Month: January 2013 (page 1 of 4)

New Exhibit: A.B. Walker’s World

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Alanson Burton Walker was a very successful magazine cartoonist working at the beginning of 20th century.  His work was much in demand and he drew for all the important magazines of the time–Life, Harper’s, Atlantic Monthly, Saturday Evening Post, Judge and Collier’s–where he created gentle, wry cartoons on issues of the day.

Walker was born in Binghampton, New York on November 19, 1878, attended Buffalo Central High School, and later Rochester University from which he graduated in 1897. He spent the next four years taking classes at the Art Students League in New York, studying under Frank Vincent DuMond.  His brother William H. Walker, also a cartoonist, became the chief editorial cartoonist for Life at the end of the 1890s.  Both brothers lived and worked in Flushing, New York.  A. B. Walker died of a heart attack while shoveling snow on January 22, 1947.

Most of the work on display dates from 1909-1913 and was created by Walker while he was in his early thirties.  All were drawn for Harper’s Magazine and focus on topics of the time:  changes in transportation (automobiles and aeronautics); observations on women and women’s suffrage; and love and marriage.  Walker’s work captures the preoccupations of early 20th century life with wit and charm.  His cartoons, with their fluid lines and gentle humor, remain as pleasing to us today as they were to the audience he created them for a century ago.

These cartoons form part of the International Museum of Cartoon Art Collection and were donated by A. B. Walker’s son and his wife, Keith and Mary Lou Walker.

Curated by Lucy Shelton Caswell, Professor Emerita, The Ohio State University Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum and Ann Lennon, Project Registrar, International Museum of Cartoon Art Collection.

This is our second-to-last show in our current space, and will be on view until April 26th.
We hope you will come by and check it out!

Found in the Collection: “Punk” magazine No. 6

Punk and comics, two of America’s greatest subcultures, together at last in 1976 for Issue no. 6 of John Holmstrom and Legs McNeil’s revolutionary Punk magazine.

Cover of Punk magazine issue no. 6 with art by John Holmstrom, from The San Francisco Academy of Comic Art Collection, The Ohio State University Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum (click to enlarge)

Cover of Punk magazine issue no. 6 with art by John Holmstrom, from The San Francisco Academy of Comic Art Collection, The Ohio State University Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum (click to enlarge)

We won’t be able to include the entire juicy story here–starring some of the Lower East Side’s finest from the 1970s scene including Debbie Harry, Richard Hell, David Byrne, David Jo Hansen, and so many more–but below you can enjoy a few of our favorite pages from this fine photo comic.

The scene is set with Special Agent Victor Martino, as played by Lenny Kaye of the Patti Smith group.

Page 1 of Punk magazine Issue No. 6, From the San Francisco Academy of Comic Art Collection, The Ohio State University Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum (click to enlarge)

Page 1 of Punk magazine Issue No. 6, from The San Francisco Academy of Comic Art Collection, The Ohio State University Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum (click to enlarge)

The star of the show, as indicated on the cover, is the great Richard Hell-pioneer of the punk look himself-as Nick Detroit, a former government agent who had been framed by the press for killing 966 people in the line of duty and forced into retirement. Detroit is called back into action by Chief (and guitarist) Bob Quine to solve some mysterious murders around town.

Punk Magazine issue No. 6, from The San Francisco Academy of Comic Art Collection, The Ohio State University Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum (click to enlarge)

Page 4 of Punk magazine issue No. 6, from The San Francisco Academy of Comic Art Collection, The Ohio State University Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum (click to enlarge)

Page 5 of Punk magazine Issue No.6, from The San Francisco Academy of Comic Art, The Ohio State University Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum (click to enlarge)

Page 7 of Punk magazine Issue No.6, from The San Francisco Academy of Comic Art, The Ohio State University Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum (click to enlarge)

The New York Doll’s David Jo Hansen as the evil Tony, mob king and prime suspect.

Page 6 of Punk magazine Issue No. 6, from The San Francisco Academy of Comic Art Collection, The Ohio State University Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum (click to enlarge)

Page 8 of Punk magazine Issue No. 6, from The San Francisco Academy of Comic Art Collection, The Ohio State University Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum (click to enlarge)

As the plot unfolds, we’re introduced to a star-studded feminist gang who reveal themselves as the real perpetrators in their plot for total world domination, which must begin with the extermination of Nick Detroit, “as he is the living living symbol of masculinity”. High-fashion chaos ensues.

Punk magazine issue No. 6, from The San Francisco Academy of Comic Art Collection, The Ohio State University Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum (click to enlarge)

Page 18 of Punk magazine issue No. 6, from The San Francisco Academy of Comic Art Collection, The Ohio State University Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum (click to enlarge)

…as for the rest of the story, you’ll have to dig through your old zines or visit us at the Cartoon Library to read on.

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