Reminder: Tuesday's Mardi Gras Parade in Arlington...

...will feature large Richard Thompson figures for the second year in a row. I'll be there, and he might as well. Remember to ask for your free Petey tattoo if you recognize him.

Gaiman's Newbery Medal

Neil Gaiman won a Newbery Medal yesterday for 'The Graveyard Book,' which is a fun little novel about a boy whose family is assassinated, but he's protected by ghosts in a graveyard and grows up there until he becomes a Young Adult and wants to go out in the world - where the assassin is still waiting. The Post and the Times have stories about it: "In Fine Spirits: Newbery Judges Take Shine to Friendly Ghosts Of Gaiman's 'Graveyard'," By Bob Thompson, Washington Post Staff Writer Tuesday, January 27, 2009; C01 and "‘The Graveyard Book’ Wins Newbery Medal,"
By MOTOKO RICH, New York Times January 27, 2009

The Post also has a minor piece about Bush's caricature being in The Palms restaurant even though he never ate there.

Beeler's Obama caricature covers Examiner

Today's free Washington Examiner has a big caricature of Obama by editorial cartoonist Nate Beeler.

KAL's New Year's Day cartoon

www.Kaltoons.com

A couple of Baltimore comics events this weekend

Tom Chalkley, whose work I've seen in the Baltimore City Paper and who spoke at SPX/ICAF years ago has a caricature poster on Baltimore history out now. He'll be signing it this weekend - "Local artist Tom Chalkley will be signing copies of his Ultimate Cartoon Map of Baltimore this Friday at the Women’s Industrial Exchange from noon to 1:30 p.m. and this Sunday at the Red Canoe Bookstore/Café from 1-3 p.m."

Meanwhile the Post reports, "Super Art Fight, which will kick off its third edition Saturday night at Baltimore's Ottobar, pits indie comics artists against one another in head-to-head drawing battles." $10. Doors open at 8 p.m. Saturday. 2549 N. Howard St., Baltimore. 410-662-0069 or http://www.superartfight.com.

Post obituary for Belgian former cartoonist and caricaturist

"Guy Peellaert; Belgian Painter Of Surreal Art, Album Covers," By Joe Holley and Adam Bernstein, Washington Post Staff Writers, Saturday, November 22, 2008; B04.

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

Today's finger puppet - Obama!

Our Man Thompson finally draws a finger puppet that I want to make - Obama!

Caricature waaaay back in the Reagan era

Back in the 1980s when I was in college in DC, great caricature posters of President Reagan and his cabinet would appear around town glued up overnight. Robbie Conal was the artist and here's a profile of what he's doing now -- but DC needs him back! There are still plenty of politicians who need caricaturing in town.

See "Robbie Conal and the Art of Character Assassination: Guerrilla pop," By Dwayne Booth, LA Weekly October 21, 2008.

Boy, I'm sorry I never got any of those posters peeled off although I'm not sure I need to see Ed Meese ever again, even in a caricature.

Good Richard Thompson interview in City Paper

Amanda Hess of the Washington City Paper sent a note saying that she'd interviewed Richard Thompson in the current issue and I'd missed it, although I did catch the "cartoonist with an odd theme" as I prefer to put it. I've got to stop reading the paper after going to the dentist.

I just read her article - it's good one. People aren't paying enough attention to Richard's caricature although that's how he made his name. Recently I was at his house and saw the sketches for his Palin finger puppet in the recycling, along with a bunch of photos of her he'd printed from the web. It was a fascinating look at how caricature works (I'm not a cartoonist and can't draw). For those who are interested, Richard runs a lot of his caricatures on his blog.

Hanoch Piven caricature exhibit in DC

Thanks to Casey Shaw of USA Weekend for the tip about this show at the Sixth & I St, NW synagogue!

What Candidates are Really Made of & Other Famous Faces
Sunday, September 21 - Monday, November 13

Sunday, September 21, 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. (Children's Workshop)
Sunday, September 21, 3:00 p.m. (Opening)

Israeli artist Hanoch Piven creates evocative pop portraits of celebrities and notable politicians using found objects such as bubble gum, light bulbs and electrical wire. In the spirit of the upcoming elections, the exhibition will feature two original commissioned pieces of the presidential candidates. Find out what McCain and Obama are REALLY made of! Other portraits will include musicians, entertainers and U.S. and Israeli politicians.

Several of Piven's portraits are on permanent collection at the Library of Congress. His most recent project is the creation of the Hafatzim Mitlotsetsim TV program, which airs on the Israeli children's channel, Hop. Piven has also published five children's books, one of which Time Magazine named one of the best 10 children's books of the year. Piven is a regular contributor to Haaretz and his work has appeared in major publications throughout the world, including the New York Times, Newsweek, Rolling Stone and Time Magazine in the United States. He won the gold medal from the Society of Illustrators and the silver medal from the Society of Publication Designers for his designs.

Viewing hours are Monday - Thursday and the first Sunday of the month from 12 noon - 3:00 p.m., or call 202/408-3100 to schedule an appointment.

In addition to the exhibit opening, there will also be a workshop for children on Sunday, September 21. The exhibit opening is free and the cost of the children's workshop is $6 per child. R.S.V.P. for these events to Sonia Rosen here or call 202/408-3100.

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.

Bush political cartoon ad

The NRDC Action Fund paid for a full-page caricature/political cartoon ad in today's Washington Post showing George W bush as a snake-oil salesman. It's a lovely piece and they've put a pdf online - I can't recall anything similar since Pat Oliphant did a series of full page ads about airlines at least a decade ago.

Beeler's caricatures

I saw Nate Beeler today, and he says that he's doing caricatures for the Examiner chain. Three caricatures a week, one each for the Washington, Baltimore and San Francisco editions, published on the new Sunday paper. You can see the first ones on his blog now - the one I've lifted is DC Mayor Fenty.

Obituary for Arlington caricaturist

See "Scott A. Fertig, 41; Arlington Artist," By Yvonne Shinhoster Lamb, Washington Post Staff Writer, Tuesday, May 6, 2008; B08.

John Kascht caricature videos on Wash Post site?

Did anyone know about these? I certainly didn't until the Journalista blog from Seattle pointed them out. There's seven up now - Obama, Clinton, Edwards, McCain, Guliani, Huckabee and Romney - each is slightly over 3 minutes.

Risko covers Post's Weekend

Noted caricaturist Robert Risko did the cover caricature of Woody Allen for Friday's Weekend section. Risko's usually seen more often in the New Yorker -- perhaps his illustrations is where the whole year's budge for Tom the Dancing Bug went. Apparently they didn't pay him for web rights though.

Writings on comics by American U professor

I was introduced to American U professor Erik Dussere last night at the PEN/Faulkner talk. He's written a couple of articles on comics:

"Subversion in the Swamp: Pogo and the Folk in the McCarthy Era," Journal of American Culture 26 (1; March 2003): 134-141

"The queer world of the X-Men; OK, Wolverine never built a shrine to Judy Garland, but 'the strangest teens' were obviously homo superior -- emphasis on the homo," Salon (July 12, 2000)

Another finger puppet!!!!

SPX meant I couldn't get this mentioned on Saturday, but Richard Thompson caricatured Hilary Clinton as a finger puppet this week. I've made it and she's glaring at my house guests now.

Two minor bits

Today's Express gave The Jungle Book dvd a glowing review. The article's not online.

And in the Post's Food section, the Palm, the restaurant chain with local caricatures got a write-up with a photograph of said caricatures, and the photograph actually is online.