Jeff Wall . . . Cartoonist?

Honest confession, I was raised to believe, is good for the soul. So I need to begin this post by admitting that Jeff Wall‘s photographic work – the work for which he is best known worldwide – doesn’t really “rock my world”.

But when I was browsing through back issues of UBC’s student newspaper, The Ubyssey, recently, I discovered that Wall had a pre-photographic period as a cartoonist, and some of his drawings struck me as being quite good.

I’ve had a look at online sources of Wall’s work and cannot find any sites that show his cartoons. Therefore, I’ll share some of my favourites of Wall’s cartoons that were produced in the 1960s, when he was pursuing his B.A. and M.A. degrees at UBC. I hope you’ll enjoy these as much as I have.

The Ubyssey. February 12, 1965. This drawing accompanied an editorial which had guarded applause for a grant from MacMillan Bloedel Co. that would triple the university’s library holdings. The funding would be directed to Union College and Anglican Theological College.

The Ubyssey. November 6, 1964. This is a good caricature of Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson. It accompanied a negative review of a film about Pearson which followed the PM to work in the Parliament Buildings until he went home at day’s end. The final paragraph sums up the reviewer’s opinion of the film: “Blah Oatmeal.”

UBC Alumni Chronicle Summer 1965. This drawing accompanied an article titled “Computers in White”, which pertained to the “new” UBC hospital which was “fully computerized”.

UBC Alumni Chronicle. Summer 1965. This drawing accompanied an article titled “Problem-Solver at Work”. This was another article in a series in this edition of the Chronicle pertaining to the “wonders” of computers.

UBC Alumni Chronicle. Autumn 1965. This drawing accompanied an article titled “Mothers in Academe”.