Edward Benjamin Koren (December 13, 1935 – April 14, 2023) was an American writer, illustrator, and
political cartoonist, most notably featured in The New Yorker.[1]
Koren began his cartooning career at Columbia while drawing for the college's humor magazine. After college, he went on to teach art at
Brown University until 1977.[2]
In May 1962, The New Yorker accepted one of his cartoons. It featured a sloppy-looking writer, cigarette dangling from his lips, sitting before a typewriter. Printed on his sweatshirt is one word: "
Shakespeare".[2] From then The New Yorker published thousands of his cartoons and illustrations, including dozens of full-color drawings published on the magazine's cover. After several years of continued publishing, he quit his teaching job at Brown University and devoted himself full-time to cartooning.[2]
Koren's political cartoons did not appeal to a specific
political party; rather, they were made in order to portray the middle class's frustration with the government.[4]
Columbia University's Wallach Gallery exhibited a retrospective of his work, "The Capricious Line" in 2010.[5] Luise Ross Gallery (New York, NY) exhibited his work concurrently in the exhibition "Parallel Play – Drawings 1979 – 2010".[6]
Personal life
In 1961, Koren married Miriam Siegmeister. Together they had a daughter and a son. They were divorced in 1973. In 1982, he married Catherine Curtis Ingham. The couple had a son.[2]
Koren resided with his family in
Vermont where he was a member of the Brookfield Volunteer Fire Department, formerly serving as its captain.[2]