Masterpieces from the Museum of Cartoon Art to open at Bruce

Opening on January 26, 2019 at the Bruce Museum in Greenwich, CT, the exhibition Masterpieces from the Museum of Cartoon Art will showcase more than 100 original works celebrating the history of this unique art form in America. Among the many items on display will be an early editorial cartoon by Thomas Nast, a spectacular Prince Valiant Sunday page by Hal Foster, and a witty New Yorker gag by Peter Arno, as well as classic Peanuts, Doonesbury, and Calvin and Hobbes comic strips. Treasures from this rich and varied repository represent all of the cartoon genres, including comic strips, newspaper panels, comic books, editorial cartoons, magazine cartoons, caricature, illustration and animation. The artwork is on loan from The Ohio State University Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum.

The centerpiece of the exhibition will be a recreation of the Museum of Cartoon Art’s Hall of Fame. Thirty-two artists were elected to this prestigious group between 1975 and 1997 including Walt Disney, Milton Caniff, Chuck Jones, Rube Goldberg, Al Capp, and Herblock. Each honoree is represented by a superlative example of their work and a handsome brass plaque. The first institution dedicated to the collection, preservation, and exhibition of cartoon art, the Museum of Cartoon Art was opened in Greenwich in August 1974.

Founded by cartoonist and longtime Greenwich resident Mort Walker, it moved to Port Chester/Rye Brook, NY, in 1977, reopened in Boca Raton, FL, in 1996, and donated its collection to the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum in 2008.

Image: Prince Valiant by Hal Foster. January 21, 1951 © King Features Syndicate, Inc. International Museum of Cartoon Art Collection, The Ohio State University Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum.