Denys Wortman

Denys Wortman (1887-1958)

Denys Wortman was a member of the National Academy and was a celebrated cartoonist and prolific easel painter. Denys Wortman was born in Saugerties, New York in 1887.

Wortman studied at the New York School of Fine and Applied Art with Robert Henri and Kenneth Hayes Miller, both of whom became noted social realists. He exhibited in the famous Armory Show of 1913, and in 1924, began work in New York City for “The World” newspaper, which later became “The World-Telegram and Sun.” He stayed in this job until his retirement in 1954.

Wortman produced hundreds of drawing for a newspaper cartoon entitled “Metropolitan Movies”, which depicted episodes in the lives of an assortment of colorful characters, the most notable being “Mopey Dick and the Duke.” These characters were couple of lovable vagrants who commented on life in America from the Depression through World War II and into the early fifties.

Wortman lived and worked from his home on Martha’s Vineyard from 1941 until his death in 1958. Many of his cartoon subjects were influenced by his wife, Hilda who would report back to Wortman the phrases and conversations that she overheard.

Addendum to the biography from which this information was sourced, from Denys Wortman VIII (son of Denys Wortman):

“In 1953 my dad and Thomas Hart Benton painted portraits of each other. Each
portrait is them painting each other. The two paintings are owned by the New Britain Museum of American Art in New Britain, Connecticut. “Colliers” magazine of October 16, 1953 did an article about the two paintings.