Rowland B. Wilson

His work was called “wry”, “playful”, “gentle” and “distinctive.” Then there were also the more important words “entertaining” and “funny” …as in “very, very funny.” Rowland B. Wilson developed a style of cartooning that became instantly recognizable. First, however, came years in the ink-stained trenches, starting when he was a mere child in his native Dallas. His talent emerged quickly as he worked on the school newspaper and yearbook and created the still-existing leopard mascot.

From this start as a published cartoonist, Rowland began producing a stream of work that evolved eventually into full-page magazine and advertising cartoons and animated drawings for films. College and graduate work at the University of Texas-Austin and then Columbia University in New York City rounded out anything he needed (or wanted) to know. His cartoons appeared widely in Esquire, Playboy, The Saturday Evening Post, The New Yorker, and other magazines. He worked as an art director at Young and Rubicam, a leading New York City advertising agency. The large, striking color ads for New England Life Insurance Company especially featured his wry sense of humor and daring. In a campaign that ran for eighteen years, an unsuspecting victim in unusual peril perpetually answered an offstage question. “My insurance company? New England Life of course. Why?” Rowland’s unique style was adapted for animated commercials by Kimmelman and Associates and used in the School House Rock educational series.

In the 1970’s love of animation took him to London and the famous Richard Williams Studio. This coalition produced the award-winning Trans-Siberian Express commercial and many others. Experience in animation led to work at Walt Disney Animation Studios on The Little Mermaid, Treasure Planet, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Tarzan, Hercules and Atlantis.

Rowland’s masterly amalgam of wit, humor, skill and daring brought a new and higher measure to the art of cartooning. This advanced the genre from simple, funny drawings to a higher level of creative and finished art and sophisticated humor that appealed to readers who wanted a belly laugh, a chuckle and often desired product image and information. From the clever teenager in those early days he created assured and enduring art that was entertaining…and very, very funny!

--An American Master, from Roommates by Peter Vatsures