Noted cartoonist Gopulu, who captured the flavour of everyday life of his period in his illustrations for Tamil magazine Ananda Vikatan, died here on Wednesday. He was 91 and is survived by his son.
“He was as serious artist and could draw on any subject, including political cartoons. His illustrations for novels such as Thillana Mohanambal and Washingtonil Thirumanam were received well,” said T.S. Sridhar, former joint-editor of Ananda Vikatan and a fellow cartoonist.
Mr. Sridhar, who knew Gopulu since his Kumbakonam days, said he always sported a smile on his face. On his retirement from the magazine after an over two-decade stint, he drew for other magazines and even ran an advertisement agency.
A native of Thanjavur, Gopulu studied in Government Arts College in Kumbakonam before coming under the tutelage of Maali, who was in-charge-of arts department of the magazine. It was he who changed his original name Gopalan as Gopulu.
“He was one of the great masters — Maniam, Shilpi, S. Rajam and Madhavan. I will call him the Bhishma among them,” said artist Maniam Selvan, whose father Maniam illustrated for Kalki’s Ponniyin Selvan and Sivakamiyin Sabatham .
Gopulu had observed and assimilated the work of American painter and illustrator Norman Rockwell and famous cartoonist David Low and one could trace the elements of these great artists in his works.
