Cecil Hartt

Cecil Lawrence Hartt (15 July 1884 – c. 17 May 1930) was an Australian cartoonist and caricaturist. As a wartime artist, he popularised the concept of the Australian digger as independent, easy-going and disrespectful of authority, with a sardonic attitude to life. He was the first artist to be employed by Smith's Weekly in 1919, continuing in that role until his death in 1930. Over his career Hartt produced a large number of cartoons on a broad range of subjects and themes; his drawings encompassed political, social and military topics and were admired for their observational humour and the quality of his character portraits. He mainly drew single-panel cartoons, but his body of work also includes early examples of Australian comic strips. Hartt was the first president of the Australian Black and White Artists' Club, formed in July 1924 (now the Australian Cartoonists' Association).