By Michael Patrick O’Brien–
I’m not famous enough to commission an official portrait of my face.
And I’m not notorious enough to have a political cartoon that features my homely mug.
Yet, I own one of each, thanks to the renowned Salt Lake Tribune artist Patrick Bagley.
Bagley retired recently after a productive 45-year career with the Tribune.
Announcing the big change, editor Lauren Gustus explained, “[H]e has decided to leave full-time work as a political cartoonist so he has more time to do what he wants to do, such as travel. The good news: he’ll continue to draw Utah cartoons for Tribune readers after retirement, just with a bit more flexibility in his days, working as a freelancer.”
That is good news. I’ve always enjoyed his art and commentary, and not just because I’ve worked as the Tribune’s First Amendment lawyer since the 1980s.
Bagley combines a sharp wit and wonderful drawing skills with keen insights into Utah’s history, politics, and culture. His older brother Will was a respected historian and wrote more than 20 books about the Old American West.
Pat Bagley started drawing seriously in college and published his first political cartoon in Brigham Young University’s student newspaper. It was so good that Time magazine reprinted it a few weeks later.
He worked as a caricaturist at a nearby mall before the Tribune hired him in 1980. The rest is history.
He’s produced more than 6,000 cartoons for the Tribune. His cartoons also have appeared in The Washington Post, The Guardian, The Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, The Los Angeles Times, and many other newspapers.
He won the 2009 Herblock Prize for editorial cartooning and was a 2014 Pulitzer Prize finalist “for his adroit use of images and words that cut to the core of often emotional issues for his readership.”
Even back in 1996, we suspected he’d go on to do all these great things. And so I was quite excited one day when Pat called and asked if I wanted a cartoon featuring me.
He was helping our law firm with a unique gathering. Previously, our large client appreciation events had focused on sports, such as Super Bowl parties.
In 1996 we decided to do something different and hosted an evening at our firm’s offices honoring local artists. We showcased musicians from the symphony, dancers, painters, singers, and even a cowboy poet, all performing in various conference rooms around the office.
We also invited Bagley to draw and discuss political cartoons while our guests watched him work.
He wanted to display a completed work with a familiar face, so he drew me. I sent him a photo and he asked about my interests, all of which he worked into the cartoon.
The finished product shows me leaning against a desk, with an angel and a devil whispering conflicting advice from opposite shoulders. A statue of justice (coyly using a Notre Dame football player instead of a blind woman) stands behind me.
Nearby, leprechauns lobby for their civil rights (“Wee folk shall overcome!”) as a bespectacled senior partner reminds me about billable hour requirements. A reporter tells a less-than-transparent bureaucrat, “You’ll hear from our attorney.”
It’s a masterful work. I don’t know how many of our clients/guests commissioned portraits from him that night, but I’ve always loved mine.
A few years later in the year 2000, I added to my Bagley collection. Tribune editor Jay Shelledy gave me a limited-edition print of Bagley’s huge souvenir cartoon depicting a thousand years of Utah history.
The poster starts with the Ute and Shoshone peoples but ends with a light rail train launching into the future, and with the Mormon pioneers in between. When he finished the monumental work for Y2K, Bagley warned collectors this would be “the last millennium poster he undertakes.”
During the 2002 Winter Olympics, Bagley designed some uniquely-Utah trading pins. One featured polygamists and proclaimed, “Seven Brides for One Brother.” Another depicted the state bird (seagull) with the historically accurate quip, “Crickets make me barf.”
Besides doing the Tribune’s media law work, I’ve been fortunate to write a guest column for the newspaper several times a year. My compensation? Another Bagley portrait also used to illustrate my columns from time to time.
In this new work of Bagley art—done three decades after the first one—Pat had to use a lot more white paint, to show my gray hair and beard. I guess we both have aged a bit over the years.
Tributes are pouring in for Pat. In the first of what I expect will be many honors to come, Salt Lake City’s mayor proclaimed May 31, 2025 as Pat Bagley Day.
I plan to honor him by continuing to enjoy his many wonderful works of art that adorn my office. You can too, because his art and books are available at The Salt Lake Tribune Store and other places.
It’s not legal advice but it’s still good advice. In my humble opinion, you Gotta Getta Bagley.
*Mike O’Brien (author website here) is a writer and attorney living in Salt Lake City, Utah. Paraclete Press published his book Monastery Mornings, about growing up with the monks at the old Trappist monastery in Huntsville, Utah, in August 2021. The League of Utah Writers chose it as the best non-fiction book of 2022.
