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OhioStateLogoContact: Caitlin McGurk
The Ohio State University
Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum
1813 N High St.
Columbus OH 43210-1393
614-292-0538
cartoons@osu.edu

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: December 30, 2015

Upcoming Exhibitions at The Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum

WORDLESS: The Collection of David A. Beronä
&
Dedini: The Art of Humor

February 13 – May 22, 2016

The Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum (BICLM) will open two new exhibitions on   February 13, 2016, running through May 22, 2016.

WORDLESS: The Collection of David A. Beronä celebrates a century of wordless books—novels and histories told entirely through pictures—and the life of the late David A. Beronä, who was devoted to studying, collecting, and championing this international tradition.

Beginning with the emergence of the modern wordless novel with the work of Belgian artist Frans Masereel in 1918 and the Expressionist printmakers his work inspired in Europe and America, this exhibit traces a history of the form through its modern practitioners including Sue Coe, Peter Kuper, George Walker and others. Tackling such ambitious topics as the horrors of war, the systematic cruelties of wage slavery, the dangers of nuclear proliferation, and the fate of the artist in late capitalism, these books demonstrate the capacity of sequential images to tell bold, complex and powerful stories without words or special effects.

The exhibit highlights the continued practice of the wordless tradition, including comic strips, graphic novels, minicomics, and children’s picture books. All items on exhibit are from the David Beronä Collection. The exhibition is being curated by Associate Curator Caitlin McGurk and Jared Gardner, professor of English and Film.

Dedini: The Art of Humor showcases the work of Eldon Dedini (1921-2006), a master of the magazine gag cartoon.

For almost half a century, both The New Yorker and Playboy regularly published his work, which featured a unique blend of art and humor informed by his insatiable appetite for knowledge and his love of fine art, jazz, wine and life.

Shortly before his death, Dedini donated his papers and art to the BICLM.  This exhibit will feature works from his collection, including his sophisticated black-and-white cartoons for the New Yorker, as well as his risqué, lush color cartoons for Playboy.  Some of Dedini’s lesser-known work will also be on display, including early work for Disney, Esquire and other publications, as well as examples of his advertising and charity art.  The exhibition sheds light on Dedini’s artistic process from the initial submitted sketch, to his exuberant charcoal roughs, to his finished work – masterpieces of design and color.

FREE EVENT: On February 20, 2016, the BICLM will host a series of events to celebrate the opening of these two exhibitions.  At 4 p.m., a screening of the documentary Dedini: A Life of Cartoons will be shown. Refreshments will be served and the galleries will remain opened from 5 – 6 p.m.  A screening of the documentary, O Brother Man: The Art and Life of Lynd Ward, will begin at 6 p.m.  The filmmakers, Michael Maglaras and Terri Templeton will introduce the documentary and answer questions after the screening.

 

About the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum:  The BICLM is one of The Ohio State University Libraries’ special collections. Its primary mission is to develop a comprehensive research collection of materials documenting American printed cartoon art (editorial cartoons, comic strips, comic books, graphic novels, sports cartoons, and magazine cartoons) and to provide access to the collections.  The BICLM is housed in a renovated 30,000 square foot space in Sullivant Hall that includes a museum with three exhibition galleries, a reading room for researchers and a state-of-the-art collections storage space. The library reading room is open Monday-Friday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday 1 – 5 p.m. The museum is open Tuesday-Sunday from 1 – 5 p.m.  See http://cartoons.osu.edu/ for further information.