Les Tanner

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Les Tanner (15 June 1927 – 2001) was an Australian cartoonist and journalist.

Tanner was born in Sydney and began his career at The Daily Telegraph (Australia) in 1942. Seconded from the cadet's room to the artist department, he worked under the mentorship of Art Director Tommy Hughes, Senior Artist Frank Broadhurst and William Pidgeon (aka WEP) a three time Archibald Prize winner. At 18, Tanner was sent to Japan by the editor Brian Penton to work at BCON- the Occupation Force Newspaper as a cartoonist. William Pidgeon had introduced him to the works of Hokusai and other ukiyo-e artists, including Utamaro and much of his spare time and staff seargent's pay was spent buying as many woodblock prints as he could whilst there.

On his return to Australia, he joined the A.M. magazine as an illustrator before returning to the Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph, where he had his first assignment as a political cartoonist. He later became Art Director at The Bulletin. When he drew a controversial cartoon of Sir Henry Bolte, then premier of Victoria, to illustrate Editor Peter Coleman's article against capital punishment, Sir Frank Packer pulped the entire edition of the magazine and banned a BBC television program on capital punishment due to air on GTV-9 - one of Packer's own television stations on January 31, 1967. But the cartoon and editorial achieved even greater prominence in the public domain when ABC television ran a story on it and the banned Channel 9 program that night under the banner of censorship of the press, much to the glee of both Tanner and Coleman.[1]

Les Tanner won the "Cartoonist of the Year" award in London in 1960 whilst working for the Daily Sketch, followed by two Walkely Awards in Australia in 1962 and 1965 respectively.[2] When Graham Perkin Editor of The Age newspaper in Melbourne offered him the position of Chief Political Cartoonist, Tanner agreed and for the next thirty years until he retired in 1997, he satirized politicians and gained a large fan base for his efforts. Loyal fans also flocked to his popular Saturday column "Tanner with Words". In 1999, Les Tanner received a Golden Quill Award for "Lifetime achievement in the arts."[3] Apart from a prolific career as a cartoonist, Tanner co-wrote several books on black and white art. He made an animated film called Letter To A Vandal and was an actor and set designer for the New Theatre from 1946 until 1955. As a child he appeared in a number of films including comedian George Wallace's Gone to the Dogs, Our Gang, an RTA commercial co-starring Gloria Dawn and Forty Thousand Horsemen. After his death, the Black and White Society of Australia described him as follows: "Les Tanner was pre-eminent as a social commentator in the medium of black and white art in 20th Century Australia."

[edit] External links

[4] Photograph of Les Tanner by Virginia Wallace-Crabbe
[5] The Bulletin
[6] National Library of Australia
[7] The Age
[8] WEP

[edit] References

Tanner, Les (Edited by Mary Lord) 'Tanner With Words' Nelson, Melbourne 1981 ISBN 0-17-005957-X.
Hurst, 'John The Walkley Awards' pp 312-317.John Kerr Pty Ltd, Richmond 1988 ISBN 0958800413
Prior, Tom 'Bolte on Bolte' p 164 Craftsman Publishing Pty Ltd, Melbourne 1990.ISBN 0-9587833-9-X
Coleman, Peter & Tanner, Les "Cartoons of Australian History" Nelson,Melbourne.1967 ISBN 0170052753
John Fairfax Pty Ltd "The Age Newspaper" Spencer St Melbourne.
Consolidated Press "Daily Telegraph", Sydney.
Consolidated Press "The Bulletin" magazine, Sydney.
State Library of Victoria, Picture Collections- Leslie Mervyn Tanner; June Mendoza.
National Library, Canberra Australia Audio Collections, Edgar Walters interviews Les Tanner.
The State Library NSW- references in Marie Armstrong collection, New Theatre collection.
Milesago. The Almanac 1967.
bulletin.ninemsn.com.au
The Ryan Legacy, Julian Burnside. March 11 2002 The Age.
Media Collosus Pushed The Boundaries of Family Empire. Dec, 28 2005. Sydney Morning Herald.