A magazine cartoonist and illustrator whose clients included Esquire, New Yorker, Collier's, Saturday Evening Post and Judge, Elmer Simms Campbell was born in St. Louis, Missouri, studied in Chicago at the Art Institute, and in New York at the Art Students League. From 1957 to 1970, he lived in Neerach, Switzerland. He was married to Vivian Campbell.

His exhibition career began in Minneapolis when he was eighteen, and five years later the Harmon Foundation in New York exhibited his work.

For Esquire magazine, where in 1933 he began regular contributions including cover illustration, he created the cartoon character, Esky, "the white-mustached, pop-eyed, bulbous-nosed connoisseur of female beauty". (93) He also did a harem sequence featuring richly colored odalesques.

In addition, he was an illustrator of children's books and wrote articles with drawings on American jazz. In 1936, his skills were recognized with a Hearst Prize. Although he was African-American, he generally did not focus on black subject matter, but for Esquire, he did a series describing life of black Americans in New York during the Harlem Renaissance

Commentary on everyday life of a variety of persons in America was a major theme of his work. He was born into an educated St. Louis family where his father was an assistant high school principal, and his mother was a watercolorist who encouraged his talent. From the time he was young, he did sketching by her side. When he was age 14, he moved from St. Louis to Chicago with his family. There he attended the University of Chicago as well as the Art Institute. He later received honorary degrees from Lincoln and Wilberforce Universities.

During his college career, he began magazine illustrating, and worked nights at College Comics. Cartoonists Ed Graham and C.D. Russell encouraged him, and as a result he went to New York where he enrolled at the Art Students League with George Grosz. He then returned to St. Louis, worked for an advertising agency, and began selling to the well-known national magazines as well as Crisis, the NAACP's publication and Opportunity of the Urban League. For Opportunity, he did illustrations to accompany articles and short stories.

Looking back on his career, he said he worked hard at cartooning and likened it to "ditch-digging without the benefit of air." (93) However, it had benefits, including a world-wide tour with the U.S.O. with other cartoonists.

Elmer Simms Campbell died Janaury 27, 1971. His work is in the Schomburg Center, New York.

Source:
Amy Kirchke, "Elmer Simms Campbell", St. James Guide to Black Artists, pp. 93-94