The Last Issue: Humour and Education in the Anna and Avrom Yanovsky Teaching Collection, 2023-4
Avrom Yanovsky understood the value of humour, and especially editorial cartoons for newspapers, as a way to unite and teach Canadians. While professional cartooning in print is considered to be on the decline in today’s digital world, during Avrom Yanovsky’s time, it was a viable and prestigious career. Local and international newspapers and periodicals of all political leanings – including The Worker and The Canadian Tribune (where Avrom was employed as in-house cartoonist for many years) – celebrated their cartoonists. Over the course of Yanovsky’s career from the 1930s through 1970s, cartoonists were considered to be independent commentators who used humour to “poke fun” at political issues and figures, drawing attention to current events of significance in the news. The cartoons, placard, prints, books and catalogue in The Last Issue show Yanovsky’s use of cartooning as a way to educate and mobilize Canadians. Yanovsky’s interest in education can also be seen through his “chalk-talks,” – referenced on the false walls – where he accompanied speeches with illustrations to teach varied audiences about the importance of joining unions and about political issues in Canada.
The Last Issue spotlights Yanovsky’s Tribute to Norman Bethune, a vibrant mural originally designed for display in the Norman Bethune - Tim Buck Educational Centre. The mural brings together many of the themes and symbols Yanovsky developed in his political cartoons, including his renderings of leftist “heroes” and capitalist “villains” engaged in struggle, jokes that reference Canadian political happenings during Bethune’s lifetime, and bold linework that shows the inspiration Yanovsky draws from Picasso’s Guernica.
The artworks shown in The Last Issue are an entry point to understanding the social goals of Yanovsky’s artwork: that humour can galvanize the Canadian working class.
Avrom Yanovsky understood the value of humour, and especially editorial cartoons for newspapers, as a way to unite and teach Canadians. While professional cartooning in print is considered to be on the decline in today’s digital world, during Avrom Yanovsky’s time, it was a viable and prestigious career. Local and international newspapers and periodicals of all political leanings – including The Worker and The Canadian Tribune (where Avrom was employed as in-house cartoonist for many years) – celebrated their cartoonists. Over the course of Yanovsky’s career from the 1930s through 1970s, cartoonists were considered to be independent commentators who used humour to “poke fun” at political issues and figures, drawing attention to current events of significance in the news. The cartoons, placard, prints, books and catalogue in The Last Issue show Yanovsky’s use of cartooning as a way to educate and mobilize Canadians. Yanovsky’s interest in education can also be seen through his “chalk-talks,” – referenced on the false walls – where he accompanied speeches with illustrations to teach varied audiences about the importance of joining unions and about political issues in Canada.
The Last Issue spotlights Yanovsky’s Tribute to Norman Bethune, a vibrant mural originally designed for display in the Norman Bethune - Tim Buck Educational Centre. The mural brings together many of the themes and symbols Yanovsky developed in his political cartoons, including his renderings of leftist “heroes” and capitalist “villains” engaged in struggle, jokes that reference Canadian political happenings during Bethune’s lifetime, and bold linework that shows the inspiration Yanovsky draws from Picasso’s Guernica.
The artworks shown in The Last Issue are an entry point to understanding the social goals of Yanovsky’s artwork: that humour can galvanize the Canadian working class.
Fall-Winter 2023-4
The Joan and Martin Goldfarb Study Centre, York University, Toronto, ON
Exhibition text
The Joan and Martin Goldfarb Study Centre, York University, Toronto, ON
Exhibition text