A traveling exhibition tells the story of comics from the early North American masters to the 1940s

Entitled Strip Art. Dreams and Realism in the Early Masters of Comics, the new project, born of the collaboration between Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Jesi, ACCA Academy of Comics Creativity and Visual Arts Jesi and PAFF! Pordenone, which traces the history of comics through the great North American masters, from their beginnings to the 1940s. An exhibition intended to be unique for the variety, quality and rarity of the pieces, some of which are on public display for the first time.

Curated by Alessio Trabacchini and Giovanni Nahmias, with the coordination of Roberto Gigli, the exhibition is itinerant: the first stop is scheduled from September 22 to November 2022 in Jesi (Ancona), at Palazzo Bisaccioni, headquarters of the Fondazione Carisj, and in spring 2023 at PAFF! in Pordenone.

The exhibition aims to highlight the expressive and narrative complexity of comics as art, bringing together examples that constitute some of the pinnacles of its earliest age, and also emphasizing the function of comics as a critical mirror of society from the very beginning of their history. About fifty rare and large-format original works will be on display, and a number of blow-ups of the most valuable and special pieces will complete the layout of the two exhibitions in Jesi and Pordenone. The exhibition will include in-depth lectures, conferences and workshops.

Among the authors, the great names of early comics will be present, starting with founders Winsor McCay (1869-193499, master of Art Nouveau illustration and explorer of the dream world with series such as Little Nemo in Slumberland and Dreams of a rerebit Fiend), George Herriman (1880-19449, African American creator of Krazy Kat, the first comic book masterpiece to be received in artistic and literary circles), Frank King (1883-19699, author of Gasoline Alley, a kind of great strip novel that accompanied nearly a century of U.S. history).

Twenty-five other masters will accompany visitors on this journey, from Elzie Chrisler Segar (1894-1938), creator of Popeye - Popeye, to Floyd Gottfredson drawer of the first Mickey Mouse comics, from Otto Soglow with the strip The Little King, to the curious strip drawn by boxer Primo Carnera, from Otto Mesmer with Felix the Cat to authors also beloved in Italy such as Chester Gould with Dick Tracy, Al Capp with Lil’ Abner and Milton Caniff, Hugo Pratt’s first source of inspiration. Also, Frederick Burr Opper, Billy DeBeck, Richard Felton Oucault, James Swinnerton, Rudolph Dirks, Harold Knerr, Geo McManus, Bud Fisher, Carl B. Williams, Gene Byrnes, Harry J. Tuthill, Henry Bushmiller, Rube Goldberg, Dick Calkins, Basil Wolverton, Lyman Young, Ham Fisher.

European immigrants from different backgrounds, these authors worked for the daily press. It is the unfolding in sequences of a new artistic and narrative language, able to powerfully communicate the social reality of the time between stereotypes, irony, and technical necessity. The founders of comics entertained their readers but at the same time told of class differences, the condition of women, racial discrimination, and childhood’s relationship with adults and institutions.

The catalog accompanying the exhibition is in a sheet format, typical of the daily newspapers of the first half of the last century, which housed Sunday strips and panels in large-format inserts.

For info: www.fondazionecrj.it

Hours: Monday through Sunday from 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 3:30 to 7:30 p.m.

Free admission.

Image: Carl B.Williams, Jim Mac Travers, Drummer (Sunday page, 1908)

A traveling exhibition tells the story of comics from the early North American masters to the 1940s

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