Carl Barks (1901 - 2000) American
Watercolor on Paper
Measure 4 1/4"in H x 3 1/4"in W and 9"in H x 7 1/2"in W with frame

Known for: Illustrator-cartoonist, wildlife
Biography: Carl Barks established his reputation as a comic book artist, and the work that ultimately won him the most distinction was done anonymously from 1942 to 1966 when he drew and wrote the first original Donald Duck comic book stories. Along the way, he created such characters as Gyro Gearloose, Gladstone Gander, the Beagle Boys, and Uncle Scrooge. Barks was born in Oregon, and "by the time I was sixteen, I had become pretty well assured that I wanted to be an artist or a cartoonist." It took him some time to realize his ambition. "I had to go out and be a cowhand and a farmer, a muleskinner, lumberjack, anything that happened to come along that would furnish me with a living," Barks once said. "I'd worked in a printing ship, been a cowboy and a whole bunch of other things, with practically no success whatever." Bark's talents as an apprentice animator waned, but "I turned in so many gags to the comic strip department and the story department that I was placed in the story department on a permanent basis." After working nearly seven years, Barks made up his mind to quit and relocated in the desert country. Just before he left Disney he worked on a one-shot comic book entitled Donald Duck Finds Pirate Gold. Based on an abandoned movie, it was the first original Donald Duck comic book. Later in 1942, Bakes was hired by Dell-Western to do original, 10-plate Duck stories in Walt Disney's Comics & Stories. His first job appeared in #31 (April 1943), and soon he was writing as well as drawing the stories. Barks' forte was the mock adventure tale; he put his ducks into handsomely rendered locales where they could experience every sort of action, intrigue, fantasy, and mystery situation. He built his settings carefully, often using such reference sources as The National Geographic magazine. He drew his characters so well, in every kind of situation, that they became close to real. The Barks dialogue was just about the best to be found in a kid's comic book, equaled only by that of Walt Kelly. He was especially good at the invective sprouted by the avaricious, and short-tempered, Uncle Scrooge. The current, successfully animated television show, Duck Tales, owes much to ideas and approaches done earlier, and usually much better, by Barks. Barks retired at the age of 65 to devote himself to painting. As his identity became known, he became the object of increasing attention in both fan circles and in mainstream publications. His entire output on the Ducks, as well as his work on other characters such as Mickey Mouse and Barney Bear, has been reprinted. Since Barks did all of it as a worker-for-hire, he did not become rich, but he has most certainly grown famous.

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