The art of ‘adult comic books’ on display at TMA
Written by Jeff McGinnis | | jmcginnis@toledofreepress.comI am in the Toledo Museum of Art, but I am not walking by the kind of work I am used to seeing in this building.
My trip is a guided tour through pieces that, until recently, probably would never have been given space in such a center of high culture: Works of such emotion and power, they feel right at home among the artists who traditionally occupy this building. Only their origins are different.
The exhibit is called “LitGraphic: The World of the Graphic Novel.” It is a traveling exhibit that originated at the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, Mass., and will be in Toledo until Jan. 3. The works exhibited vary wildly in style, subject matter, tone and composition. The only thing they have in common is the medium they come from — graphic novels, or “comic books for adults,” as they are sometimes called.
Sandman art
I’m met by Tom Loeffler, collections manager for Works on Paper. He has a great deal of knowledge and passion on the subject and for the next 40 minutes, he will walk me through the collection, providing amazing insight and information on every artist. Many of them I know well; many I do not.
We begin chronologically with the early 20th century work of Frans Masereel, a Flemish painter and woodcut artist.
“He was an illustrator of many books,” Loeffler said. “He wanted to do a book, a wordless book. So he was one of the first people to do a wordless novel, images only.”
Masereel’s work stares at me from the wall, its images haunting and distinct even now, 80 years since they were first published. The woodcarving technique gives each figure sharp edges and harsh lines. There are no shades of gray in the images, only black and white, which may seem primitive, but work astoundingly well for the tone.
“Masereel, in turn, influenced another gentleman in the show, Lynd Ward,” Loeffler said, pointing to another series of wood engravings, taken from Ward’s wordless 1929 masterwork, “Gods’ Man.” The story is about the struggle of an artist — one who sells his soul to achieve his dreams. The raw and stark images convey the pain of a poetic soul better than any words could have.
Another artist inspired by Masereel’s work was Will Eisner, the man who, in many ways, popularized the modern form of the graphic novel. Several pieces from Eisner’s work are highlighted in the collection. So is the work of modern Eisner disciple Frank Miller, whose comics read like storyboards for movies, Loeffler said. Appropriate, given Miller’s budding career as a Hollywood director of “Sin City” and “The Spirit,” the latter based upon one of Eisner’s most famous creations.
We walk past work by R. Crumb, the playfully subversive underground artist whose “Keep on Truckin’” became an unintentional symbol of the ’70s. And here is Harvey Kurtzman, whose Mad Magazine work inspired a generation of satirists. And Marc Hempel, with his evocative and disturbing art for Neil Gaiman’s “Sandman.”
Gaiman was in Toledo last week to speak, and I kick myself for missing it. Along with the names I know and cherish, come the names I have yet to discover, those whose works are also highlighted along the museum’s walls.
Lauren Weinstein’s, “Girl Stories” virtually pop off the walls with their vitality and humor; Howard Cruse’s work from “Stuck Rubber Baby” paints an evocative portrait of growing up in the era of segregation and a man coming to grips with his homosexuality; Niko Henrichon’s art for “Pride of Baghdad” tells a tale of a group of lions wandering Iraqi streets after escaping from a zoo in 2003 — the figures are uncannily animal, but their emotions are unmistakably human.
In addition to the original art and panels that are displayed on the walls, Loeffler has placed examples of many works throughout the exhibit in their original form. Novels greet you on a shelf as you enter, and many sit on tables throughout, waiting for the curious to see their artwork as it was originally published. This is a tremendous touch, for if the heart of these artists can be seen on the walls, the soul of their work still lives in those pages.
I mention how the graphic novel, in many areas, is dismissed as a fairly populist form of entertainment, because of the lingering perception of comic books as children’s literature. There are few pieces in this collection that one would consider “kids’ stuff.” Perhaps the display of these works here will inspire others to reconsider their place in the artistic community.
“I agree with that,” Loeffler said, “But it was an art form before it ever came here.”
Tags: graphic novels, Sandman
