Nov 12: Billy Tucci and WWII veterans in Reistertown

Billy Tucci and WWII veterans are signing Sgt Rock comics tomorrow in Reisterstown at:

Cards, Comics & Collectibles
100 Chartley Drive
Reisterstown, Maryland 21136
(410) 526-7410
Special Guests: 442nd RCT veterans Kelly Kuwayama and Terry Shima, and Merrill's Marauders' Grant Hirabayashi

I'm not sure of the time, but give them a call. More information on Sgt Rock's mixing with real-life units is at Tour of Duty 11 - Some Will Say "It's Just A Comic Book" By Billy Tucci, Newsarama 2008-11-03.

Arthur Szyk in NY Times

Szyk was a Jewish cartoonist who fled to New York and did some awesomely hard-hitting propaganda during World War II. He was the subject of a couple of great exhibits in DC about five years ago too. This article discusses a new exhibit of his work in Germany -
"A Caricaturist, but No Funny Stuff Here," By MICHAEL KIMMELMAN, New York Times September 8, 2008.

I'll see if I can dig up my reviews of the exhibits for IJoCA and post them here later this week.

Another Batchelor VD poster

This one wasn't in the National Museum of Health and Medicine's collection, so when I spotted it on ebay I bought it. I scanned it yesterday and added the e-version to the Museum's collection; since we don't have an acquisitions budget to buy things, there's no conflict of interest. I'll probably donate it someday, but at the moment I'm enjoying ownership.

March 18: CARTOONS BY MODERNIST PAINTER AD REINHARDT

CARTOONS BY MODERNIST PAINTER AD REINHARDT DISCUSSED AT LIBRARY OF CONGRESS ON MARCH 18

During World War II, American abstract expressionist painter Ad Reinhardt made a series of little-known but striking cartoon collages of Adolf Hitler. Reinhardt’s overlooked cartoon work will be discussed by Swann Foundation Fellow Prudence Peiffer in a lecture at the Library of Congress on March 18.

Peiffer’s presentation, “How to Look at Ad Reinhardt’s World War II Cartoons in America,” will begin at noon on Tuesday, March 18, in Dining Room A on the sixth floor of the James Madison Building, 101 Independence Ave. S.E., Washington, D.C. The event is free and open to the public; no reservations are required.

The illustrated talk is based on research conducted by Peiffer at the Library of Congress during her fellowship, which was awarded last year by the Swann Foundation for Caricature and Cartoon. The lecture is sponsored by the foundation, which is managed by the Library, and the Library’s Prints and Photographs Division.

The cartoon collages by Reinhardt (1913-1967) were published during World War II in The New Masses journal and PM newspaper. By 1946, he had honed his collage technique in his “How to Look at Modern Art” cartoons.

In her talk, Peiffer will explore how Reinhardt mined the history of political cartoons to create his own unique strategy of radical aesthetics, and she will argue for a connection between his best-known abstract paintings from the 1950s and 1960s and his earlier cartoon work. She will draw upon examples of Reinhardt’s published cartoon creations and drawings by such cartoonists as Miguel Covarrubias (1904-1957), whose work influenced the younger artist.

In addition to being a Swann fellow at the Library of Congress, Peiffer is a pre-doctoral fellow at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C. She is a doctoral candidate in 20th-century art history at Harvard University and is writing her dissertation titled “Routine Extremism: Ad Reinhardt and Modern Art.” Peiffer completed a master’s degree in the history of art and architecture at Harvard and a bachelor’s in art history at Yale University. Her particular interest is in the intersections between abstraction and figuration in 20th-century art.

Peiffer’s 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 foundation’s advisory board is made up of scholars, collectors, cartoonists and Library of Congress staff members.

The Swann Foundation customarily awards one fellowship annually (with a stipend of $15,000) to assist scholarly research and writing projects in the field of caricature and cartoon. More information about the fellowship is available through the Swann Foundation’s Web site: www.loc.gov/rr/print/swann/ or by e-mailing swann@loc.gov.

# # #

PR08-42

2/28/08

ISSN: 0731-3527

Feb 7: Tracy Sugerman at Library of Congress

I don't know anything about his work, but Sara Duke is introducing him.

Public contact: Veterans History Project (202) 707-4916, vohp@loc.gov

WWII VETERAN AND ACCLAIMED ARTIST TRACY SUGARMAN
DISCUSSES MEMOIR, ILLUSTRATIONS AT LIBRARY ON FEB. 7
Award-winning author and illustrator Tracy Sugarman will give a visual presentation and discuss his new memoir, “Drawing Conclusions: An Artist Discovers His America,” at a special program at noon on Thursday, Feb. 7, in Dining Room A of the Library’s James Madison Building, 101 Independence Ave. S.E., Washington, D.C.

The event, co-sponsored by the American Folklife Center’s Veterans History Project and the Prints and Photographs Division, is free and open to the public. No tickets or reservations are required.

"Mr. Sugarman’s writings, drawings and video-recorded interviews comprise a rich collection in both the Library’s Veterans History Project and the Prints and Photographs Division, and we are honored that he will be here to talk about his book, which is an important addition to the historical record he has already shared with the American people," said Librarian of Congress James H. Billington.

Sugarman, a WWII naval officer, is a freelance artist and illustrator who, in a long and varied career, has covered the civil-rights struggle in the South, labor strikes, NASA rollouts, VISTA's work with Appalachian coal-miner families, and rehearsals of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Alvin Ailey Dance Group. His work has garnered recognition from the Society of Illustrators in New York and the Art Directors Club in Washington, D.C.

In 2000, Sugarman published “My War,” a reminiscence of his wartime experiences, which blended artwork, excerpts of letters home and memories of his days during wartime. Sugarman’s story was also included in “Voices of War,” a book published in 2004 by National Geographic and the Library, which features stories from the Veterans History Project collections. Sugarman’s wartime-era artwork is housed in the collections of the Prints and Photographs Division, and a watercolor from that collection is featured on the front of the VHP 2008 “Forever a Soldier” wall calendar.

Unequaled in their scope and richness, the collections in the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division currently include about 14 million photographs, drawings and prints from the 15th century to the present day. International in scope, these visual collections represent a uniquely rich fund of human experience, knowledge, creativity and achievement, touching on almost every realm of endeavor: science, art, invention, government, political struggle and the recording of history. For more information, visit www.loc.gov/rr/print/.

Wartime veterans are encouraged to come forward to record their experiences for the growing archive within the American Folklife Center’s Veterans History Project at the Library of Congress. Those interested can download a VHP Field Kit from the Veterans History Project Web site at www.loc.gov/vets/, request a kit via email at vohp@loc.gov or call the toll-free message line at (888) 371-5848.

World War II anti-malaria cartoon

We ran across this one in the collections of the National Museum of Health and Medicine yesterday.

Bill Mauldin collection to be coming out

Dave Astor is also reporting "Bill Mauldin's WWII Cartoons to Be Collected in Two-Volume Set." I actually have been attempting to help with this - scanning pages from Stars and Stripes at the Library of Congress, but the images haven't been coming out as well as they should because the newspapers are bound together and the end of the image is in the binding gutter. Work-arounds are being investigated and I'm really looking forward to Todd's books.