Throughout his career, Oliver “Ollie” Harrington (1912-1995) used his voice and artistic talents as a cartoonist to attack racial, economic and social injustice with razor-sharp wit and insight. Speaking from the perspective of a cartoonist of color, his commentary chronicles many of the events and issues that defined the 20th century, from segregation and apartheid, to war and poverty. Harrington’s life and career intersected with the Harlem Renaissance, the Civil Rights movement, the Black émigré community in Paris after WWII, and communist East Germany. Many of Harrington’s cartoons remain relevant and speak to problems that sadly are still unresolved in contemporary times. 

Humans and dogs have a special relationship that goes back to our earliest encounters. There is evidence of an enduring graphic legacy of dogs in art. An 8,000-year-old petroglyph mural recently discovered in the Arabian Desert depicts dogs with leashes helping a hunter who is holding a bow. Dogs continue to take on roles as loyal companions, dedicated workers, and talented performers. Today, canines are also celebrated icons of popular literature, art, and culture.

Walt Kelly’s newspaper comic strip Pogo was a platform for political satire and commentary using a motley group of swamp critters. Kelly tackled many of the political issues of the world in which he lived, from the Red Scare to civil rights, the environment, scientific exploration, and consumerism. We celebrate Walt Kelly and his social commentary through the joyous, poignant, and occasionally profound insights and beauty of the alternative universe that is Pogo. Working in the mid-twentieth century, Kelly drew on the legacy of earlier generations of newspaper cartoonists and then became a major influence on his successors.

This exhibition primarily features art and archival materials from the Walt Kelly Collection, which was donated to the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum by Selby Kelly. It also showcases artwork from the collection of Doonesbury cartoonist Garry B. Trudeau, which he generously donated to the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum in 2020.

Co-curated by Lucy Shelton Caswell, Professor Emerita and Founding Curator of the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum, and Jenny E. Robb, Curator & Associate Professor.

Image credit: Walt Kelly. Pogo, April 21, 1971. Publishers-Hall Syndicate. Reprinted by permission.

[Party Scene] by Mary Fleener, 1982

From the first female political cartoonist and the first female-created superhero, to the feminist voices that emerged from underground and alternative comics, Ladies First: A Century of Women’s Innovations in Comics and Cartoon Art  is a celebration of how women have defined the field of comics and cartoon art for generations.

Women have always pushed cartoon art forward. A century ago, suffragettes transformed cartooning to champion their cause. In the booming newspaper comic strip era, artists like Jackie Ormes, Nell Brinkley, and Rose O’Neil found enormous success marketing and licensing their characters into products that would influence young people for decades. Contemporary artists carve out a place between fact and fiction to share deeply personal stories in underground comix, graphic novels and anthologies.

Drawing on women’s voices from the margins to the center, this exhibit surveys women’s innovations in comics and cartoon art, tracking their contributions to the field. Included are works from early suffragette cartoonists, the queens of the comic strip pages, mainstream comic book artists, communities of self-published minicomics creators, and everyone in between.

The exhibit features works by Nina Allender, Dale Messick, Edwina Dumm, Aline Kominsky Crumb, Nell Brinkley, Lynda Barry, June Tarpe Mills, Dori Seda, Barbara Brandon-Croft, Trina Robbins, Marie Severin, Rose O’Neil, Jackie Ormes, Lynn Johnston, Liana Finck, Wendy Pini, Kate Salley Palmer, Carta Monir, Alison Bechdel and dozens more.

Ladies First ushers in the 100th anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendment and calls attention to the transformative work of women artists in the field of cartooning then and now.

Curated by Caitlin McGurk and Rachel Miller

**Reservations are required, please visit cartoons.osu.edu/gallery-visit-reservation to book your visit.**

The Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum presents Making Faces: Portraits by John Kascht, a traveling retrospective of drawings and paintings personally selected by the artist. Kascht’s irreverent work turns the leisurely pastime of people-watching into an Xtreme sport. Over a 35-year career as an illustrator, he has created work for theater posters, gallery collections, and most major U.S. publications.

This exhibition features more than 60 satirical portraits of historical and contemporary notables and includes subjects of interest to political junkies, music lovers, moviegoers, pop-culture geeks, history buffs, and even people who hate art shows.

With its star-studded content and wry humor, Making Faces is a bona fide crowd-pleaser. In addition to entertainment, the show delivers a thought-provoking look at the serious intent behind the funny pictures.

Image: Caricatures by John Kascht. Clockwise from lower left: Jimmy Stewart, Bill Murray, Ricky Gervais, Whoopi Goldberg, Conan O’Brien, Diane Keaton and Zsa Zsa Gabor.