[Little Nemo tribute] by  Yuko Shimizu

Winsor McCay (1867 – 1934) was one of the most significant American artists of the 20th century, known best for his groundbreaking newspaper comics and early animated films. Much of his most beloved work appeared in Little Nemo in Slumberland, a full-page comic that ran every Sunday from 1905 to 1926. It was on these pages that McCay expanded the world of visual narrative: his stunning sequences, expressed through vivid illustrations and inventive panel compositions, became a cornerstone of modern comics.

In 2014, Locust Moon published Little Nemo: Dream Another Dream, a huge, full-color anthology featuring work by 100 comic artists and illustrators. Each of these artists was asked to create a new version of McCay’s famous strip, resulting in a rich and diverse collection of homages to a remarkable man.

Image: Eldon Dedini, Playboy, 1964.

Eldon Dedini (1921-2006) was a master of the 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 and his love of fine art, jazz, wine, and life.

* This exhibit contains sexually explicit content that may be inappropriate for some audiences.

Join us for FREE opening events on Saturday, February 20, 2016!

Image: Giacomo Patri, White Collar, 1940.

Historian, librarian, and scholar, David Beronä’s collection is one of the most complete representations of the scope of wordless books. The material in this exhibit ranges from the groundbreaking early woodcut novels of Frans Masreel and Lynd Ward, to contemporary artists like Sue Coe and George Walker, as well as cartoonists such as Shaun Tan, Peter Kuper, and more – each harnessing the universal power of visual storytelling.

Join us for FREE opening events on Saturday, February 20, 2016!

Frederick Burr Opper. “They Can’t Fight.” Puck (cover), January 15, 1896.

Discover the history and highlights of Puck, America’s first and most influential humor magazine of color political cartoons. For nearly forty years, Puck was a training ground and showcase for some of the country’s most talented cartoonists. This exhibit will include chromolithographs by Joseph Keppler, Rose O’Neill, Frederick Opper, F.M. Howarth, Rolf Armstrong, Bernhard Gillam, J.S. Pughe, and more. As David Sloane has said in the American Humor Magazine and Comic Periodicals, Puck “created a genre and established a tradition,” spawning dozens of imitators. It also led the way for that great American institution, the comics. This show presents some of Puck‘s greatest cartoons featuring politicians, personalities, and issues that dominated its forty years of publication

Paul Stahr. “The Winning Hand.” Life (cover), May 16, 1918.

World War I represented a watershed in the history of warfare, both on the battlefield and in communication. Explore the hidden mechanics and power of images generated during wartime, through the work of James Montgomery Flagg, Bud Fisher, Billy Ireland, Percy Crosby, Nell Brinkley, Frederick Burr Opper, Louis Raemaekers, and more. This exhibit also features Charles Schulz’ reinterpretation of the Great War’s legacy as shown through Snoopy as the Flying Ace. Original costumes from WWI will be displayed, as well as original art, film lobby cards, sheet music, posters, and more.