Al Ross

Al Ross (October 19, 1911 – March 22, 2012) was an American painter, artist, and cartoonist, a long-time contributor to The New Yorker magazine. He is known for his droll cartoons featuring married couples, bar habitués, anthropomorphic animals, philosophizing prisoners, art and publishing world denizens, anachronistic mythological figures, and loyal Mets fans. 

His work also appeared in Collier's, The Saturday Evening Post, Esquire, Cosmopolitan, The New York Times, Maclean's, and Snappy (Humorama magazine).

Al Ross was born Abraham Roth on October 19, 1911, in Seletyn, Romania, to Reuben Roth, a soldier who served in the cavalry of the kaiser of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and his wife.

Ross was raised in Vienna, Austria. In 1922, he emigrated to the United States, following his father who had moved there earlier after the First World War. They lived in the Spanish Harlem area of New York City. 

Ross had three brothers—Irving Roir, Ben Roth, and Salo—all cartoonists. Their sister, Ann, was a bookkeeper.

During the Great Depression, when he was in eighth grade, he dropped out of school to work as a messenger. Later, he, and his three brothers, studied drawing at the Art Students League in New York. 

From 1937 onwards, and for nearly 60 years, he worked with The New Yorker magazine. Also in 1937, he got married and the couple settled in the Bronx. 

Though known primarily for his cartoons, his true passion was painting. His work was in the Abstract Expressionist mode and he particularly liked the work of Spanish painter Pablo Picasso. His other influences included Willem de Kooning, Georges Rouault, Georges Braque, Joan Miró, Mark Rothko, Paul Cézanne, Henri Matisse, John D. Graham, and Auguste Rodin. In the 1940s, he studied with the famed German-born American painter Hans Hofmann—a key figure in influencing Abstract Expressionism through his teaching at the Art Students League in New York City. 

Ross had a full-bodied illustrator's style at the beginning of his cartooning career that became looser, more minimalist, and more suggestive with time. His only contributions to comic books were the "Twist Turner" features that appeared in Prize Comics in 1940-41. The comic stories were signed "Four Roth Brothers" and were collaborative works between Ross and his three brothers (Irving Roir, Ben Roth, and Salo.)

His last cartoon to be published in the New Yorker was in 2002, 65 years after his first.

In 1953, Ross illustrated Kerwin Bowles' book Sexcapades: The Love Life Of The Modern Homo Sapiens. The same year, he also illustrated the book Bedside Humour by Howard Stackman. In 1959, he illustrated What Every Supervisor Should Know by Lester Bittel.

In 1972, he published Bums Vs. Billionaires with Dell Publishing. In May 1977, he authored Cartooning Fundamentals on Stravon Educational Press.

Ross married Sylvia (Heller) Ross in 1937. They had two sons—David Roth, a painter, and Arlen Roth, a guitarist.

Sylvia started the Rothco cartoon agency, an expansion of the cartoon bank that was started by her brother-in-law Ben Roth. 

Ross passed away on March 22, 2012, in the Bronx, New York City, at the age of 100. Lee Lorenz, the New Yorker art editor and cartoon editor from 1973 to 1993, quoted in the New York Times obituary for Ross:

He was a very talented draftsman who seldom made a preliminary sketch; he'd sit down with a pen and just do it. He valued that spontaneity, which was very much in his character. And he had very good ideas.