The Charles Saxon Collection 3 3
ing to all of these publications are preserved in the Library's collec¬
tion and will be shown in a major exhibition opening next March at
the Library.
Apparent in all of Saxon's work is not only humor but also an
underlying social commentary. The lifestyles of the presumably
sophisticated—the smug corporate executives, the sheltered subur¬
banites, the self-satisfied from all walks of life—were his world. Crit¬
ics of his cartoons have said they are in the classic tradition of social
satire that reaches back to Daumier and Gavarni, and that together
they form a unique social history of our time. Who could deny that
they portray the humor and the bitterness of the human condition,
whether it be among the affluent guests at a cocktail party, the
mounted police in Central Park with their walkie talkies, or sheep
being herded through Wall Street by night. These are the qualities
in Charles Saxon's imagination that generated his work as a master
cartoonist. Students and researchers will now be able to study and
to contemplate his achievements in the splendid collection he has
left by bequest to alma mater.