Clare Victor Dwiggins name is derived from a combination of his mother’s love of County Clare in Ireland and Victor Hugo’s novels. "Dwig’s" birthplace, Wilmington, was old Quaker settlement in Miami Valley in Southern Ohio and a depot for runaway slaves before the Civil War. It was the kind of countryside that would be immortalized throughout Dwig’s life with his art. He apprenticed in architecture in the Wilmington area, but the lure of travel called. Moving to Denver, he made his art known throughout the newspaper world. Tiring of Colorado, he moved to Texas, and the Southwestern part of the country learned about him when he took a position at The Dallas News, where he further broadened his knowledge of art. After a move to Atlanta, architecture took the forefront, but again it couldn’t satisfy his fanciful nature. The Dwiggins summer home at Canada Lake was called the Dwigwam, and in 1927 the family made their last move to Hollywood with a new Dwigwam in Nichols Valley. The changing years in cartoons came with a fear of being old-fashioned, as Dwig’s themes seemed to be woven around life as he knew it in Wilmington Ohio. Dwig found his first "real" job in 1897 in St. Louis as a $200 a week cartoonist. It was also here, at the St. Louis Conservatory of Music, that he met a lovely piano teacher, Bessie Lindsay. The couple married and became the parents of Don and Phoebe.

At his wife’s urging, Dwig left St. Louis for Philadelphia, working at Wanamaker’s doing advertising illustrations. He also joined the staff of the Philadelphia Enquirer. It was here that he created a series of leather-bound books with illustrations named Crankisms, Whimlets, Brevities, Toasts, and Completed Proverbs.

However, it was in New York that he is credited with creating his first Sunday Cartoon, "School Days", which probably influenced one of his most popular postcard series of the same name. First known for his cartoons and book illustrations , this led to his postcard illustrations, for which he is now famous. In 1902 Henry T. Coates and Co. published 8 cards numbered for pages in the book Whimlets.

Dwig’s fanciful, poetic nature rebelled against any academic method. Imagination, along with humor, characterizes his work. Through his art he offers solutions on how to cope with life’s frailties. He shows complexities and diversities, as in his 24 card sets, "Smiles" Series #169, "Knocks, Witty and 

Wise", Series #165, "Cheer Up", Series #3176, and "Ifs and Ands", Series #100. These series and others show the clever combinations of his art with philosophical proverbial artistry never equaled in this millenium in postcards or any other medium.

Dwig created at least 15 series for Tuck. As the cartoons became more humorous, many themes were used and some are unsigned. "The Mirror, Series #30 by Rose, contains 12 cards modeled by his wife, each having a reverse-written message in or on a mirror. This type of reverse writing was used in the "Fortune Teller" set also.

In his most prolific years, 1902-1910, Dwig created artwork for 10 different publishers: C.W. Anderson, Sam Gabriel, L. Gulick, Kaplan, C. Marks, Cardinelli Vincent, A. Blue, and of course Raphael Tuck. Sarcasm always shows through Dwig’s humor, as in Tuck #180 Series, "Never". "Everytime" shows the fantasy, always revolving around a woman’s face. The "Zodiac", often called the "Valentine" series, is one of the most collectible and finest horoscope series found on any postcard. Each month depicts a pretty woman, poem, and zodiac symbol.

Sam Gabriel published "Leap Year", 10 cards, each with a red border and an ugly woman chasing a man. Kaplan published the "How Can You Do It", Series #49 and #49A, 2 sets of 12 cards with dollar amounts on each. The prettiest series to collect is the "Halloween" set, which is copyrighted by J. Marks, Series #981.

Clare Victor Dwiggins work has been copied but never equaled. We are constantly finding his work in unexpected areas. Ophelia’s Rag is found on sheet music. Scattered cartoons are in magazines like Success Magazine, and on covers, such as Broadway Magazine. Original work keeps popping up at auctions, antique shops and on Ebay.

Dwig died after a battle with cancer in 1958 in North Hollywood, California at the age of 85. He may not be with us any more, but the search for his work never ends.

Written by Eunice Sherman