The Last Dandy, Ralph Barton

by Bruce Kellner

1991 University of Missouri. 4to., 270pp., illustrations, hardcover. Fine in Fine DJ,

280 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 1991

Reviews

[Sketchbook · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hedlines tooted: Broadway Buzzes on Why
Ralph Barton Killed Himself

The most famous US caricaturist-illustrator of early
20thC NYC, Barton ended it with a gunshot in 1931. His
40th bday was still ahead. He prefigures the never-changing
Al Hirschfeld and glorious work x Saul Steinberg. Growing
up in Kansas City, Barton began selling cartoons in his
teens and soon arrived in NYC where he easily got media
contracts. He was w Harold Ross when The New Yorker was
founded. In a foreward, John Updike writes: "The best of
his art is like a perfect flower."

With scant material available - scraps of information,
fragments from letters - this bio provides a necessary
overview of Barton's vivid, eccentric life as he criss-
crossed the Atlantic in luxury liners and was helpless
about serial marriages. But there's no one around to
offer Bartonian insight. It's up to you. He had depressies
and could be jealous of the women in his life. His story
catches fire w his romance/marriage to the beautiful Carlotta
Monterey (nee Hazel Taasinge) who caught him philandering
in their bed and walked. "The only woman I loved," he said
repeatedly. He saw her as a solution to his inner ills.
Did he have trouble adjusting to her marriage to lionized
Eugene O'Neill? Obviously.

Among the players in his social sphere were Charlie Chaplin,
Anita Loos, Sinclair Lewis, Carl Van Vechten, Lillian Gish.
He knew everyone, went everywhere. The stylish Barton owned
17 suits, 65 shirts. "The saddest thing," Chaplin told him,
"is to get used to luxury." Too much money, Barton allowed,
"is bad for our heads." A careless father, he had 2 daughters,
one of whom became a nun. He joked that His father-in-law
left him alone.

This bio is memorable for reproductions of his remarkable
art, including a 1927 panorama of the Cocoanut Grove at the
Ambassador Hotel, LA, where you'll see over 100 celebs, from
Louis Mayer, Hearst and Mary Pickford to Mary Astor. His
playful drawings ("Gentlemen Prefer Blondes") developed a
George Grosz darkness before he pulled the trigger. Ex: The
New Yorker, Dec. 13, 1930 - Christmas cover shows a mob of
nasty-faced shoppers. Watch out--.

This artist has been "slighted by posterity," says Updike.

[Smooth Herman · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fine eulogy for the gifted artist. I can’t help but wonder how he would have fared amongst the artists of MAD magazine, as it appeared satire was his bent. Curious as well of other artists who had been inspired by him!

[M2 · Rating 4 out of 5]

"The Last Dandy: Ralph Barton" tells the story of, yes, Ralph Barton, who was not actually the last dandy. He was a dandy, just not the last one. That august honor is yet to be determined. He was also a great artist and illustrator, one who had his brush on the pulse of early 20th-century New York. He worked mainly with magazines like the New Yorker, but also enjoyed no mean success in the galleries. Capital 'S' society was his forte.

Like many such artists living too much in the moment, however, he saw himself as a failure and shot himself at about the age of 40.

I hate it when people do that.