Raeburn Van Buren

Raeburn Van Buren (January 12, 1891 – December 29, 1987) was an American magazine and comic strip illustrator best known for his work on the syndicated Abbie an' Slats. He was familiarly known in the professional comics community as Ray Van Buren.

Born in Pueblo, Colorado, Van Buren, a distant relative of US President Martin Van Buren, grew up in Kansas City, Missouri. At the Kansas City Star, he learned cartooning from comic strip artist Harry Wood. In 1913, Van Buren moved to New York, where he illustrated for Puck, Life and The Saturday Evening Post.

Van Buren served in the old Seventh Regiment (107th Infantry) of the 27th New York Empire Division in World War I. He was art editor of the Division's magazine, Gas Attack. An artistry and illustrative flair were evident in his cartoons, and The New York Times compared his artwork in the magazine with that of the famous British illustrator, Bruce Bairnsfather. After military service, he drew cartoons for The Saturday Evening Post, The New Yorker and Esquire. As a freelance illustrator, he contributed to numerous magazines, including Collier's, Redbook and McCall's. He was a founder of the National Society of Magazine Illustrators.

He began drawing Abbie an' Slats in 1937. The strip followed the experiences of a rural spinster raising her young cousin, a streetwise urban child. It was the idea of Al Capp, who intended to start a second strip to build upon the success of his popular Li'l Abner. Instead of drawing it himself, Capp recruited Van Buren. Initially, Van Buren turned him down, but he was soon lured by the prospect of steady work, as he had just had his first and only child with his wife, Fern. The strip was carried in 400 newspapers but did not equal the popularity of Li'l Abner. Capp abandoned the strip in 1945, turning the writing chores over to his brother, Elliot Caplin. Van Buren stayed on the strip, and it ended with his retirement in 1971.

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