Pulitzer Prize-winning author and illustrator Art Spiegelman will give a free public lecture on the history and importance of comics on Sunday, Jan. 25, at 4:30 p.m. in Macky Auditorium highlighting a month-long exhibit titled "Graphia: Comics, Graphic Novels and the Humanities on the Front Range."
The free, public exhibit will be on display Jan. 12 through Feb. 13 in the University Memorial Center Art Gallery, located on the second floor near the reception desk. The exhibit will be open Monday through Friday, 10:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
Spiegelman is best known for his Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic novel "Maus: A Survivor's Tale," which tells his parents' story of surviving the Holocaust. He also worked as a staff writer and artist for The New Yorker from 1993-2003. In 2005 he was named one of Time Magazine's 100 Most Influential People.
He also worked for Topps Bubble Gum Co. from 1965-87, and designed "Wacky Packages," "Garbage Pail Kids" and other novelty items.
CU-Boulder Associate Professor William Kuskin -- an expert in medieval and early modern literature and the history of books and the graphic novel -- spearheaded the exhibit. Kuskin, who read comics as a child, lost interest in them in adulthood until about five years ago when they once again grabbed his attention.
"Anybody can read a comic book, and that's one thing that is great about them," said Kuskin, who teaches in the English department. "Comics are so accessible that they bring literature to the masses, and that is something that is missing in much of our academic literary studies today."
But he goes beyond the literature aspect, and points to similarities in medieval literature and graphic novels. He says books written in medieval times often were art forms themselves. He sees similar qualities in graphic novels and comics.
"The comic book page can be viewed on more than one level," Kuskin said. "It's an element of a book, but it's also an art form."
The Fall/Winter 2008 edition of the English department's award-winning journal English Language Notes, or ELN, is dedicated to the graphic novel. Titled "Graphia: The Graphic Novel and Literary Criticism," the journal explores the graphic novel and the notion that "comics are unbound by any single discipline."
The exhibit will contain rare comics from private collectors in Boulder and other Front Range communities.
The exhibit is sponsored by the English Language Notes journal, the Program for Jewish Studies, the Graduate Committee on the Arts and Humanities, the College of Arts and Sciences, the English department, the President's Fund for the Humanities, the Dean's Fund for Excellence, Mile High Comics and Time Warp Comics.
Other events connected to the exhibit include a Jan. 15 reception featuring talks with Kuskin and other area collectors from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m., and an auction on Feb. 13. Kuskin has made an exhibit catalogue to complement the show, which will be available at the University Bookstore or by email at eln@colorado.edu. All proceeds from the sale of the catalogue and the auction will go to funding the study of comics, graphic novels and illustrated fiction at CU-Boulder.
The UMC Gallery will be closed on Jan. 19 in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
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