Fonds comprises a series of original works by Duncan Macpherson, acquired directly from the artist, the majority of which are editorial cartoons published in the Toronto Star; a series of courtroom sketches of the 1971 trial of the Front de libération du Québec members Paul Rose, Jacques Rose and Francis Simard which were commissioned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation; and a set of drawings of the Justices of the Supreme Court.
Macpherson, Duncan Ian, 1924-1993 : Political cartoonist, artist. Duncan Ian Macpherson was born in 1924 in Toronto, Ontario. He began his art training in the Royal Canadian Air Force in England during the Second World War. He attended the Boston Museum School of Art from 1946 to 1948, and upon graduation, began a two-year course at the Ontario College of Art. He freelanced for the Christian Science Monitor, the Montreal Standard, and Maclean's (he was hired by the then-editor Pierre Berton) before joining the staff of the Toronto Star as their editorial cartoonist in 1958. As editorial cartoonist for the Toronto Star his work was printed in over a hundred different newspapers around the world. MacPherson was considered the first independent Canadian cartoonist who was not merely an illustrator of a newspaper's editorial opinion but expressed his own interpretations. He developed over several decades with the Star a rich visual vocabulary, often literary and historical in its allusions. He was considered the foremost editorial cartoonist in Canada. Throughout his career, Duncan Macpherson was awarded numerous awards and accolades. In 1965, he exhibited his work at the Art Gallery of Toronto, and in 1966, he was awarded the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts medal for his distinguished work in the visual arts. In 1971, he was awarded the Molson Prize ($15,000) from the Canada Council, and in 1973, he became a member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts. A six-time winner of the National Newspaper Award as Canada's best cartoonist, he received a National Press Club award for outstanding service to journalism. Annual collections of his cartoons culminated in the publication of his seventeenth book in 1979. Macpherson retired from the Toronto Star in 1980. His retirement was noted by Steve Bradley as a 'loss to the cartoon community.' MacPherson died in 1993.
