Comic strips

Library of Congress to exhibit the Timely and Timeless

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Alan Gardner October 19, 2011 1 minute 1 comment

Several cartoonists will be featured in the Library of Congress’ new exhibit “Timely and Timeless” opening on September 15. Artist listed on the website include James Gillray and Honoré Daumier, as well as modern and contemporary creators such as Jazz Age cartoonist John Held, Jr.; African American artist Oliver Wendell Harrington; New Yorker cartoonists Charles Addams and Roz Chast; and comic-strip creators Bill Griffith and Aaron McGruder.

I also know from her blog, Jan Eliot will also be included. She opines about the selection of her work to be included in from very early in her career:

BUT… looking back at the early work, despite the awkward drawings, I love the ideas I pursued, and my willingness to be bold since I had little to lose when I only had one, rather liberal, newspaper. This strip was written when I was still doing just one strip a week (Universal used the best from that period, plus new work, to put together the first 6 weeks of strips for my launch). Once syndicated, it’s possible to feel intimidated by public opinion, be terrified of losing a paper, and these fears might lead a cartoonist to be overly cautious in what they produce- and that would be unfortunate. Unlike Web cartoonists, who have a lot of editorial freedom, and no real editors, we newspaper cartoonists reside in, and sometimes bristle against, a rather conservative landscape.

Exhibit runs through March 10. Exhibit is free and open to the public.