The 105th meeting of the NY Comics & Picture-story Symposium will be held on Tuesday, October 28, 2014 at 7 pm at Parsons The New School, 2 West 13th Street, in the Bark Room (off the lobby). Free and open to the public. Please note 7 pm starting time.
Eddy Portnoy: A Brief History of Yiddish Cartooning
Jews and cartoons have an unusual relationship. Initially, Jews were the victims of a particularly virulent anti-Jewish caricature, and did not engage the form within the context of their own culture until the second half of the nineteenth century in the Yiddish press. Though little known, the cartoons of the Yiddish press serve as a pre-history to subsequent activity in the field by Jewish artists.
Eddy Portnoy teaches in the Judaic Studies program at Rutgers University and also serves as the academic advisor at the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research. In addition to curating exhibits, he writes and lectures on Jewish popular culture.