Please wait. Contacting image service... loading

Article text

FRIEND OF UNDERDOG
Will Dyson, Gartoonist
IN ADELAIDE TODAY
(By Hal Gye): :
WVil Dyson; the cartoouist, arrived at
tlie Outer Harbor from:' Lndon tctday;
by the Ooilsa-. Whe1 - Tidt lmet Dy
son, I was h young arit student,.seeking
help and guidaniice.. I had a mania for
drawxing :caricatures of urofltendlng
people, anad Dyson att that time was
drawing some cruiel .and biting carica
tures for "The Bulletiin." In those dihys
he- was known as' a caricaturist. His
fame as a cartoonist came later whiiie
he was in England.
They say of Dyson that? he could draw
a. mInan's innermost. character into one
of his drawings. Relentless and cruel,
he disturbed many. a fat politiciaii'd
cuiet calm, and. many an actor's con
tentedness, and yet as bitter as he was
with his pencil, he was quite the oppo
site lhimself... I always savw Dyson
smiling. I have heard that the Arnold
:Bennetts, the Sh iws, and the H. G.
Wells of England found hinm a mental
giant. He possesses the great. joy of
,being able to watch the world go by
as an onlooker, and that is. pirobably
why' he threw his heart into his Eng
lish cartoons. The follies of fashions
and the n'.,er-ending growlitig of Capi
tal and Labor gave him his opportuni
Les, and he made use of them. Always
Aith the uiiderdog, he pursued with, a
relentless pencil the wrongs and -worries
of the plieople.
Big Man
Dyson has never been for sale to the
highest neivspaper bidder. The glatire
of a. huge. salary never enticed this
honest soul to draw things he did not
believe. -What he drew w:as Dyson,
and ~'vhen a man's hieart goes. with his
hanrid' the result is generally something
big.
In those, early-days in Melbour'i. Dy
rson 'found much pleasfiure in:.the stage.
fruiones oFiti·difr d "and
hlif melodramha hiedio We Ini47stanlt inspir
atioii for himi': 'I- iekner? every move
n·ent of the: villain s approach, andi
gave many excellent imitations '" them
when .he was in the mobd. Sometime,;
he wivrote verse ahrid sometiriieshe madl.
dirawings 'of'.the city 'ttiiight from his
studio window. These : nocturnes
showed the other side of the mman. BRit
it was as a humorist that he wa.i really
known.- ?"
Drson sometimes gave lectures on:art
in those days. I really think that way
down in his heart he had. a slght lean
in g toward:the stage. After one of his
leetures he asked his .brothbe- Edward,
the writer, nWhat he thought of the lee
ture. "Ted" :smiled: '"It w:si'c much
of a lecLure. but it was .a goodl c!g
dance."
Wise Movei
Dyson made: a -wise 'move whieo. he
left for England There was not eiouhli
scoipe for him in Mlelbourne.; Drawing
mainly for "The Bulletin" and now a nd
again for "The Heriald" was not enough
for him. Hehad to expand, so lie hodl
a show of drawings. which S0old well,
arid he left for England. ThaiI. 'ave
me'myv chance. I'stepped into his shoes
on "The Bulletin" and drew the thea
trical caricatures for .the pape'. Now
Dyson. returns to Melbourne "Punch.'1
It will be intneresting to see what this
acknowledged master of satire will do
for Australia. - Maybe the much-libel'e1
WVilliam Moriris Hughes will rece ve
some attention. I am sure if Dyson
draws "Billy" after what :Dave Low
did to him, Australia will have to step
in and find some safe place for her .in
domitable former: TPrime Minister whe-re
caricaturists cannot molest him.
Dyson has published severial books
of cartoons--war,. and political: One
can do no ,more than ,look over thiese
Virile .drawings to go': an idea of his
power. Dyson and Dave Low-(who IT
now in London)--both "Atlstralians-sr2m
about the best two cartoouists in the
whole.wide world.' That is a big st E- -
ment to make. but ie is true, and we
should be prouid of ;them, and also. ba
more than pleased to have Dyson back
again in Austmralia. -
$