James Arthur Wood, Jr., began collecting original cartoon art as a childhood hobby. In his teens, Wood honed his drawing skills by copying the styles and characters of his favorite cartoonists. He began writing letters to cartoonists requesting original artwork and in these letters included his own sketches inspired by their work. For many decades, cartoonists rewarded Wood with original drawings and became his lifelong friends.
During his professional life as an editorial cartoonist, Wood worked diligently to establish a museum or gallery to preserve and showcase his collection. He achieved his goal from 1995 to 1997 with the National Gallery of Caricature and Cartoon Art in downtown Washington, D.C. After it closed, he turned to the Library of Congress to preserve and present his collection to the American people and the world.
The Art Wood Collection of Cartoon and Caricature contains more than 36,000 original cartoon drawings and is a jewel among the Library's special collections, illuminating his astounding lifetime legacy of American creativity. The 102 drawings selected for the exhibition are stellar examples from this remarkable collection. These selections reflect Wood's primary collecting interests and strengths and the vitality of an innovative and evolving art form that includes political illustrations, gag cartoons, comic strips, illustrations, animation, and caricature.
Sara W. Duke and Martha H. Kennedy, Exhibition Co-Curators
Imaginary Worlds: Illustration:
As a child, Art Wood was captivated by a trove of books in his family's library, which included literary classics with pictures by great illustrators. Admiration for the work of these masters' works awakened his appreciation for fine drawing, motivated him to collect a broad range of distinguished artists, and inspired him to develop his own talent. Artistic gems in Wood's collection from America's Golden Age of Illustration, from 1880 to 1930, include drawings created by Edwin Austin Abbey, James Montgomery Flagg, and Dean Cornwell as well as their pioneering female counterparts: Nell Brinkley, Rose O'Neill, and Katherine Pyle. Children's book illustrators in the collection include Johnny Gruelle and Michael Hague, who engage viewers with colorful scenes of their characters' mishaps.
The Ungentlemanly Art: Political Illustrations:
Art Wood, an award-winning political cartoonist himself, collected more than 16,000 political cartoons by hundreds of the leading creators of the 'ungentlemanly art,' a phrase that is commonly used to describe this type of graphic satire. He used the word "illustration" to describe the enormous talent and craft that went into a work of art produced to capture a moment in time. From the nineteenth century's Gilded Age to recent times, political illustrations have appeared in magazines, editorial pages, opinion pages, and even on the front pages of American newspapers. These visual editorials reflect multiple viewpoints conveyed by a wide variety of artistic approaches, including the classic cross hatching techniques of Harper's Weekly cartoonist Thomas Nast, the sweeping brush work of Ding Darling, the rich crayon line work of Rube Goldberg and Bill Mauldin, and the painterly styles of contemporary cartoonists Paul Conrad and Patrick Oliphant. The broad spectrum of political perspectives informs our understanding not only of the past but also of the present.
Revelation from a Magic Pen: Caricature:
The best practitioners of the craft of caricature create powerful images that reach into their subjects to reveal defining traits with incisive insight. Such past masters as Miguel Covarrubias and Al Hirschfeld manipulate form with the stroke of a brush or the use of a pen to capture personalities on paper, as if by magic. Caricaturist David Levine has drawn generations of prominent people, from poets to politicians, using his forceful combination of expressive form and line.
Zip! Whoosh! Zing! -- Animation:
This select array of animation art features classic characters from early animated films by some of the most gifted creators in the field of cartoon art. A brilliant, color presentation drawing of the seven dwarfs in their characteristic poses represents Walt Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, one of Art Wood's favorite films. Other characters -- drawn with zip! and a zing! that were meant to induce a whoosh! of action -- included are Fleischer Studios' Betty Boop, Popeye in a struggle with a jellyfish, and Hanna-Barbera's Tom and Jerry, the famous cat and mouse duo. Also featured in this section are film clips showing how several of these drawings were used in final production.
Punch Lines: Gag & Single Panel Cartoons:
Gag cartoons are a combination of punch lines and scenarios intended to make readers laugh. They cover a wide range of humorous situations through an arsenal of approaches that include underscoring social discomfort over relations with members of the opposite sex, poking fun at awkward family moments, providing an outlet for laughing at social inhibitions, or conveying the perceptive and sharp observations of children. Gags play with language, offering both linguistic and visual puns. Such cartoonists as Peter Arno remind us that politics is a theater for humor, and Barbara Shermund spoofs the foibles of women, by placing them in atypical contexts. George Price and other artists lampoon behavioral quirks that have maddened and amused readers of such popular magazines as the New Yorker, Esquire, and Look.
Laughs! Tears! Thrills! Comic Strips:
Newspaper readers often turn to the comic strips first and avidly enjoy the seemingly endless possibilities for storytelling and self-expression. Art Wood's collection abounds in dazzling examples that demonstrate this indigenous American art form's amazing potential to amuse, entertain, enlighten and convey laughs, tears, and thrills. The selection on view captures the range of artistic talent and the transition of the art form from Richard Outcault's landmark Yellow Kid to Bill Griffith's Zippy the Pinhead. The comics have taken readers on adventures in the air with Alex Raymond and Dashiell Hammett's Secret Agent X-9, to China with Milton Caniff's Terry and the Pirates, to the criminal underworld with Phil Davis and Lee Falk's Mandrake the Magician, to the lonesome pining of Charlie Brown in Charles Schulz's Peanuts, and back home with Lynn Johnston's For Better or For Worse.
The following description of the exhibit is from http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/cartoonamerica/
James Arthur Wood, Jr., began collecting original cartoon art as a childhood hobby. In his teens, Wood honed his drawing skills by copying the styles and characters of his favorite cartoonists. He began writing letters to cartoonists requesting original artwork and in these letters included his own sketches inspired by their work. For many decades, cartoonists rewarded Wood with original drawings and became his lifelong friends.
During his professional life as an editorial cartoonist, Wood worked diligently to establish a museum or gallery to preserve and showcase his collection. He achieved his goal from 1995 to 1997 with the National Gallery of Caricature and Cartoon Art in downtown Washington, D.C. After it closed, he turned to the Library of Congress to preserve and present his collection to the American people and the world.
The Art Wood Collection of Cartoon and Caricature contains more than 36,000 original cartoon drawings and is a jewel among the Library's special collections, illuminating his astounding lifetime legacy of American creativity. The 102 drawings selected for the exhibition are stellar examples from this remarkable collection. These selections reflect Wood's primary collecting interests and strengths and the vitality of an innovative and evolving art form that includes political illustrations, gag cartoons, comic strips, illustrations, animation, and caricature.
Sara W. Duke and Martha H. Kennedy, Exhibition Co-Curators
Imaginary Worlds: Illustration:
As a child, Art Wood was captivated by a trove of books in his family's library, which included literary classics with pictures by great illustrators. Admiration for the work of these masters' works awakened his appreciation for fine drawing, motivated him to collect a broad range of distinguished artists, and inspired him to develop his own talent. Artistic gems in Wood's collection from America's Golden Age of Illustration, from 1880 to 1930, include drawings created by Edwin Austin Abbey, James Montgomery Flagg, and Dean Cornwell as well as their pioneering female counterparts: Nell Brinkley, Rose O'Neill, and Katherine Pyle. Children's book illustrators in the collection include Johnny Gruelle and Michael Hague, who engage viewers with colorful scenes of their characters' mishaps.
The Ungentlemanly Art: Political Illustrations:
Art Wood, an award-winning political cartoonist himself, collected more than 16,000 political cartoons by hundreds of the leading creators of the 'ungentlemanly art,' a phrase that is commonly used to describe this type of graphic satire. He used the word "illustration" to describe the enormous talent and craft that went into a work of art produced to capture a moment in time. From the nineteenth century's Gilded Age to recent times, political illustrations have appeared in magazines, editorial pages, opinion pages, and even on the front pages of American newspapers. These visual editorials reflect multiple viewpoints conveyed by a wide variety of artistic approaches, including the classic cross hatching techniques of Harper's Weekly cartoonist Thomas Nast, the sweeping brush work of Ding Darling, the rich crayon line work of Rube Goldberg and Bill Mauldin, and the painterly styles of contemporary cartoonists Paul Conrad and Patrick Oliphant. The broad spectrum of political perspectives informs our understanding not only of the past but also of the present.
Revelation from a Magic Pen: Caricature:
The best practitioners of the craft of caricature create powerful images that reach into their subjects to reveal defining traits with incisive insight. Such past masters as Miguel Covarrubias and Al Hirschfeld manipulate form with the stroke of a brush or the use of a pen to capture personalities on paper, as if by magic. Caricaturist David Levine has drawn generations of prominent people, from poets to politicians, using his forceful combination of expressive form and line.
Zip! Whoosh! Zing! -- Animation:
This select array of animation art features classic characters from early animated films by some of the most gifted creators in the field of cartoon art. A brilliant, color presentation drawing of the seven dwarfs in their characteristic poses represents Walt Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, one of Art Wood's favorite films. Other characters -- drawn with zip! and a zing! that were meant to induce a whoosh! of action -- included are Fleischer Studios' Betty Boop, Popeye in a struggle with a jellyfish, and Hanna-Barbera's Tom and Jerry, the famous cat and mouse duo. Also featured in this section are film clips showing how several of these drawings were used in final production.
Punch Lines: Gag & Single Panel Cartoons:
Gag cartoons are a combination of punch lines and scenarios intended to make readers laugh. They cover a wide range of humorous situations through an arsenal of approaches that include underscoring social discomfort over relations with members of the opposite sex, poking fun at awkward family moments, providing an outlet for laughing at social inhibitions, or conveying the perceptive and sharp observations of children. Gags play with language, offering both linguistic and visual puns. Such cartoonists as Peter Arno remind us that politics is a theater for humor, and Barbara Shermund spoofs the foibles of women, by placing them in atypical contexts. George Price and other artists lampoon behavioral quirks that have maddened and amused readers of such popular magazines as the New Yorker, Esquire, and Look.
Laughs! Tears! Thrills! Comic Strips:
Newspaper readers often turn to the comic strips first and avidly enjoy the seemingly endless possibilities for storytelling and self-expression. Art Wood's collection abounds in dazzling examples that demonstrate this indigenous American art form's amazing potential to amuse, entertain, enlighten and convey laughs, tears, and thrills. The selection on view captures the range of artistic talent and the transition of the art form from Richard Outcault's landmark Yellow Kid to Bill Griffith's Zippy the Pinhead. The comics have taken readers on adventures in the air with Alex Raymond and Dashiell Hammett's Secret Agent X-9, to China with Milton Caniff's Terry and the Pirates, to the criminal underworld with Phil Davis and Lee Falk's Mandrake the Magician, to the lonesome pining of Charlie Brown in Charles Schulz's Peanuts, and back home with Lynn Johnston's For Better or For Worse.
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