Bruce Petty, born in 1929 at Don caster, a suburb of Melbourne, is one of Australia’s best known political satirists and cartoonists. He is a regular contributor to Melbourne’s The Age newspaper.
His intricate images have been described as “doodle-bombs” for their free-association of links between various ideas, people and institutions. Age journalist Martin Flanagan wrote that Petty “re-invented the world as a vast scribbly machine with interlocking cogs and levers that connected people in wholly logical but unlikely ways.”
Bruce Leslie Petty
Date of Birth: 23 November 1929
Date of Death: 6 April 2023 (Aged 93)
Occupations: Political Satirist, Sculptor, Cartoonist
Notable Works: Petty Machine, Award-Winning Animated Films
Contributions: Regular contributor to Melbourne’s The Age newspaper
Biography: Bruce Leslie Petty was an Australian political satirist, sculptor, and cartoonist. He was born on 23 November 1929 in Don caster, a suburb of Melbourne. Petty’s intricate images, often referred to as “doodle-bombs,” were known for their free-association of links between various ideas, people, and institutions. Age journalist Martin Flanagan described his work as re-inventing the world as a vast scribbly machine with interlocking cogs and levers that connected people in wholly logical but unlikely ways.
Career Highlights: Petty began his career at the Owen Brothers animation studio in Melbourne in 1949. He later moved to the UK in 1954 and had his cartoons published in prestigious publications like The New Yorker, Esquire, and Punch. After returning to Australia in 1961, he worked for various publications before joining The Age in 1976. Petty’s animated film “Leisure,” which he directed, won an Academy Award in 1976. He created several other award-winning animated films and “machine sculptures,” including the famous “Man Environment Machine.”
Awards and Honors: Petty received numerous awards during his career, including a Silver Stanley Award from the Australian Cartoonists’ Association in 2001 and the AFI Best Documentary Director prize in 2007. He also received the Melbourne Press Club’s Quill Lifetime Achievement Award in 2009. Petty’s 2008 book, “Petty’s Parallel Worlds,” is a retrospective collection of his work.
Influences: Petty identified as a humanist and socialist, and mentioned being influenced by visits to Nicaragua and Cuba in the early 1960s. He cited Colin Wilson’s “The Outsider” as an influence on his work.
Personal Life: Petty was married twice, first to ABC journalist and film critic Julie Rigg, with whom he had two sons. In 1988, he married award-winning author Kate Grenville, and they had a son and a daughter. Petty later separated from Grenville and partnered with bookseller Lesley McKay.
Personal life
Petty was first married to ABC journalist and film critic Julie Rigg. They have two sons. In 1988, he married award-winning author Kate Grenville, with whom he has a son and a daughter. He and Grenville have separated, and Petty is now partnered with the bookseller Lesley McKay.
Petty’s Work life
Cartoons
Petty began working for the Owen Brothers animation studio in Melbourne in 1949, before moving to the UK in 1954. His cartoons were published in The New Yorker, Esquire, and Punch. On his return to Australia in 1961, he worked at first for The (Sydney) Daily Mirror, The Bulletin, and The Australian before joining The Age in 1976.
In 1976, the animated film Leisure, of which he was the director, won an Academy Award for the producer Suzanne Baker (the first Australian woman to win an Oscar).”When I got it, the Oscar went to the producer. We got a picture of it, a very nice gold-framed picture.” (The Age, 22 June 2004).
His early political cartoon book, Australia Fair, was an inspiration for every Australian young cartoonist. His liberated, freewheeling line work (inspired by Thurber and Topolski) influenced many young cartoonists who yearned for a style that did not depend on conventional draughtsmanship.
Films
He has made many films since then, including Global Haywire, which won an AFI award for Best Director. His love of the “contraption” also drew him to make a three-dimensional sculpture called “Man Environment Machine,” exhibited at the World Expo in 1985 in the Australian Pavilion.
Others achievements
His other great achievement was in a sense journalistic. He imagined a visual approximation of economics, a Newtonian world of levers and pulleys. The pseudo-scientific jargon of economics is easy meat for a satirist. Bruce’s wild thicket of lines is ideally suited to the chaotic reality of modern economics in the era of the Global Financial Crisis.
For years, Bruce has attended Federal Government budget lock-ups. For about five hours Bruce would be locked in a room full of reporters, sub-editors and other cartoonists and a mountain of budget papers. His job was to find a humorous or ironic comment on as many budgetary categories that he could. Faced with this task, most other cartoonists would struggle to invent more than a handful of ideas. Within an hour of reading the budgetary summaries, Bruce’s desk would be littered with dozens of brilliant, miniature cartoon ideas. Each cartoon was a marvel of dexterity and insight. They were also very funny. Bruce never had a regular designated Petty-desk at The Age.
Awards and prizes
He has made several other award-winning animated films including “Art“, “Australian History“, “Hearts and Minds” and “Karl Marx“. Bruce has also created several “machine sculptures” with the most famous being a piece known as “Man Environment Machine” (fondly known as the “Petty Machine“) that was a feature piece of the Australian Pavilion at World Expo ’85 at Tsukuba, Japan.
In 2007, he received the AFI Best Documentary Director prize for the documentary Global Haywire which he wrote, directed and animated, as well as the Best Documentary Sound prize; this documentary tries to unravel the global pattern that leads to an understanding of how the world came to be as it is today, and is based on interviews with intellectuals, students and journalists.
Bruce’s 2008 book, Petty’s Parallel Worlds, is a retrospective collection of editorial cartoons from 1959 to the present, street sketches were done on assignment around the world, and etchings. Those of Petty’s cartoons that depict themes such as the economy, international relations or other social issues as complicated interlocking machines (that manipulate, or are manipulated by, people) have been likened to Rube Goldberg machines or Heath Robinson contraptions. At the 2016 Walkley Awards, Petty was recognized with the Most Outstanding Contribution to Journalism award.
Influences
Petty says in the foreword to Parallel Worlds that he is a humanist and Socialist, mentions visiting Nicaragua and Cuba in the early 1960s, and feeling the influence of Colin Wilson’s The Outsider. Also by Charlie Perkins.
Filmography
- Hearts and Minds (1968).
- Australian History (1971).
- Art (1974).
- Leisure (1976).
- Magic Arts (1978).
- Karl Marx (1979).
- Megalo media (1983).
- Movers (1986).
- Money (1998).
- The Mad Century (2000).
- Human Contraptions (2002).
- Global Haywire (2007).
Books
- Australian artist in South East Asia (1962).
- Petty’s Australia fair (1967).
- A portfolio of Petty (1969).
- The best of Petty (1968).
- The Penguin Petty (1972).
- Petty’s Australia: and how it works (1976).
- The Petty age (1978).
- Petty’s money book (1983).
- Women and men (1986).
- Bruce Petty’s absurd machine (1997).
- Petty’s Parallel Worlds (2008).
Personal life and death
Petty was married firstly to ABC journalist and film critic Julie Rigg. They had two sons. In 1988, he married award-winning author Kate Grenville, with whom he had a son and a daughter. He and Grenville separated, and Petty then partnered with the bookseller Lesley McKay.
Petty died on 6 April 2023, at the age of 93.
FAQ about Cartoonist Bruce Petty
1. Who was Bruce Leslie Petty?
Bruce Leslie Petty was an Australian political satirist, sculptor, and cartoonist. He was known for his intricate and thought-provoking cartoons.
2. When and where was Bruce Leslie Petty born?
Bruce Leslie Petty was born on November 23, 1929, in Doncaster, a suburb of Melbourne, Australia.
3. What was Bruce Leslie Petty’s style of cartooning?
An intricate and free association of links between various ideas, people, and institutions characterized Bruce Leslie Petty’s cartoons. They were often described as “doodle bombs.”
4. Where did Bruce Leslie Petty work during his career?
Bruce Leslie Petty began working for the Owen Brothers animation studio in Melbourne 1949. He later worked in the UK and had his cartoons published in prestigious publications like The New Yorker, Esquire, and Punch. He returned to Australia in 1961 and contributed to newspapers such as The (Sydney) Daily Mirror, The Bulletin, and The Australian. He became a regular contributor to Melbourne’s The Age newspaper in 1976.
5. What notable award did Bruce Leslie Petty win for his animated film “Leisure”?
Bruce Leslie Petty’s animated film “Leisure,” which he directed, won an Academy Award in 1976. However, the Oscar went to the producer, Suzanne Baker. Petty received a gold-framed picture of the Oscar.
6. What other award-winning animated films did Bruce Leslie Petty create?
Bruce Leslie Petty created several award-winning animated films, including “Art,” “Australian History,” “Hearts and Minds,” and “Karl Marx.”
7. What is the most famous “machine sculpture” created by Bruce Leslie Petty?
Bruce Leslie Petty’s most famous “machine sculpture” is known as “Man Environment Machine,” fondly called the “Petty Machine.” It was a feature piece of the Australian Pavilion at World Expo ’85 in Tsukuba, Japan.
8. What awards and honors did Bruce Leslie Petty receive during his career?
Bruce Leslie Petty received a Silver Stanley Award from the Australian Cartoonists’ Association 2001. He also received the AFI Best Documentary Director prize 2007 for the documentary “Global Haywire.” 2009, he was awarded the Melbourne Press Club’s Quill Lifetime Achievement Award. Additionally, he was recognized with the Most Outstanding Contribution to Journalism award at the 2016 Walkley Awards.
9. What were some of Bruce Leslie Petty’s influences?
Bruce Leslie Petty considered himself a humanist and socialist. He mentioned being influenced by his visits to Nicaragua and Cuba in the early 1960s and by Colin Wilson’s book “The Outsider.”
10. What can you tell us about Bruce Leslie Petty’s personal life and family?
Bruce Leslie Petty was first married to ABC journalist and film critic Julie Rigg, with whom he had two sons. In 1988, he married award-winning author Kate Grenville, and they had a son and a daughter. After separating from Grenville, Petty partnered with bookseller Lesley McKay.
11. When did Bruce Leslie Petty pass away, and at what age?
Bruce Leslie Petty passed away on April 6, 2023, at 93.
