Bruce McCall explained

Bruce McCall
Birth Date:10 May 1935
Birth Place:Simcoe, Ontario, Canada
Death Place:New York City, U.S.
Occupation:Author
Illustrator

Bruce McCall (May 10, 1935 – May 5, 2023) was a Canadian author and illustrator, best known for his frequent contributions to The New Yorker. He has also illustrated children's books.[1]

Life and career

McCall was born on May 10, 1935, in Simcoe, Ontario.[2] He was fascinated by comic books and showed an early aptitude for drawing fantastical flying machines, blimps, bulbous-nosed muscle cars and futuristic dioramas. In his memoir, Thin Ice (1997), McCall recounted that he was never good at physical activity as a boy,[3] but could count on his mother to encourage his creativity.

Without any serious technical training, McCall began his illustration career drawing cars for Ford Motor Company in Toronto in the late 1950s before moving into advertising. At the ad agency Campbell-Ewald, McCall met and worked with David E. Davis Jr., who later rise to prominence as the Editor in Chief of Car and Driver and founder of the Automobile magazine. Later, in New York, he wrote ad copy for Ford and Mercedes-Benz. He temporarily relocated to Germany after he was put in charge of Mercedes-Benz advertising. After several decades in advertising, he sought opportunities elsewhere in the publishing industry.[4]

During his time in New York City, McCall was hired by National Lampoon, where he made a name for himself as an artist with intelligent and whimsical humor. McCall also spent a brief period writing sketches for Saturday Night Live. A large proportion of McCall's work has a retrofuturistic theme.[5] McCall illustrated magazine covers, regularly appearing in The New Yorker,[6] Car and Driver,[7] and other magazines. He has been a contributor to the magazine since 1979. McCall was also a humourist, and has written essays on some of the social ironies of modern life. He wrote frequently for the "Shouts & Murmurs" section of The New Yorker. He contributed more than 80 covers to the magazine over the course of his career.[8]

McCall lived on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City near Central Park. He died of complications from Parkinson's disease on May 5, 2023, at Calvary Hospital in the Bronx. He was 87.[9]

Selected bibliography

Books

Articles

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Bruce McCall. lambiek.net. 27 May 2023.
  2. Web site: Bruce McCall Authors . January 5, 2023 . Macmillan . en-US.
  3. Web site: A Long-Suppressed Urge to Be Noisy . February 24, 2023 . archive.nytimes.com.
  4. Kitman . Jamie . July–August 2023 . Bruce McCall, illustrator, writer, and satirist, dies at 87 . Car & Driver . 69 . 1 . 9.
  5. Web site: Transcript of "What is retro-futurism?". McCall. Bruce. March 19, 2009 . January 24, 2017.
  6. The Driver's Seat. Marx. Patricia. The New Yorker. August 9, 2010 . en. February 21, 2020.
  7. Web site: Bruce McCall Presents Notable Automotive First-Aid Kits. McCall. Bruce. June 22, 2011. Car and Driver. en-US. February 21, 2020.
  8. 2023-05-06 . Bruce McCall's "Safe Travels" . 2023-05-10 . The New Yorker . en-US.
  9. News: Grimes . William . Bruce McCall, Satirical Artist Who Conjured a 'Retrofuture,' Dies at 87 . The New York Times . May 5, 2023 . May 5, 2023.