Abu Abraham
Encyclopedia
Attupurathu Mathew Abraham (June 11, 1924 – December 1, 2002), pen name Abu, was an India
n cartoonist
, journalist
, and author
. He was a life-long atheist and rationalist.
In a long career spanning 40 years, Abu Abraham lend his service to a broad spectrum of national and international newspapers including The Bombay Chronicle
, Shankar's Weekly, Blitz
, Tribune, The Observer
(1956–66), The Guardian
(1966–69), and The Indian Express
(1969–81).
, Kerala
as the son of A.M. Mathew and Kantamma, Abu started drawing cartoons at the age of 3. After studying French
, Mathematics
, and English
at University College, Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum) and being the tennis
champion, he graduated in 1945. He moved to Bombay
where he became a journalist in Bombay Chronicle
and its sister paper, The Bombay Sentinal while contributing cartoons to Blitz and Bharat. In 1951, he was invited by Shankar, one of India's best known cartoonists at the time, to move to New Delhi
to work in the Shankar's Weekly.
, who encouraged him to move to London
. At 32, Abu arrived in London in the summer of 1953 and immediately sold cartoons to Punch magazine
and the Daily Sketch
and started to contribute material to Everybodys' London Opinion and Eastern World using the pen name 'Abraham'. In 1956, after two cartoons were published in Tribune
, he was sent a personal letter by David Astor
, the editor of The Observer
, the world's oldest Sunday newspaper, offering him a permanent job as its first ever political cartoonist. Astor asked Abu to change his pen name as 'Abraham' would imply a false slant on his cartoons, and so he settled on 'Abu', a schoolboy nickname of his.
Abu immersed himself in British culture and produced incisive political cartoons. He was described in The Guardian
as "the conscience of the Left and the pea under the princess's mattress". He also produced reportage drawings from around the world. In 1962 in Cuba
he drew Che Guevara
and spent three hours in a nightclub with Fidel Castro
.
In September 1966, Abu moved to The Guardian and started to contribute a weekly cartoon to Tribune. During 1968 he edited Verdicts on Vietnam, a collection of cartoons about the Vietnam war
.
with his first wife (Sarojini, from Tamil Nadu
, who he later divorced) and two daughters, Aysha and Janaki, in 1969 to work as the political cartoonist on the Indian Express until 1981. In 1970 he was given a special award by the British Film Institute
for a short film based on Noah's Ark
called No Arks. From 1972 until 1978, he was elected to Rajya Sabha
, the upper house of the Indian Parliament.
In 1975 Indian Emergency
was declared and the freedom of the press was suspended, and Abu fell out of favour with Indira Gandhi
. The direct result of this was the publication of the book Games of the Emergency in 1977, which contained the political articles and cartoons that he could not print during The Emergency. As well as illustrating other books, other collections of his cartoons were Abu on Bangladesh (1972), Private View (1974), and Arrivals and Departures (1983). He also edited the Penguin Book of Indian Cartoons (1988).
The hallmark of Abu Abraham’s cartoons was their merciless attack upon the corruption in politics. As a mark of the man, his cartoons were an assortment of simple lines that stood out for their directness of expression augmented by arresting punch line
s that never missed the mark.
From 1981, Abu was freelance, and then from 1988 moved back to Kerala. He died on 1 December 2002 and was survived by his British
-born wife Psyche. His death was marked by a two-minute silence in the Rajya Sabha and he was cremated with full state honours.
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
n cartoonist
Cartoonist
A cartoonist is a person who specializes in drawing cartoons. This work is usually humorous, mainly created for entertainment, political commentary or advertising...
, journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
, and author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
. He was a life-long atheist and rationalist.
In a long career spanning 40 years, Abu Abraham lend his service to a broad spectrum of national and international newspapers including The Bombay Chronicle
Bombay Chronicle
Bombay Chronicle was an English-language newspaper, published from Mumbai , started in 1910 by Sir Pherozeshah Mehta , a prominent lawyer, who later became the president of the Indian National Congress in 1890, and a member of the Bombay Legislative Council in 1893.It was an important Nationalist...
, Shankar's Weekly, Blitz
Blitz (newspaper)
Blitz is a Portuguese music newspaper. It was founded in November 1984.In July 2002, the newspaper was acquired by Impresa, which gave the newspaper access to more advanced technology, like color treatment, starting a new phase in the life of the newspaper....
, Tribune, The Observer
The Observer
The Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. In the same place on the political spectrum as its daily sister paper The Guardian, which acquired it in 1993, it takes a liberal or social democratic line on most issues. It is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.-Origins:The first issue,...
(1956–66), The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
(1966–69), and The Indian Express
The Indian Express
The Indian Express is an Indian English-language daily newspaper. It is published in Mumbai by Indian Express Group. After Ramnath Goenka's death in 1991, the group was split in 1999 among his family members into two with the southern editions taking the name The New Indian Express, while the old...
(1969–81).
Early years
Born in TiruvallaTiruvalla
Tiruvalla , is a city and a Taluk headquarters located in Pathanamthitta district in the State of Kerala in South India, spread over an area of 27.94 km2...
, Kerala
Kerala
or Keralam is an Indian state located on the Malabar coast of south-west India. It was created on 1 November 1956 by the States Reorganisation Act by combining various Malayalam speaking regions....
as the son of A.M. Mathew and Kantamma, Abu started drawing cartoons at the age of 3. After studying French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
, Mathematics
Mathematics
Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
, and English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
at University College, Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum) and being the tennis
Tennis
Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...
champion, he graduated in 1945. He moved to Bombay
Mumbai
Mumbai , formerly known as Bombay in English, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the most populous city in India, and the fourth most populous city in the world, with a total metropolitan area population of approximately 20.5 million...
where he became a journalist in Bombay Chronicle
Bombay Chronicle
Bombay Chronicle was an English-language newspaper, published from Mumbai , started in 1910 by Sir Pherozeshah Mehta , a prominent lawyer, who later became the president of the Indian National Congress in 1890, and a member of the Bombay Legislative Council in 1893.It was an important Nationalist...
and its sister paper, The Bombay Sentinal while contributing cartoons to Blitz and Bharat. In 1951, he was invited by Shankar, one of India's best known cartoonists at the time, to move to New Delhi
New Delhi
New Delhi is the capital city of India. It serves as the centre of the Government of India and the Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi. New Delhi is situated within the metropolis of Delhi. It is one of the nine districts of Delhi Union Territory. The total area of the city is...
to work in the Shankar's Weekly.
Work in London
In 1953, he met Fred Joss of the London StarThe Star (London)
The Star was a London evening newspaper founded in 1788.The first edition was printed on 3 May 1788 under the editorship of Peter Stuart. Founding sponsors of the new paper included publisher John Murray and William Lane of the Minerva Press...
, who encouraged him to move to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. At 32, Abu arrived in London in the summer of 1953 and immediately sold cartoons to Punch magazine
Punch (magazine)
Punch, or the London Charivari was a British weekly magazine of humour and satire established in 1841 by Henry Mayhew and engraver Ebenezer Landells. Historically, it was most influential in the 1840s and 50s, when it helped to coin the term "cartoon" in its modern sense as a humorous illustration...
and the Daily Sketch
Daily Sketch
The Daily Sketch was a British national tabloid newspaper, founded in Manchester in 1909 by Sir Edward Hulton.It was bought in 1920 by Lord Rothermere's Daily Mirror Newspapers but in 1925 Rothermere offloaded it to William and Gomer Berry The Daily Sketch was a British national tabloid newspaper,...
and started to contribute material to Everybodys' London Opinion and Eastern World using the pen name 'Abraham'. In 1956, after two cartoons were published in Tribune
Tribune (magazine)
Tribune is a democratic socialist weekly, founded in 1937 published in London. It is independent but supports the Labour Party from the left...
, he was sent a personal letter by David Astor
David Astor
Francis David Langhorne Astor CH was an English newspaper publisher and member of the Astor family.-Early life and career:...
, the editor of The Observer
The Observer
The Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. In the same place on the political spectrum as its daily sister paper The Guardian, which acquired it in 1993, it takes a liberal or social democratic line on most issues. It is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.-Origins:The first issue,...
, the world's oldest Sunday newspaper, offering him a permanent job as its first ever political cartoonist. Astor asked Abu to change his pen name as 'Abraham' would imply a false slant on his cartoons, and so he settled on 'Abu', a schoolboy nickname of his.
Abu immersed himself in British culture and produced incisive political cartoons. He was described in The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
as "the conscience of the Left and the pea under the princess's mattress". He also produced reportage drawings from around the world. In 1962 in Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
he drew Che Guevara
Che Guevara
Ernesto "Che" Guevara , commonly known as el Che or simply Che, was an Argentine Marxist revolutionary, physician, author, intellectual, guerrilla leader, diplomat and military theorist...
and spent three hours in a nightclub with Fidel Castro
Fidel Castro
Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz is a Cuban revolutionary and politician, having held the position of Prime Minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976, and then President from 1976 to 2008. He also served as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba from the party's foundation in 1961 until 2011...
.
In September 1966, Abu moved to The Guardian and started to contribute a weekly cartoon to Tribune. During 1968 he edited Verdicts on Vietnam, a collection of cartoons about the Vietnam war
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
.
Return to India
He returned to IndiaIndia
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
with his first wife (Sarojini, from Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu is one of the 28 states of India. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu lies in the southernmost part of the Indian Peninsula and is bordered by the union territory of Pondicherry, and the states of Kerala, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh...
, who he later divorced) and two daughters, Aysha and Janaki, in 1969 to work as the political cartoonist on the Indian Express until 1981. In 1970 he was given a special award by the British Film Institute
British Film Institute
The British Film Institute is a charitable organisation established by Royal Charter to:-Cinemas:The BFI runs the BFI Southbank and IMAX theatre, both located on the south bank of the River Thames in London...
for a short film based on Noah's Ark
Noah's Ark
Noah's Ark is a vessel appearing in the Book of Genesis and the Quran . These narratives describe the construction of the ark by Noah at God's command to save himself, his family, and the world's animals from the worldwide deluge of the Great Flood.In the narrative of the ark, God sees the...
called No Arks. From 1972 until 1978, he was elected to Rajya Sabha
Rajya Sabha
The Rajya Sabha or Council of States is the upper house of the Parliament of India. Rajya means "state," and Sabha means "assembly hall" in Sanskrit. Membership is limited to 250 members, 12 of whom are chosen by the President of India for their expertise in specific fields of art, literature,...
, the upper house of the Indian Parliament.
In 1975 Indian Emergency
Indian Emergency (1975 - 77)
The Indian Emergency of 25 June 1975 – 21 March 1977 was a 21-month period, when President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed, upon advice by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, declared a state of emergency under Article 352 of the Constitution of India, effectively bestowing on her the power to rule by decree,...
was declared and the freedom of the press was suspended, and Abu fell out of favour with Indira Gandhi
Indira Gandhi
Indira Priyadarshini Gandhara was an Indian politician who served as the third Prime Minister of India for three consecutive terms and a fourth term . She was assassinated by Sikh extremists...
. The direct result of this was the publication of the book Games of the Emergency in 1977, which contained the political articles and cartoons that he could not print during The Emergency. As well as illustrating other books, other collections of his cartoons were Abu on Bangladesh (1972), Private View (1974), and Arrivals and Departures (1983). He also edited the Penguin Book of Indian Cartoons (1988).
The hallmark of Abu Abraham’s cartoons was their merciless attack upon the corruption in politics. As a mark of the man, his cartoons were an assortment of simple lines that stood out for their directness of expression augmented by arresting punch line
Punch line
A punch line is the final part of a joke, comedy sketch, or profound statement, usually the word, sentence or exchange of sentences which is intended to be funny or to provoke laughter or thought from listeners...
s that never missed the mark.
From 1981, Abu was freelance, and then from 1988 moved back to Kerala. He died on 1 December 2002 and was survived by his British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
-born wife Psyche. His death was marked by a two-minute silence in the Rajya Sabha and he was cremated with full state honours.