Untitled, 2008
12 5/8 x 9 1/8 inches
Courtesy of the Aydin Dogan Foundation
The Flint Institute of Arts presents the exhibition, Drawing Together: International Cartoons, in the Hodge and Temporary Exhibitions Gallery from Sept. 15 to Dec. 30, 2012.
Unlike most American cartoons, the works presented in Drawing Together: International Cartoons do not have captions. Without words, they express concepts and emotions, using a common visual language that cuts across boundaries. Drawn from the international cartoon contest held annually in Istanbul, Turkey, this exhibition presents more than 100 award-winners from over 35 countries, with dates ranging from the competition’s inception in 1983 to 2011. The intent of the competition, organized by the Dogan Foundation, is to stimulate thinking about important issues among nations. Every year 3,000 images are submitted, 300 of which are then seen and selected for awards by a jury made up of international cartoonists.
While many cartoons deal with world affairs, such as war and peace, environmental issues, and human rights, others deal with more personal issues of hope, love, and despair. Through humor, irony, or clever visual metaphor, cartoons have the capacity to make the viewer think, and be challenged on many levels, about important themes and ideas that are sometimes difficult to articulate with mere words. The cartoons not only present the individual perspective of the artist but also depict universal issues that affect us all.
In 2007, the New York Times said the “great cartoons of recent times” provided “an excellent chance to catch up on a quarter-century of world affairs and an eternity of human folly.”
Members Preview & Lecture
The Morality of Laughter: How Humor Tells us Right from Wrong – What to Do and Not Do about It
Friday, September 14, 2012 • 6p
Bob Mankoff is the cartoon editor of The New Yorker and founder of The Cartoon Bank. He is one of the nation’s leading commentators on the role of humor in American politics, business and life.
Mr. Mankoff edited The Complete Cartoons of The New Yorker(Black Dog & Leventhal), the best-selling coffee table book for holiday 2004, featuring all 68,647 cartoons ever published in The New Yorker since its debut in 1925. He describes this as the golden age of humor, where humor helps build personal connections in business and personal relationships. Mankoff has also edited dozens of cartoon books, published four of his own, and is an accomplished cartoonist. In fact, over 900 of his cartoons have been published in The New Yorker over the past 20 years, including the best-selling New Yorker cartoon of all time (the harried businessman at his desk with a phone to his ear, reviewing his calendar and saying: “No, Thursday’s out, how about never. Is never good for you?”). He is the author of The Naked Cartoonist, a book published in 2003 on the creative process behind developing magazine-style cartoons.
This exhibition is made possible by the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation
Flint Institute of Arts 