Editor's note: The Norman Rockwell Museum provided
source material to Resource Library for the following article. If
you have questions or comments regarding the source material, please contact
The Norman Rockwell Museum directly through either this phone number or
web address:
LitGraphic: The World of
the Graphic Novel
November 10, 2007 - May 26, 2008
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Labels from the exhibition
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- Jessica Abel
- What Can I Get You Miss? 2006
- Set in Mexico City, La Perdida is the compelling
tale of a young American woman hoping to find a sense of personal and cultural
identity in the country of her estranged father. Energized by new experiences
in an exciting, unfamiliar world, she remains in Mexico far longer than
planned, and is ultimately drawn into dire circumstances that leave her
and her friends forever changed. Carla begins her turbulent adventure in
this series of brush and ink drawings as she struggles to place a simple
lunch order in Spanish.
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- Illustration for La Perdida by Jessica Abel
- Ink on paper
- Collection of the artist
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- Jessica Abel
- The Terrible Pain 2006
- A fictional story originally published in serialized
form, La Perdida was inspired by creator Jessica Abel's own
experiences in Mexico City, where she and her husband, fellow graphic novelist
Matt Madden, lived from 1998 to 2000. The artist's Mexico diaries filled
with letters written to family, friends, and readers provided detailed
descriptions of events that would later appear in her art. An inspirational
visit to the home of Frida Kahlo is remembered in this drawing, which reflects
young Carla's admiration for the artist.
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- Illustration for La Perdida by Jessica Abel
- Ink on paper
- Collection of the artist
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- Jessica Abel
- It's Raining 2006
- An avid comic book reader since childhood, Jessica Abel
"devoured" everything from Wonder Woman to Casper
and Richie Rich in her youth and created illustrated books of her
own design. During her years at the University of Chicago, she published
comics in Breakdown, a student anthology, and in 1992, Artbabe
was born. Initially self-published and produced for seven years, this series
of fictional short stories in comic book form has been collected in two
volumes, Soundtrack and Mirror, Window. Jessica Abel is the
recipient of prestigious Harvey Awards and Lulu Awards for her achievements
in comics.
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- Illustration for La Perdida by Jessica Abel
- Ink on paper
- Collection of the artist
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- Jessica Abel
- So We Had Fun 2006
- When creating comics and graphic novels, Jessica Abel
begins by writing and revising her scripts on the computer. After text
segments are established, thumbnail sketches including word balloons are
drawn for each page. Loose sketches are gradually refined and scenic details
are added before the lettering process begins. Once designs are finalized,
panels and drawings are inked. As is evident here, depth within frames
can be established by using bold, fluid brush strokes to emphasize foreground
elements, and by creating the detailed delineation of backgrounds with
a steel nib pen. Spot blacks provide an effective balance of light and
dark within each composition.
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- Illustration for La Perdida by Jessica Abel
- Ink on paper
- Collection of the artist
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- Jessica Abel
- Bye 2006
- Illustration for La Perdida by Jessica Abel
- Ink on paper
- Collection of the artist
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- Jessica Abel
- After a Few Days 2006
- Illustration for La Perdida by Jessica Abel
- Ink on paper
- Collection of the artist
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- Sue Coe
- Sheep of Fools 2005
- A true believer in the power of media to affect change,
Sue Coe is one of the foremost political artists working today. Born in
Tamworth, England, she studied at the Royal College of Art in London, and
has dedicated her career to bringing significant social issues to light
in visual form. Working primarily in drawing and printmaking and in illustrated
books and comics, she is a graphic witness to realities that are often
overlooked or avoided, particularly relating to civil and animal rights.
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- Sue Coe's unflinching art documentaries have provided
thought-provoking commentary about subjects as diverse as factory farming
and the meat packing industry, apartheid, the AIDS epidemic, sweat shops,
the prison system, and the politics of war. A frequent contributor to World
War 3 Illustrated, she has also published her imagery in The Progressive,
Mother Jones, Blab, The New York Times, Time,
and Newsweek, and sales of the artist's paintings and prints have
benefited many important causes. This gently unsettling scene of a shepherd
and his flock appears on the title page of Sheep of Fools, a precursor
of all that is to come.
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- Title page illustration for Sheep of Fools by
Sue Coe and Judith Brody
- Gouache, watercolor, and collaged lithograph on board
- Courtesy of Gallery St. Etienne, New York
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- Sue Coe
- Goats Before Sheep 2005
- Sue Coe's Sheep of Fools documents the horrific
conditions that animals endure within the commercial sheep farming industry.
In storybook format, a series of annotated songs with rhyming couplets
describe the processes and economies behind the slaughter of sheep throughout
history. Factual detail, derived from intensive study, is blended with
allegorical symbolism and an expressionist graphic style that exudes power.
Color is sparingly used, as the artist believes it can counter the impact
of strong content.
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- Illustration for Sheep of Fools by Sue Coe and
Judith Brody
- Gouache, watercolor, and varnish on paper
- Courtesy of Gallery St. Etienne, New York
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- Sue Coe
- Abandon Ship (Sheep)
2005
- "As an artist," Sue Coe has commented, "I
have done much social realismfor magazines and newspapers in the United
States covering war and AIDS and many other neglected ills, but the main
body of my work has been about animals, especially farm animals. I don't
think there was one defining moment, it was many moments." As a girl,
Coe lived next door to a factory farm for pigs and just a block away from
a slaughterhouse. The ever-present cries of the animals were unforgettable,
an early memory that has inspired deep empathy and has informed her art.
- A work of biblical proportions, this drawing references
the separation of "the sheep from the goats" in Matthew 25:31-46,
and offers a contemporary reminder that four hundred thousand sheep die
from the stress of travel each year.
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- Illustration for Sheep of Fools by Sue Coe and
Judith Brody
- Graphite, gouache, and watercolor on board
- Courtesy of Gallery St. Etienne, New York
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- Sue Coe
- Unloading 2004
- Illustration for Sheep of Fools by Sue Coe and
Judith Brody
- Graphite, gouache, and watercolor on board
- Courtesy of Gallery St. Etienne, New York
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- Sue Coe
- Fleeced 2004
- Illustration for Sheep of Fools by Sue Coe and
Judith Brody
- Graphite, gouache, and watercolor on board
- Courtesy of Gallery St. Etienne, New York
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- Robert Crumb
- Zap #12 (Cave Wimp) 1988
- The founder of the underground comix movement, Robert
Crumb is an icon of 1960s counterculture and one of the most distinctive
comic artists of all time. His brilliant drawings earned him immediate
cult status, and his influential art and career has unfolded largely outside
the mainstream. When they first appeared, Crumb's images reflected the
mood of the era by rejecting conformity and socially accepted mores.
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- Inspired to draw by his older brother Charles, who was
an avid comic book fan, Crumb self-published his first issue of Zap
Comix in 1968. Originally sold in Haight-Ashbury, San Francisco, from
a baby stroller pushed by the artist and his wife, Zap #1 was unlike
any other comic. It read, "Fair Warning: For Adult Intellectuals Only,"
and premiered Crumb's legendary Mr. Natural and Keep On Truckin'
art. After its initial success, Zap began publishing the work of
other comic creators and appeared sporadically over the years-the best
known of the underground genre.
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- Illustration for Zap #12
- Ink on paper
- Courtesy of Heritage Auction Galleries (HA.com)
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- Robert Crumb
- Yum YumBook 1963
- Drawn when he was just nineteen years old, Robert Crumb's
Yum Yum Book tells the tale of Oggie and the Beanstalk, an adult
adaptation of the classic fable. "Amidst the pushing, shoving, creeping,
hopping, crawling, scurrying, slithering mob," its text reads, "moved
a sad, hung up toad named Ogden." Oggie eventually found love, as
did the artist himself. Crumb met his first wife, Dana Morgan, shortly
after completing this rare early work, though the book was not published
until 1975.
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- Illustrated book
- Ink and colored pencil on paper
- Courtesy of Heritage Auction Galleries (HA.com)
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- Howard Cruse
- There Was No Help 1995
- Howard Cruse was raised in Springfield, Alabama, the
son of a preacher and a homemaker who valued education and encouraged his
penchant for drawing from childhood. An avid comic book reader in his youth,
he published his first cartoons in
- The Baptist Student while
still in high school, and gained popular acclaim in the 1970s through his
art for underground comics.
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- Cartooning offered the opportunity to address societal
issues that were personally meaningful to the artist "without inhibiting
editorial constraints." He has served as the editor of Gay Comix,
an anthology featuring the art of gay and lesbian cartoonists, and is the
creator of Wendell, a strip about an irrepressible homosexual man
that appeared in The Advocate, a gay newsmagazine.
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- Illustration for Stuck Rubber Baby by Howard Cruse
- Ink on paper
- Collection of Howard Cruse
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- Howard Cruse
- Four Hours?! 1995
- Stuck Rubber Baby tells the
tale of Toland Polk, a young man coming of age in the American south during
the 1960s, whose growing awareness of racial injustice and his own homosexuality
places him at a crossroads. The book, which took four years to complete,
represents an extraordinary personal commitment for the artist that was
well worth his efforts. "In drawing the book, I was doing something
with emotions and feelings that had been built up for twenty years. I had
watched the civil rights movement play out in Birmingham during my high
school and college years, and it changed my life. It made me aware of the
impact that street activism can have on a culture." In the wake of
that experience, "when the gay movement started gaining speed, I was
motivated to be a part of it because I knew it could actually accomplish
something." The graphic novel format provided a canvas on which to
express his ideas.
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- Illustration for Stuck Rubber Baby by Howard Cruse
- Ink on paper
- Collection of Howard Cruse
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- Howard Cruse
- Orley?? 1995
- Illustration for Stuck Rubber Baby by Howard Cruse
- Ink on paper
- Collection of Howard Cruse
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- Howard Cruse
- Jesus! 1995
- Howard Cruse's precise, volumetric drawings take readers
on a cinematic journey through each scene in his book. Extreme close-ups
call attention to nuanced gestures and expressions that engage readers
with his fully realized characters. A 1962 photograph of the artist's long-time
friend provided the visual inspiration for Toland's sister, Melanie, who
appears on this page. "Whenever possible, I tried to find a real,
flesh-and-blood human being to use as the basis for any new character in
Stuck Rubber Baby, the better to short circuit (or at least inhibit)
the unconscious importation of old stylistic habits."
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- Illustration for Stuck Rubber Baby by Howard Cruse
- Ink on paper
- Collection of Howard Cruse
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- Howard Cruse
- The Walk Gave Us Talking Time 1995
- Illustration for Stuck Rubber Baby by Howard Cruse
- Ink on paper
- Collection of Howard Cruse
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- Howard Cruse
- You Did Seem Upset 1995
- Illustration for Stuck Rubber Baby by Howard Cruse
- Ink on paper
- Collection of Howard Cruse
- Stan Lee & Steve Ditko
- Strange Tales c1965
- Strange Tales was the name
given to a popular, long-running series published by Marvel Comics that
showcased science fiction and suspense stories and introduced the mysterious
Doctor Strange. The issues here are the product of collaboration between
two comics giants-Stan Lee, a noted author and a visionary chairman of
Marvel Comics, and Steve Ditko, an acclaimed comic book artist and writer.
Spider-Man is just one among their many superhero creations.
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- Marvel Comics
- Courtesy of the Norman Rockwell Museum
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- Will Eisner (1917-2005)
- Baxter's Perfect Crime 1 1947
- Known as one of the most innovative and influential comic
contributors of all time,
- Will Eisner is the creator of The Spirit, a legendary
weekly serial that began publication in 1940. Chronicling the adventures
of masked crime-fighter and urban detective Denny Colt, The Spirit
appeared as the lead story of a sixteen page comic book insert in Sunday
newspapers for a decade, until1952.
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- Many storytelling conventions that are used by comic
artists today were originated in Will Eisner's series. The Spirit
offered a detailed view of a gritty metropolis, inspired the artist's own
observations in his native New York. Populated by regular people who might
otherwise be overlooked, his stories are real-life dramas that play out
on city streets, in tenements, and in smoke-filled back rooms. Creative
experimentation with a range of narrative styles-from crime drama, film
noir, and mystery to adventure, romance, and comedy-kept readers intrigued
and coming back for more.
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- Illustration for The Spirit, January 5, 1947
- Ink and gouache on paper
- Collection of The Will Eisner Estate
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- Will Eisner (1917-2005)
- Baxter's Perfect Crime 2 1947
- Will Eisner considered himself "a graphic witness
reporting on life, death, heartbreak, and the never ending struggle to
prevail." His childhood years were also formative ones for comics.
Born in 1917 in New York City, Eisner read newspaper comic strips as a
boy, a popular form of entertainment. At that time, many comic classics
of the golden age had not even debuted, and the term "comic book"
had not yet been coined.
- To supplement his family's income, Eisner sold newspapers
on Wall Street and brought home several papers each day. An avid reader,
he noted that his "first true influences were the stories by Horatio
Alger[whose] message was that you can rise above your circumstances and
find success through your own diligence and hard work. As a kid in the
ghetto, that spoke directly to me."
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- Illustration for The Spirit, January 5, 1947
- Ink and gouache on paper
- Collection of The Will Eisner Estate
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- Will Eisner (1917-2005)
- Baxter's Perfect Crime 3 1947
- Illustration for The Spirit, January 5, 1947
- Ink and gouache on paper
- Collection of The Will Eisner Estate
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- Will Eisner (1917-2005)
- Baxter's Perfect Crime 4 1947
- Illustration for The Spirit, January 5, 1947
- Ink and gouache on paper
- Collection of The Will Eisner Estate
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- Will Eisner (1917-2005)
- Baxter's Perfect Crime 5 1947
- Illustration for The Spirit, January 5, 1947
- Ink and gouache on paper
- Collection of The Will Eisner Estate
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- Will Eisner (1917-2005)
- Baxter's Perfect Crime 6 1947
- Illustration for The Spirit, January 5, 1947
- Ink and gouache on paper
- Collection of The Will Eisner Estate
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- Will Eisner (1917-2005)
- Baxter's Perfect Crime 7 1947
- Illustration for The Spirit, January 5, 1947
- Ink and gouache on paper
- Collection of The Will Eisner Estate
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- Will Eisner (1917-2005)
- The Street Singer 1 1978
- Published in 1978, A Contract with God is one
of the first and most influential American graphic novels. A hallmark publication,
the book is comprised of four thematically linked short stories set in
a Bronx tenement in Depression era New York. Semi-autobiographical, Will
Eisner's wrenching tales about the urban struggle for survival are drawn
from the artist's own childhood memories and experiences.
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- Inspired by the 1930s book length visual narratives created
by graphic artists Frans Masareel and Lynd Ward, Eisner became interested
in the broader storytelling potential of sequential art. He also recognized
that aging fans of the comic medium were seeking "something more than
two heroes, two supermen, crashing against each other. I began working
on a book that dealt with a subject that had never been tried by comics
before," he said, "and that was man's relationship with God."
In a futile attempt to engage a mainstream publisher, he called the book
a "graphic novel."
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- Illustration for A Contract With God, and Other Tenement
Stories by Will Eisner
- Ink and gouache on paper
- Collection of The Will Eisner Estate
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- Will Eisner (1917-2005)
- The Street Singer 2 1978
- A story of loss and longing, The Street Singer
appeared as the second vignette in the original publication of A Contract
with God. The artist's masterful full-page and multiple-image drawings
remember the wandering minstrels who sang songs and arias in the alleys
between buildings during the Depression. "As a boy, I often tossed
a penny down into our back alley for the man who regularly appeared there
to sing.To me, he brought a bit of theatrical glamour to the grim alley."
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- Illustration for A Contract With God, and Other Tenement
Stories by Will Eisner
- Ink and gouache on paper
- Collection of The Will Eisner Estate
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- Will Eisner (1917-2005)
- The Street Singer 4 1978
- Illustration for A Contract With God, and Other Tenement
Stories by Will Eisner
- Ink and gouache on paper
- Collection of The Will Eisner Estate
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- Will Eisner (1917-2005)
- The Street Singer 5 1978
- Will Eisner spent his professional life combining and
refining words and pictures. His early work in newspaper comics and comic
books allowed him to entertain millions of readers weekly, but he always
felt there was more to say. He pioneered the use of comics for instructional
manuals for American soldiers, covering three major wars, and later used
comics to educate children. At an age when he could have retired, he decided
instead to create literary comics. "Acceptance has not been easy,"
he wrote, "but I have seen it arrive in my lifetime."
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- Illustration for A Contract With God, and Other Tenement
Stories by Will Eisner
- Ink and gouache on paper
- Collection of The Will Eisner Estate
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- Brian Fies
- One Question Hangs in the Air 2006
- An award-winning graphic novel, Mom's Cancer is
based upon the artist's copious documentation of the diagnosis and treatment
of his mother's metastatic lung cancer. Poignant and direct, the story
reveals how serious illness affects both patients and their families as
they cope with their emotions and their new roles as caregivers.
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- An accomplished science writer and journalist who always
loved to draw, Brian Fies introduced Mom's Cancer as a serialized
Internet comic in 2004 as a way of sharing his personal experiences with
a broader audience. Readership grew rapidly, often by word of mouth. "Many
readers wrote to tell me how surprised and relieved they were to learn
they weren't alone," said Fies, who is gratified that his family's
story has offered others solace and inspiration.
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- Illustration for Mom's Cancer by Brian Fies
- Ink on paper
- Collection of the artist
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- Brian Fies
- Push, Balance, Pull 2006
- As a science and technical writer for such publications
as Sky & Telescope, Physics World, and Power Engineering,
Brian Fies typically breaks down complex concepts to make them more accessible
for readers. In creating Mom's Cancer, he distilled a vast number
of experiences and observations to their essence in order to communicate
them effectively. "I work on that. In both writing and cartooning,
my first inclination is to do too much."
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- Fies refined drawings and compositions are subject to
a rigorous editing process. He often creates several drafts of each image,
striving to include fewer lines and less clutter in every iteration.
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- Illustration for