Transcript R. O. Blechman (born 1930) is an American animator

R. O. Blechman (born 1930) is an American animator, illustrator, children's-book author, graphic novelist and editorial cartoonist whose work has
been the subject of retrospectives at the Museum of Modern Art and other institutions. He was inducted into the Art Directors Hall of Fame in
1999.
Blechman's best-known works include the book The Juggler of Our Lady (1953), television commercials for Alka-Seltzer (1967) and other products,
the animated PBS special Great Performances: The Soldier's Tale, and numerous covers for The New Yorker magazine.
Oscar Robert Blechman, whose professional name transposes the initials of his first two given names, was born in Brooklyn, New York City, New
York, and attended the High School of Music and Art and Oberlin College, where he drew cartoons for the student newspaper, The Oberlin
Review. Henry Holt published his first book, The Juggler of Our Lady, a Christmas retelling of the medieval legend, in 1953. A nine-minute
animated short by Al Kouzel and Gene Deitch, produced for Terrytoons in 1958 and narrated by Boris Karloff, earned a BAFTA Award nomination
for Best Animated Film.
After being drafted into the United States Army and serving in Asbury Park, New Jersey, he was invited by animator John Hubley to join the
advertising studio Storyboard Inc., where Blechman learned animation. He expanded into spot illustration and sequential-panel illustration for
such magazines as Harper's Bazaar, Trump, Punch, Esquire, Humbug, Theater Arts, and Show ; a humorous print campaign for Capezio shoes; and
drawings for Irving Trust bank, The New School, and D'Orsay perfumes, among others. His 1967 TV commercial for Alka-Seltzer, for which he
created the storyboard and drawings, "remains a classic of American advertising".
During the 1970s, Blechman penned Vietnam War editorial cartoons for the liberal alternative weekly The Village Voice. That same decade, he
produced the PBS Christmas television special Simple Gifts (1977) which used his segment along with those of fellow illustrators Maurice Sendak,
James McMullan, Seymour Chwast, and Charles B. Slackman. In 1978 or 1979, Blechman founded the commercial-animation studio The Ink Tank.
Blechman directed 1984 PBS special The Soldier's Tale, an animated, one-hour adaptation of composer Igor Stravinsky's and playwright C. F.
Ramuz's theater piece L'Histoire du Soldat. The special won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement - Animated Programming.
The Museum of Modern Art mounted the retrospective "R. O. Blechman and The Ink Tank: A Celebration", beginning on January 17, 2003.
Blechman wrote and illustrated the 2007 children's book Franklin the Fly; and wrote the book Dear James: Letters to a Young Illustrator. His
graphic stories are collected in Talking Lines. The French publisher Delpire published a collection of his artwork for the series "Poche Illustrateur",
and his graphic novel Georgie.
Personal Life
Blechman and his wife, Moisha Kubinyi, the daughter of painters Doris Hall and Kálmán Kubinyi, lived on Central Park West in Manhattan through
2003, moving that year to their weekend home in Ancram, New York. They have two sons: Nicholas, at an unspecified time the art editor of The
New York Times Book Review; and Max, a graduate of the Sorbonne, edited the collection Revolutionary Romanticism: A Drunken Boat Anthology
One assumes that when R.O. Blechman came into the world in 1930, he came quietly. It is
difficult to imagine him being loud or obstreperous even in the trauma of birth. His speaking
voice never quite reaches that of a stage whisper, but it fits perfectly his persona of
determined understatement. And his drawings reflect the man: seemingly tremulous and
uncertain, but, in fact, boldly original.
Bob was born in Brooklyn. His mother, determined to have an artistic son, obliged him to
take the entrance exam for the High School of Music and Art. He was accepted. The die was
cast. By the time he entered Oberlin College, he thought of himself as a cartoonist and
began drawing for The Oberlin Review. It is these drawings that constituted much of his
portfolio when he returned to Manhattan and sought assignments in illustration in the early
1950s. An editor at Henry Holt liked one of his hand-sewn books and asked him to produce
a similar one with a Christmas theme. The result was The Juggler of Our Lady, which proved
a critical and commercial success.
At this pinnacle of his young career, he was drafted into the U.S. Army. He was not, however, entirely unlucky. While others of his age were
serving in the still-active war in Korea, he was assigned to Asbury Park, New Jersey. It was less exotic, but a lot safer. After his discharge, he
accepted an invitation from John Hubley to join Storyboard Inc., a studio that specialized in animated films for advertising agencies. Although
Blechman describes his time there in gloomy terms, it was nonetheless where he learned animation, and animation was the art form in which he
would produce his most imaginative work.
During the '60s, commissions were forthcoming, his checkbook stabilized, and his name became known. Before long his unique drawing style
could be seen in a variety of magazines, notably, Harper's Bazaar, Trump, Punch, Esquire, Humbug, Theater Arts, and Show. Most of these
features were sequential drawings, a form of comic strip that reflected his strong social concerns in a humorous way. Humor was also the basis
for his memorable print campaign for Capezio shoes, as well as drawings for Irving Trust, the New School, Kaufman Carpets, and D'Orsay
perfumes. In 1967, he created the storyboard and drawings for an animated commercial for Alka-Seltzer, which remains a classic of American
advertising.
In the early 1970s, he started his own animation studio, The Ink Tank, which was devoted largely to producing commercials. Forays into
the editorial world were less rewarding. The lack of interest in his first book, Onion Soup (1964), so discouraged him that he did not
produce another for nearly a decade. Readers of the Village Voice were likewise unenthusiastic about his Vietnam cartoons. By the early
1970s, however, his projects were attracting more interest. Tutto Esaurito (No Vacancies), a small book published in Italy, was an ironic
observation on the birth of the Christ child to an unwelcoming world. With the agonies of the Vietnam War still playing out in the
national consciousness, Blechman turned to the Old Testament as the source for a metaphorical retelling of Abraham and Issac, that
near tragic story in which the father—that is, the state—offers the life of his son—the next generation—in fulfillment of an old belief.
Arnold Black was the composer for this film, as well as for the next, a more technically accomplished one called Exercise for the
Children's Television Workshop.
Late in that decade, the Public Broadcasting Company offered Blechman the opportunity to create a Christmas special. Simple Gifts was
an ambitious undertaking incorporating separate segments by Maurice Sendak, James McMullan, Seymour Chwast, Charles B. Slackman,
and Blechman. It was a great success, and is still repeated at Christmastime.
In an entirely different vein, he later created an Emmy award-winning sixty-minute animated film, L' Histoire du Soldat (The Soldier's
Tale). Inspired by the music Stravinsky wrote for this fable, Blechman provided visual effects that make this one of the most inventive
animated films ever made.
The last two decades have more than fulfilled the promise of those earlier times. His stunning habitat on West 47th street with its
arched ceiling and stained glass windows thrives as an animation studio. From there have come animated commercials for clients
including Barney's, Perrier, Hershey's, and MTV. Bob also turns out covers for a variety of magazines—some twenty for the New Yorker,
but also for the Atlantic Monthly and his special interest, the quarterly Story. With the exception of two very early issues, he has drawn
every cover of Story for the past ten years.
Bob and his lovely wife Moisha Kubinyi have two abodes—one on Central Park West and the other up in Columbia County—both of
which reflect their favored life style, their perfect taste, and attention to detail. Their sons are grown now—Nicholas is currently the art
editor of The New York Times Op-Ed page, and Max is a candidate for a doctorate of Philosophy from the Sorbonne. Causes for pride.
Oh, yes, about those initials, R.O. They are taken from a transposition of Blechman's given name, Oscar Robert.
-Edward Sorel