MELBOURNE caricaturist Paul Harvey had been plying his craft for a little while when the call came from an old Marcellin College contemporary.
It was 2001, and Harvey was asked by Stephen Silvagni whether he could fashion a suitable Testimonial poster.
“It was a fun job, called ‘Sostopus’ as Stephen was pictured wrapping those long arms around some of the greatest full-forwards to play the game,” Harvey said.
“I looked after ‘Sos’ in the caricature because you’ve got to look after your mates, and he’s looking youthful and pretty, (but) I wasn’t so kind to (Gary) Ablett, (Tony) Lockett or (Jason) Dunstall.”
The 'Sostopus' by Paul Harvey.
Upholding the tradition, Harvey followed up with a caricature of Jack Silvagni, which features at the Head High Tackle - Art of the Card exhibition currently staged at the Australian Cartoonist Museum at the Docklands.
“I caught up with Jack at my nephew’s 21st and mentioned I was doing him for this year’s cards. He mentioned that all the caricaturists always gave him large, bucked teeth,” Harvey recalled.
“I told him I would find something else, although I had already finished his caricature . . . and I clearly remembered giving him a huge set of chompers.”
Jack Silvagni by Paul Harvey.
For the best part of 30 years, Harvey has fashioned football caricatures, whether posters or cards, for Testimonials, Grand Finals or Brownlow counts. A personal favourite is the annual caricature of the Carbine Club’s legend, and his six years with Select have involved the crafting of no fewer than 500 footy cards of current or recently-retired players.
“I do them before the draft then we all hold our breath and cross our fingers that I don’t have to do change players at the last minute as the deadlines are tight. This gets harder and harder every year,” Harvey conceded.
“I also prepare a large illuminated certificate for each year’s Brownlow Medallist, which has happened since 2002 when Simon Black won, and I’ve done two for ‘Juddy’ (Chris Judd).”
This year, Harvey hand-painted all the players for the Head High Tackle - Art of the Card exhibition at the Australian Cartoon Museum. A personal favourite for Harvey is the Sam Petrevski-Seton card, and the artist’s modus operandi in noble.
To quote Harvey: “I’m selling the paintings to make a little money for the museum, which is self-funded and a brilliant concept. Teaching through cartoons is a wonderful way to learn”.
Sam Petrevski-Seton by Paul Harvey.
The Australian Cartoon Museum is a new non-profit and self-funded endeavour which aims to educate through cartoons while lauding and celebrating an industry that has punched above its weight on the international stage for well over 100 years.
The exhibition runs until the end of April (maybe longer) and the paintings will be available as long the exhibition runs. Celebratory postcards and limited-edition prints are also available.
Interested parties are urged to contact Paul Harvey on 0425727554.
