If you’re like us, then the New York Times Op-Ed page is a must-read, in part because of the artwork that’s paired with pieces. Take our favorite columnist, Frank Rich. Next to a recent article on the stimulus bill was the image of a large shark with his pearly whites trained on the President. Under that sat another image, this time of a gleeful Obama posing next to his strung up, captured enemy. It was a powerful visual metaphor.
Not all art makes it into the paper, though, and no one knows that better than Jerelle Kraus. She spent thirteen years at the Times as the Op-Ed Art Editor fighting the good fight for legendary artists such as Ralph Steadman, who wrote the forward to her new book: All the Art That’s Fit to Print (And Some That Wasn’t). We met Jerelle a few weeks ago during a daytime lecture and slideshow at the 92YTribeca where she went through hundreds of pieces of Op-Ed art and told stories of working at the Gray Lady — our favorite involved Richard Nixon tracking her down to get her drawing of him with Brezhnev. Heh.
After the jump, Jerelle reveals her five favorite censored art pieces exclusively for Flavorwire, along with some backstory on why they never ran. Let us know if you agree with her editors’ decisions in the comments.
