Walter Trier’s Lilliput Covers

EXHIBITION OVERVIEW

The first issue of Lilliput: The Pocket Magazine for Everyone appeared in July 1937. The publication quickly became popular for its small format, whimsical covers and easy-to-digest contents. A welcome distraction for those serving in the Second World War, Lilliput featured entertaining cartoons, short stories by well-known authors and occasional photographs of female nudes.

Illustrator Walter Trier designed all the Lilliput covers – more than 150 ­– from 1937 to 1949. On each cover, he placed a trio of a man, a woman and a little Scottish terrier in a comical situation. Trier called the couple “the embodiment of something eternally amusing.”

In 1976, the Trier-Fodor Foundation gave the Art Gallery of Ontario more than 1,100 works by Trier. This small exhibition is selected from the AGO's collection of 30 drawings for Lilliput and a large number of proofs for the original covers.

This exhibition is included with general admission.