With its proximity to the cultural hub of New York City and its quieter suburban and rural landscapes, Connecticut was fertile ground for artists and writers in the period of Modernist movements between 1913 and 1979. Many of these cultural figures are well known through biographical and critical studies. Creative Places seeks to show how place played a significant role in creative work, and how in turn the artists and writers influenced communities in Connecticut.
C.D. Batchelor
Comic Art
1888 – 1977
Batchelor was a pre-eminent political cartoonist in the mid-20th century, and his Pulitzer Prize was the first awarded to a tabloid newspaper. His graphic art medium placed the cartoon in the mainstream of journalism as political and social commentary.
- Biography/Description of Work
Clarence Daniel Batchelor was a noted political cartoonist for the New York Daily News and Pulitzer prize winner in 1937 for his cartoon presaging the repetition of tragic history on the eve of World War II. He was also known for a long-running series “Inviting the Undertaker” or the “ITUs” which dramatized the dangers of driving as the automobile age matured. A native of Osage City, Kansas, he was hired away from the Kansas City Star by the New York Daily News in 1931 and remained with the Daily News until his retirement in 1969. “Batch” moved full-time to his home in Deep River. His house is still standing on Kelsey Hill Road. He created a large painting of Columbia for a World War II memorial Honor Roll which was unveiled in 1943 and reconfigured in 1970. He was also a founder and board member of the Deep River Historical Society.
- Sources view
- Interview with Rhonda Forristall at the Deep River Historical Society, 3/27/2014.
Town of Deep River Assessor's Records, http://gis.vgsi.com/deepriverct/Parcel.aspx?Pid=1590.
Aerial views from https://maps.google.com/maps and http://www.bing.com/maps/ accessed 4/29/2014.
Deep River Historical Society archives:
Batchelor obituary, New York Daily News, 9/06/1977.
Falk, Peter Hastings. Who Was Who in American Art 1564-1975.Sound View Press, 1999.
Forristall, Rhonda, Kastner, Jonathan, Draft for Deep River CT 20th Century War Memorials.
Levine, Todd, Southworth, Ezra Farmstead/Deep River Historical Society State Register Nomination No. 18513, Connecticut Trust for Historic Preservation, 2013. - Associated Resource(s)