Norman Mingo

Biography

Born in Chicago, Illinois, Norman Mingo climbed the career ladder as an artist rather quickly. As a child, Mingo was already winning art contests—one prize he earned from a competition included the opportunity to participate in a correspondence course. By his early teens, Mingo had already established himself as a professional artist. His early jump into the art world allowed him to forego finishing high school. Due to his exceptional talent, he attended top art schools including the Academy of Fine Arts and Art Institute in Chicago, the Cleveland School of Art, and the Art Students League in New York.

During World War One, Mingo served in the Navy for three years. When the war ended, he began working primarily as a commercial artist. Around the 1920’s and early 1930’s, he opened his own advertising studio in Chicago. There, he employed future talents such as C.C. Beck, a cartoonist and comic book artist well known for his work on Captain Marvel for Fawcett and DC Comics. While working there, he also worked on official portraits including one for U.S. General George Patton. Unfortunately, when the Great Depression hit, Mingo had to close the studio.

From the 1930’s until the 1950’s, Mingo worked as a freelance illustrator where he worked on advertisements, books, and magazine covers. Magazines he worked with included American Weekly, Pictorial Review, The New York Times, and Ladies’ Home Journal. Other projects he worked on included cover illustrations for paperback books, pin-up art, and film posters. He was especially popular as a pin-up artist and paperback illustrator for Pocket Books publisher. In 1956, Mingo answered two advertisements in the paper—one from an advertising agency and the other from MAD magazine. Mingo’s first appearance in MAD was issue #30, and from then, he worked on eight covers until 1957—when he left his job to focus more on his advertising work with Dancer Fitzgerald Sample advertising agency. Mingo was regarded as the “Neuman Portrait Artist Extraordinaire,” giving MAD its first fully rendered depiction of the character in the December 1956 issue.

When Mingo left, he began working exclusively in the advertising business. The clients he illustrated campaigns for included Falstaff Beer, the US Army, General Mills, and L&M Cigarettes. When Mingo left MAD in 1957, Frank Kelly Freas took over as cover artist up until 1962. When Freas left to pursue his career in the science fiction genre, Mingo returned at the behest of then Art Director John Putnam—as he had recently been let go from his advertising job. Mingo went on to produce 97 covers for MAD, and over 100 additional images for MAD’s reprints, specials, and paperbacks. When Mingo made his MAD debut, he became the oldest of their regulars to contribute to the magazine—he was 60 years old when he took his first MAD cover assignment. He also happened to be the only veteran of World War One among the MAD staff.

Norman Mingo continued to contribute to the magazine up until his death in 1980. He was battling a lengthy illness and died at the age of 84.

Born: January 25, 1896 | Died: May 8, 1980

Biography

Illustrations by Norman Mingo

Additional Resources

Bibliography