The long time illustrator for The New York Times, Niculae Asciu has died at age 70. Mr Asciu was also a New Yorker cartoonist and cover artist, contributing 3 covers and 23 cartoons over sixteen years, from 1974 thru 1990. Mr. Asciu was that rare cartoonist whose work, like his contemporary Nurit Karlin, was mostly captionless if not entirely wordless — not one of Mr. Asciu’s New Yorker cartoons bore a caption. His line, disarmingly casual but precise, seemed to echo elements of Bruce Petty and Arnie Levin, as well as his fellow Romanian, Saul Steinberg.
According to his New York Times obit (March 17, 2013), Mr. Asciu was born April 5, 1942 in Cerna Voda, Romania. He died March 3, 2013, in Queens, New York.
(A tip of the hat to Mike Lynch, especially for the link to this translated piece on Mr. Asciu from cotidianul.ro: “He Died a Great Cartoonist: Nicolae Asciu”)
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