"Gosh, Mr. Sheldon, give me a little time to rest up from my vacation."
Barbara Shermund was an early to mid-20th century female U.S. cartoonist. Between 1926 and 1944, she was one of the pioneering graphic contributors to The New Yorker. Her cartoons center on pretty, independent women, often at the expense of men. For the magazine Pictorial Review, she drew the feature 'Shermund's Sallies' (1944-1957).
Early life and career
Born in 1899 in San Francisco, California, Barbara Shermund was the daughter of an architect and a sculptor. After studying at the California School of Fine Arts, she headed to New York City, living an itinerant lifestyle in the city and upstate in Woodstock, New York, frequently traveling abroad. She never had a studio, preferring to work on a kitchen table sketching on large pieces of watercolor paper.
Cover illustrations for respectively The New Yorker (6 September 1941) and Pictorial Review (16 January 1949).
The New Yorker
Shermund was one of a group of innovative cartoonists at The New Yorker under editor Harold Ross. Her first cartoon appeared in this magazine in January 1926, 11 months after the magazine's debut. She would go on to publish nearly 600 cartoons and design eight covers for them. Her work centers on tall, angular, independent women who often express pointed feminist sentiments. Men are often absent or the target of the punchline. By the 1940s, popular sentiments changed. On top of this, The New Yorker appointed a new, more abrasive art director, James Geraghty. This had a direct impact on Shermund's cartoons, which became less outspoken feminist and increasingly reliant on hired gag writers for jokes and settings. She appeared less frequently in The New Yorker, and her final contribution was printed in 1944.
"You're a very intelligent little woman, my dear" (The New Yorker, 19 May 1928).
Shermund's Sallies
In 1944, Shermund became a frequent contributor to the men's magazine Esquire. She also produced a regular feature, 'Shermund's Sallies', in William Randolph Hearst's magazine Pictorial Review from 13 August 1944 to 2 June 1957. This series was also syndicated through King Features. Her cartoons additionally appeared in Collier's, Life, and Photoplay. In the latter magazine, she illustrated the series 'Miracle Men at Work to Make You Lovelier' (1939).
Recognition
In 1949, Hilda Terry wrote a protest letter to the National Cartoonists Society to argue against the lack of female members. Male cartoonist Al Capp sympathized with their cause and even resigned from the National Cartoonists Society to protest the organization's sexist policies. A year later, Terry, Shermund and Edwina Dumm became the first women inducted into the National Cartoonists Society.
Final years and death
Towards the end of her life, Shermund settled on the shore in Sea Bright, New Jersey and died in 1978 in the Ivy House Nursing Home in Middletown Township, New Jersey.
Books about Barbara Shermund
For people interested in Barbara Shermund's life and career, the book 'Tell Me A Story Where The Bad Girl Wins. The Life and Art of Barbara Shermund' (Fantagraphics, 2024) is highly recommended.
'Shermund Sallies'.