{{Short description|British cartoonist (1919–1997)}} {{about||the American artist and quilter|Michael A. Cummings|the lead vocalist of rock band Powerman 5000|Spider One}} {{Use dmy dates|date=May 2020}} {{Infobox person | birth_date = {{birth date|1919|6|1|df=y}} | death_date = {{death date and age|1997|10|9|1919|6|1|df=y}} | education = Hall in Hampstead, Gresham's School in Norfolk, and the Chelsea School of Art in London | father = A. J. Cummings }} '''Arthur Stuart Michael Cummings''' OBE (born Leeds, Yorkshire, 1 June 1919, died London, 9 October 1997) was a British newspaper cartoonist.<ref name="IND">Gifford, Dennis, "[https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/obituary-michael-cummings-1235266.html Obituary: Michael Cummings]", ''The Independent''. 11 October 1997. Retrieved 28 February 2020.</ref><ref name="DE">Allen, Robert, and Frost, John, ''Voice of Britain : the inside story of the Daily Express''.Cambridge : Stephens, 1983. {{ISBN|9780850595697}} (p. 160-161)</ref> He was known as '''Michael Cummings''' and signed his work simply '''Cummings'''.
==Early life== Cummings's mother was an artist, while his father, A. J. Cummings, was political editor of the Liberal ''News Chronicle'' daily newspaper of London. He was educated at The Hall, Hampstead, London, Gresham's School, in Norfolk, then at the Chelsea School of Art, London.<ref name="IND" />
During the Second World War, he worked for the Air Ministry and became a major contributor to the training journal ''Aircraft Recognition''.<ref>{{cite book |last= Hamilton |first= Tim |title= Identification Friend or Foe |publisher= HMSO |year= 2004 |isbn= 0-11-290496-3 |pages=118–119}}</ref>
==Work== Cummings was initially a supporter of the Labour Party and contributed illustrations for the pro-Labour magazine ''Tribune''.<ref name="IND" /> He later joined the ''Daily Express''; he would subsequently draw most of his work for that newspaper and ''The Sunday Express''.<ref name="DE" /> His move to these publications also coincided with Cummings's moving to the political right.<ref name="DE" /> In a discussion of Cummings's political views, Robert Allen and John Frost described him as a Conservative. They added that Cummings "obviously reveres Mrs Thatcher, intensely dislikes Tony Benn (and takes credit for being the first cartoonist to note his wild stare), has no time at all for Ted Heath, and so on".<ref name="DE" /> Cummings saw himself as "a rude little boy speaking out at the awkward moment", but to many of his critics he was a reactionary. Common targets of Cumming's pen were the Labour Party, left-leaning town councils, trade unions, student activists, and immigration. Cummings was also opposed to communism, and his cartoons frequently satirized both the Soviet Union and Maoist China.<ref name="ENC">"Life and Letters Today", ''Encounter'' magazine, May 1972, (p. 97)</ref>
==Controversy== In 1965, Cummings drew a cartoon depicting Lyndon B. Johnson being entangled in a thorn tree with the head of a black man, while a British politician wearing blinkers watered a plant with the head of a black child. The tree carried three labels on its branches marked "Little Rock", "Malcolm X" and "Harlem Riots". The cartoon was an expression of Cummings's opposition to allowing black people to immigrate to Britain, believing such immigration would cause US-style race riots.<ref name="NP">"Newspaper Picture Brings Censure," London Times, 26 May 1965, 8, col. 6.</ref><ref name="TN">Tuck, Stephen, ''The night Malcolm X spoke at the Oxford Union : A Transatlantic Story of Antiracist Protest''. Oakland, California : University of California Press, 2014, {{ISBN|9780520279339}} (p.106)</ref> This cartoon drew complaints from a group of Oxford students. They made an unsuccessful complaint to the British Press Council, stating that the cartoon distorted "historical, political and social realities to express a view which is not merely the lowest taste, but is a direct and calculated insult to coloured peoples both in Britain and America".<ref name="NP" /><ref name="TN" />
During The Troubles in Northern Ireland, Cummings repeatedly caricatured Irish people as diminutive, stupid, and murderous.<ref name="DC" /><ref name="MJH">Hurley, Michael J., [https://books.google.com/books?id=TNKGAAAAIAAJ&q=apes ''Blood on the shamrock : an American ponders Northern Ireland, 1968-1990'']. New York : Peter Lang, 1991 {{ISBN|9780820412627}} (p. 264).</ref> In October 1971, Cummings drew a cartoon titled "Father O'Brezhnev, Missionary to Ulster", which depicted Leonid Brezhnev as a Roman Catholic Priest who was supplying weapons to the IRA.<ref name="ENC" /> On 17 October 1971, National Union of Journalists members on the Scottish ''Daily Express'' objected strongly to Cummings's cartoon. The NUJ members described it as anti-Catholic, and expressed fears it would worsen sectarianism in Glasgow.<ref name="TG">Gallaghter, Tom ''Glasgow's Uneasy Peace: Religious Tension in Modern Scotland, 1819-1914''. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1987. {{ISBN|9780719023965}} (p. 295)</ref> The NUJ members stopped the presses in protest, and over 350,000 copies of the ''Daily Express'' were lost.<ref name="ENC" /><ref name="TG" /> The International Press Institute later criticized the NUJ's action, stating that their refusal to print the Cummings cartoon was "a serious threat to freedom of expression, all the more deplorable because the threat comes from journalists."<ref name="ENC" /> On 29 May 1982, ''The Irish Times'' published an interview with Cummings, during which the reporter took issue with his depiction of the Irish. Cummings responded that he had a "cartoonist's licence" to depict the Irish as "extremely violent, bloody-minded, always fighting, drinking enormous amounts, getting roaring drunk". Cummings also added that the Provisional IRA's violent acts did tend to "make them look rather like apes, though that's rather hard luck on the apes".<ref name="MJH" /><ref name="DC">Douglas, Roy, Harte, Liam, O'Hara, Jim, ''Drawing conclusions : a cartoon history of Anglo-Irish relations, 1798-1998'' Belfast : Blackstaff, 1998. {{ISBN|9780856406249}} (p. 279)</ref> This caused several writers to accuse Cummings of promoting anti-Irish prejudices.<ref name="DC" /><ref>"Cummings, in the ''Daily'' and ''Sunday Express'' and Jak, of the ''Evening Standard'', in particular, specialized in drawing cartoons of midget Irishmen snarling, fighting, generally behaving in a ridiculous fashion." Kirkadly, John, "English Cartoonists, Ulster Realities", in Yonah Alexander and Alan O'Day (eds.) ''Ireland's terrorist dilemma''. Dordrecht; Boston; Lancaster : M. Nijhoff, 1986. {{ISBN|9780898389128}} (p.115)</ref>
==Reception== Cummings's work was praised by Gerald Nabarro. In his autobiography, ''NAB 1: Portrait of a Politician'', Nabarro described Cummings as a "great artist" who "adds vivacity and insight to every political situation he depicts."<ref>Mumford, Alan, ''Tory Blues : a cartoon history of the Conservative Party'' London, England : Political Cartoon Society, 2008. {{ISBN|9780954900892}} (p.26)</ref> Amongst his fellow cartoonists, "Vicky" in particular hated Cummings, claiming – according to the journalist James Cameron – that "he was the only man entitled to draw with a Post Office nib": "He also despised his political attitudes and said he was a time-server."<ref>[https://www.cartoons.ac.uk/cartoonist-biographies/c-d/ArthurStuartMichaelCummings.html Arthur Stuart Michael Cummings], cartoons.ac.uk, accessed 17 February 2021</ref>
==Honours== *1983 – Officer of the Order of the British Empire
==Notes== {{reflist}}
==References== *''Dictionary of National Biography'' (Oxford University Press, 2004) *[http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/articleHL/69184 Cummings at the Oxford DNB]{{subscription required}}
==External links== *[http://kent.ac.uk/cartoons The British Cartoon Archive has a database of over 4,000 cartoons by Cummings]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Cummings, Arthur Stuart Michael}} Category:1919 births Category:1997 deaths Category:British editorial cartoonists Category:People educated at Gresham's School Category:Officers of the Order of the British Empire Category:Alumni of Chelsea College of Arts Category:Anti-black racism in the United Kingdom Category:Anti-Irish sentiment