Step right up! See Canada’s premiere capitalist characters duke it out for the title of World Champion Loser. Could it be the Banker: the rotund, scheming fiend dressed in a suit and cufflinks? The Bureaucrat: the bumbling politician-turned-marionnette, willing to sacrifice the worker for profits turned?  The Consumer: a sluggish, feeble, physically unfit character weakened and continually swayed by their consumer desires? Or is it the Canadian worker: the antihero underdog, exploited and tyrannized by their corporate overlords…

As illustrated by Avrom Yanovsky in his political cartoons spanning the late-1920s until the 1970s this exhibition asks us, who are the losers; and who are the winners? And, has anything really changed over the past half-century? In 2025,  as the cost of living continues to rise, workers are impacted by mass layoffs, and politicians protect big businesses  Yanovsky’s cartoons are still relevant, his social and political messaging resonating across the decades.

Super Profits: The Banker, The Bureaucrat and other World Champion Losers presents a selection of artworks from the Anna and Avrom Yanovsky Teaching Collection. Characterizing four main capitalist archetypes--the banker, the bureaucrat, the consumer, and the worker–Avrom’s political cartoons interrogate capitalism as an oppressive force in society with cutting wit and satire.

Encompassing corporate overlords and members of the elite class, Avrom’s Banker archetype is seen as a robber, a puppet-master, and an anthropomorphic moneybag. Though he appears in many forms, he can be identified by his round figure, top hat, suit and cufflinks.

The bureaucrat gets more personal. In a cartoon of C.D. Howe, a Liberal Party politician who served as a cabinet minister in Mackenzie King and St. Laurent administrations (1935-1957), his spindly fingers gesture towards the man labelled as Canada’s “unemployed.” Depicted as Marie Antoinette, his long nose and unsightly pointed chin characterize his deeds in office as ugly, arrogant and out of touch in reference to the guillotined French queen. Avrom’s specialized cartoon portraits of the Bureaucrat act as propaganda images and a visual commentary against governing figures. At large, they are often portrayed as blundering and easily swayed by big business owners, ultimately acting within the interests of the bourgeoisie.

Finally, the proletariat who comes in two forms. The first being the Canadian Consumer: a weak, feeble, physically unfit character that moves with the herd. S/he is simple, unable to think independently, and is easily swayed by their consumer desires. Then, there is the honourable Worker. In Avrom’s comics, the Worker is muscular, youthful, and respectable, and often male. He often participates in union organizations and activities, fighting for moral causes that benefit the working class.[[Insert Worker thumbnail]]

The cartoons selected for Super Profits: The Banker, The Bureaucrat and Other World Champion Losers show the engagements between the four archetypes. Appearing mostly as the interplay between socialist heroes and capitalist villains, Avrom aimed to characterize the forces of capitalism as monstrous, maybe even evil, not just to raise social consciousness for members of the working class, but to cajole them to rebel.

But what constitutes rebellion, especially when your opponent seems all powerful? Avrom aimed for his artwork to prompt the Worker and the Consumer to reconsider their social conditions, to question corporations and governments and to recognize themselves as the good guys in his parable between heroes and villains. To Avrom, raising class consciousness and identifying the enemy was of key importance, but so is a sense of humour, which he saw as an accessible way to disseminate his message to the masses and attract audiences who may not be interested in politics or even be aware of their oppression. In Avrom Yanovsky’s practice, laughing is a form of resistance.

Reflecting on Avrom’s work nearly 50 years after the artist’s death, social conditions are remarkably similar. We are still negotiating fair wages, witnessing mass layoffs, and dealing with the growing unaffordability of our basic needs. The gap between the average Canadian and our Bankers and Bureaucrats continues to widen, leaving many of us feeling helpless. But we can take a page from this lifelong activist’s book: there is power in finding humour in our situation, in spite of our conditions, as a means of inquiry.

The planning and staging of this exhibition was generously supported by the Avrom and Anna Yanovsky Teaching Fund, and features artworks from the Avrom and Anna Yanovsky Teaching Collection, which is currently housed in the Goldfarb Study Centre at York University for study purposes. Thank you to Dr. Anna Hudson for her continued supervision and mentorship during the curatorial process of Super Profits.

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