- Livingston Hopkins
Livingston "Hop" Hopkins (
7 July 1846 –21 August 1927 ) was an Americancartoonist who became a majorAustralia n cartoonist during the time of theFederation of Australia .Early life in the USA
Hopkins was born in
Bellefontaine, Ohio , the thirteenth of 14 children. His people were Methodists, and his upbringing was somewhat hard and puritanical. His father died when he was three years old, and the widow was left with a home and a small estate. The boy went to the district school, and from the age of 14 years worked at various avocations until he enlisted to fight in theAmerican Civil War when 17 years old. He had very little active service, as the war ended a few months later.Career in the USA
After the war he went to
Toledo, Ohio where some sketches he had made were shown to the proprietor of the Toledo Blade. As a result he was engaged as anillustrator , which led to an appointment on Scribner's Weekly. During this engagement he had a few months training in drawing. He went toNew York City , where some of his drawings were accepted by "Judge" and the New YorkDaily Graphic , and he also wrote and illustrated "A Comic History of United States". This was published in good time for the centennial celebrations in 1876, but the United States were taking themselves very seriously then, the book was unfavourably reviewed, and it was a failure. He married Harriet Augusta Commager onJune 9 1875 and they had three children. He was published in "Puck". Hopkins continued his freelance work for a period of 13 years and did a large amount of work forSt. Nicholas Magazine and for the Harper publications, the Weekly, the Magazine, the Bazaar and "Young People". He was also commissioned to illustrate editions of "Don Quixote", "Gulliver's Travels", "Baron Munchausen", and "Knickerbocker's History of New York". Towards the end of 1882William Henry Traill called on him and offered him a three yearcontract as cartoonist onThe Bulletin inAustralia . The offer was accepted.Life in Australia
Hopkins arrived in
Sydney on9 February 1883 with his family. He worked for "The Bulletin" until his retirement in 1913. A constant stream of clever illustrations came from his pen, and he contributed not a little to the power wielded by "The Bulletin" in its most vigorous days. A selection of his drawings was published in 1904 under the title of "On the Hop". Among his best known creations were theLittle Boy from Manly in April 1885, "I thought I had a stamp", and the many George Reid drawings. Reproductions of three of his etchings show that he had an excellent sense of the capabilities of that medium. He also occasionally painted in oil or water-colours. After 1913 the volume of his work for "The Bulletin" gradually diminished, but he kept his interest in the journal of which he was now part-proprietor and director. He busied himself with making violins, gardening, music and playingbowls . He died on21 August 1927 at Mosman, Sydney, aged 81 and was survived by a son and four daughters.Hopkins was a tall, courteous, slightly austere man with something of the look of
Don Quixote . A man of strong principles with more than a touch of the puritan, he was yet a good host who liked to see his friends about him. He never used models, and his work had often to be done in a hurry, but he did an enormous amount of it, always characteristic and with its own peculiar humour. He produced 19,000 drawings in his career.External links
* [http://nla.gov.au/nla.pic-an24229634 Portrait, National Library of Australia]
* [http://www.nla.gov.au/guides/federation/people/hopkins.html HOPKINS, LIVINGSTON (1846-1927)] Biographical Page, National Library of Australia.
* [http://www.cultureandrecreation.gov.au/articles/cartoons/ Australian political cartooning - a rich tradition] Australian Government Culture and Recreation Portal.References
*Dictionary of Australian Biography|First=Livingston |Last=Hopkins|Link=http://gutenberg.net.au/dictbiog/0-dict-biogHi-Hu.html#hopkins1
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