Gregor Duncan (artist)

Gregor Keane Duncan (1910–1944) was an American artist who specialized in pen-and-ink drawings for magazines, books and newspapers.

Born in Seattle, Washington, Duncan grew up in Sausalito, California, the son of Charles and Constance Duncan. Charles Duncan wore many hats during his career, working as a designer and illustrator, as well as the press agent for Joseph Strauss, the chief engineer on the Golden Gate Bridge. Constance Duncan, the sister of Western painter Maynard Dixon, was trained as a pianist. While Gregor Duncan received no formal art training from his famous uncle, he did work in his San Francisco studio as a "water boy", cleaning brushes, changing the water, etc. Duncan left Tamalpais High School before graduating, and started on the staff of the Sausalito News when he was 17 years old. Soon after, he moved across the bay to San Francisco to do sports and courtroom drawings for the San Francisco Call Bulletin. Duncan commuted from Sausalito to San Francisco, maintaining a small studio in the Montgomery Block in San Francisco.

The 23-year-old Duncan relocated in New York in 1933 and was soon hired by the original Life humor magazine. Duncan drew mostly political cartoons for Life, incorporating ink, litho crayon and watercolor. Most of Duncan's cartoons were very pro-Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal, until the political tone of the magazine changed, forcing him to change the tenor of his work. The early Life ceased publishing in 1936, but Duncan continued working for many other magazines, including Judge, Literary Digest, Reader's Digest, Look, Collier's, Cosmopolitan and For Men Only. In addition, Duncan did illustrations for PM newspaper from its initial publication in 1940. Even while serving in the Army Air Corps, Duncan continued supplying PM with writings and illustrations.

A New Deal political cartoon appearing in the May 1934 issue of Life magazine.

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