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All the Art That's Fit to Print reveals the true story of the world's first Op-Ed page, a public platform that—in 1970—prefigured the Internet blogosphere. Not only did the New York Times's nonstaff bylines shatter tradition, but the pictures were revolutionary. Unlike anything ever seen in a newspaper, Op-Ed art became a globally influential idiom that reached beyond narrative for metaphor and changed illustration's very purpose and potential.
Jerelle Kraus, whose thirteen-year tenure as Op-Ed art director far exceeds that of any other art director or editor, unveils a riveting account of working at the Times. Her insider anecdotes include the reasons why artist Saul Steinberg hated the Times, why editor Howell Raines stopped the presses to kill a feature by Doonesbury's Garry Trudeau, and why reporter Syd Schanburg—whose story was told in the movie The Killing Fields—stated that he would travel anywhere to see Kissinger hanged, as well as Kraus's tale of surviving two and a half hours alone with the dethroned peerless outlaw, Richard Nixon.
All the Art features a satiric portrayal of John McCain, a classic cartoon of Barack Obama by Jules Feiffer, and a drawing of Hillary Clinton and Obama by Barry Blitt. But when Frank Rich wrote a column discussing Hillary Clinton exclusively, the Times refused to allow Blitt to portray her. Nearly any notion is palatable in prose, yet editors perceive pictures as a far greater threat. Confucius underestimated the number of words an image is worth; the thousand-fold power of a picture is also its curse.
Op-Ed's subject is the world, and its illustrations are created by the world's finest graphic artists. The 142 artists whose work appears in this book hail from thirty nations and five continents, and their 324 pictures-gleaned from a total of 30,000-reflect artists' common drive to communicate their creative visions and to stir our vibrant cultural-political pot.
The enduring relevance of the New York Times op-ed illustrations are explicated with literary flair by Kraus, a former art director of the page, who contends that the groundbreaking pictures "changed the very purpose and potential of illustrations... to stir the political and cultural pot." Episodic essays accompanied by illustrations re-create the battles between art directors and editors that have raged since the Times created the world's first op-ed page in 1970. The works of famous Times illustrators like Brad Holland and Roland Topor, are enriched by Kraus's presentation of the controversies associated with their publication or rejection. The book serves as a chronicle of late 20th-century history, replete with sardonic images of tyrants and visual commentaries on the fall of communism; the works of Eastern Europeans who fled totalitarian regimes are some of the most challenging and resonant. In this overflowing treasure chest of ideas, politics and cultural critiques, Kraus proves that "art is dangerous" and sometimes necessarily so. 306 illus. (Nov.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.Art is not the first thing that comes to mind when one thinks of the New York Times , but it appears to play a very important journalistic role in communicating editorial ideas, even at a subconscious level. Kraus, an art director at the Times for 30 years, provides a detailed analysis of the art on the Op-Ed page, from its inception in 1970 to today. The 306 images are arranged by decade, and the text is divided into short sections that focus on a variety of themes related to the images, the artists, and editorial practices. Kraus draws on her 13 years as the art director of the Op-Ed page to share an insider's view of the editorial and political processes of the newspaper and includes several images that were never published in the Times . Using text and images, she shares her passion for visual communication. Readers will be entertained and come away with a deeper appreciation of the power of illustration. This book belongs in public libraries that subscribe to the Times and in most academic libraries.-Judy Solberg, Seattle Univ. Lib.
Part memoir, part art book, and part journalism history. But all parts are exemplary.
— Beth Haller
An intensely personal history of the [op-ed] page as it weathered tempests and tinpot tyrannies at the Times.
Worth the price of the book is Kraus's 2 1/2-hour encounter with former President Richard Nixon.
As a memoir, Kraus's work provides colorful, intimate, and occasionally searing portraits of several high-ranking Times executives.
— Michael Socolow
An excellent reminder of the power of editorial illustration. These images do so much more than break up the gray space of columns of text. This book gives life to an underappreciated, and often unexamined, form of visual journalism.
List of Illustrations
Prologue 1
Origins 3
Kiss-Off 5
Upheaval 6
Unfit to Print 9
Combustion 11
The Seventies 13
Ur-Editor Meets Ur-Art Director 15
Local Lights 22
Wunderkind 26
Cows, Guns, Auras 28
The Doctor Draws 30
Squiggly Wit 31
Two Titans 32
Persian Pluck 35
Oceans Away 36
Enfant Terrible 42
Wild Welshman 44
Searle's Sustenance 45
Clannish 46
Up Against the Wall 54
Don't Make Me Think 55
Protecting Fresh Treasure 56
Thumbs Down 63
Changing of the Guard 68
The Lady Editor Done It 70
The Eighties 71
Ready or Not 73
Mental Gymnastics 80
Delicate Daring 83
Unseen, Unsung, Thrilling 84
From Airport to Newsprint 94
In the Family Way 101
Cold War Classics and Memories of Hot 102
Speaking the Unspoken 108
Peerless Outlaw 109
Wild Welshman Worsens 115
George Grosz in Pigtails 117
Legend 118
The Domestic Domain 120
The Irony Curtain 142
Poles Vault 144
Unprintable 153
Taste 161
Tales from Behind the Scenes 161
Wrestling 163
The Nineties 165
A Boost from Bosnia 167
Reprise 175
Nineties Nemesis 180
Howell's Reign 182
The Bride Stripped Bare 186
Feminizing 188
Bling 194
No Way 195
The Gray Lady Graduates 202
Black and "White" 204
Does It Compute? 206
The Rebus Requirement 208
Seismic Break 209
The Aughts 221
Rains Howl 223
Reins Retracted 224
A Little off the Top, Please 234
Glories Still Glitter 241
Once Upon a Time 247
Picture Power 248
Notes 253
Index 257
Overview
All the Art That's Fit to Print reveals the true story of the world's first Op-Ed page, a public platform that—in 1970—prefigured the Internet blogosphere. Not only did the New York Times's nonstaff bylines shatter tradition, but the pictures were revolutionary. Unlike anything ever seen in a newspaper, Op-Ed art became a globally influential idiom that reached beyond narrative for metaphor and changed illustration's very purpose and potential.
Jerelle Kraus, whose thirteen-year tenure as Op-Ed art director far exceeds that of any other art director or editor, unveils a riveting account of working at the Times. Her insider anecdotes include the reasons ...