Two NY students win Herblock-related cartoon contest

See "A winning combination: Two local students win national editorial cartoon contest,"
By SHARON GLEASON, NeXt Editor, Buffalo News October 29, 2009.

AAEC's Cartoons for the Classroom features Herblock

Click here for the October 25th teacher's handout on Herblock.

Comic Riffs' Herblock article also in today's hardcopy Post

A trimmed-down version of Cavna's Comic Riffs' article on Herblock is in today's paper - "Herblock, Through The Eyes Of History," By Michael Cavna, Washington Post Staff Writer, Wednesday, October 14, 2009.

Herblock exhibit covered by Tom Sherwood

NBC TV reporter (and former Wash Post writer iirc) Tom Sherwood also beat me to covering the Herblock exhibit -

He interviews my friends Martha Kennedy and Sara Duke, and you get a good sense of what the exhibit looks like.

ABC has a text story on the exhibit - "Herblock: Cartoonist Who Coined 'McCarthyism' Honored at Library of Congress; Master of Editorial Cartooning: Herbert Block Cartoons on Display," By LINDSEY ELLERSON, Oct. 13, 2009.

As does the sadly-diminished Syndicate World section of Editor and Publisher - "Library of Congress Opens 'Herblock!' Exhibit," By Elaine Williams, E& P Online October 13, 2009.

"Herblock!" Opens Oct. 13

Library of Congress
101 Independence Avenue SE
Washington DC   20540

September 17, 2009

Public contact: Sara Duke (202) 707-3630, sduk@loc.gov
                          Martha Kennedy (202) 707-9115, mkenn@loc.gov

"Herblock!"
New Exhibition at Library of Congress Opens Oct. 13

He was a fearless crusader who condemned corruption and exposed injustice, inequality and immorality.  Artfully and effectively wielding his pen, he influenced public opinion and jarred the lives of many elected officials.  He was Herblock, the master of editorial cartooning.

The Library of Congress will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birth of Herbert L. Block, widely known as Herblock, with an exhibition that looks at his entire 72-year career, which began in 1929 under President Herbert Hoover and concluded in 2001 during the presidency of George W. Bush.

"Herblock!" opens on Tuesday, Oct. 13, the birthday of the four-time Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist, and runs through Saturday, May 1, 2010.  The exhibition is free and open to the public from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Saturday (closed Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day), in the second-floor South Gallery of the Thomas Jefferson Building, 10 First St. S.E., Washington, D.C.

A companion book, "HERBLOCK: The Life and Works of the Great Political Cartoonist" has been published by the Library of Congress and the Herb Block Foundation, in association with W.W. Norton & Co.  Written by Haynes Johnson and Harry L. Katz, the 304-page hardcover book features a DVD that contains more than 18,000 cartoons.  (The authors will discuss the book from noon to 2 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 15, in the Library's James Madison Building, 101 Independence Ave. S.E., Washington, D.C.)  Arranged chronologically, the book illustrates the influence of history on Block's work as well as his influence on historical events as they unfolded.

The exhibition is organized similarly, with a chronological layout.  The sections include: Herblock's early years, under the title "The Approaching Perils"; the rise of fascism and World War II, "Psychopathic Ward"; the Cold War, "White is Black, Black is White, Night is Day—"; McCarthyism, "Naughty, Naughty"; the 1960s, "Everything's [Not] Okay"; Richard Nixon, "Here He Comes Now"; the 70s and terrorism, "It Gets Into Everything"; Ronald Reagan, "Joy to the World"; Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, "Closing Years, Contrasting Styles of Leadership"; and some special pieces, "Classic Cartoons by a Master."

The 82 original drawings in this exhibition are new to the walls of the Library—they have never been previously displayed.  The cartoons have been selected from the Library's Herb Block Collection, with a few iconic drawings loaned from the Washington Post collection.  In 2002, the foundation donated Block's archive to the Library, and the collection includes more than 14,000 finished cartoons, in addition to preliminary sketches, files and manuscripts.  The Library mounted displays of Herblock's work in 2000, 2003 and 2006.

Born in Chicago on Oct. 13, 1909, Block began his career as a professional cartoonist in 1929, working for the Chicago Daily News and the Newspaper Enterprise Association Service.  In 1946, he joined the Washington Post, where he remained for 55 years until his death in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 7, 2001.  Block won Pulitzer Prizes in 1942, 1954 and 1979.  He shared a fourth Pulitzer with Washington Post colleagues for coverage of the Watergate scandal in 1973.

To view the Herblock collection on the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Online Catalog, visit http://lcweb2.loc.gov/pp/hlbhtml/hlbabt.html.

Founded in 1800, the Library of Congress is the nation's oldest federal cultural institution.  The Library seeks to spark imagination and creativity and to further human understanding and wisdom by providing access to knowledge through its magnificent collections, programs and exhibitions.  Many of the Library's rich resources can be accessed through its website at www.loc.gov and via interactive exhibitions on a personalized website at myLOC.gov.

# # #

PR09-169
9/17/09
ISSN: 0731-3527
 

Art Spiegelman in today's Post

See "The St. Louis Refugee Ship Blues: Art Spiegelman recounts a sad story 70 years later" for Spiegelman's full-page look at editorial cartoons on the St. Louis, a ship full of Jewish refugees from the Nazis that wasn't allowed to dock in the US. It's an excellent piece of cartoon journalism with a hat-tip to Herblock included. A piece like this shows what newspapers could still be for people.

Wanna work on Herblock cartoons this summer?

Sara Duke tells me "you would like hands-on experience working with cartoon art this summer, the Junior Fellows who come to the Prints and Photographs Division will be working with our Herb Block Collection - more than 14,000 original drawings. Come to this page: http://www.loc.gov/hr/employment/index.php, and click on "Internship, Fellowship, and Volunteer Programs". The information for the 2009 Junior Fellows Program has just gone online. The deadline is March 11, 2009."

Herblock online feature

For a basic overview of Herb Block's career, see "Stars of Political Cartooning - Herb “Herblock” Block," by Brian Cronin, Monday, October 6th, 2008.

Reviews for three local exhibits

Here are reviews for the fall issue of the International Journal of Comic Art that I just turned in tonight. I'm posting them here first because I usually say that I'll be doing a more complete review, but don't get around to it until the last minute. 2 of these shows are gone, but the Herblock exhibit is still up and well worth seeing.

Scrooged! Arnold Blumberg, Andy Herschberger, and John K. Snyder Jr. Baltimore, MD: Geppi’s Entertainment Museum, February 29-May 31, 2008. http://www.geppismuseum.com/

Thanks to the generosity of curator Arnold Blumberg, I saw this exhibit almost a month before it officially opened. All the artwork had been hung, but its final form was different with more labeling and information. Carl Barks was the focus of the exhibit – the title derives from Uncle Scrooge, Barks’ most enduring creation for Disney. The exhibit was rather diffuse, not focusing on any particular aspect of either Scrooge or Barks. It included the complete original artwork for the Scrooge story “North of the Yukon,” oil paintings of the Disney Ducks, oil paintings of landscapes from the 1960s, prints of “Famous Characters In Fictions As Waterfowl,” i.e. Robin Hood as a anthropometric duck, from when Disney was not permitting Barks to paint their ducks, pencil sketches of Disney work, and Another Rainbow objects such as a Faberge egg with Scrooge inside. All the items exhibited are apparently owned by museum founder and Diamond Distributors owner Steve Geppi.

Certainly displaying the entire original “North of the Yukon” artwork is justification enough for a small exhibit on Barks, and I enjoyed this show even though it did not really hold together. See Barks’ small landscapes which were obviously done for his own pleasure, scenes as so many cartoonists do in their retirement, was satisfying. Seeing him draw rather sexy dancing female ducks was odd, but interesting. Blumberg said to me, “I found it most fascinating looking at the paintings. There’s something really luminescent in the way the characters leap off the painting. It’s so much more than a casual viewer expects from a cartoonist.” Blumberg may be selling many cartoonists a bit short, but there is a peculiar fascination in seeing Donald Duck rendered using Old Master techniques, and the exhibit was worth visiting to see examples of Barks’ art beyond the pages of the comic book.

The museum’s current exhibit is “Out of the Box” – a playroom for the type of toys that will eventually make it into the Museum.


Heroes of the Negro League. Mark Chiarello, Michael Barry and Leslie Combemale. Reston, VA: ArtInsights, March 29-May 30, 2008. http://www.artinsights.com/

This exhibit is reviewed by virtue of Chiarello’s position as art editor for DC Comics. In 1990, Chiarello, in collaboration with his best friend Jack Morelli, created baseball cards for forgotten baseball players from the Negro Leagues, who had never had cards in America before. These paintings were watercolors over pencil that were based on photographs. The exhibit came about as the paintings were collected in a book, Heroes of the Negro Leagues (Abrams, 2007; $19.95, ISBN-10: 0810994348). Chiarello and Morelli did research at Cooperstown and the Schomburg Center in Harlem, and Chiarello painted the images from photographs and, surprisingly baseball cards – which had been issued in Cuba and Venezuela for some of the players.

Gallery co-owner Leslie Combemale interviewed Chiarello for a March 10th press release that is no longer on the gallery’s website. An exchange on Chiarello’s techniques is worthy of reprinting here:

LC- The Negro Leagues players portraits have a depth that goes beyond just (an image) How do you find the perfect picture to use?
MM- I can look through 200 or more pictures and only one is just right. With my portraits, I try to let the viewer know who that person is, just by looking in their eyes. I think the Cool Papa Bell is the most successful at that...it's why I chose it for the cover. I know the moment I find the right picture for reference, and I'll keep looking as long as it takes...
LC- Once you find that picture, how do you proceed from there?
MC- I pencil it out as tightly as I can. It’s my roadmap, so there's not much guesswork. After that I just try to get out of the way.
LC- I see your two styles of painting as so different from each other. One being the watercolor you used for the Negro League illustrations and the other the style you paint in oil, used for the Star Wars Celebration "Enlist Now" propaganda limited edition. I think of watercolors as unforgiving, hard to do, and hard to control.
MC- A lot of people say that and I disagree. Maybe it can't be controlled, but that's what's so great about it. After I pencil the image in, painting in watercolor is all about feel, control is beside the point. Your brain has to stay out of it and you have to stay out of the way of the paint. It becomes itself.
LC- What do you mean by that?
MC- For me it becomes about the emotional connection between the artist, the subject, and the wetness of the paint. The watercolor helps you-
LC- If you know what you're doing...
MC- Watercolor is in the moment. It flows into weird shapes and if you corral these shapes, they form the person's face. But you'll never see it if you have expectations or try to control the outcome too much from the beginning. With watercolor, once you have the roadmap a drawing creates, you've done most the work. After that you just have to enjoy the ride...Really my two styles are diametrically opposed. When I paint in oil it's very cerebral, I have to map the entire piece out from start to finish. It’s very precise work. Watercolor is all about flow.

Chiarello was also featured in the April issue of Juxtapose magazine for anyone who would like more details on this project; the paintings were technically excellent and appealing and the exhibit was worth seeing.

The gallery, which sells artwork (including the Negro League paintings) had other items of interest to IJOCA readers. There was an original story book artwork page from Snow White as well as an original movie cel with a background. Other cels from Lady and the Tramp, The Fox and the Hound, Aristocats, Fantasia and Peanuts lined the walls. Combemale told me that for fourteen years the focus of the gallery had been on animation, but recently they were widening their scope. "Tim Rogerson's World of Disney Color," their next exhibit, opens on July 12th.

Herblock’s Presidents: ‘Puncturing Pomposity’. Sidney Hart. Washington, DC: National Portrait Gallery, May 2-November 30, 2008.

Herbert ‘Herblock’ Block died in 2001, but his images linger on in Washington, at least partly because his estate donated over 10,000 of his cartoons to the Library of Congress with the proviso that they be displayed regularly. Curator Sidney Hart, a historian by trade, undertook the current exhibition and did a very credible job. Hart made two key decisions to define the show – it would be on presidents and the cartoon had to be negative. Hoover was not included because he “didn’t fit the theme of our show.” The two decisions had three points backing them up – 1.) Herblock’s presidential cartoons were among his most powerful, 2.) a negative cartoon was a more constructive force and, 3.) the exhibit went into the Presidential Gallery space.

The show was arranged by president beginning with Roosevelt. Herblock’s line was visibly smoother and he used the texture of the paper for shading. On the gallery tour, Hart pointed out some of his favorite cartoons. In one on McArthur and Truman, Truman is on a treadmill that McArthur is pulling in a different direction. For Eisenhower, Herblock drew him in a boat, blowing on a paper sale, while not running the motor on the boat. Another Eisenhower cartoon featured Herblock’s hated foe, Senator McCarthy, who is shown mugging the State Department and the Army, while Eisenhower is told, “Relax – he hasn’t gotten to you yet.” Hart noted the curious omission of no Kennedy cartoon for the Bay of Pigs; the JFK cartoons were usually positive so it was harder to find ones for the exhibit. Herblock’s best cartoon of Lyndon Johnson, from January 6, 1967 read “That’s a little better, but couldn’t you do it in luminous paint.” It showed Johnson looking at a painting of himself and referred to his official White House portrait -- which showed a heroic Johnson, but since LBJ did not like it, it rests in the next gallery over in the Portrait Gallery. Herblock’s Nixon cartoons were among his most famous – the exhibit included ones of Vice President Spiro Agnew in a sewer and the Saturday Night Massacre when Justice Department investigators of the Watergate break-in were fired on Nixon’s orders.

The Ford cartoon that Hart focused on showed both the President and the economy going to hell in a hand basket. Reflecting Block’s fondness for Alice in Wonderland, Jimmy Carter was depicted as the Cheshire Cat. One of the Carter cartoons showed an amazing detail from Block’s working methods – the paste-up corrections were done on mailing labels! Reagan and Nixon got the most cartoons with five each. Reagan was the president that Block disliked the most and his cartoons showed it. Clinton disappointed Herblock and his cartoons frequently showed Clinton with mud from scandals on him.

There was one major flaw in this exhibit for viewers. Some cartoons were matted badly and had their titles covered, or had no titles on them. The June 28, 1990 cartoon of George H.W. Bush crossing a bridge labeled “no new taxes” makes little sense without its caption “Anyhow, it got us across.” Frequently the individual cartoon labels, while full of historical information, were no where near the piece they were describing.

Also on display were Block’s Pulitzer Prize from 1941, a Reuben Award from 1956 and his Presidential Medal of Freedom from 1994 as well as some of his art supplies. A kiosk in the corner had hundreds more cartoons on it. The exhibit had only forty cartoons in it, but they were well selected. The exhibit was of the artwork, not necessarily the content, and seeing the cartoons on a screen detracted from the ideal of the museum in this reviewer’s opinion. As a museum curator myself, I would have stuck the kiosk in the exhibit as well since one always feels that more information is better, but it was not really needed in the show. I believe it became technically possible this year as the Herblock Foundation is planning on issuing a book with an accompanying DVD of 16,000 cartoons for Block’s 100th birthday next year.

Herblock: Drawn from Memory was an accompanying program by Hart who moderated with Pulitzer prize-winning Washington Post reporter Haynes Johnson, Washington Post editorial writer Roger Wilkins and Pulitzer prize-winning cartoonist Tony Auth. The three men mainly talked about Herblock’s mid-career at the Post, especially the Nixon and Johnson years. Block’s internationalist, and thus interventionalist, approach to foreign policy and the display of this in his cartoons was a particularly interesting part of the evening. Auth also made an extremely interesting observation. While Block was a good enough caricaturist to avoid labeling everyone, he still used labels on characters regularly. Auth said, “I was struck going through the exhibit here today – I always thought of cartoons as having kind of a half-life. They being to lose their power – and sometimes it’s a very long half-life and sometimes it’s eternal because it’s beyond the moment – but many cartoons have a relatively short half-life. I realized his use of labels extends that so that coming to a cartoon of his that was done forty years ago, you really can figure out what it’s about whereas a lot of cartoonists expend a lot of energy trying to get away from labels and they end up with cartoons that maybe a week, or two weeks later, you can’t figure out because you don’t know exactly what stimulated this drawing.” For those interested in the program, a recording of it can be found at http://www.archive.org/details/Herblock-drawnFromMemory

Overall Hart did an excellent job boiling down a massive amount of material to a coherent exhibit which, while not large, was well-done and informative.

AAEC touches on Washington issues

"At AAEC Confab, Cartoonist and Columnist Debate the Fate of Wrong-on-Iraq Pundits," by Dave Astor, E and P Online June 26, 2008.

I hope Dave won't mind if I repost the Herblock memory from that story, which is about editorial writer David Ignatius who was totally rolled by the Bush White House on Iraq, as I want to make a point off of it:

One of his strongest early Post memories was meeting Herblock and being thrilled that he became one of the people the editorial cartoonist would show his sketches to.

But one day Herblock showed Ignatius a cartoon idea in which King Hussein of Jordan was depicted in a very nasty way. "That's a little rough," said Ignatius -- and Herblock never came to him with a sketch again.

Speaking more generally of editorial cartoonists, Ignatius said he and other columnists are a little jealous of them. "You guys get to be caustic, irreverent, and crusading. We're pundits and, if we're in Washington, we're Beltway insiders. We use layers and layers of words. We wish we could be as quick and clean."

Roger Wilkins, an editorial writer for the Post during Watergate, made the exact same point about an editor at the Post being jealous of Herblock.

Herblock was also mentioned by Harry Katz at another panel - "Animated Discussion of Animation at Cartoon Confab," By Dave Astor, E and P Online June 27, 2008.

Tony Auth mentioned doing this at the Herblock event linked to in an earlier post. Graham was the publisher of the Washington Post - "Editorial Cartoonists Hear LBJ and Kay (Graham) on Tape," By Dave Astor, E and P Online June 27, 2008.

Herblock, Drawn from Memory panel recording

I caught the National Portrait Gallery's excellent panel on Herblock last night. Thanks to the miracles of modern technology, here's a link to download it. The NPG's description of the event read: The political cartoons of Herbert Lawrence Block (1909-2001), known by the pen name "Herblock," appeared in American newspapers for more than seventy years. National Portrait Gallery senior historian Sid Hart, Pulitzer prize-winning reporter Haynes Johnson, historian Roger Wilkins together with Pulitzer prize-winning cartoonist Tony Auth, will join in a conversation about the life and work of one of the nation's greatest political cartoonists, Herblock.

More commentary to follow after I visit Afghanistan (at the National Gallery of Art) and Bhutan (Smithsonian Folklife Festival). Also Bruce Guthrie took photographs which I'll track down

June 27: Auth in town at National Portrait Gallery

Bruce Guthrie reports on an event happening this week -

Curator’s Conversation: Herblock, Drawn from Memory
Friday, June 27, 7 p.m.
Nan Tucker McEvoy Auditorium

The political cartoons of Herbert Lawrence Block (1909–2001), known by the pen name “Herblock,” appeared in American newspapers for more than seventy years. National Portrait Gallery senior historian Sid Hart, Pulitzer prize-winning reporter Haynes Johnson, historian Roger Wilkins together with Pulitzer prize-winning cartoonist Tony Auth, will join in a conversation about the life and work of one of the nation’s greatest political cartoonists, Herblock. No reservations required; first come, first served.

Herblock and Oliphant exhibits featured on Voice of America

See "Cartoonists, Lampooning the Political Elite," By George Dwyer, Voice of America 18 June 2008. There's a video report as well as the web text.

Herblock and Oliphant cited by Clay Bennet as influences

See "The Cartoonist’s Cartoonists: Clay Bennett," By Alan Gardner, in the Daily Cartoonist June 17, 2008. Bennett's got an excellent list with some real surprises like Ron Cobb and Quino.

Post reviews trifecta of political cartoonists exhibits

The Berryman, Herblock and Oliphant shows got noticed in today's Weekend section. See "Political Lines, Sharply Drawn," By Michael O'Sullivan, Washington Post Staff Writer, Friday, June 6, 2008; Page WE23 who for some reason seems to feel that Oliphant is too hard on politicians. "Is that possible?" I must ask.

Actually, it's a shame this story wasn't longer as Sullivan could have been onto something, but had only 2 paragraphs per exhibit to make his point. Personally, I don't agree with him that political cartoonists are getting harder on their subjects. There's a lot of softballs out there, and the fact that Oliphant is throwing them may very well be the reason that he doesn't have a base newspaper. And Berryman's contemporaries could be as biting as any cartoonists - Berryman just chose not to be.

Here's the basic information lifted from the Post:

A Trio of Cartoon Exhibitions
Friday, June 6, 2008; Page WE23

Running for Office: Candidates, Campaigns and the Cartoons of Clifford Berryman Through Aug. 17 at the National Archives, Constitution Avenue between Seventh and Ninth streets NW (Metro: Archives-Navy Memorial). 866-272-6272. http://www.archives.gov. Open daily 10 to 7. Free.

Herblock's Presidents: "Puncturing Pomposity" Through Nov. 30 at the National Portrait Gallery, Eighth and F streets NW (Metro: Gallery Place-Chinatown). 202-633-1000 (TDD: 202-633-5285). http://www.npg.si.edu. Open daily 11:30 to 7. Free.

Leadership: Oliphant Cartoons and Sculpture From the Bush Years Through July 15 at the Stanford in Washington Art Gallery, 2655 Connecticut Ave. NW (Metro: Woodley Park-Zoo/Adams Morgan). 202-332-6235. Open Monday-Friday 9 to 7; Saturday-Sunday noon to 6. Free.

Herblock exhibit sort of covered by Wash Times

Actually, although the exhibit is about three miles from their main building, they ran an AP article yesterday. See "Herblock lampoons the presidents again" By Brett Zongker - ASSOCIATED PRESS, Washington Times May 22, 2008.

NPG Herblock exhibit website

The extensive site was recommended by the Journalista today. It reproduces the art in the exhibit, but not the content of the computer kiosk. It's a good look at the exhibit for those who can't make it to DC as it's arranged like the exhibit is.

Herblock 100th birthday book coming

I was fortunate enough to attend a preview of the National Portrait Gallery's new Herblock exhibit today - I'll post about that in the next day or so - and met Ms. Jean Rickard, Herb Block's Girl Friday for decades. She mentioned a project that the Herb Block Foundation is doing next year. It's a book about Herblock with DVDs of 16,000 of his cartoons included. The book includes a 4,000 word essay by Herblock's former colleague at the Post, Haynes Johnson. It comes out on his 100th birthday, October 13, 2009.

Newspaper Guild Herbert Block Freedom Award

Dave Astor in "Another Award for Reporters Who Exposed Walter Reed Scandal," E&P Online, April 22, 2008, notes

"BBC Gaza correspondent Alan Johnston will receive the Newspaper Guild Herbert Block Freedom Award. That honor is named after renowned Washington Post editorial cartoonist Herblock (1909-2001)."

Herblock exhibit - National Portrait Gallery press release

"Herblock's Presidents: 'Puncturing Pomposity'" Opens at the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery May 2

As the nation moves toward electing its 44th president, the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery is opening an exhibition of the political cartoons of Herbert Lawrence Block (1909-2001), known by the pen name "Herblock." In "Herblock's Presidents: 'Puncturing Pomposity,'" 40 political cartoons demonstrate the witty, biting humor of the cartoonist who appeared in American newspapers for more than seven decades.

(Media-Newswire.com) - As the nation moves toward electing its 44th president, the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery is opening an exhibition of the political cartoons of Herbert Lawrence Block ( 1909–2001 ), known by the pen name "Herblock." In "Herblock's Presidents: 'Puncturing Pomposity,'" 40 political cartoons demonstrate the witty, biting humor of the cartoonist who appeared in American newspapers for more than seven decades. The cartoons featured in the exhibition were selected from the collections of the Library of Congress. The exhibition demonstrates that none of the 11 presidents who held office during his career escaped his criticism. "Herblock's Presidents: Puncturing Pomposity" will be on view through Nov. 30.

"There are many talented political cartoonists today, some of whom are included in the National Portrait Gallery's collection," said Carolyn K. Carr, acting director of the National Portrait Gallery. "However, Herblock remains unmatched in his ability to craft a subtle visual metaphor."

Herblock's cartoons were never ambivalent or balanced but always expressive of a distinct political point of view; they were always clear in meaning and direct in expression. Herblock's first political cartoon appeared in the Chicago Daily News in1929. He was an editorial cartoonist with the Newspaper Enterprise Association from 1933 to 1943 and, after serving in the army, joined The Washington Post in 1946. Maintaining editorial independence for most of his newspaper career, Herblock won three Pulitzer Prizes in 1942, 1954 and 1979 and shared one more with the Washington Post in 1973 for its coverage of Watergate. Also, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1994. Besides the cartoons, Herblock's awards—including his first Pulitzer Prize—and his drawing tools also will be exhibited.

The exhibition includes his depictions of Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton. While Herblock was generally unsympathetic to Republican presidents, Democrats such as Lyndon Johnson, Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton did not escape his wrath. He consistently attacked any president he felt was insensitive to the "underdog." The show offers a rare opportunity for visitors to see how one of America's greatest political cartoonists viewed the American presidency for much of the 20th century.

An additional element of the exhibition is a computer touch screen that will allow visitors to further explore Herblock's presidents. These virtual digital images are organized along such topics as presidential scandals, domestic policy and war.

The exhibition was organized by Sidney Hart, historian at the National Portrait Gallery.

This exhibition has been made possible by a generous grant from The Herb Block Foundation.

The National Portrait Gallery
The National Portrait Gallery tells the stories of America through the individuals who have shaped its culture. Through the visual arts, performing arts and new media, the Portrait Gallery portrays poets and presidents, visionaries and villains, actors and activists who speak American history.

The National Portrait Gallery opened to the public in 1968. The museum's collection of nearly 20,000 works includes paintings, sculpture, photographs, drawings and new media. Located at Eighth and F streets N.W., Washington, D.C., it is open every day, except Dec. 25, from 11:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. Smithsonian information: ( 202 ) 633-1000; ( 202 ) 633-5285 ( TTY ). Web site: www.npg.si.edu.