Les Tanner

Who was Les Tanner?

Les Tanner was an Australian cartoonist and journalist.

Les Tanner was born in Sydney and began his career at The Daily Telegraph 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 Edwin Pidgeon, a three-time Archibald Prize winner. At eighteen, Tanner was sent to Japan by the editor Brian Penton to work at BCON - the Occupation Force Newspaper - as a cartoonist and journalist. Pidgeon had introduced him to the works of Hokusai and other ukiyo-e artists, including Utamaro; and much of Tanner's spare time and staff sergeant's pay was spent buying as many woodblock prints as he could whilst there. It was in Japan, that Les Tanner also met his lifelong friend and fellow artist, Gus McLaren, when he was sent to interview him about his role in teaching art to the Japanese in Osaka.

On his return to Australia, Tanner 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.