Gaar Williams

Deceased Person

1880 – 1935

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Who was Gaar Williams?

Gaar Campbell Williams was a prominent American cartoonist who worked for the Indianapolis News and the Chicago Tribune. His scenes of horse-and-buggy days in small towns of the Victorian era included situations taken from memories of his childhood in his hometown of Richmond, Indiana. Labeled the Hoosier Cartoonist or the James Whitcomb Riley of the Pencil, his cartoon panels captured the flavor of a bygone era to the degree they were deemed worthy of reprinting in the mid-20th century years after his death.

He drew his first cartoons for publication while he was the staff artist for the Richmond High School magazine, Argus. After studies at Cincinnati Art Academy and the Chicago Art Institute, Williams began cartooning in 1904 for the Chicago Daily News, where he stayed for three years. He joined the Indianapolis News in 1909. In Indianapolis, where he had a growing reputation as a designer of book plates, he married Magdalena "Lena" Engelbert, a graduate of Earlham College in his hometown.

His well-known drawings include The End of a Perfect Day, depicting the American doughboy returning from WWI, and Long Boy, published on the William Herschell song sheet. After illustrating Keeping Up with William by Irving Bacheller, he illustrated Ring Lardner's The Young Immigrants. In 1921, Williams moved to the Chicago Tribune, where he stayed for the next 14 years.

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Born
Dec 12, 1880
Education
  • Art Academy of Cincinnati
Died
Jun 15, 1935

Submitted
on July 23, 2013

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