Collection search - Sid Barron fonds [graphic material, textual record]

Record information – Brief
1
Sid Barron fonds [graphic material, textual record]

Hierarchical level:

Fonds

Date:

ca. 1920, 1953-2005.

Reference:

R5572-0-8-E

Type of material:

Art, Photographs, Textual material

Found in:

Archives / Collections and Fonds

Item ID number:

179754

Context of this record:

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Sid Barron fonds
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Record information – Details
Fonds includes:

1356 lower level description(s)
View lower level description(s)

Date(s):

ca. 1920, 1953-2005.

Place of creation:

Canada

Extent:

1,382 drawings.
3 watercolours.
1 painting : acrylic on board ; 61.0 x 38.8 cm.
4 sketchbooks.
0.16 m of textual records.
11 reproductions : photomechanical print.
9 photographs : 3 b&w and 5 col.; 1 contact sheet.

Language of material:

English

Accession:

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Sid Barron fonds [graphic material]

Scope and content:

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Fonds comprises cartoons relating to social commentary rather than political investigation, dating predominately 1970-1985. Toronto and its endless array of suburbs are often the target of Barron's pen as he underlines the strains imposed by big-city living. The cartoonist gently parodies couples and families striving to stay abreast of the latest trends in such areas as self-development, gardening, art movements, modern technology and fashion. More generally, Sid Barron examines changing social mores which affect a wide stratum of society. Subjects of note are the work place, evolving family structures, male-female relations, disenfranchised youth and the onset of the computer age.

The majority of the cartoons was published in the Toronto Star. A smaller number of items were published in the Albertan and in the Calgary Herald.

In 2009, an accrual was made which included textual records; a small number of photographs; four sketchbooks which contain both figure studies from life drawing classes and a number of rough sketches for possible cartoons; examples of Barron's commercial work from the 1950s and 1960s; and one painting he did in his later life. See the textual material series for a file list of his papers.

Provenance:

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Barron, Sid, 1917-2006

Biography/Administrative history:

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Barron, Sid, 1917-2006 : Sid Barron was born in Toronto, and moved with his family two years later to Victoria, B.C. He attributes his interest in cartooning to a severe stutter which left him terribly isolated as a youth. In his early twenties, he received some art instruction which was curtailed in 1938 when his parents sent him to attend the National Institute for Speech Disorders in New York City. Upon his return to Canada in 1941, he began a series of jobs as illustrator, neon sign maker and commercial artist which he pursued for the next seventeen years. In 1958, he joined the staff of the Victoria Times as editorial cartoonist and soon after moved to the Toronto Star. His work appeared, as well, on the pages of Maclean's magazine. Tired of the stresses of Toronto life, Barron joined the Calgary newspaper "The Albertan" in 1962, but continued to mail his cartoons in to the Star. Eight years later, he returned to Victoria from where he produced his cartoons until his retirement in 1989. He married his wife Jessamine in 1975. Barron continued doing artwork after retiring from the newspaper.

Barron is known for the enormous amount of detail he adds to each work and also for his weather 'captions' which appear in the form of either an airplane banner or written on a card held by a ubiquitous cat in the corner of each work. He has been called by Maclean's Robert Fulford "the poet of the mundane", portraying "the inner life behind the picture window". See artist's file 707-56 and "The Best of Barron" by Sid Barron (Lester & Orpen Dennys Ltd, Toronto, 1985).

Sid Barron died in Victoria in 2006.

Finding aid:

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(Electronic) The vast majority of the editorial cartoons have been item-level catalogued. (90: Open)

Additional information:

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Associated material note:

A collection of seventy originals, published in "The Albertan", was acquired by the Glenbow Museum in Calgary.

Related material:

A small number of originals by Sid Barron were also acquired through other private collections. Five works are included in the collection entitled "A View of the World from Ontario" which contains seventy-five caricatures of international interest which were created by Ontario cartoonists and which had been on display in London, England.
Subject heading:

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Editorial cartoons Canada

Caricatures en page éditoriale Canada

Canadian wit and humor, Pictorial

Humour par l'image canadien

Canada 1945-
Source:

Private

Related control no.:

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1987-041 PIC
1987-067 PIC
1989-151 DAP
2005-00638-6
2006-00017-9
2010-00059-5
413-88
Ordering and viewing options

Conditions of access:

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Graphic (art)

[Consultation90 Open]

Volume [R5572]

[Consultation 90 Open]

41--201;

[Consultation 90 Open]

203--206;

[Consultation 90 Open]

200 Item no. assigned by LAC 1--20

[Consultation 90 Open]

201 Item no. assigned by LAC 21--40

[Consultation 90 Open]

203 Item no. assigned by LAC 227--237

[Consultation 90 Open]

204 Item no. assigned by LAC 200--226; 243--252

[Consultation 90 Open]

205 Item no. assigned by LAC 238--241

[Consultation 90 Open]

206 Item no. assigned by LAC 242

[Consultation 90 Open]

Box [1987-041] 10065--10068

[Consultation 90 Open]

010065 Item no. assigned by LAC 1--25

[Consultation 90 Open]

010066 Item no. assigned by LAC 26--50

[Consultation 90 Open]

010067 Item no. assigned by LAC 51--75

[Consultation 90 Open]

010068 Item no. assigned by LAC 76--100

[Consultation 90 Open]

Box [1987-067] 10069--10070

[Consultation 90 Open]

010069 Item no. assigned by LAC 1--23

[Consultation 90 Open]

010070 Item no. assigned by LAC 24--46

[Consultation 90 Open]

Graphic (photo)

[Consultation90 Open]

Textual records

[Consultation90 Open]

Terms of use:

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Copyright: Estate of Sid Barron until 2056.
Credit: Library and Archives Canada.

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Date modified:: 2024-04-09