William Gropper and a Semi- Secret History of Comics

I ran across the above at a flea market recently. Gropper sounded familiar, so I picked it up.

According to William Gropper Papers: An inventory of his papers at Syracuse University, Gropper was a leftist cartoonist, but he apparently had to make a living like everyone else and the library has a clippings file of:

New York American 1934, undated - includes Robert Benchley columns (2 folders)


I assume this drawing is for Benchley's column, but when Benchley's collection My Ten Years in a Quandry, and How They Grew came out, it was illustrated by the great Gluyas Williams. So my guess, and it's just a guess, is that nobody's really seen Gropper's illustrations for Benchley since they were done. In the book, one can find The Rule of 87, doubtless the work of fanatical reformers, is as follows: "One twin birth occurs to approximately 87 single births; one triplet to about 7,569 singles (87 squared); one quadruplet to about 658,503 singles (87 cubed); one quintuplet to about 57 million singles (87 to fourth power); one sextuplet to about five billion singles (87 to fifth power)". that's the rule. That's what we are supposed to abide by, whether we want to or not.

I'm sure modern fertility drugs have completely changed the rule.

This post benefited greatly from the help of Sara Duke of the Library of Congress. A search of the Library of Congress collections brings up 34 pieces by Gropper - to see them, go to http://lcweb2.loc.gov/pp/pphome.html and type in "William Gropper".

National Digital Newspaper Program adds millionth page and expands

The Library of Congress has sent out a press release about the National Digital Newspaper Program which should interest us as it will provide free sources for scans of comics strips and articles about cartoonists. Quotes from the PR follow -

Library of Congress, National Endowment for the Humanities to Announce Expansion of Historic Newspaper Digitization Program

The Library of Congress and the National Endowment for the Humanities will hold a news conference at 10 a.m. Tuesday, June 16 at the Newseum’s Knight Studio, 555 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W. in Washington, D.C., to announce the posting of the millionth historic newspaper page in the National Digital Newspaper Program and the expansion of the program.

The two cultural agencies have collaborated to bring the National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP) to the Internet through a website, Chronicling America (http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/). The site offers a searchable database of historically significant American newspapers published between 1836 and 1922, based on original material from libraries or other agencies in Arizona, California, Florida, Hawaii, Kentucky, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah, Virginia, and Washington.

The Library of Congress, the nation’s oldest federal cultural institution, is the world’s preeminent reservoir of knowledge, providing unparalleled collections and integrated resources to Congress and the American People. Many of the Library’s rich resources and treasures may be accessed through the Library’s website, www.loc.gov, and via interactive exhibitions on myLOC.gov.

The National Digital Newspaper Program is part of the Endowment’s We the People program, which is designed to encourage and enhance the teaching, study, and understanding of American history, culture, and democratic principles.

Spider-Man at the Library of Congress now online video

Sara Duke says, "Last year I was filmed for history.com about the Library's acquisition of the original drawings for Amazing Fantasy #15 - the film clip is here: http://www.history.com/content/hiddentreasures/a-legend-is-born. (Burning through my 15 minutes of fame, one sound bite at a time.)

And yes, you may make an appointment with me to see the original drawings for Amazing Fantasy, or other cartoon art in our collection ... I'm generally available Mondays through Fridays, 8:30 am - 3:00 pm for appointments. (You can't see all 128,000 works of cartoon art on paper from your computer, but visit http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/catalog.html to see a selection.)"

May 12: Yuko Ota,, A Japanese comic illustrator at Library of Congress

Asian Pacific American History Month at the Library of Congress has a cartoonist appearing -

PROGRAM II: Japanese Illustrators Then and Now

Date/Time: Tuesday, May 12, 12:00 noon
Location: Dining Room C
"Then" Speaker - James Miho, A Bauhaus Illustrator (a "lost art" of Japanese illustration)
"Now" Speaker - Yuko Ota,, A Japanese comic illustrator

2009 Webportal Link: http://www.asianpacificheritage.gov/index.html

- thanks to Sara Duke for the tip.

On finally seeing the first Spider-Man

After breaking the news almost exactly a year ago, I finally got around to seeing the first Spider-Man original art by Steve Ditko in Amazing Fantasy #15.



The art was lovely, but it was somewhat anti-climactic since I'd read the story literally hundreds of times. Foolish, I know. There's a small bit of new information to be gleaned from the artwork, where Stan Lee asked for changes, but Ditko followed his pencils very closely so there's not a lot of underlying drawing.

The entire comic book art is there, so there are three other stories with Ditko art that aren't seen nearly as often.



I really can't think of any better home for this than the Library. Lee and Ditko's creation has become an American icon over almost 50 years now. More pictures are here.

Herblock award at Library of Congress

I was fortunate enough to be invited to the Herblock award ceremony at the Library of Congress where the award was presented to Pat Bagley. Ted Koppel was the featured speaker and spoke first as he was catching a plane. Koppel was quite entertaining, but Bagley did a good job, and then we saw a new short film on Herblock's life, that I guess will be on the Foundation's website at some point. At the reception, there was a large cake for Block's 100th birthday.

March 25: Library of Congress Swann talk on Nast

Thomas Nast and French Art
The Topic of Swann Grantee’s Talk on March 25

Swann Foundation grantee Marie-Stéphanie Delamaire will present a lecture entitled, "The Artist as Translator: Thomas Nast and French Art,” Wednesday, March 25, 2009, at 12 noon, in the West Dining Room on the sixth floor of the James Madison Building, 101 Independence Ave. S.E., Washington, DC.

In her illustrated talk, Delamaire will examine American cartoonist Thomas Nast’s appropriation of the visual language used in prints and photographs of grand manner and history paintings in his political cartoons of the Civil War and Reconstruction eras. The analysis of Nast’s cartoons suggests that they functioned much like visual, cultural, and political translations of the era’s leading issues and articulated the cartoonist’s artistic identity.

Thomas Nast (1840-1902) began his career as a newspaper illustrator in the antebellum era for the growing illustrated press of the 1850s in New York. During the Civil War years, Nast developed a new style of large-scale cartoons that made extensive use of the visual vocabulary of old masters and contemporary French academic painters, particularly those whose works were reproduced in prints then being disseminated by the American branch of Goupil & Cie in New York. Nast referenced or alluded to specific French paintings as a means of capturing and engaging his viewers’ interest in major political developments of the day as seen in such cartoons as “Democracy” or “The Tammany Tiger Loose” (published respectively in Harper’s Weekly on November 11, 1865 and November 11, 1871). In so doing, Nast not only translated “facts into black and white,” as suggested by Clarence Cook (Putnam Magazine, July 1869), but also transformed history painting into a mass medium and appropriated the significance of foreign images into the American national or local political sphere.

Delamaire contends that looking closely at Nast’s cartoons demonstrates that the artist deliberately emphasized the discontinuity between the original painting and his final image in order to construct the cartoon’s underlying meaning. Nast’s translations of history paintings into cartoons can thus be seen to question the authority and priority commonly associated with the grand tradition of European history painting. Delamaire suggests that Nast’s appropriations reveal a shift from his role as a newspaper illustrator to that of a translator of fine art’s visual language mediating the political significance of foreign works of art widely
disseminated in print form to his American audience.

Delamaire is a Ph.D. candidate in Art History at Columbia University. Her dissertation project entitled, “Art in Translation: Franco-American exchanges in the Civil War and Reconstruction Era,” has been awarded a Terra Foundation Pre-doctoral Fellowship at the Smithsonian Institution and a Swann Foundation grant. Her research interests focus on transnational exchanges in relation to the development of reproductive technology in nineteenth century visual culture, the international art market and the emerging apparatus of international exhibitions. She completed a Master’s Degree in Egyptian Archaeology. She has published several essays on the American perception of ancient Egypt, the 1867 Paris Exposition Universelle, and the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial International Exhibition.

This presentation is part of the Swann Foundation’s continuing activities to support the study, interpretation, preservation and appreciation of original works of humorous and satiric art by graphic artists from around the world. The Swann Foundation’s advisory board is composed of scholars, collectors, cartoonists and Library of Congress staff members. The foundation strives to award one fellowship annually (with a stipend of up to $15,000) to assist scholarly research and writing projects in the field of caricature and cartoon. Applications for the academic year 2009-2010 are due Feb. 15, 2010. More information about the fellowship is available through the Swann Foundation’s Web site: www.loc.gov/rr/print/swann/swannhome or by emailing swann@loc.gov.

Spider-Man on WAMU on Friday

Listen to "Spidey at the Library of Congress" on WAMU's Metro Connection tomorrow.

Last year, an anonymous donor gave the Library of Congress original drawings of the first comic book appearance of Spider-Man. The pen and ink illustrations made by creator Steve Ditko in 1962 are available for Spidey-scholars to peruse - and the acquisition was an instant hit. Sara Duke is Curator of the graphic arts division of the Library. Back in May of last year, Stephanie Kaye spoke with Duke, as she opened the long, flat archive boxes these Spider-Man images now call home.

I'm not sure why it took them 9 months to get the story on the air though - Sara doesn't usually need that much editing.

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."

Swann Fellowship at Library of Congress deadline approaching

Feb. 13 is the deadline for receiving Swann Fellowship applications here at the Library. The Swann Foundation awards up to $15,000 annually to a qualified graduate student applicant (or smaller awards to several) to support scholarly work in caricature and cartoon. For guidelines and application forms, please see http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/swann/swann-fellow.html . Email swann@loc.gov if you have questions.


Martha H. Kennedy
Associate Curator, Popular & Applied Graphic Art
Prints and Photographs Division
Library of Congress
101 Independence Ave. SE
Washington, DC 20540-4730
Ph.: 202/707-9115 Fax: 202/707-6647

Library of Congress Swann Fellowship applications due next month

Feb. 13 is deadline to receive Swann Fellowship applications. Up to $15,000 is awarded annually to a qualified graduate student applicant or smaller award(s) to several to support scholarly research in caricature and cartoon by the Swann Foundation administered by the Library of Congress. For criteria, application forms, and list of funded projects, please see http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/swann/swannhome.html. Email swann@loc.gov if you have questions.

Martha H. Kennedy
Associate Curator, Popular & Applied Graphic Art
Prints and Photographs Division
Library of Congress
101 Independence Ave. SE
Washington, DC 20540-4730
Ph.: 202/707-9115 Fax: 202/707-6647

Dec 8: Swann fellow speaks on Civil War prints

Just a reminder from the Library of Congress -

Of possible interest to those in the Washington, D.C. area -- an invitation to a public lecture by Mazie Harris, Swann award winner, on Civil War era chromolithographs created by Henry Louis Stephens, a major illustrator and caricaturist for Vanity Fair. Her talk, entitled, "A Colorful Union: The Development of Union Patriotism in Henry Louis Stephens’ 1863 Chromolithographs," will be on Monday, Dec. 8, 2008, at noon in Dining Room A, 6th floor, Madison Building, Library of Congress, 101 Independence Avenue SE, Washington, D.C.

Unfortunately I probably can't make this one.

Dec 8: Swann fellow speaks on Civil War prints

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

101 Independence Avenue SE
Washington DC 20540
Phone: (202) 707-2905
Fax: (202) 707-9199

November 17, 2008

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

MAZIE HARRIS TO DISCUSS CIVIL WAR ERA CHROMOLITHOGRAPHS BY HENRY LOUIS STEPHENS AT LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, DEC. 8

Swann Foundation grantee Mazie Harris, in a lecture at the Library of Congress, will discuss the Civil War Era chromolithographs by Henry Louis Stephens, the primary illustrator for the satirical New York journal Vanity Fair.

Harris will present the lecture, “A Colorful Union: The Development of Union Patriotism in Henry Louis Stephens’ 1863 Chromolithographs,” at noon on Monday, Dec. 8, in Dining Room A on the sixth floor of the James Madison Building, 101 Independence Ave. S.E., Washington, DC.

In her illustrated talk, Harris will describe her research on the work of Stephens (1824-1882), a caricaturist as well as illustrator. She will draw on examples of his imagery from works held in the Library’s Marian S. Carson Collection and other source material in the Prints and Photographs Division.

The Emancipation Proclamation compelled Stephens to reconsider his previously virulently anti-abolitionist propaganda, according to Harris. In her talk, she will contend that after Abraham Lincoln’s groundbreaking executive orders in 1862 and 1863, Stephens deployed color printing and caricature in an attempt to reformulate views of race relations in the North and mobilize military enlistment.

Harris will analyze Stephens’ visual narratives by considering hand-written directions to the printer that the illustrator scrawled on the margins of each sketch for the series. These technical notes on color, which could be regarded simply as artistic instructions, when carefully examined and assessed, make explicit the particular political ideology of the prints.

Harris is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of the History of Art and Architecture at Brown University. She completed an M.A. in art history from Boston University, and became interested in the work of Henry Louis Stephens while working as a curatorial assistant in the Agnes Mongan Center for the Study of Prints, Drawings and Photographs in Harvard University’s Fogg Art Museum.

This presentation is part of continuing activities of the Caroline and Erwin Swann Foundation for Caricature and Cartoon to support the study, interpretation, preservation and appreciation of original works of humorous and satiric art by graphic artists from around the world. The foundation is overseen by an advisory board composed of scholars, collectors, cartoonists and Library of Congress staff members.

The foundation strives to award one fellowship annually (with a stipend of up to $15,000) to assist scholarly research and writing projects in the field of caricature and cartoon. For 2008-2009, because of an unusually large number of strong applications, the foundation’s advisory board chose to support five applicants with smaller awards instead of selecting a single recipient of the fellowship.

Applications for the academic year 2009-2010 are due Feb. 13, 2009. For more information about the fellowship, visit www.loc.gov/rr/print/swann/swannhome/ or email swann@loc.gov.

# # #

PR08-216
11/17/08
ISSN: 0731-3527

Nov 6: Israeli comics lecture at Library of Congress

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
101 Independence Avenue SE
Washington, DC 20540
Phone: (202) 707-2905
Fax: (202) 707-9199
Email: pao@loc.gov

October 3, 2008

ISRAELI COMICS TO BE SUBJECT OF NOV 6. LECTURE

Drawing both from Judeo-European and American cultures, comics have been a mainstay of Israeli newspapers and readers’ markets since the early 1930s. Little known outside the Middle East, these comics open an interesting window into Israeli society, past and present.

Ofer Berenstein will deliver a lecture titled “Israeli Comics: Past and Present” at the Library of Congress at 1 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 6, in the Montpelier Room, located on the sixth floor of the James Madison Building at 101 Independence Ave S.E., Washington, D.C.

The lecture, which is sponsored by the Library’s Prints and Photographs Division, Serial and Government Publications Division and the Hebraic Section of the African and Middle Eastern Division, is free and open to the public; tickets are not required.

Ofer Berenstein is a founding member of the Israeli Comic Book Readers and Collectors Society. He served in the Israeli Army Home Front Command as a photographer, graphic designer and editor. He is a graduate student at Bar-Ilan University in Israel.

The Library of Congress, the nation’s oldest federal cultural institution, is the world’s preeminent reservoir of knowledge, providing unparalleled integrated resources to Congress and the American people. Founded in 1800, the Library holds more than 138 million items, including 21 million cataloged books, 61 million manuscripts and nearly 14 million photographs, posters, prints and drawings.

The Library’s Prints and Photographs Division houses the Library’s outstanding holdings of original cartoon and caricature drawings and makes them accessible through its online catalog at www.loc.gov/rr/print/catalog.html. The Library’s Serial and Government Publications Division houses the world’s largest comic book collection (5,000 titles; 100,000 issues).

The Library’s African and Middle Eastern Division (www.loc.gov/rr/amed) is the center for the study of some 78 countries and regions from Southern Africa to the Maghreb and from the Middle East to Central Asia.

# # #

PR 08-181
ISSN 0731-3527
10/3/08

SWANN FOUNDATION ACCEPTING FELLOWSHIP APPLICATIONS

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

Public Affairs Office
101 Independence Ave., S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20540-1400
Voice: 202.707.2905
Fax: 202.707.9199

October 2, 2008

Press contact: Donna Urschel (202) 707-1639, durschel@loc.gov
Public contact: Martha Kennedy (202) 707-9115

SWANN FOUNDATION ACCEPTING FELLOWSHIP APPLICATIONS
Foundation Supports Research in the Humorous Arts of Caricature and Cartoon

The Caroline and Erwin Swann Foundation for Caricature and Cartoon, administered by the Library of Congress, is accepting applications for its graduate fellowship for the 2009-2010 academic year. Applications are due by close of business on Friday, Feb. 13, 2009, and notification will occur in the spring.

The Swann Foundation seeks to award one fellowship annually (with a stipend of up to $15,000) to assist in continuing scholarly research and writing projects in the field of caricature and cartoon. Depending on the number and quality of proposals, the advisory board may elect to make multiple, smaller awards.

A fellow is required to be in residence in Washington, D.C., for a minimum of two weeks, use the Library’s extensive collections and deliver a public lecture at the Library on his or her work. Each fellow must also provide a copy of his or her dissertation, thesis or postgraduate publication upon completion, for the Swann Foundation Fund files.

Guidelines and application forms are available through the Swann Foundation’s Web site www.loc.gov/rr/print/swann/swann-fellow.html, by e-mailing swann@loc.gov or by calling Martha Kennedy in the Prints and Photographs Division of the Library at (202) 707-9115.

To be eligible, an applicant must be a resident of the United States and a candidate for a master’s or doctoral degree at a university based in the United States, Canada or Mexico. The applicant must be working toward completion of a dissertation or thesis for that degree or be engaged in postgraduate research within three years of receiving an M.A. or a Ph.D. Individuals who are not U.S. residents but who otherwise meet these academic qualifications may also apply and be considered for a fellowship, contingent upon their visa eligibility.

The applicant’s research must be in the field of caricature and cartoon. There are no restrictions on the place or time period covered. To encourage research in a variety of academic disciplines, any university department may oversee a project proposed for the fellowship, provided the subject pertains to caricature or cartoon art.

Requirements for the fellowship applications include a statement of qualifications, a one-page abstract of the proposed project, a project description that specifies research needs and a budget, two letters of reference and official transcripts.

The Swann Foundation Fellowship in Caricature and Cartoon is one of a small number of scholarly fellowships that provide direct support for continuing graduate research in the field. It has supported groundbreaking research on caricature and cartoon that focuses on a variety of subjects and topics such as the Cold War; representations of race, class conflict and disease; and the early origins of caricature and political satire, and the cultural and social forces that have influenced the development of prominent cartoonists’ work. For a list of research projects, visit www.loc.gov/rr/rint/swann/swann-fellowslist.html.

The Caroline and Erwin Swann Foundation for Caricature and Cartoon is overseen by an advisory board composed of scholars, collectors, cartoonists and Library of Congress staff members. The foundation’s activities support the study, interpretation, preservation and appreciation of original works of humorous and satiric art by graphic artists from around the world. New York advertising executive Erwin Swann (1906-1973) established the Swann Foundation for Caricature and Cartoon in 1967.

# # #

PR08-183
10/2/08
ISSN: 0731-3527

Brad Meltzer interview from yesterday

Christopher Porter of the Express wrote in to note that he did a short interview with Brad Meltzer that was in Thursday's Express, and he noted "I did a longer piece on Brad six years ago in the City Paper; the setting was Big Planet."

Meltzer will be at the Book Festival on the Mall tomorrow.

Sara Duke, who will also be at the Book Festival tomorrow as a Library of Congress escort, wrote in to note that the Library has a podcast with Brad online now.

National Book Festival, Library of Congress and Small Press Expo news

Librarian Sara Duke's sent in some schedule information.

National Book Festival, September 27th, on the Mall

Neil Gaiman
Teens & Children Pavilion

11:45-12:15 pm
Book Signing

1-3 pm

For more than 20 years, Neil Gaiman has been a top writer of modern comics and a best-selling novelist. His work has appeared in translation in more than 19 countries, and nearly all of his novels, graphic and otherwise, have been optioned for films. He was the creator-writer of the monthly cult DC Comics series Sandman, which won many awards, including a World Fantasy Award. He is the author of the critically acclaimed American Gods, awarded the Hugo, Nebula, Bram Stoker, SFX and Locus awards, and his novel Stardust was a winner of the American Library Association’s Alex Award as one of 2000’s top 10 adult novels for young adults. His children’s books include the international best-selling novel Coraline (2002), a winner of the Bram Stoker Award and the Hugo Award. His latest novel for young readers is The Graveyard Book (HarperCollins, September 2008). He lives near Minneapolis.

Brad Meltzer
Fiction & Mystery Pavilion

11:10-11:40 am
Book Signing

12:30-1:30 pm

Brad Meltzer earned credit from Columbia Law School for writing his first book, The Tenth Justice (1997), the first in a line of New York Times best-sellers. His books have a total of almost 3 million copies in print and have been translated into more than a dozen languages. His latest thriller is The Book of Lies (Grand Central, September 2008). He is also the author of the critically acclaimed comic book Identity Crisis and the first author to ever reach the No. 1 spot on both the New York Times and the Diamond comic book best-seller lists simultaneously. He lives in Miami.

Small Press Expo overflow:

Oct. 3: Lynda Barry & Tom Tomorrow at Politics & Prose.

Small Press Expo:

Georgia Higley & Sara Duke will be manning a Library of Congress table at SPX. This is your chance to donate a copy of your comic book to the Library! (If you see me, you can give me one to give to Michigan State University's Comic Art Collection too).

Spider-Man artwork donation to Library of Congress "controversial?"

See "Donation spotlights comic book dispute" By Robert K. Elder of the Chicago Tribune in the Barre Montpelier Times Argus September 8, 2008. Sara Duke of the Library is quoted extensively.

Wertham records at Library of Congress followup

A discussion on the comix-scholars list generated a note from Bart Beaty, author of Fredric Wertham And The Critique Of Mass Culture.

Just for the record, [no access to medical records] is exactly the arrangement that I made in 2002 when I was granted access.

However, do bear in mind that the LoC does not have the power to implement any policy with regard to these papers and that all decisions are made by the executors of the Wertham estate. I can assure you, having worked very closely with the LoC's extraordinary staff over a period of several years, that the librarians at the LoC would like nothing better than to make these papers available. But the decision is ultimately that of the executors, who have their own reasons for making their decisions.

Also, the way that the papers are organized, medical records are not all in one place, so they're not so easily redacted.

Ah, those extraordinary manuscript librarians - hear, hear!

Wertham papers at Library of Congress still inaccessible

Michael Barrier, the animation historian, tells of stopping into the Library of Congress to see Frederic Wertham's archive in "Wertham's Locked Vault."