Gordon Brewster and his cartoons

By Pól Ó Duibhir (a.k.a. Paul O'Dwyer).

About the book

Front cover

Gordon Brewster, chief cartoonist with Independent Newspapers, died suddenly on Bloomsday 1946. Thereafter, he sank into total public obscurity. About a decade ago the National Library of Ireland came into possession of some 400 originals of his cartoons. And that is what this book is mainly about. The breadth, depth, and execution of the cartoons are astonishing, and they deal with a critical period in Irish history when the Free State had been set up, and the government was in a tizzy trying to consolidate it. Pól Ó Duibhir has studied these cartoons in-depth and related them to developments in the Free State saga. He also gives an insight into Gordon Brewster, the man, his marriage, and the bitter actions of his estranged wife following his death. The book sits well into the newly established tradition of publications on individual cartoonists and the general trend to take cartoons seriously as a source for history.

Also, check out Pól's original blog, photopol.com or this book's blog artistgordonbrewster.blogspot.com.
Read reviews here at Goodreads or buy the book via the main buttons!

Who is Gordon Brewster?Gordon Brewster was a well-known artist and cartoonist in Ireland in the first half of the twentieth century.After his death in 1946 he fell into obscurity when his estranged wife took his children to England and burned all his fine artwork.He is coming back to notice since the National Library of Ireland acquired over 400 of his original cartoon drawings.

Who is Pól Ó Duibhir?
Pól Ó Duibhir (aka Paul O’Dwyer) was born in 1944 and spent the first four years of his life growing up in his mother’s shop, The Gem, in Howth, on Dublin’s Northside, and where Gordon died. He spent the next twenty years or so on the Southside, in Ballybrack-Killiney, before finally returning to the Northside to Raheny when he married Nora. They had two children, Donal and Eoghan who are now fine young men who are caring for their ailing father. Pól is thrilled to have completed and published this book about the artist and cartoonist, Gordon Brewster who he so much admires.