A Woman to Know: Helen Hokinson
Investigating the city with Helen was fascinating for a great many reasons. When Helen said ‘Look!’ in a tone of the utmost excitement, it generally meant that she had discovered a tiny detail of some
Investigating the city with Helen was fascinating for a great many reasons. When Helen said ‘Look!’ in a tone of the utmost excitement, it generally meant that she had discovered a tiny detail of some kind that she hoped I would enjoy. — James Reid Parker
(image via The Library of Congress)
In 1925, Helen published her first cartoon in one of The New Yorker’s first-ever issues. From there, she made a career of caricaturing society women and their lives, memorializing them with humorous captions and fine-lined sketches.
As one of her fellow cartoonists remembers:
She was forever sketching people in parks, in restaurants, in the lobbies of hotels and business buildings, during theater intermissions, at the special events held in Madison Square Garden and the Grand Central Palace ... a man bending down to tie a shoelace, a woman rummaging through her purse for the elusive bus fare, an impatient youth scanning a hotel lobby for his date, a woman deliberating over a tray of pastries, a man studying his new haircut in a slot-machine mirror, a father hurrying a reluctant child past a pet shop window — and with her soft Erberhard pencil, Helen quickly drew a few wonderful lines on her pocket-size sketch pad.
In 1948, her cartooning career was cut tragically short. En route to Washington, DC, her passenger plane exploded in mid-air, killing all aboard.
Ladies with big hats, plump women clutching binoculars, frilly biddies at the beach and on the avenue — Helen was remembered long after her death for these hilarious “Hokinson women,” as they came to be called.
She created more than 1,800 cartoons and 68 different New Yorker covers, building her own reputation along the way. She once overheard a woman at a flower show cautioning her friends to be on their best behavior: “Watch out. I understand Helen Hokinson comes here for material.”
Add to your library list:
My Best Girls (Helen E. Hokinson)
The Hokinson Festival (Helen E. Hokinson)
There Are Ladies Present (Helen E. Hokinson)
The New Yorker Encyclopedia of Cartoons (edited by Bob Mankoff)
Read more:
Helen E. Hokinson (The Comics Journal)
The New Yorker’s Women Cartoonists, Then and Now (The New Yorker)
When New Yorker Covers Pick Up and Go (The New Yorker)
Helen Hokinson, American cartoonist (Britannica)
See more:
Helen Hokinson Cartoons for The New Yorker (Yale University)
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