Bruce Petty facts for kids

Bruce Leslie Petty (born 23 November 1929 – died 6 April 2023) was a famous Australian cartoonist and satirist. He drew many cartoons for The Age newspaper in Melbourne.

Bruce Petty was born in Doncaster, a suburb of Melbourne, Australia. His drawings were very detailed. People called them "doodle-bombs" because they linked many different ideas, people, and groups. A journalist named Martin Flanagan said Petty made the world look like a huge, scribbly machine. This machine had cogs and levers that connected people in surprising but logical ways.

Bruce Petty's Work

Petty started working at an animation studio in Melbourne in 1949. Then, in 1954, he moved to the UK. His cartoons appeared in well-known magazines like The New Yorker, Esquire, and Punch. When he came back to Australia in 1961, he worked for several newspapers. These included The (Sydney) Daily Mirror and The Australian. In 1976, he joined The Age newspaper.

Animated Films

In 1976, Bruce Petty directed an animated film called Leisure. This film won an Academy Award for its producer, Suzanne Baker. She was the first Australian woman to win an Oscar. Petty also made other award-winning animated films. Some of these include Art, Australian History, Hearts and Minds, and Karl Marx.

In 2007, Petty won an AFI award for Best Documentary Director. This was for his film Global Haywire. He wrote, directed, and animated this documentary. The film tried to explain how the world became the way it is today. It featured interviews with smart people, students, and journalists.

Machine Sculptures and Books

Bruce Petty also created "machine sculptures." His most famous one was called "Man Environment Machine." People often called it the "Petty Machine." It was a main attraction at the Australian Pavilion during World Expo '85 in Japan.

In 2008, he released a book called Petty's Parallel Worlds. This book showed many of his editorial cartoons from 1959 onwards. It also included street sketches from his travels and etchings. Petty's cartoons often showed things like the economy or world relations as complex machines. These machines would control people or be controlled by them. His drawings were similar to Rube Goldberg machines or Heath Robinson contraptions.

In 2016, Bruce Petty received a special award at the Walkley Awards. This award was for his amazing contribution to journalism.

What Influenced Him

In his book Parallel Worlds, Petty said he was a humanist and a Socialist. He mentioned visiting Nicaragua and Cuba in the early 1960s. He also felt influenced by Colin Wilson's book The Outsider.

Bruce Petty's Family Life

Bruce Petty was married to Julie Rigg, an ABC journalist. They had two sons together. Later, in 1988, he married Kate Grenville, a famous author. They had a son and a daughter. After they separated, Petty partnered with Lesley McKay, a bookseller.

Bruce Petty passed away on 6 April 2023. He was 93 years old.

Filmography

• Hearts and Minds (1968)
• Australian History (1971)
• Art (1974)
• Leisure (1976)
• Magic Arts (1978)
• Karl Marx (1979)
• Megalomedia (1983)
• Movers (1986)
• Money (1998)
• The Mad Century (2000)
• Human Contraptions (2002)
• Global Haywire (2007)

Books

Bruce Petty wrote and illustrated many books throughout his career. Some of his well-known works include:

• Australian artist in South East Asia (1962)
• Petty's Australia fair (1967)
• The Penguin Petty (1972)
• Petty's Australia: and how it works (1976)
• Petty's Parallel Worlds (2008)