E. Simms Campbell

E. Simms Campbell's Cuties was syndicated by King Features to more than 145 newspapers. Elmer Simms Campbell (January 2, 1906 – January 27, 1971) was an American commercial artist best known as the cartoonist who signed his work, E. Simms Campbell. The first African-American cartoonist published in nationally distributed, slick magazines, he created Esky, the familiar pop-eyed mascot of Esquire.

Early life and education Campbell was born in St. Louis, Missouri, the son of educators, Elizabeth Simms Campbell and Elmer Campbell.

He spent two years at Triad Studios before moving to New York City in 1929. A month afterward, he found work with the small advertising firm, Munig Studios, and began taking classes at the National Academy of Design.

Following the suggestion of cartoonist Russell Patterson to focus on good girl art, Campbell created his "Harem Girls", a series of watercolor cartoons that attracted attention in the first issue of Esquire, debuting in 1933. Campbell's artwork was in almost every issue of Esquire from 1933 to 1958 and he was the creator of its continuing mascot, the cartoon character in a silk top hat.

He also contributed to The Chicagoan, Cosmopolitan, Ebony, The New Yorker, Playboy, Opportunity: A Journal of Negro Life, Pictorial Review, and Redbook.

His commercial artwork for advertising included illustrations for Barbasol, Springmaid, and Hart Schaffner & Marx.

Campbell also was the author of a chapter on blues music in the 1939 book Jazzmen, a seminal study of jazz's history and development.

Campbell died in White Plains, New York, in 1971. The map is currently held at the Yale Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library.

On April 4, 2017, National Geographic published an article on the map that included the map and several enlarged sections of it. They featured it again during 2020 to subscribers of their newsletter, among a collection of unique maps of New York City.

Recognition In 1940, Campbell was honored with 1 of the 33 dioramas at the American Negro Exposition in Chicago. In 2020, Campbell was inducted into the Eisner Award Hall of Fame.