Fifty years of Aislin
at the McCord Museum

No one is immune to this talented satirist’s incisive pen

By Jean-François Brucel

Photo: Eva Blue via StockPholio.net

For fifty years, Aislin, the pen name of Terry Mosher, has delighted us with the sharpness and bite of his cartoons, which are well worth an exhibition at the McCord Museum. According to Maclean’s magazine, the artist is probably Canada’s best satirist. Author of 46 books, Aislin is published internationally and his drawings have even occasionally attracted the wrath of Canadian politicians such as Robert Layton in 1993. Mosher became the first artist whose work was denounced by a member of Parliament in the House of Commons as a “crime against the Canadian core values of decency and mutual respect…” Needless to say, it was the best day in Aislin’s long career in as a political cartoonist.

According to Maclean’s magazine, the artist is probably Canada’s best satirist.

A changing society

No one is immune to Aislin’s incisive pen, and Canadian society is an inexhaustible source of subjects for his well-respected critiques, while playing on a certain trait or a very Anglophone perspective of hilarious situations. Difficult then to choose the best for this article, but here are a few:

‘No one is immune to Aislin’s incisive pen, and Canadian society is an inexhaustible source of subjects for his well-respected critiques…’

A multimedia experience

Let’s also mention that multimedia consoles allow visitors to view other Aislin drawings concerning this or that character, to prolong the pleasure. Laughs assured…

After Montreal, the exhibition heads to Toronto and Ottawa. Thanks to the McCord Museum for offering this exhibition of a Montreal artist in this 375th year and of course, to Terry Mosher / Aislin, residing in Westmount (where else?), for all this work that has made us laugh for fifty years. Let’s hope he continues for many more.

Aislin: Fifty Years of Cartoons continues at the McCord Museum until August 13.

Photos: Jean-François Brucel