 |
 |
MoCCA RECEPTION INTRODUCES MUSEUM TO THE ARTISTIC COMMUNITY
By Fred Van Lente
A great time was had by all at the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art ("MoCCA") wine and cheese reception on Thursday, February 28, 2002. MoCCA was chartered in the fall of 2001 to educate the public about the art, history, and technique of comic and cartoon art, and examine its impact on culture and society through rotating exhibits of art, historical artifacts and public programs. The evening introduced that mission and philosophy to New York's artistic community, and by all accounts it was a resounding success.
The reception was held at SoHo's Illustration House, America's foremos gallery devoted to the art and history of illustration, and for the evening its walls offered a glimpse of things of come for the future museum. The gallery was decorated with framed original art from legends across the comic book and cartooning field, including Jack Kirby, Hal Foster, Charles Addams, Bill Watterson, George Herriman, Dr. Seuss, Bill Gallo, and many many others.
The museum’s planned breadth of historical coverage was amply demonstrated by the wide range of time periods on view: A George DuMaurier illustration from a 19th century issue of famed British humor magazine Punch hung beside an enormous James Thurber pencil cartoon from 1942. The Thurber piece was mounted across the room from an original World's Finest cover by comic book legend Neal Adams, featuring super hero archetypes Superman and Batman, dating to 1972. Further down the hall, near the refreshments, a Jerry Craft Mama's Boy original strip from 1999 stared down an exquisite black and white Little Nemo in Slumberland full-pager ninety years its senior. Around the corner, beside a Gary Ernest Smith sculpture depicting Ignatz the Mouse hurling a brick at an unsuspecting Krazy Kat, a cel of cartoon mouse Jerry (of MGM "Tom and Jerry" fame) shared wall space with the cel of potential icon-to-be, John Dillworth's Courage the Cowardly Dog (Cartoon Network).
"MoCCA's mission is to be as inclusive as possible, and exhibit as many types of artwork as we can display, to better educate and excite the public, and that's clearly on display tonight," said Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art chairman Lawrence Klein. "Our plan is to showcase the full diversity of artwork in the comics and cartoon field itself, as well as demonstrate how comics and cartoons offer a window into the history of America and the world."
"One of the great things about cartoon art is that it has greater pertinence to the social condition than it does to the art condition," seconded Illustration House co-proprietor Roger Reed.
Reed pointed to another piece in the exhibition, a 1894 Hogan’s Alley one-panel strip by Richard Outcault, famed for premiering America’s first cartoon art superstar, The Yellow Kid. He says, "Outcault’s cartoons were wildly popular among immigrants in the 1890s because they weren't about the upper strata of society but about themselves, so the drawings became a democratizing vehicle, getting immigrants to buy newspapers and read them, but also to show the upper crust how the poor lived. His drawings also provided a way to laugh about something that was becoming intolerable: hordes of homeless children living and working on the streets of the big cities. This was just at the time when Jacob Riis and other reformers were writing about the slums and pushing for mandatory education, and an end to child labor."
The reception guest list, limited to members of the comics and cartooning community, included such diverse personas as editorial cartoonist Mark Podwal (The New York Times), DC Comics editors Bob Schreck (Batman) and Charles Kochman (Licensed Publishing), MAD Magazine editor Nick Meglin, alternative comics creator Dean Haspiel (Opposable Thumbs), film animator Bill Plympton (Plymptoons, The Tune), newspaper strip cartoonists Bunny Hoest (Agatha Crumb, The Lockhorns) and Patrick McDonnell (Mutts), political cartoonist Peter Kuper (Spy vs. Spy), graphic designer Chip Kidd (Jack Cole & Plastic Man, Batman Animated) and legendary comic book writer Don McGregor (Sabre).
Proceeds from admission and a fundraising raffle benefited the museum. Raffle prizes included signed books by Michael Chabon (Pulitzer-Prize winning author of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Klay), Kidd, Alex Simmons (Blackjack), signed prints by Hoest and McDonnell, and original art by Plympton, Henrik Rehr (Ferdinand), Scott Roberts (Rugrats) and MoCCA board members Ted Rall (Village Voice) and Klaus Janson (Daredevil, Spider-Man, Dark Knight Returns). Refreshments were generously provided by Petite Abeille, Labatt USA, and Fortant De France Wines.
< top
|
|
|
|
|
|
