Giraffe Man. A man's acute inquisitive nature creates an unexpected physical change.
Initialed R. T. lower left . Framed under glass. Framed size 13.5 x 10.38

Source: Biography from the Library and Archives Canada
Richard
Denison Taylor was born in Fort William, Ontario, in 1902. His early art
training began in Toronto under the tutelage of members of the Royal
Canadian Academy of Arts*. He continued more formal classes at Central
Technical School and, later, at the Ontario College of Art*. His first
published comic strip, entitled Mystery Men, appeared in the Toronto
Evening Telegram where it ran for a year. Early freelance work included
illustrating the pages of the University of Toronto's renowned Goblin
Magazine until it folded in 1929.

In the early 1930s, Taylor co-published several small children's
books. In 1935, he went on to create 40 illustrations for an adult
fantasy book entitled Worm's End, penned by Lionel Reed, with whom he
had collaborated on children's publications. Editors at the publishing
house of Simon and Schuster in New York City, to whom the manuscript was
submitted, were impressed by Taylor's artwork and encouraged him to
send examples of his cartoons to the New Yorker magazine. After several
months of regular submissions which were refused, his drawings began to
appear in the New Yorker on a regular basis. In order to be closer to
his American publishers, Taylor moved to Bethel, Connecticut, and
shortly thereafter married Maxine McTavish, the daughter of Canadian
Magazine art critic and editor Newton McTavish who was a family friend
of William Lyon Mackenzie King [Prime Minister of Canada from 1921 to
1930 and from 1934 to 1948].

Taylor's signature cartoon style was soon in evidence on the pages of
many prominent American publications, including Collier's and the
Saturday Evening Post. In addition to his humour work, Taylor also
worked on a series of watercolours, prints and oils, based on
surrealistic creatures and landscapes. An exhibition of works from this
series was held in 1940 at the Walker Galleries and the following year
at the Valentine Gallery, both in New York City. He also participated in
several group shows, including an exhibition on surrealism at the
Whitney Museum which later traveled internationally. Taylor continued
both facets of his artwork over the next three decades. He expanded his
market even further with regular contributions to Playboy and Esquire
Magazines. Described by one reviewer as the Rubens of the New Yorker, he
was always included in that magazine's enormously popular cartoon
annuals, together with such cartooning legends as Peter Arno.

In 1947, the artist authored and illustrated a "how-to" book entitled
Introduction to Cartooning, which was published by Watson-Guptill Inc.
in 1947. He stressed the necessity of honing skills in composition and
life drawing before tackling a professional career. Taylor went on to
illustrate and publish many of his own humour books. Titles included The
Better Taylors (1944), One for the Road (1949), Fractured French
(1950), Compound Fractured French (1951), Fall of the Sparrow (1951), By
the Dawn's Ugly Light: A Pictorial Study of the Hangover (1953), Never
Say Diet (1954), and Nothing Brightens the Garden like Primrose Pants
(1955). As well, he published numerous written articles on his humorous
observations of everyday life.

Richard Taylor was one of the most successful cartoonists in a period
which saw the resurgence of the art form, in part due to the prominence
given to cartooning by the New Yorker. His more serious works are
represented in collections at the Museum of Modern Art, Boston Museum of
Fine Art, Albright Art Gallery of Buffalo and the New York Public
Library. Taylor died in 1970