A “Crossover” Artist Known for Playboy Work
Robert “Buck” Brown, one of the first “crossover” African American cartoonists, whose work appeared in Playboy magazine over four decades, died July 2 after a stroke, the Associated Press reported on Tuesday. He was 71.
“Playboy printed more than 600 of Brown’s cartoons, including one that appears in the magazine’s August issue. He sold thousands more to other publications, said his daughter, Tracy Hill,” according to the AP. Brown’s work also appeared in Ebony, Jet, the New Yorker, Esquire and the Chicago Sun-Times.
Brown’s horny, white “Granny” character become a permanent fixture in Playboy. His daughter said some of “Granny’s” fans were surprised to discover that her creator was black, Larry Finley wrote Sunday in the Chicago Sun-Times.
“Playboy once ran a reader’s letter complaining that they allowed a white guy to make fun of blacks. Underneath it was a picture of Brown with the caption ‘WHITEY UNMASKED,'” Finley wrote.
Brown’s fame came at the height of the civil rights movement, and he often depicted establishment types like the U.S. Cavalry besieged by Indians or other people of color, according to a biography on the History Makers Web site.
“Brown not only made a name for himself as a cartoonist but also as a painter of humorous paintings,” the site continued. “Some of his paintings are part of Bill and Camille Cosby’s art collection. Another celebrity singer, Johnny Mathis, has a wall in his office covered with Brown’s golf cartoons.”
In Brown’s heyday, the world of cartooning was such that the first African Americans allowed in mainstream newspaper comic strips — Morrie Turner, who drew “Wee Pals,” Brumsic Brandon Jr. of “Luther” and Ted Shearer of “Quincy” — all featured children, who were considered nonthreatening. They debuted in the late 1960s.
In 1986, when the New Yorker featured a special issue devoted to articles and cartoons with a “Black in America” theme, all but one of the black-themed cartoons were by whites. The Village Voice quoted New Yorker editors as being “nervous” about the cartoons submitted by black artists and finding some of the submissions “more difficult for people to handle than had been anticipated.”
Brown was able to cross over.
“Robert ‘Buck’ Brownâ??s relationship with Playboy began in 1961 when he stopped by the office in Chicago to drop off a batch of ideas,” Jennifer Thiele, Playboy’s cartoon coordinator, wrote Monday on the Playboy blog.
“Hef immediately liked his work and bought several of his cartoons,” she wrote, speaking of Playboy founder Hugh Hefner. “That day launched Buckâ??s career with Playboy that spanned four decades. He chronicled American culture in his cartoons using acrylics in glorious color and bold black-and-white wash.
“Buckâ??s cartoons ranged widely in subject matter from the sexual revolution, golfing and westerns to parodies of figures from history and literature. His cartoons depicting relations between black and white Americans are perhaps the most poignant. As an African-American, his insight and humor were an important contribution to the magazine during and after the American civil rights movement. Playboyâ??s longtime cartoon editor, Michelle Urry, worked closely with Buck throughout his career until her death in October. She has said of his work, ‘Buck rendered the most incisive comments on race relations in America in his tour-de-force painterly style.'”
