"We'll somehow get this going right...though it's been 'stalled' for nine years!"
| Artist | Paul Clarkson |
| Production Date | 1984 |
| Medium | An original editorial cartoon |
| Size | 260 x 198 mm |
| Classification | Drawing |
| Department | New Zealand Art |
| Subjects | Prime Ministers, men, politics, political cartoons, text, humor, satire, signs, elections |
| Accession Date | Aug 1984 |
| Accession No | C1994/1/478 |
| Credit Line | Chartwell Collection, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, 1984 |
Description
An original editorial cartoon.
Chartwell Notes
The cartoon collection, as a sub-collection of the Chartwell Collection, has an unusual history - they were all purchased on the same day - election day 1984.
A time of political change in New Zealand, the election of 1984 was marked as the time when long standing Prime Minister Robert Muldoon lost the election to Labour Party candidate Peter Lange.Sensing a change of government, Chartwell Collection founder, Rob Gardiner, began the day by ringing all the major newspaper editors in New Zealand with the request to acquire the cartoon produced by their political cartoonist that day. Of course, the majority of cartoons were yet to be drawn, as the 'black and white artists', as they were known at the time, had to await the outcome of the election later in the day.
The collection, which came together as a result of those calls now represents a major period in NZ political history and highlights the role political, editorial cartoonists have in capturing the mood of a country and distilling major events into powerful visual statements.
Gardiner has had a long time love of cartoons, being a publish cartoonist himself in his youth and once making a public speech about his admiration for the cartoonist David Lowe.