Artwork set to appear on the cover of the December edition of the New Yorker will apparently do so without any mention of a nearly identical political cartoon published in late August.
The forthcoming New Yorker cover, which is being hailed in the press as “excellent” by Ezra Klein on Vox.com and “brilliantly simple” by Business Insider, shows St. Louis’ iconic Gateway Arch, split down the middle, one side white and one side black, symbolizing the recent tension over the shooting death of Ferguson, Mo., resident Michael Brown.
Bob Staake, the artist and one-time St. Louis resident being featured by the New Yorker, told the publication that he “wanted to comment on the tragic rift that we’re witnessing” in Ferguson and elsewhere in America.
“I lived in St. Louis for 17 years before moving to Massachusetts, so watching the news right now breaks my heart,” he said. “At first glance, one might see a representation of the Gateway Arch as split and divided, but my hope is that the events in Ferguson will provide a bridge and an opportunity for the city, and also for the country, to learn and come together.”
The New Yorker makes no mention of the fact that artist R.J. Matson crafted almost the exact same image in a political cartoon published Aug. 21, 2014.
Staake, for his part, maintains that he had not seen the Matson cartoon prior to creating the artwork for the December edition of the New Yorker.
“It’s the first time I’m seeing an editorial cartoon by my colleague RJ Matson that also references a broken Gateway Arch to symbolize Saint Louis,” he said in a Facebook post. “When I thought up my idea, I recalled all those famous black and white photos of the incomplete arch being built. To the extent that we both came up with similar ideas, I’m reaching out to him, hoping we can join forces to spread the message of repairing what’s so badly broken in Ferguson.”
When contacted by the Washington Examiner for comment on the apparent similarities, the New Yorker noted that Matson himself said in a statement to the Washington Post that he sees no problem in Staake’s cover art.
“For what it’s worth, I like Bob Staake’s drawing very much. I have no doubt that if had seen my cartoon, even after he had come up with the idea on his own, he never would have submitted the idea to the New Yorker,” Matson said.
“To me, the divided arch image was very obvious. Almost too easy. But good ideas always seem too easy after one comes up with them, I suppose. I would expect dozens of editorial cartoonists to come up with the same image independently,” he added. “The most obvious choice of imagery, symbolism, and cultural reference for specific current events at specific times in specific places will often be the same and that will inevitably lead to very similar, if not identical, cartoons.”
(h/t @SlimerTheSpud1)
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This article has been updated with comment from Staake and Matson.
