deny the existence or negative effect increasing income inequality is having on the United States...
, and also appeared in Fortune
Fortune (magazine)
Fortune is a global business magazine published by Time Inc. Founded by Henry Luce in 1930, the publishing business, consisting of Time, Life, Fortune, and Sports Illustrated, grew to become Time Warner. In turn, AOL grew as it acquired Time Warner in 2000 when Time Warner was the world's largest...
, Harper's, Life
Life (magazine)
Life generally refers to three American magazines:*A humor and general interest magazine published from 1883 to 1936. Time founder Henry Luce bought the magazine in 1936 solely so that he could acquire the rights to its name....
, Look
Look (American magazine)
Look was a bi-weekly, general-interest magazine published in Des Moines, Iowa from 1937 to 1971, with more of an emphasis on photographs than articles...
, Esquire
Esquire (magazine)
Esquire is a men's magazine, published in the U.S. by the Hearst Corporation. Founded in 1932, it flourished during the Great Depression under the guidance of founder and editor Arnold Gingrich.-History:...
, and House & Garden
House & Garden (magazine)
House & Garden was an American shelter magazine published by Condé Nast Publications that focused on interior design, entertaining, and gardening....
. He was a political activist for a number of causes, including nuclear disarmament.
Critical reception
According to Osborn's New York Times obituary, over his 50 year career, Osborn's-
- sardonic and often savage drawings in books and magazines have arrested readers with their images of bloated power, violence and death. At the same time, he could be wittily ironic about society's pretensions, spoofing subjects like psychiatry, suburbanites and social climbing.
Osborn characterized himself as "a drawer" whose figures "seemed to come right out of my subconscious." Garry Trudeau
Garry Trudeau
Garretson Beekman "Garry" Trudeau is an American cartoonist, best known for the Doonesbury comic strip.-Background and education:...
called him "one of the very few masters of illustrative cartooning." Robert Motherwell
Robert Motherwell
Robert Motherwell American painter, printmaker and editor. He was one of the youngest of the New York School , which also included Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, Willem de Kooning, and Philip Guston....
wrote that his drawings were "so alive that they seemed to writhe on the page with an uninhibited energy .... Osborn's art is a call to responsible action."; Motherwell was among those who compared Osborn's graphic work to that of Daumier, Goya, Saul Steinberg
Saul Steinberg
Saul Steinberg was a Romanian-born American cartoonist and illustrator, best known for his work for The New Yorker.-Biography:...
, as well as to the sculpture of Alexander Calder
Alexander Calder
Alexander Calder was an American sculptor and artist most famous for inventing mobile sculptures. In addition to mobile and stable sculpture, Alexander Calder also created paintings, lithographs, toys, tapestry, jewelry and household objects.-Childhood:Alexander "Sandy" Calder was born in Lawnton,...
, who was a friend of Osborn's.
Reviewing that show in The New York Times, New York Times art critic John Russell wrote of Osborn's exhibited Chaplin drawings that
-
- Few people have a nimbler, wittier or more versatile way with pen and pencil than Robert Osborn.
Later life
Osborn's anti-war opinions notwithstanding, Naval Aviation News continued publishing his cartoons, with Dilbert replaced by an experienced but somewhat curmudgeonly old Navy pilot, Grampaw Pettibone. From 1947 until his death, he lived in Salisbury, Conn. with his wife, Elodie (maiden name Courter), an artist and curator with the Museum of Modern Art. He died of bone cancer, and was survived by two sons, Nic, a naturalist and photographer, and Eliot, a musician and teacher, both of Taconic, Conn.Books written
- How to Shoot Ducks (1939)
- How to Shoot Quail (1939)
- How to Catch Trout (1939)
- How to Ski (1942)
- Aye, Aye, Sir! (1943)
- Dilbert: Just an Accident Looking for a Place to Happen! (1943)
- War is No Damn Good! (1946)
- How to Work for Peace (1948), with Fred Smith
- How to Play Golf (1949)
- Low & Inside (1953)
- How to Shoot Pheasant (1955)
- Osborn on Leisure (1957)
- The Vulgarians (1960)
- Dying to Smoke (1964) with Fred W. Benton, MD
- Mankind May Never Make It! (1968)
- An Osborn Festival of Phobias (1971), with Eve Wengler
- Osborn on Osborn (1982) (autobiography)
- Osborn on Conflict: 40 Brush Drawings (1984) Introduction by Robert MotherwellRobert MotherwellRobert Motherwell American painter, printmaker and editor. He was one of the youngest of the New York School , which also included Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, Willem de Kooning, and Philip Guston....
- The Best of Gramps (1996) (posthumous), ed. by Association of Naval Aviation
Books illustrated
- If You Want to Build a House, Elizabeth Baur Kassler (Elizabeth B. Mock), Museum of Modern ArtMuseum of Modern ArtThe Museum of Modern Art is an art museum in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, on 53rd Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It has been important in developing and collecting modernist art, and is often identified as the most influential museum of modern art in the world...
, 1946 - Safe for Solo: What Every Young Aviator Should Know, Frederick M. Reeder, Rear Adm USN (Ret.), 1947
- Acres and Pains, S.J. Perelman, 1947
- Snobs: a guidebook to your friends, your enemies, your colleagues and yourself, Russell LynesRussell LynesRussell Lynes December 2, 1910 – September 14, 1991) was an American art historian, photographer, author and managing editor of Harper's Magazine....
, 1950 - Strategy in Poker, Business and War, John McDonald, 1950. (McDonald was the ghostwriter for Alfred P. SloanAlfred P. SloanAlfred Pritchard Sloan, Jr. was an American business executive in the automotive industry. He was a long-time president, chairman, and CEO of General Motors Corporation...
's My Years with General Motors. McDonald probably came to Sloan's attention because of this strategy book; see Alfred P. Sloan: Critical Evaluations in Business and Management, John Cunningham Wood, Michael C. Wood, p. 91) - Is Anybody Listening? How and why U. S. Business Fumbles when it Talks with Human Beings, William H. WhyteWilliam H. WhyteWilliam Hollingsworth "Holly" Whyte was an American urbanist, organizational analyst, journalist and people-watcher.Whyte was born in West Chester, Pennsylvania in 1917 and died in New York City in 1999. An early graduate of St. Andrew's School in Middletown, Delaware, he graduated from Princeton...
, 1952 - The Wonderful World of Books, Alfred Stefferud, 1953
- Trial by Television and Other Encounters, Michael Whitney StraightMichael Whitney StraightMichael Whitney Straight, was an American magazine publisher, novelist, patron of the arts, a member of the prominent Whitney family, and a confessed spy for the KGB.-Biography:...
, 1954 - The Spoor of Spooks, and Other Nonsense, Bergen EvansBergen EvansBergen Baldwin Evans was an American lexicographer, a Rhodes Scholar, a Harvard College graduate, a Northwestern University professor of English, and a television host...
, 1954 - Architecturally Speaking, Eugene RaskinEugene RaskinEugene Raskin or Gene Raskin , was an American musician and playwright, author of the lyrics of the English version of the Russian song "Those Were the Days" and also of three books on architecture and adjunct professor at Columbia University .-Life:Raskin was born in the Bronx in 1909...
, 1954 - The Exurbanites, A. C. Spectorsky, 1955
- Women & Children First, Paul Steiner, 1955
- Parkinson's Law, and Other Studies in Administration, C. Northcote ParkinsonC. Northcote ParkinsonCyril Northcote Parkinson was a British naval historian and author of some sixty books, the most famous of which was his bestseller Parkinson's Law, which led him to be also considered as an important scholar within the field of public administration.-Early life and education:The youngest son of...
, 1957 - The Insolent Chariots, John Keats, 1958
- The Decline of the American Male, editors of LookLook (American magazine)Look was a bi-weekly, general-interest magazine published in Des Moines, Iowa from 1937 to 1971, with more of an emphasis on photographs than articles...
, 1958 - Subverse: Rhymes for Our Times, Marya MannesMarya MannesMarya Mannes was born November 14, 1904 in New York, NY, and died September 13, 1990 in San Francisco, CA. Mannes was a well-known American author and critic, known for her caustic but insightful observations of American life....
(AKA "Sec"), 1959 - Don't Get Perconel with a Chicken, H. Allen SmithH. Allen SmithFor the congressman see H. Allen SmithHarry Allen Wolfgang Smith was an American journalist and humorist whose books were popular in the 1940s and 1950s, selling millions of copies....
, 1959 - The Law and Profits, C. Northcote ParkinsonC. Northcote ParkinsonCyril Northcote Parkinson was a British naval historian and author of some sixty books, the most famous of which was his bestseller Parkinson's Law, which led him to be also considered as an important scholar within the field of public administration.-Early life and education:The youngest son of...
, 1960 - I Met a Man, John CiardiJohn CiardiJohn Anthony Ciardi was an American poet, translator, and etymologist. While primarily known as a poet, he also translated Dante's Divine Comedy, wrote several volumes of children's poetry, pursued etymology, contributed to the Saturday Review as a columnist and long-time poetry editor, and...
, 1961 - A Modern Demonology, Frank Getlein, 1961
- Basics: An I-Can-Read Book for Grownups, Eve MerriamEve Merriam-Writing career:Merriam's first book was the 1946 Family Circle, which won the Yale Younger Poets Prize.Her book, The Inner City Mother Goose, was described as one of the most banned books of the time. It inspired a 1971 Broadway musical called Inner City and a 1982 musical production called Street...
, 1962 - The Everlasting Cocktail Party: A Layman's Guide to Culture Climbing, Peter Blake, 1964
- The Song of Paul Bunyan & Tony Beaver, Ennis Rees, 1964
- Great Science Riddles, Rose Wyler, 1965
- Gardens Make Me Laugh, James RoseJames C. RoseJames C. Rose was a prominent landscape architect and author of the twentieth century. Born in rural Pennsylvania he, his mother and older sister moved to New York after his father’s death. Rose was a high school dropout, but this didn’t stop him from being accepted into Cornell University as an...
, 1965 - Computers on Campus: A Report to the President on their Use and Management, John Caffrey, American Council on Education, 1967
- Mrs. Parkinson's Law: And Other Studies in Domestic Science, C. Northcote ParkinsonC. Northcote ParkinsonCyril Northcote Parkinson was a British naval historian and author of some sixty books, the most famous of which was his bestseller Parkinson's Law, which led him to be also considered as an important scholar within the field of public administration.-Early life and education:The youngest son of...
, 1968 - Not So Rich as You Think, George R. StewartGeorge R. StewartGeorge Rippey Stewart was an American toponymist, a novelist, and a professor of English at the University of California, Berkeley...
, 1968 - International Conflict for Beginners, Roger Fisher, 1969 (foreword by Edward M. Kennedy)
- Missile Madness, Herbert Scoville, 1970
- The Nixon Watch, John OsborneJohn F. OsborneJohn F. Osborne was an American magazine editor and journalist.He was born in Corinth, Mississippi, and wrote for the Memphis Commercial Appeal and the Associated Press before joining the National Recovery Administration, and then the Tennessee Valley Authority, as a U.S...
, 1970
Archives and collections
- Yale University's Beinecke Library
- The Library of CongressLibrary of CongressThe Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress, de facto national library of the United States, and the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and...
- The Pritzker Military LibraryPritzker Military LibraryThe Pritzker Military Library is a research library for the study of military history in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded in 2003 by COL James N. Pritzker, IL ARNG to be a non-partisan institution for the study of "the citizen soldier as an essential element for the preservation of...
- The Smithsonian Institution
External links
- Naval Aviation News: Grampaw Pettibone's Home Page
- Ask a Flight Instructor website collection of 600 Osborn wartime drawings
- "Robert Osborn (1904-1995), a blog entry with many Osborn covers, cartoons and illustrations