Welcome to the wild and wacky world of Nolan Ross (1942 – 1997). As an editorial and political cartoonist with the Detroit Free Press, the United Auto Workers, and the Buffalo News during his eighteen-year career, Nolan’s art blended the good naturedness of Walt Disney with the sardonic silliness of a Mad comic book. He had the ability to distort reality in a humorous way. His cartoons were always delightful, never mean spirited. To this formula he added his mantra, exaggeration and simplification.

You are about to take a journey through his worlds of whatever, wherever, and whomever were most newsworthy of the day. So view them as only he saw them. Navigation through this site is quite simple, so view his galleries, learn more about him and his art, and visit the “Reproductions” shop to purchase Giclee fine art prints. 

His background, education and training were very traditional and conventional - much more like the approach European schools still take to this day. So he resisted the onslaught of computer technology that challenged his artistic nature. Today, technology has decimated his profession. The pencil, pen, paintbrush, and marker are no longer tools of his trade. Newspaper and magazine art departments are now filled with computer operators. Though editorial and political cartoonists are fast disappearing, maybe never to return, their art will live forever. 

There are over one hundred works now on display in this site, with hundreds more available for viewing. So visit again, as new works will be rotated through each gallery on a monthly basis. At the conclusion of your tour, please register your visit. We’d like to hear from you. If you knew Nolan personally or knew of him through his work at the Free Press, we’d especially like to hear from you.