Article Of Interest…Amy Hwang
From Columbia Spectator, September 13, 2024, “Amy Hwang, BC ’00, on cartoons, architecture, and humor”
Ms. Hwang began contributing to The New Yorker in 2010. Visit her website here.
_____________________________________________________________________
The Tilley Watch Online…September 9-13, 2024
An end of the week listing of New Yorker artists whose work has appeared on newyorker.com features
Daily Cartoon: Jimmy Craig, Paul Noth, Adam Douglas Thompson (twice in the week), Catherine Holmes (an online only contributor)
Shouts & Murmurs: Olivia de Recat (with Sarah Vollman): “Meet My Shitty A.I. Friends”
Blitt’s Kvetchbook: “Sizing Up The Post-Debate Landscape”
___________________________________________________________________
When Shermund Replaces Hokinson
Nearly three years ago I wrote about the addition of this Helen Hokinson piece to the Spill’s collection of original art. I mentioned then that “I immediately hung [the drawing] on a wall near my work table.” It’s been there ever since until this week when it was whisked away to New York City for inclusion in Liza Donnelly’s film, Women Laughing.
Faced with a blank wall, I set out to find a (temporary) substitute for the Hokinson drawing. I’ve always gotten some kind of energy from the pieces hanging on our walls (the drawings are like battery chargers), and so it was important to have a piece by my work area that zapped. After trying various drawings on the blank wall I finally settled on this Barbara Shermund drawing:
The caption reads: “My dear, I hope you didn’t mind taking pot luck.”
It made perfect sense to replace a Hokinson with a Shermund. Their work debuted at The New Yorker within a few weeks of each other: Shermund’s debut was the June 13, 1925 cover, and Hokinson’s first appearance was a captionless drawing appearing on The Talk Of The Town’s lead page in the issue of July 4, 1925:
These two artists are perfect examples of the magazine’s desire, from its beginnings, to cast a very wide graphic net. They represent to me, the magazine’s founder and first editor, Harold Ross‘s genius in presenting the reader with possibilities — not a house style. Hokinson’s work means one thing to me — Shermund’s means something else. Hokinson’s work was (and is) comforting. Ms. Shermund’s, on the other hand, was (and is) live wire. The Shermund edginess was both in her drawing and in her captions (read Ms. Donnelly’s Very Funny Ladies for more on that). She went through a few “looks” before settling into a crisp, somewhat edgy style. That style stuck at least during her New Yorker years (she eventually decamped for Esquire).
Seeing Shermund by my work area is a buzzy experience. I can almost feel an exclamation point as I think of her and her work: Barbara Shermund!
____________________________________________________________________
Very Late Notice: An SPX Panel Of Interest
Apologies for not catching the below entry on the SPX program until now (my thanks to Mike Rhode for bringing it to my attention).
[Sidebar: Can we please get rid of “gag” when describing single panel cartoons]
The Absurdity Of Single Panel Gags
09/15/2024 | 4:30pm – 5:30pm | White Oak Room
The surreal world of single-panel gags is one that’s easy to enjoy and difficult to conceive on one’s own. Moderator Sofia Warren leads a panel of fellow New Yorker cartoonists consisting of Lonnie Millsap, Sara Lautman, Amy Kurzweil, and Hilary Campbell on the art and science of perfecting an art form with a deep and venerated sense of history and tradition.