cartoonist and caricaturist, was born in Adelaide. After studying art at the National Gallery Schools in Melbourne he spent eight years as editorial cartoonist on the New Zealand Free Lance (1927-34), e.g. The Old Horse Takes the Road Again (United Political Party) 1928 (ill. Grant, 114), Slaying the Goliath of Unemployment 1929 (ill.119), Handicapped by their Friends 1931 (ill.122), The Universal Squeeze 1932 (ill.121) and A High Exchange Altitude Record? 1932 (Heath Robinson/ Emmett style inflation of a cow to help farmers). He returned to Sydney in 1934 and freelanced until employed by the Sydney Sun and Sunday Sun to draw the main political cartoons after Tom Glover died in 1938. His original Sun cartoons include ones about Sir Eric Spooner (Spooner Papers ML), done in 1934 as a freelance, and ones done on 13 October 1938 and in 1939 as straight political cartoons when Spooner had become deputy leader. A wartime cartoon of world leaders (reproduced Pix 12 May 1945, 30) calls him 'Stuart Peterson of Sydney “Sun”’. He was included in the National Gallery of Canada’s War Cartoons and Caricatures of the British Commonwealth at Otttawa in 1941. Two original cartoons dated 1944 and 1945 are in the Mitchell Library (PXD 764). The National Library of Australia, Canberra, has a plate of 'Ever feel like this?’ showing a huge bomb as an owl gazing at the world as a mouse, evidently from the Sun . F.F. Lynx, The Pen is Mightier (Lindsay Drummond Ltd, Great Britain 1946) and/or Joseph Darracott, A Cartoon War (London, 1989) illustrated his Keeps Rolling Along of 1943 showing Stalin as a bulldozer.

Peterson contributed to the Bulletin in the 1920s and 1930s (included in c.1930s list of Bulletin Artists, Px*D557 pt 5 '46’). 8 original cartoons of 1923-37 and 117 caricatures of 1923-28, many of NZ subjects, are in the ML Bulletin collection.

Writers:

Kerr, Joan

Date written:

1996

Last updated:

2007