The Art of William Steig at the Jewish Museum

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steig donkeys

 

From The New Yorker to Shrek:
The Art of William Steig
November 4, 2007 – March 16, 2008
The Jewish Museum
New York, NY

Hailed as the “King of Cartoons,” William Steig had a long and acclaimed career as both a brilliant cartoonist and an award-winning, beloved author of children’s literature, including his 1990 picture book Shrek! (“fear” in Yiddish) which has been turned into a series of popular animated films. Born in Brooklyn, New York, on November 14, 1907, to Eastern European Jewish immigrants, Steig grew up in the Bronx and began illustrating for The New Yorker in 1930. His prolific association with the magazine is the longest by far of any of its cartoonists, with over 1,600 drawings as well as over 120 covers published during a period of 73 years. Scheduled for the centennial of the artist’s birth, this exhibition pays tribute to Steig’s incredible creativity by featuring a wide selection of original drawings for both his New Yorker cartoons and his children’s books such as Sylvester and the Magic Pebble, Doctor De Soto, Amos & Boris, Brave Irene, Gorky Rises, Dominic, When Everybody Wore a Hat, and of course Shrek! as well as his less known mid-life “symbolic drawings.” This in-depth presentation also sheds light on Steig’s life as it relates to his work and will be complemented by a range of public and educational programs for both adults and children.

The Jewish Museum
1109 Fifth Avenue at 92nd Street
New York, New York 10128
Phone: 212.423.3200

Admission for students is $7.50 and free for all on Saturdays from 11:00 a.m. to 5:45 p.m.

For an online exhibition component as well as other information, visit the Jewish Museum’s website here.

See a list of Steig-related events taking place in November here.

(artwork from Sylvester and the Magic Pebble (1969) by William Steig)

Guy Billout’s book reviewed in the New York Times

General Info, Illustration Faculty, Reviews, , ,

billout-frog

The New York Times wrote about artist & long-time Illustration faculty member Guy Billout‘s newest book in their special Children’s Book section.  Here’s an excerpt:

“The illustrator Guy Billout works the narrow but fertile territory where clarity intersects with mystery. It’s a place where the graffiti might read “René Magritte Was Here (de Chirico, Too),” but Billout’s concerns are his own: his drawings (or are they paintings? or both?) often employ tricks of scale and perspective, along with large expanses of deceptively flat color, compositions that resolve in witty visual jokes while tapping deeper currents of unease. They’re bright, figuratively and literally, like dreams dreamt under a noonday desert sun rather than in the usual shape-shifting murk.”

Read the rest of the article about Guy’s book The Frog Who Wanted to See the Sea here.

Read other articles in the New York Times Children’s Book section here.

Bookish: An Exhibition of Contemporary Handmade Books

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bookish sign

Bookish: Contemporary Handmade Books
Curated by the Illustration Department, Parsons the New School for Design

Adam & Sophie Gimbel Design Library
The New School Libraries
2 West 13th Street 2nd Fl.
New York NY 10011

In these digital days, there remains nothing quite like a handmade
book. Silkscreened covers, staples, construction paper, thread, markers,
and, of course, drawings all add up to a singular object. The handmade
books on display here are steeped in drawing and narrative. The last 10
years have seen a burst in handmade books that evolve out of communities
of illustrators, cartoonists and fine artists. Perhaps seeking a more
personal and intimate way of displaying their work, these creators have
produced a large body of work across addressing multiple visual and
literary themes. They all share a commitment to image-based drawing and
crafting books that don’t just contain art: they are art.

The present exhibition is organized by community. Providence, Rhode
Island has been the home to a variety of zine and poster making activity
for the past decade. Led by artists including Brian Chippendale, Mat
Brinkman, Paper Rad, and Brian Ralph, Providence art tends to emphasize
psychedelic and adventure-based narratives. To the north, the Canadian
cities of Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver have long housed a productive
group of artists who mail their work to one another. Julie Doucet, Marc
Bell, Mark Connery, Peter Thompson and many others specialize in
wordplay, single image narratives, and finely wrought doodles. And in
Marseille, France, Le Dernier Cri, a book arts publishing house, has
been unleashing extreme, often grotesque imagery in silkscreen form for
over a decade by artists such as Blexbolex, Caroline Sury, and Moulinex.
The influence of these three centers of handmade books can be felt
around the globe. The final section of this exhibition presents a
sampling of this influence on a group of disparate and diverse works.

Handmade books satisfy artists and viewers alike with an immediacy like nothing else.

Don’t miss this special exhibition curated by the Illustration Department!

Upcoming Designism Event at Art Directors Club

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designism button

Designism 2.0::An Event in 3 Parts
SEE::TALK::ACT
Thursday, December 13, 2007
4:45-9:30 PM @ADC Gallery


Immerse yourself in design activism during a half-day event at the ADC with presentations from Milton Glaser, Steven Heller, Elizabeth Resnick, Tony Hendra, and more.

SCHEDULE:
4:45-6 PM Designism 2.0::SEE
Speakers include:
Kay Sloan, President, Massachusetts College of Art + Design
Elizabeth Resnick, Co–Curator of Selections from The Graphic Imperative and Associate Professor, Communication Design for the Massachusetts College of Art + Design
Ji Lee, droga5, The Bubble Project

6-6:30 PM Break

6:30-7:50 PM Designism 2.0::TALK
Masters of Designism and Panel Discussion
Tony Hendra, Manifesto
Steven Heller (Moderator)
Milton Glaser
Janet Kestin, Ogilvy & Mather
Ellen Sitkin, ideo, Project M
Andrew Sloat, Designer
Michael Wolff, Journalist

Idealist.org Presentation
Ami Dar is the founder and executive director of Action Without Borders, the organization that runs Idealist.org.

8 PM: Designism 2.0::ACT
Cocktail reception – how to put intention into action with Idealist.org and others.

TICKETS:
ADC Members: $24.50, Non-members: $35.00, Students & Non Profit Organization Members: $20.00
Space is limited and reserved on a first-come, first-served basis.

Please RSVP by calling 212-643-1440 x10.

See the ADC calendar of events here.

Maira Kalman exhibition @ Julie Saul Gallery

Exhibitions, , , , ,

kalman dodokalman donutskalman gracefully

Maira Kalman
The Principles of Uncertainty
October 11 – November 24, 2007

The Julie Saul Gallery is currently showing their third solo exhibition with acclaimed artist/ author/ illustrator Maira Kalman. Kalman produced an online-visual journal for The New York Times “Times Select” feature for one year from June 2006 to May 2007 entitled Principles of Uncertainty. Kalman’s exhibition will consist of more than one hundred of the original gouache paintings made for the project, as well as a photograph and print edition.

The exhibition coincides with an eponymous book just published by Penguin Press which brings together the whole year of online columns in printed form, as well as some added elements. The book will be displayed on a shelf as a running narrative throughout the entire gallery, while the paintings will be hung according to different themes.

Kalman’s journal combines paintings and text and touches on many personal and worldly subjects, from family history to world politics. Portrait subjects include Nabokov as a child, Freud, Edith Sitwell as well as friends and family. Most of her paintings are based on photographs made during her travels or wanderings in New York. She has recorded interiors such as Louise Bourgeois’s salon, Helen Levitt’s bathroom and the recreation of Proust’s study as well as hotel rooms, boxes, foods and other assorted objects.

Kalman has been the illustrator and often author of over a dozen books- most recently she illustrated “The Elements of Style” which is now out in paperback. Others include “What Peter Ate”, “Fireboat: The Heroic Adventures of the John J. Harvey”, and “Max in Love”. She has collaborated with Mark Morris for set designs, designed bags, fabrics and assorted objects. She is the co-author of the famous New Yorker “Newyorkistan” cover.

Julie Saul Gallery
535 West 22 Street
6th Floor
New York, NY 10011
Phone: 212 627-2410
mail@saulgallery.com

(all images by Maira Kalman)

Illustration in the Age of Anxiety Symposium

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symposium poster

Illustration in the Age of Anxiety
Saturday, November 10th
The New School
55 West 13 Street
3-7 p.m
Free and open to the public

Parsons The New School for Design Illustration Department presents a new mini-symposium focused on how the current cultural climate is affecting the field of illustration.

Illustration in the Age of Anxiety looks at how illustration handles times of unease and anxiety in our culture, from the atomic anxiety of the 1950s to today’s wars and upheaval. “Illustration in the Age of Anxiety” will feature three conversations lead by prominent and accomplished writers illustrators.

“Shaky Line, Shaky Times: Ed Koren and Ed Sorel in Conversation with Dan Nadel” will feature master satirical illustrators Ed Koren and Ed Sorel who will discuss their famously anxious drawing styles and nearly half century’ worth of drawings for hundreds of books and publications.

“Ben Katchor: Reading in Public” will feature MacArthur-award winning graphic novelist Ben Katchor, who joins Parsons as a full time faculty member this fall, as he discusses the difficulties of reading in an uncertain time.

Pop-gothic artist Tara McPherson and illustrator-tattoo artist Ruth Marten will talk to Guarnaccia about drawing on the dark side of life in the final session of the symposium, “A Light in the Dark: Ruth Marten and Tara McPherson in conversation with Steven Guarnaccia.”

Nora Krug, another new fulltime faculty member in the illustration department, will deliver the introductory remarks and introduce the panels.

The event will be held in the Theresa Lang Community and Student Center at The New School, 55 West 13th Street, 2nd floor, from 3-7 pm and is free and open to the public. For more information, visit www.parsons.newschool.edu/events or 212-229-8919.

(Poster illustrated by Nora Krug.)

The Illustration Department welcomes William Joyce!

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joyce leaf men

William Joyce, the legendary children’s book author & illustrator, creator of the animated film “Robots” and the artist behind the films “Meet the Robinsons” and the upcoming “The Leaf Men” will be giving a special talk and presentation on:

Thursday, November 8th
1-2 p.m.
Room 805, 2. W. 13th Street

All are welcome for this exciting event! Please RSVP to illustration@newschool.edu.

Tour the New School’s Art Collection!

Events, History, , ,

kara walker

 

ART ON CAMPUS: WALKING TOUR

Join the New School Art Curators Silvia Rocciolo and Eric Stark for an enlightening walking tour of the paintings, photographs and sculptures on display throughout our university. Visit and learn about our famous Orozco room, with murals painted by Mexican muralist José Clemente Orozco in 1931, and many other important contemporary artists (like Kara Walker and Sol Lewitt) that are part of The New School art collection.

Wednesday, November 14th
From 2:00 to 3:00pm
Email IEW@newschool.edu to register and for meeting place

(image above of Kara Walker’s installation “Event Horizon” at 55 W. 13th Street)