January 26, 2011
Event date: –
The Center for Cartoon Studies and the Museum of the City of New York present
Denys Wortman Rediscovered:
Drawings for the World-Telegram and Sun, 1930-1953
through March 20, 2011
Denys Wortman Rediscovered: Drawings for the World-Telegram and Sun, 1930-1953 is an exhibition of original cartoon drawings made for the World-Telegram and Sun illustrating episodes of everyday life in New York City.Formally trained in art at the New York School of Fine and Applied Art under the tutelage of Robert Henri and Kenneth Hayes Miller, Wortman was among a new generation of social realists who believed in the artistic possibilities of modern urban life as a creative subject. The benches at Union Square, the tenement rooftops on the Lower East Side, and the stifling garment industry sweatshops provided the backdrops for his drawings that, in combination with Wortman’s colorful characters, instill a sense of place that was distinctly “New York.”
Although Denys Wortman was a renowned artist during his lifetime, today his work is largely forgotten. This exhibition celebrates an artist who gave readers a daily glimpse into the causes and concerns of ordinary people during a tumultuous time in New York City’s history. His cartoons illustrate the complex social impact of the economic roller coaster that was the Roaring Twenties, the Great Depression and the eventual recovery of the Post-War years. Wortman’s city is filled with working class men and women trying to survive and struggling to get ahead, facing the joys and fears of modern urban life.
For more information: mcny.org
For more information the College Art Association annual conference, February 9-12 in NYC, visit: collegeart.org/
Related News
NEW YORK TIMES FEATURE STORY ON THE EXHIBIT
Denys Wortman Rediscovered: Drawings from the World-Telegram and Sun, curated by The Museum of the City of New York with the assistance of CCS co-founder James Sturm and CCS alum Brandon Elston, is on display from November 19 – March 20.
Carol Kino of The New York Times writes, “Using a single panel and a conversational caption, Mr. Wortman adroitly summoned up an entirely believable world…Mr. Wortman’s drawings were also beautifully composed and finely worked…”
Read the full article in The New York Times
For more information, visit: mcny.org
DENYS WORTMAN’S NEW YORK, published by Drawn and Quarterly
Buy a copy of Denys Wortman’s New York today! A Best Graphic Novel of 2010, “Denys Wortman’s New York probably the historical discovery of the year in comics…” – Entertainment Weekly
Tags: CAA, Cartoon Studies, College Art Association, Denys Wortman, mcny, New York
