Barry Blitt, reclusive rural cartoonist, starts a show Saturday

Barry Blitt (New York Times photo by James Estrin)

Barry Blitt, perhaps the most frequent cover artist for The New Yorker magazine, is a reclusive type, but on Saturday he will help open an exhibit of some of his more recent illustrations, plus "never-before-seen drafts and unpublished work," at the Minor Memorial Library in Roxbury, Connecticut, where he lives, reports Jamie Larson for Rural Intelligence, a mostly online publication for rural areas north of the city. The show, “Pen & Angst & Watercolor,” will run through Aug. 5.

His rendition of King Charles III is featured
in the story about Blitt in Rural Intelligence.

"Blitt’s mind has wrought some of the New Yorker’s most recognizable covers, but the man himself usually shies away from any and all public attention. The exhibition is the third Blitt has done at the library and though he admits he gets agoraphobic at events, he’s grateful for the support and encouragement," RI reports. “I’m treating it as an obligation,” Blitt said.

Blitt, who was born and raised in Quebec, attended the Ontario College of Art and Design, worked in advertising in London, “came home defeated,” and moved to New York in 1989, RI reports: "In 1993, tired of the noise, he moved to Connecticut – first Riverside, then Washington Depot, and finally Roxbury, where he has found a nearly tolerable level of seclusion."

Larson adds, "Though his lumpy portraits of presidents and political creatures are his most recognizable works, Blitt says he’s getting tired of drawing the same old disgusting politicians every week for The New Yorker's pages, online his weekly Blitt’s Kvetchbook and for Airmail magazine. He's glad to be showing a collection of his own selection at the library."