Cartoon America: Comic Art in the Library of Congress

by Harry Katz

Book Overview

The Library of Congress encompasses virtually the entire history and scope of comic art, including editorial cartoons, caricatures, comic strips, animation and illustration. Cartoon America portrays a common ground that we all can appreciate and learn from. Caricatures and cartoons often depict the principal events and figures of the day. Like jazz and baseball, they are an indelible and indigenous part of American culture. In the best hands, they...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0810954907
• ISBN13: 9780810954908
• Release Date: November 2006
• Publisher: Harry N. Abrams
• Length: 324 Pages
• Weight: 4.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 10.9" x 10.9"
• Age Range: 13 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 8 to Postsecondary

Customer Reviews

Every cartoon tells a story

A fascinating sampling of the cartoon artifacts in the Library of Congress. Clearly this is not meant to be a two hundred year comprehensive history of this popular art form though the book's editor Harry Katz kicks things off with his chapter: A Brief History of American Cartooning. The rest of the colorful pages are essentially based round the original artwork the Library holds and I was surprised by how much they have, like the 1871 woodblocks used by Thomas Nast for his Harper's Weekly illustrations, a Sunday supplement page of George Herriman's Krazy Kat from 1941 or a Herblock syndicated political cartoon from 1998. In fact the Library has one of the world's largest collections of cartoon and caricature original art which it has been acquiring since about 1840. A recent acquisition was the Art Wood collection of 32,00 originals by 3,000 artists, he also contributed a chapter to the book. One of the main strengths of the book are chapters from the thirty-five contributors, a rich selection of professions like David Levine on caricatures, Art Spiegelman on the Lionel Feininger's Kin-der-Kids and Wee Willie Winkie's World, Trina Robbins on Rose O'Neill and Nell Brinkley, Paul Conrad on Herblock or John Canemaker on animation art in the Library collection. Each contributor's essay is backed up with reproductions of original art or printed pages. As a sampling of American cartoon art I thought this was a fascinating look at the subject (though a bit disappointing that there is no bibliography for further study) and handsomely presented, too. My compliments to designer Laura Lindgren for presenting so much visual material in a very sympathetic way. It's worth remembering that all the wonderful American art in this book is held by the Library of Congress for the benefit of everyone and if you can't make it to Washington their popular website means it is only a click away. ***FOR AN INSIDE LOOK click 'customer images' under the cover.

Very attractive book

First, I want to comment on Englund's review, which I think is too harsh. This book is about CARTOONS. The sub-title which includes the word "comic" is indeed misleading. This book is not about comic books, it's about cartoons, mostly political but also gag cartoons and comic strips. There is one short chapter on animation (and I agree that it's out of place), and one short chapter on comic books (ditto), but the other 36 chapters are interesting, and the drawings are very attractive and representative of the art. Anything from the Yellow Kid and Blondie, through Clare Briggs, Charles Scultz, and James Thurber, to Jeff MacNelly and Herblock. If you like cartoons, if you like the art, it's a great book to read and browse, and it will be a great book 20 years from now just as well.

Aiming High

This is a handsome book, covering the entire history of our country as seen by the critics with the least restraints - the political cartoonists and the comic strip cartoonists. It aims to be comprehensive, and it is, and it includes some wondeful text by people who have spent their lives in the field. Buy it for your coffee table, but read it before you put it there.