Laughter, family, and legacy come together in “The Phil & Eileen Brown New Yorker Cartoon Collection and Beyond…” exhibition at Featherstone Center for the Arts, through Sept. 14. The 125 caricatures, cartoons, sketches, and humorous and satirical drawings, curated by seasonal resident Suzy Brown van Dijk and full-time resident and photographer Lisa Brown Langley, are sure to delight.
The New Yorker magazine’s cartoons are virtually synonymous with the magazine itself. For 100 years, readers have been flipping through its pages and chuckling at the cartoons. Because of their parents’ collection, Phil and Eileen’s children grew up with originals of some of these treasures around the house, as well as those from Esquire, Architectural Review, and Forbes in the U.S., and the Daily Mirror and Punch in Great Britain.
Van Dijk says, “From the age of eight or nine, my father loved cartoons, and started doodling. He was always looking for the positive. We all have grief in our lives, but he would try to find something humorous to lighten the load.”
Phil and Eileen married in 1954 after just seven dates, and from the start, the couple loved the New Yorker. “It was the first anniversary gift my father gave my mom,” van Dijk recalls. Phil and Eileen started acquiring cartoons in 1977 when they would see particular ones they loved in the magazine. Over five decades, their collection grew to include works from more than 40 artists.
The exhibition features some of the most notable cartoonists of the 20th and 21st centuries. And as the introductory label states “It is a vibrant and living testament to the power of humor, from the witty strokes of Charles Adams, William Steig, Charles Saxon, and George Price to the sharp observations of Victoria Roberts and Charles Barsotti, to name a few.”
The show is broken into themes, all of which relate in some way to Phil, Eileen, or the children. Victoria Brown Van Keer notes, “When you look at the family cartoons, it’s about us in some way.” As an example, van Dijk points to a hysterical George Price. A stern mother walks into the living room where three kids, three dogs, and the father sit up straight at attention, looking at her. Referring to the caption, “All rise,” both daughters laugh. “That was our mother,” they say in unison. Hanging nearby is a James Stevenson cartoon that their mother gave to their father. Here, a schlumpy man, still wearing his striped pajamas, sits uninspired at the breakfast table. His wife stands, coffee pot in hand, addressing him: “It’s another day, Phil. Planning to suit up?”
There are cartoons related to the family’s interest in sports and the arts, including one by Charles Griffin of Luciano Pavarotti, standing like an over-inflated Macy’s Day parade balloon, guarding a net. The ball ricochets off his enormous girth with the caption, “The Phantom from the opera.”
The corporate world is another theme related to Phil’s career. In his spare style, Charles Barsotti draws an executive behind a desk, looking up from a résumé and speaking to a large pig in a business suit with the fitting caption, “Well, you certainly seem to have a lot to offer this company, and of course, the truffles are a hell of a plus.”
The family’s connection to the Island started with Phil’s parents, who began visiting in 1940. Phil and Eileen were active in the community, helping, among other things, to conserve the land that would become Farm Neck, and the siblings regularly spent summers here while growing up. So, when it was time for an exhibition, it made sense to display their parents’ collection on the Vineyard, and since Eileen had volunteered at Featherstone for years, the connection to the organization was a perfect fit.
The journey to becoming a show began after Elieen died in 2019. (Phil passed in 1996.) Van Dijk spearheaded cataloging the collection and organizing the associated provenance documents, and Brown Langley reframed some of the cartoons. As the exhibition was coming together, van Dijk was delighted to discover a letter from her father to Barbara Nicholls of Nicholls Gallery, from whom he had acquired many of the cartoons, in which Phil expressed a wish to have an exhibition on the Island.
The cartoons were a big part of the kids’ lives growing up, and Phil and Eileen always shared any new acquisitions. Now the family hopes that some of the cartoons can find new homes where they will also be adored and appreciated. “We’d love for people to buy a few, because we want to donate the money to Featherstone,” says van Dijk.
Looking around at the handsome exhibition, full of fun and humor, Brown Van Keer reflects, “Dad was always good at laughing at himself and not taking himself too seriously. He had this ability to bring everything to a level of humanity and simplicity, and these cartoons speak to that.” She continues, “I feel like the whole thing is about our parents’ ability and joy of the word, intellect, silliness, fun, and creativity all wrapped into one.”
“The Phil & Eileen Brown New Yorker Cartoon Collection and Beyond …” is on view through Sept. 14. For more information, visit featherstoneart.org/galleryshows.html.