Kenneth
Chamberlain,
the son of a small jeweler, was born in Des Moines, Iowa, in 1891.
After graduating from high school in 1909 he attended Columbus
Art School
(1911-1913). Some of his drawings were published in Columbus
Citizen
and this encouraged him to move to New York
where he secured work with American
Art News.
While in New York Chamberlain studied under Robert
Henri where he met Maurice Becker
and George Bellows. Both men were committed
socialists and it was not long before
Chamberlain shared these views: "I went to New York not even
knowing what socialism was. I had some rough idea that it was dividing
up the wealth. But when I got down with these fellows whose drawings
and art I admired so greatly, why, if they'd been cannibals I probably
would have turned cannibal."
Maurice Becker and George
Bellows introduced Chamberlain to John
Sloan, the art editor of The Masses
and by 1913 the journal began publishing his cartoons. During the
First World War he also began contributing to
other papers such as the New
York Evening Sun.
Although
fellow radicals, such as Art Young and
Robert Minor, who resigned from lucrative
posts with leading newspapers when ordered to draw pro-war cartoons,
Chamberlain willingly produced this type of material for the Philadelphia
Evening Telegraph and Harper's
Weekly. Chamberlain later explained: "I just
went along after we were in the war. I wanted to hold my job as a
cartoonist although I wasn't for the war."
After the Armistice Chamberlain worked
for the Cleveland Press.
He continued to contribute to radical journals such as the Liberator.
This upset his editor at the Cleveland
Press who told him that "either you'll have
to quit working for us or not sign your name." Chamberlain agreed
to use the pseudonym, Russell and later described his actions as "an
unhappy subterfuge" but was necessary in order to support his
family.
In the 1920s Chamberlain worked for the Los
Angeles Record and the New
York Herald-Tribune. His last radical cartoon appeared
in the Liberator
in August 1923. In 1933 he went to work for Topics
Publishing Company and as a result his cartoons appeared in
120 different newspapers. After losing his job in 1949 he worked for
ten years for the National Association of Manufacturers.
Kenneth
Chamberlain
died in 1984.
|
Afterwards
Man:
The War's Over. You can go home now, and
we'll run things.
Woman: You go
put up that gun, and perhaps we'll let you help.
|
K.
J. Chamberlain, The Masses (October,
1914)
(1) K. R. Chamberlain, interviewed
by Richard Fitzgerald (August, 1966)
I went to New York not even knowing
what socialism was. I had some rough idea that it was dividing up
the wealth. But when I got down with these fellows whose drawings
and art I admired so greatly, why, if they'd been cannibals I probably
would have turned cannibal. I was sympathetic for it, through
having had this art start in Columbus from a disciple of those artists,
and so I just fitted in what the Masses did. So I went right
down there and sure enough they liked my work enough to use it. And
my ideas came. I was won completely and sympathetic for it.
(2) K.
R. Chamberlain quickly began disillusioned with the Russian
Revolution (August, 1966)
When the Russian Revolution came along we thought that was the end
of the struggle, that was the new hope for the world and everything.
And I think Art Young never got over that hope. But Max Eastman was
one of the first to become disillusioned. He went over there, and
he could see that the dictatorship of the proletariat was just about
as unpleasant as any other dictatorship.
(3) K.
R. Chamberlain was a great fan of the cartoons produced by Art
Young and Robert Minor.
There's something about Art Young's cartoons and Robert Minor's. They
had a knack - I don't know, I can't describe it - but even though
they were bitter they met it in sharp, they had a saving grace, either
humour or an angle to it that you always liked.
(4)
K.
R. Chamberlain, interviewed by Richard Fitzgerald in August, 1966,
explained why he changed from a radical cartoonist.
As
you get older you lose that flash of youthful enthusiasm. I used to
get so mad at some of the things I'd want to scream about it, but
I wasn't the courageous type to go down and get beaten up by a cop.
But nor would Eastman. He would skirt these things. He would organize
meetings and speak, but he was never in any forefront of any struggle,
physical violence. But as you get older you lose that and you see
both sides a little more.
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