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An article in Alternet notes that the New York Times, killed "320 illustrations – by 142 of the world's most acclaimed contemporary artists – that The New York Times itself originally commissioned for its Op-Ed Pages, but then got cold feet about running, and eventually paid more than $1 million in 'kill fees' to hide from public view (sometimes for as long as 38 years)."

The Alternet article goes on to note:

Can you imagine illustrations so "blasphemous," so "politically embarrassing," so sexually "over the line" that The New York Times gladly paid a fortune just to protect your delicate eyes from being exposed to them?

You’ll find hundreds of such allegedly “not-fit-to-print” illustrations – together with the bizarre and often ludicrous reasons for suppressing them – in a sly and deliciously funny new book called All The Art That’s Fit to Print (And Some That Wasn’t), by Jerelle Kraus, former Art Editor of the Times Op-Ed and Editorial Pages, who reluctantly quit her "dream job" at the Times after 13 years in order to publish it.

And we're fortunate she did. Her book (published by Columbia University Press) rescues 320 eye-stopping illustrations by 142 of the world’s most provocative graphic artists, including David Levine, Jules Feiffer, Ronald Searle, Milton Glaser, Charles Addams, Maurice Sendak, Edward Gorey, Ralph Steadman, Larry Rivers, Saul Steinberg, Ben Shahn, Art Speigelman, Andy Warhol, Garry Trudeau, and many more....

As media consumers, we owe a debt of gratitude to the feisty whistle-blowing author for giving us what one reviewer has called "a witty, if occasionally scary, peek into the parochial mind-set of the most powerful ‘editorial Mafia’ in American journalism."

***

The enduring relevance of the New York Times op-ed illustrations are explicated with literary flair by Kraus, a former art director of the page, who contends that the groundbreaking pictures changed the very purpose and potential of illustrations... to stir the political and cultural pot. Episodic essays accompanied by illustrations re-create the battles between art directors and editors that have raged since the Times created the world's first op-ed page in 1970. The works of famous Times illustrators like Brad Holland and Roland Topor, are enriched by Kraus's presentation of the controversies associated with their publication or rejection. The book serves as a chronicle of late 20th-century history, replete with sardonic images of tyrants and visual commentaries on the fall of communism; the works of Eastern Europeans who fled totalitarian regimes are some of the most challenging and resonant. In this overflowing treasure chest of ideas, politics and cultural critiques, Kraus proves that art is dangerous and sometimes necessarily so.

-- Publisher's Weekly

"Worth the price of the book is Kraus's 2 1/2-hour encounter with former President Richard Nixon."

-- History Wire

"An intensely personal history of the [op-ed] page as it weathered tempests and tinpot tyrannies at the Times."

Weighing in at 3 pounds, this oversize book is a gem. It reveals how much internal political battling goes on just to approve an editorial cartoon!

Fortunately for us, former NYT op-ed page art director Jerelle Kraus not only shows us illustrations that were banned from the NYT (and some that weren't), but explains the excuses that were given for not printing some cartoons, and the justifications for printing others.

From an online reviewer: "This is a fascinating and exciting book about the power of editorial illustration and all the political events the art covers. Not only does this book allow readers to get an almost tactile experience with the process and creation of OpEd art, it also let's us in on the intrigue surrounding scenarios which unfolded once the art was delivered. The book is such fun to read--it's loaded with facts and anecdotes about world events as well as biographical information about artists we want to know about. Reading about the way in which art was perceived by editors at the New York Times is utterly the most enjoyable and humorous thing about the book because art was turned down for often such absurd reasons. The art in this book is incredible--and the book reveals how potent art and visual communication is in our society. Jerelle Kraus shows us how art takes us places and yet how misunderstood it can be. Reading this book, I feel I just took a great ride through art and culture. Jerelle Kraus has masterfully taken us on an amazing adventure and has written a beautiful and enormously important book!"

-- Columbia Journalism Review

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