"My Personal Tastes Vary from Those of the Curators", Elmer Simms Campbell

E. Simms Campbell entertained readers for nearly half a century with his cartooned commentaries on America. The talent of the young Black artist was recognized early, even in Jim Crow–era Saint Louis, where he began as an advertising artist. By 1930, Campbell had relocated to New York where he designed both movie posters for major studios and book illustrations for various authors, including Langston Hughes. In addition to commercial work, his cartoons began appearing regularly in mass-market publications, such as The New Yorker, as well as those directed to an African American audience, such as Ebony and the NAACP’s Crisis magazine. In 1933, the multi-talented Campbell began his association with Esquire, where he eventually became the art editor responsible for all cartoons. Today his best-known work is the iconic cartoon character Eskie, the bubbly, mustachioed and lascivious gentleman who became the image of the magazine.
Campbell’s prodigious output—hundreds of cartoons, illustrations, and advertisements each year—required great energy. He once claimed the work was “every bit as hard as ditch-digging,” but without the fresh air. Yet it did not interfere with his social life where he earned a reputation as the most dapper man-aboutHarlem. A gregarious and generous host, he loved to expound on the merits of Jelly Roll Morton, Artur Rubinstein, good whiskey, or Leonardo da Vinci. With equal energy he reportedly decried such topics as Picasso, WPA post office murals, Vladimir Horowitz, and the effects of single beds on the American divorce rate.
This cartoon appeared in Esquire in July 1961. It is part of an enormous donation of art materials from the magazine in 1980—the only gift I ever received measured in pounds. No, in tons. The collection continues to be mined for unexpected treasures like several in this grouping. Thank you, Esquire, for the gift that keeps on giving. CCE