Continuing the story of cartoonists

‘JR in Cartoons’, a publication by the J.R. Jayewardene Cultural Centre (2002) features a gamut of cartoonists from 1947 until 1996, the year President JRJ died. Cartoonists hadn’t forgotten him even after his death, judging from a cartoon in the ‘Lakbima’ published in 1998. There are over 400 cartoons in the book and each features JRJ from the days he was Finance Minister, through his political career.

The early years (1947 to mid 1950s) are dominated by Collette’s cartoons in the Ceylon Observer, the Lake House evening newspaper which competed with the only other English evening daily, the Times of Ceylon. JRJ does not seem to have been much in the news during the days Collette was in the Times.

In between Collette’s cartoons, there is one by Reggie Candappa, best known as one of Sri Lanka’s pioneers in advertising (the other name being one time Minister and Speaker Anandatissa de Alwis). Reggie C’s is a 1950 cartoon in the Ceylon Daily News. He was then attached to the Group’s commercial department.  

G.S. Fernando was attached to the commercial section of the Times of Ceylon from 1934 and drew cartoons for the Times publications – first the English daily and later in the ‘Lankadeepa’. Some of GSF’s cartoons which appeared in the Times in 1951 are reproduced in the book.

Wijesoma takes over from Collette and his cartoons featuring JRJ picked from the Ceylon Observer in the early 1970s and in the Island from the 1980s onwards adorn many pages.

Jiffry Yunoos was picked up by the hard-hitting daily ‘Aththa’ started in the mid-1960s and several of his cartoons appear in ‘JR in Cartoons’. The selected cartoons are ones featuring President JRJ with his Foreign Minister A.C.S. Hameed who was notorious for his overseas trips.

Amita Abayesekera, better known for his daily column, ‘This is my Island’ in the ‘Island’ occasionally drew cartoons too. The teacher turned column writer/caricaturist had started drawing cartoons as a freelancer while being an art teacher and later joined the Dawasa Group of newspapers.

He showed his writing skills after joining the’ Island’ in his regular column. Incidentally, Upali Newspapers published a collection of his column, which a survey had shown as the most popular item in the newspaper.

One of Amita’s 1982 cartoons in the book titled ‘Politico’s Dilemma’ showing a fat election candidate pleading with President and UNP leader JRJ carried a rather long narrative. In typical form, the candidate (obviously a MP seeking re-election), tells JRJ: “Sir, I’ll go all over the country making speeches! I’ll go canvassing from house to house! I’ll smile with everybody, shake hands and utter honeyed words! Sir, I’ll do anything, but for God’s sake, Sir, don’t ask me to BOW!!.” That was how Amita exposed the politicians in a subtle way. Mark Gerryen joined the ‘Dinamina’ in the 1950s and gradually made his mark as a political cartoonist. He drew for the ‘Sun’ and ‘Weekend’ in the 1980s.

Winnie Hettigoda has made a name for himself as a distinctive artist. His style stands out a characteristic feature of his cartoons is the minimum number of words used, if at all. The ones selected for the book under the theme ‘Sketch of Reality’ are without any dialogues and most them feature JRJ with Rajiv Gandhi.   Both his cartoons from the ‘Lakbima’ (1986 & 1988) had been done after his death.   

The display of JRJ’s nose prominently is a feature in almost all the cartoons. His picture on the cover of the book is one done by Collette. The back cover features a montage by numerous cartoonists.