Helen E. Hokinson

Helen Elna Hokinson (June 29, 1893 – November 1, 1949) was an American cartoonist and a staff artist for The New Yorker. Over a 20-year span, she contributed 68 covers and more than 1,800 cartoons to The New Yorker.

Life and career Hokinson was born in Mendota, Illinois, the daughter of Adolph Hokinson, a farm machinery salesman, and Mary Hokinson, the daughter of Phineas Wilcox, the "Carpenter Orator". She studied at the Academy of Fine Arts (now known as the School of the Art Institute of Chicago), and worked as a freelance fashion illustrator in Chicago for department stores such as Marshall Field's.

In 1920, Hokinson moved to New York City to work as a fashion illustrator and study at the School of Fine and Applied Arts (now Parsons School of Design). Hokinson and Parker also provided a monthly cartoon, "The Dear Man," for the Ladies' Home Journal as well as occasional cartoons for advertising campaigns and other magazines.

Hokinson died in the Eastern Airlines Flight 537 mid-air collision at Washington National Airport on November 1, 1949, en route to an appearance at the opening of a Community Chest Drive in DC. She left dozens of cartoons, many of which were published by The New Yorker in subsequent months.

Books In addition to her own cartoon collections, she also illustrated books by others. Her estate published three volumes of her cartoons during the 1950s.

Awards Inducted into the Society of Illustrator's Hall of Fame, September 9, 2023.