Michael Leunig
Michael Leunig (born
2 June,
1945), often referred to as
Leunig, is a noted
Australian cartoonist. His best known works include
The Adventures of Vasco Pajama and the
Curly Flats series. He was declared one of
Australian Living Treasures by the
National Trust of Australia in
1999, and he currently lives in central
Victoria, Australia.
Leunig, the son of
German immigrants, was born in
East Melbourne, grew up in
Footscray and went to
Maribyrnong High School before entering an Arts degree at
Monash University. His first cartoons appeared in the Monash University Student Newspaper "Lots Wife" in the late 1960's. He was conscripted in the
Vietnam War call-up but he registered as a
conscientious objector.
After Monash Leunig enrolled at the
Swinburne Film and Television School and then began his cartoon career. He has noted that he was firstly interested in making documentaries before finding his feet with cartooning.
In the early 1970s his work appeared in the satirical magazine
Nation Review,
Womans Day, London's
Oz magazine, and also various newspapers of that era.
The main outlet for Leunig's work has been the daily Fairfax press,
The Sydney Morning Herald and
The Age (
Melbourne) newspapers published in
Australia. In recent years he has focussed mainly on political commentary, sometimes substituting his simple drawings with reproduced photographic images with speech balloons attached.
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation has also provided airtime to Leunig to discuss his views on a range of political and philosophical issues.
Leunig's drawings are done with a sparse, quavering line, usually in black and white with , the human characters always drawn with exaggerated features. This style served him well in his early years, when he gained a loyal following for his quirky take on social issues. He also made increasingly frequent forays into a personal fantasy world of whimsy, featuring small figures with teapots balanced on their heads, grotesquely curled hair and many ducks.
He has revealed in past interviews that the music of the Beatles inspired his early work, along with European cartoonists the absurdist Newyorker writer/cartoonist
James Thurber (as well as dogs and ducks).
His work has frequently explored spiritual and religious ideas.
Leunig was declared one of
Australian Living Treasures by the
National Trust of Australia in
1999.
There has also been a Leunig
Melbourne tram.
The philosophical and mystical nature of his work was selected as one theme for the
15 March 2006 Opening Ceremony of the
2006 Commonwealth Games held at the
MCG in Leunig's hometown of
Melbourne. The principal character was a "boy and his duck", exploring the dreams and visions of a boy, and Leunig was heard reading a stanza of his poem as a voice-over.
As his status as a national institution has grown so too has opposition to the point-of-view reflected in Leunig's works. From feminist criticism of his "stay-at-creche baby" cartoon (
"I'm a stay-at-creche baby so she doesn't have to be a stay-at-home Mum.") to his
anti-war stance in regards to the
invasion of Iraq Leunig and his cartoons have become the subject of controversy.
The Ariel Sharon Cartoon
On January 11, 2006, the
The Age (
Melbourne) newspaper published a Leunig cartoon which criticised Israeli leader
Ariel Sharon, who at the time was hospitalized following a severe
stroke, for sanctioning an attack on an 'old Palestinian in a wheelchair' - a reference to
Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, leader and founder of the militant Islamic group
Hamas. This piece attracted many letters of protest from readers.
The Hamshahri Cartoon Incident
During the
Muhammad cartoons controversy, a cartoon by Michael Leunig, was published in an Iranian newspaper
Hamshahri for a competition in retaliation for the Muhammad Cartoons. This competition was supposed to be on the subject of the Holocaust. Leunig denied he had submitted the cartoon, and said that the act was "malicious and horrible". He demanded the cartoons be withdrawn, and the newspaper removed the cartoons and apologized to Leunig. [
1] It later emerged that the cartoon had been submitted as a prank by a sometime contributing writer to the website of
The Chaser [
2].
The Gaza Cartoon
On July 12, 2006, the
The Age ([Melbourne]) newspaper published a Leunig cartoon criticising Israel for re-entering Gaza after a six month absence after
Hamas militants captured Corporal Gilad Shalit and in response to continuing Kassam rocket attacks into Israel. This cartoon was condemned by many readers as being one sided and failing to acknowledge that Israel was responding to the kidnapping and daily rocket attacks into Israeli cities.
* Two American cowboys on a hill looking over a campsite of some American Indians. One cowboy is saying "They've got bows and arrows of mass destruction"
* A man plays a small guitar in an industrial wasteland landscape. A child and a woman sit on a picnic rug nearby. The child says "Gee dad, you're fantastic"
* A waiter with hair coming out of his nose and every other orifice stands next to a diner who says "waiter, theres a hair in my soup"
* A depressed looking man rattles a bird cage which has a heart in it. The man says to the heart in the cage "Sing, damn you, sing"
* A Jewish man walks through a gate with the words written above it "work brings freedom". In the next panel, a Jewish soldier walks through a gate with the words "war brings peace" written above it.
* A man wheeling a pram with a baby in it is confronted in a park by another man who points to a sign which says "No wheeling baby nephews in the park".
* A bird steals the pubic hair of a naked woman in order to make a nest in a tree
* A series of "medals for ordinary people", such as a "medal for conspicuous weeping", a "medal for just bumbling through and not leaving too much of a mess", etc
* A bird makes a nest, and then makes another nest and puts up a sign "nests for rent".
* An image showing a woman being dunked in a pond by a group of people. The caption reads "While the robber barons rape and pillage, the village idiot is dunked in the pond". This cartoon appeared during the
Helen Darville or
Helen Demidenko literary hoax.
* A homeless man shouts "gold, I have found it, gold" while another man looks on. In the next panel it appears that the "gold" is an
Australian sausage roll* A man standing in the shower holds a shampoo bottle which has the label "Shampoo for very dirty hair".
* A man with a parrot-like haircut stands staring into a petshop where there is a parrot, while in the background a group of protesters march by with a placard which reads "Defend humanity".
* A man walks past a city avenue. There are two street-name signs. The street-name sign of the street he is on reads "The life you lead". The street-name sign of the avenue which is bathed in sunlight reads "The life you could have led".
* A group of pets are gathered around an old woman who is drinking a cup of tea. The caption reads "The spectators watched with bated breath the finish of the Mavis Cup" (A reference to the
Davis Cup tennis championship)
* Under the caption, "Memorial Eulogy" (for
Kerry Packer), Prime Minister
John Howard says, "'It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle ... than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God.' Leftists, as usual, take a negative view of these words. Like all nay-sayers and hand-wringers, they want the camel to cut and run. But the camel will stay the course, finish the job and go through the eye of the needle. And God will be liberated as the rich men enter His Kingdom, bringing justice, democracy and economic reform."
*
The Penguin Leunig (1974)
*
The Second Leunig (1979)
*
The Bedtime Leunig (1981)
*
A Bag of Roosters (1983)
*
Ramming the Shears (1985)
*
The Travelling Leunig (1990)
*
A Common Prayer (1990)
*
The Prayer Tree (1990)
*
Introspective (1991)
*
A Common Philosophy (1992)
*
Everyday Devils and Angels (1992)
*
A Bunch of Posey (1992)
*
You and Me (1995)
*
Short Notes from the Long History of Happiness (1996)
*
Why Dogs Sniff Each Other's Tails (1998)
*
Goatperson and Other Tales (1999)
*
Carnival of the Animals (2000)
*
The Curly Pyjama Letters (2001)
*
The Stick and Other Tales of our Times (2002)
*
Poems (2003)
*
Kicking Behinds (2003)
*
Strange Creature (2003)
*
Wild Figments (2004)
Works in the Australian National Bibliographic Database
*
A bag of roosters / Michael Leunig (1983, ISBN 0207148309)
*
The Animated Leunig (videorecording) (c2001)
*
The bedtime Leunig / Michael Leunig *1981, 0207145059)
*
A bunch of poesy / Leunig (1992, ISBN 0207177988)
*
A celebration: Michael Leunig / Friends of the National Library of Australia (1997, ISBN 064633090X)
*
A common prayer / Leunig (1990, ISBN 0859249336)
*
A common prayer / Leunig (1993, ISBN 1863712313)
*
A common prayer : a cartoonist talks to God / Leunig (1998, ISBN 1863717404)
*
A conversation between Michael Leunig and Terry Laidler ... (1997)
*
The curly pyjama letters / Michael Leunig (2001, ISBN 0670040231)
*
The curly pyjama letters / Michael Leunig (2006, ISBN 9780143005469)
*
English in heat / Morris Lurie, drawings by Leunig (1972, ISBN 0207123845)
*
Everyday devils and angels / Michael Leunig (1992, ISBN 0140159118)
*
Goatperson and other tales / Michael Leunig (1999, ISBN 0140291407)
*
The happy prints: printmaking / Michael Leunig (1998)
*
Introspective / Michael Leunig, with foreword by Helen Garner (1988, ISBN 1864363568)
*
Introspective / Michael Leunig ; with a foreword by Helen Garner (1991, ISBN 1863722009)
*
Leunig's Carnival of the animals / Michael Leunig, Peter Garrett, Richard Tognetti and the Australian Chamber Orchestra (2000, ISBN 0732910706)
*
A new Penguin Leunig / Michael Leunig (1992, ISBN 0140170979)
*
A new Penguin Leunig / Michael Leunig (2005, ISBN 0143004808)
*
The Penguin Leunig: cartoons / by Michael Leunig, introduced by Barry Humphries (1974, ISBN 0140040196)
*
Poems 1972-2002 / Michael Leunig (2003, ISBN 0670040916)
*
The prayer tree / Leunig (1991, ISBN 1863710345)
*
The prayer tree / Leunig (1998, ISBN 1863717412)
*
Ramming the shears: a collection of drawings / Michael Leunig (1985, ISBN 0949266132)
*
Ramming the shears: a collection of drawings / Michael Leunig (1990, ISBN 0140158014)
*
The second Leunig, a dusty little swag: cartoons, a few verses and selected moments from the voyage of Vasco Pyjama / by Michael Leunig (1979, ISBN 0207143285)
*
Short notes from the long history of happiness / Michael Leunig (1996, ISBN 0670874051)
*
The stick : and other tales of our times / Michael Leunig (2002, ISBN 0670040487)
*
The stick : and other tales of our times / Michael Leunig (2006, ISBN 780143001461)
*
Strange creature / Michael Leunig (2003, ISBN 067004136X)
*
The travelling Leunig: cartoons / by Michael Leunig (1990, ISBN 0140148671)
*
Why dogs sniff each other's tails : an old but true story / Michael Leunig (1998, ISBN 0670883549)
*
Wild figments / Michael Leunig (2004, ISBN 0143003534)
*
You and me: a collection of recent pictures, verses, fables, aphorisms and songs / Michael Leunig (1995, ISBN 0140254617)
*
Leunig's Official site * Leunig Artwork
Chrysalis Publishing Gallery & Studio
*Art:
ArtLoft - agent for Leunig's paintings and drawings*
Interview with Michael Leunig, 1997 - interviewed by Ann Turner
*
Interview with Michael Leunig, 2006 - interviewed by Andrew Denton (ABC Television)
*
CurleyFlat.net - Richard Lawrence's Leunig fan site
*
Today's cartoon in Melbourne's The Age (Not always a Leunig cartoon)
*
Michael Leunig - 27 June 2004 article from
The Age*
Leunig suspects pro-war hoaxers 14 February, 2006
The Age
