Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago Presents CHICAGO COMICS: 1960s to NOW and Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs Presents CHICAGO: WHERE COMICS CAME TO LIFE (1880-1960) Review — Deep and Enduring Funny Bones in the Windy City

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Titles like TALES OF THE LARGE INTESTINE…

An image of a patient’s Afro getting larger with each squeeze of his doctor’s blood pressure cuff…

Quips from hard-ass Sylvia— a feminist icon of her day— regretting that she is only wearing pajamas when the revolution starts…

There are literally thousands of such details to savor in the archival treasures collected by the Museum of Contemporary Art in their exhibit, Chicago Comics: 1960’s to Now.

Who knew that Chicago was where—

… famed artist Kerry James Marshall started work on his graphic novel, Rythm Mastr, which is still a work-in-progress since 1998…

Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago 1960S TO NOW
Archer Prewitt, Cover of Sof’boy and Friends No. 2, 1997. Published by Drawn and Quarterly Image Courtesy of the artist
Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago 1960S TO NOW
Nick Drnaso, Sabrina, 2017. Image courtesy of the artist
Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago 1960S TO NOW
Turtel Onli, Nog comic book page, 1980. © 1981 Turtel Onli Courtesy of the artist
Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago 1960S TO NOW
Ivan Brunetti, New Yorker Spring Cover (Urban Bliss), July 2013. Image courtesy of the artist
Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago 1960S TO NOW
Ezra Claytan Daniels, Cover of Upgrade Soul, 2016. Image courtesy of the artist
Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago 1960S TO NOW
Jessica Campbell, Mile End, 2019. Courtesy of the artist and Western Exhibitions, Chicago
Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago 1960S TO NOW
Chicago by Chris Ware

…that comics artist Chris Ware made the sign for Quimby’s Bookstore in Wicker Park, and that then and now it is a comics-central local landmark, as was the nearby Earwax Café, fondly remembered by many Bucktown/Wicker Park denizens…

Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago 1960S TO NOW
Rusty Brown by Chris Ware
Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago 1960S TO NOW
New Yorker cover by Chris Ware
Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago 1960S TO NOW
New Yorker cover by Chris Ware

…and that Ware’s School of the Art Institute’s course on the history of comics was a launch point for so many comics in our midst…

Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago 1960S TO NOW
Quimby and Sparky dolls by Chris Ware
Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago 1960S TO NOW
Lynda Barry, 100 Demons: Dancing, 2000-02. Courtesy Adam Baumgold Fine Art
Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago 1960S TO NOW
Edie Fake, Before Stonewall, 2015. Courtesy of the artist and Western Exhibitions, Chicago
Anders Nilsen, Anatomy of a Vacant Lot, 2010-11. Image courtesy of the artist
Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago 1960S TO NOW
Seitu Hayden, Waliku (Woliku), 1973-74. Seitu Hayden Archives
Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago 1960S TO NOW
John Hankiewicz Cover of N for Nadelman, 2018-19. Collection of the artist Photo: Nathan Keay, © MCA Chicago
Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago 1960S TO NOW
Ivan Brunetti, The Leaning Tower of Ivan, 2011. Photo: Angela Scalisi
Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago 1960S TO NOW
Charles Johnson, It’s Life as I See It, 1970. Courtesy of Charles Johnson Photo: Nathan Keay, © MCA Chicago

Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago and the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs Exhibits are a Comics Immersion Experience

And indeed, there ARE comics in our midst – then, now and way before, which the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events reminds in their exhibit, Chicago: Where Comics Came to Life (1880-1960), co-curated by the very Chris Ware whose work is prominently featured in the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago (MCA) Chicago Comics: 1960s to Now.

CHICAGO DEPARTMENT OF CULTURAL AFFAIRS Where Comics Came to Life
This anonymous strip ran for eight months in 1905 and always pictured its two protagonists furtively kissing for as long as they could before some inclemency swept them apart. It was unsigned perhaps for a reason, and the Chicago Tribune is to be lauded for its vision, sympathy and foresightedness at a time generally noted for neither. Lucy & Sophie Say Goodbye — 8-27-1905 Chicago Tribune

Taking in these two exhibits in tandem is an immersion both in the history of comic art and a window on Chicago’s history. We may have already known that Johnson Publishing has played an outsized role in African-American culture, but these two exhibits together allow us to trace the bread crumb trail from them to the Chicago Defender, to sci-fi Black super heroes that seem to be the earliest practitioners of Afro-Futurism, before it took flight as a movement with this name. You won’t see a placard in either exhibit that says “This is What Democracy Looks Like”, but it could be the subtitle of nearly every artifact caption.

CHICAGO DEPARTMENT OF CULTURAL AFFAIRS Where Comics Came to Life
Probably the first example of an improvisatory comics “jam,” the Chicago Tribune allowed its artists to wildly experiment on its pages well into the 1910s. Charles Lederer, who arrived in Chicago in 1877, contributed along with his young contemporaries Frank King (Gasoline Alley) and Sidney Smith (the Gumps). Crazy Quilt 05-17-14
CHICAGO DEPARTMENT OF CULTURAL AFFAIRS Where Comics Came to Life
Powers contributed some of the earliest color cartoons to the Chicago Inter-Ocean while being the first to objectify human emotions as characters themselves, an idea which Pixar cannot claim. Joys & Glooms — T E Powers 1912
CHICAGO DEPARTMENT OF CULTURAL AFFAIRS Where Comics Came to Life
Jay Jackson was an African-American cartoonist who worked for a variety of publications, including the Chicago Defender, his quotidian views of Black experience capturing a warmth and a humanity that African-American life was not afforded in the white press. Home Folks — Jay Jackson 1954
CHICAGO DEPARTMENT OF CULTURAL AFFAIRS Where Comics Came to Life
Clare Briggs, a resident of Chicago’s Riverside, was a tremendous influence on all of his contemporaries, picturing the details and warmth of everyday life with a redolent sharpness and a blunt nostalgia. Clare Briggs — Comic Section Summer 1927
CHICAGO DEPARTMENT OF CULTURAL AFFAIRS Where Comics Came to Life
The first woman cartoonist to gain national stardom, Messick was hired by editor Mollie Slott for the Chicago Tribune in 1940. Dale Messick Brenda Starr 2-21-1954
CHICAGO DEPARTMENT OF CULTURAL AFFAIRS Where Comics Came to Life
Hershfield, Known in his day as “The Jewish Will Rogers,” was the first popular Jewish cartoonist, creating the first Jewish cartoon character, Abie the Agent. He also made records and performed in vaudeville —and he started at the Chicago Daily News. Harry Hershfield 1915
CHICAGO DEPARTMENT OF CULTURAL AFFAIRS Where Comics Came to Life
Editor of the Chicago Defender, Robert S. Abbott, c 1927. Chicago Defender — Abbott in Office
CHICAGO DEPARTMENT OF CULTURAL AFFAIRS Where Comics Came to Life
Described as the “best newspaper caricaturist in the country and the highest paid newspaper artist” in 1892, by the 1920s Lederer was self-publishing a Prohibitionist magazine out of his southside apartment and selling copies of his early unsold books to anyone who would buy them. Charles Lederer — Queertown 1906

The MCA exhibit puts a welcome emphasis on Black comics artists, both by making it your launch point as you start your tour and also as the theme of the exhibition book – It’s Life as I See It: Black Cartoonists in Chicago 1940-1980.

Taken together, it’s a comics immersion experience. In this writer’s opinion, you will be well-served by taking at least two days to see these exhibits. Anyone who appreciates comic artists’ ability to capture the zeitgeist in all its permutations of absurdity and satire will likely experience clearing two days for these exhibits as a not-so-quick course on the genre. It’s a long journey, from Dick Tracy strips to a so here-and-now short animation by cartoonist Lilli Carré that in this writer’s view is itself worth the time and money**. Even those like this reviewer —not raised on funny pages nor recalling buying a comic book once puberty set in — can’t help but be stunned by the breadth of these collections.

Tip— visit the MCA Pop-Up Shop for this exhibit – an early way to get Xmas gifts stockpiled.

Warning— much of the MCA’s angled display cases require significant neck craning.

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WHEN:

Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago
Thru October 3, 2021
Tuesdays 10 am – 9 pm
Wednesdays – Sundays 10 am – 5 pm

Chicago Cultural Center
Thru January 9, 2022
Daily 11 am – 4 pm

 

WHERE:

Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago
220 E Chicago Ave
Chicago, IL 60611

Chicago Cultural Center
78 E. Washington St.
Chicago, IL 60602

TICKETS:

Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago
$15 (discounts for seniors, students and teachers)

Chicago Cultural Center
FREE**

Amy Munice

About the Author: Amy Munice

Amy Munice is Editor-in-Chief and Co-Publisher of Picture This Post. She covers books, dance, film, theater, music, museums and travel. Prior to founding Picture This Post, Amy was a freelance writer and global PR specialist for decades—writing and ghostwriting thousands of articles and promotional communications on a wide range of technical and not-so-technical topics.

Amy hopes the magazine’s click-a-picture-to-read-a-vivid-account format will nourish those ever hunting for under-discovered cultural treasures. She especially loves writing articles about travel finds, showcasing works by cultural warriors of a progressive bent, and shining a light on bold, creative strokes by fledgling artists in all genres.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE ARTICLES BY AMY MUNICE.

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