Politicians from across the political spectrum have paid warm tributes to Rowel Friers, the artist who made them the subject of his satirical political cartoons during the Troubles.
Mr Friers (78), from Holywood, Co Down, died at his home on Monday after a short illness. For several decades he was a successful painter and illustrator, but it was as one of the chief cartoon caricaturists of the past 30 years of strife that he gained most popularity.
His work appeared in The Irish Times, the Belfast Telegraph, News Letter, Dublin Opinion, Punch, London Opinion, Daily Express and several other publications. Of his portrayal of the Troubles, Mr Friers said: "As far as politics is concerned the only side I'm on is sanity. I just make fun of all the madness."
Politicians such as the Rev Ian Paisley, Mr Gerry Adams, and the former SDLP leader, now Lord Fitt, were often depicted in his work, frequently in an unflattering light. Having visited him at his home only last weekend, Dr Paisley told BBC Radio Ulster: "He was a man with a real sense of humour, a man with a real twinkle in his eye that always suggested that he had some pleasant mischief to perform." Lord Fitt said a Friers cartoon could "speak a thousand words". One of his early political cartoons was a drawing of republicans attacking Lord Fitt's home on the Antrim Road. "It showed the smoke coming out of the house and all the wreckage inside, with a builder's placard outside saying, `Renovations carried out by the builders of a new Ireland'," Lord Fitt recalled.
Lord Fitt said he never took offence at his work, and was proud to have some of his cartoons in his possession. Mr Adams said he, too, had one of the cartoons, drawn before Hume-Adams, portraying himself and the SDLP leader, Mr John Hume, slugging it out in a boxing ring with their seconds and supporters in the background. "I like his cartoons which poke a bit of fun at the great and good, and it is a very, very admirable thing to poke fun because people have feet of clay." Politicians North and South were caricatured in his work, many obtaining copies to display in homes and offices.
Mr Friers grew up on the Ravenhill Road in Belfast and studied at the Belfast College of Art. In 1953 the Committee for the Encouragement of Music and the Arts, forerunner of today's Northern Ireland Arts Council, organised his first exhibition.
Blackstaff Press published several collections of his cartoons including Riotous Living (1971), Pig in the Parlour (1972) and The Revolting Irish (1974). A member of the Royal Ulster Academy, he was awarded an MBE in 1977 for "contributions to journalism and broadcasting".
The Irish Times cartoonist, Martyn Turner, said Mr Friers opened doors for Irish cartoonists. His work was always tinged with humanity rather than being vitriolic. "He taught us that it was possible to make a living drawing silly pictures for newspapers which no one had been able to do before in Ireland," Mr Turner said.
