Project Update

On Reflection: the Art of
Margaret Harrison

Of late I've been neglecting this blog because I've been focused on writing projects and my other web-site Neurotic Raven. 

I've recently completed "Forming a Visual Canon: Comics in Museums" for The Routledge Handbook of the Secret Origins of Comics Studies (Duncan & Smith, expected late 2016), and am working on articles about Malcolm Whyte, founder of the Cartoon Art Museum, and about the comics historian Maurice Horn.

On Reflection: the Art of Margaret Harrison is available now from Amazon (US & UK); Barnes & Noble, MIMA Bookstore (Teesside University, UK), and on Ingram (wholesale for bookstores). Harrison was recently included in Artlyst's Top 10 Feminist Artists (#4). In Beyond the Graphic Novel: Gender-Bending Feminist Superheroes," Print's Micheal Dooley says: "As police once forced Harrison’s gallery owner to remove her paintings, the book’s author, Kim Munson, had been forced by Apple not long ago to remove “objectionable” cartoons from an underground comix history iPhone app she’d produced [story here]. This and other commonalities, such as a shared passion for workers’ rights, make Munson’s accompanying commentary and interviews with the artist empathetic and engaging as well as informative."

On Reflection: the Art of Margaret Harrison

Margaret Harrison. The Last Gaze. 2013 Northern Art Prize winner.

Over the summer, I've been pleased to spend several afternoons with Margaret Harrison, discussing her new work. Her latest installation piece, The Last Gaze, builds on many of the themes and devices she has developed throughout her career.

Based on the Pre-Raphaelite painting of the Lady of Shalott by Waterhouse and the ballad by Alfred Lord Tennyson, Harrison uses the myth of "the Lady" to comment on contemporary issues.

Margaret Harrison. The Last Gaze (detail). 2013

The Lady, because of a mysterious curse, is only able to look out on the outside world, particularly Camelot, through her mirror, weaving tapestries of the scenes she views. One day, she spies handsome Sir Lancelot through her mirror, and falls in love with him. The mirror cracks, and the curse comes upon her. She sets off for Camelot by water and dies en-route, where Lancelot looks on her lovely, dead face with pity, although she is completely unknown to him. Harrison sees the restriction of viewing life indirectly from the home as a possible "metaphor for the Victorian perspective on women's sexuality," and the curse as a warning to the female gender not to step outside of those boundaries. 

Mirror reflecting The Last Gaze.

In Harrison's installation, we are all "the Lady." We look out through the mirror of television, news media, the internet and myriad other sources to indirectly view events both international and personal. In the rear-view car mirrors installed by Harrison, the gallery visitor can see fractured reflections of themselves, the Lady and other visitors as another way to live our mediated experience. Much like the Lady weaving her tapestries, Harrison shows us different threads of discussion by including images from news media and pop culture, such as a candle raised to the victim of the 2012 Delhi Bus Rape, Snow White, Elvis, Captain America, Grace Jones, Superman and Wonder Woman.  She shows them both as internalized concepts and as outside influences by placing them both within the Lady's dress, or outside, surrounding her.

In 2015 & 2016, Harrison will be showing this piece and other new work in shows at the Golden Thread Gallery in Belfast, the Middlesbrough Institute of Art (UK), and the Ronald Feldman Gallery in New York, as well as touring exhibits of older work through the Tate, and other gallery shows in Berlin and London.

Margaret and I have been collaborating on a book that would include biographical information and an overview of her work and career entitled On Reflection: the Art of Margaret Harrison. If you would like to see more images or and a proposal, please contact me at kim_munson AT yahoo.com.

Tate Video: Margaret Harrison

Interview with Margaret Harrison about her infamous Motifs Editions gallery show in 1971, and her installations "Women and Work" and "Homeworkers," which are currently on view at the Tate Britain. This part of her career will be discussed in depth in the biographical book we are collaborating on.

Margaret Harrison - Captain America Continued

Margaret Harrison's latest show at the Payne Shurvell Gallery in London

As regular readers of my blog might know, I did an extensive research project a couple of years ago on the British artist Margaret Harrison, generally about her career, but specifically tracing the path of her series of Captain America paintings. Captain America is a character she has returned to several times in key points of her career between 1971 and now, and her interpretation of the character has evolved over that time.

Margaret Harrison. What's
That Long Red Limp Wrinkly
Thing You're Pulling On? 2009.

The painting reproduced on the gallery invite seems to build on the themes I’ve identified in Harrison's work previously, particularly What's That Long Red Limp Wrinkly Thing Your're Pulling On?, which was part of a series she began around 2009 that used paintings as "mirrors" to reflect or comment on the inner state of a character. In this recent work, Cap is looking in an actual mirror, but the image reflecting back at him is an ancient grotesque ala Leonardo or Caravaggio. Harrison has been an advocate of women's rights throughout her career, and it is my feeling is that this painting is a commentary on the weird way the US is dealing with women’s rights, equal pay and abortion. The US (Cap) is self-congratulatory and proud, yet its role as a superpower is shrinking (signified by the tiny cape), and the reflection shows the face of the "ugly American" (which is probably the way people in the other first world countries see us at the moment). The US is built on the labor, creativity and strength of its female citizens, yet their rights are still in dispute, and grandstanding politicians say ugly things about rape being a gift from God.

I'm looking forward to seeing a higher-res image so I can pick out the details. I can't quite make out the dancing figure in the leg. I recognize the Wonder Women: the armored Alex Ross version from Kingdom Come, the flying one in the upper right looks like a classic George Perez, and the one inside the figure looks like a well-known cover image from the Who is Wonder Woman? storyline by Terry & Racheal Dodson (series 3, #3).  The position of the "Dodson" WW inside Cap's transparent body seems to reference the invisible plane, and could refer to the strength of women building the US, and to the right to choose.

If you'd like a glimpse of my past research on Harrison, here's a slideshow (article pdf):

Censorship & Superbodies: The Creative Odyssey of Margaret Harrison from Kim Munson

This is Harrison's second exhibition at Payne Shurvell, the first being I am a Fantasy (2011). She currently has work on show at Tate Liverpool, in Tracing the Century (drawings from the Tate Collection) and included in ‘Glam’ the Performance of Style also at Tate Liverpool and then touring to Germany and Austria. Her work will also be part of a group exhibition, Keep Your Timber Limber, opening at the ICA (London) this June. Related works are on show in the 2013 Northern Art Prize at the Leeds Art Gallery for which Margaret Harrison has been short-listed. The prize winner will be announced on 23 May.

Censorship and Super Bodies in IJOCA

cover of IJoCA

I'm happy to say that my article Censorship and Super Bodies: The Creative Odyssey of Margaret Harrison has been published in hard copy in the International Journal of Comic Art (Vol 13, No 2, Fall 2011 page 369).  The article is primarily focused on Harrison's Captain America series, her censored 1971 gallery show, and other aspects of her long and interesting career, concurrent with the publishing history and character development of the Captain America character. Research on this topic was inspired by Harrison's 2009 exhibition at Intersection for the Arts, and the article includes interviews with Harrison, and Kevin Chen (Art Program Director, Intersection for the Arts, SF). Unfortunately, this article scans badly, so I can't post it in IJOCA's format. Here is the article as a pdf, for anyone that is interested.

The Fall IJOCA (750 pages!) also includes a very interesting symposium on women in Manga and another exploring language and textuality. Publishing the IJOCA is a labor of love for comics scholar John A. Lent and I am always amazed that he manages to pull together this mammoth publication. Thanks to him for cornering me at PCA after my presentation last year and encouraging me to finally publish it.

Previous posts about Margaret Harrison | Harrison Wiki

Wendy and the Lasso of Truth

If you can't see the photos in the slideshow above, click here to see them on Flickr
Click the link above to see the slideshow full-size with captions.

I met Wendy Crittenden in grad school at SFSU, where she earned her MFA. I was immediately drawn to her quirky humor and her equally quirky large-scale color photos. We looked for projects to work on together, and her photos of theatre facades were included in our Syndicate project for the Bay Area Now 5 show at YBCA (also with Tom Griscom; posts about this project). About mid-way through the MFA program, Wendy started to create small, intricately detailed drawings of people, animals, and things that were often unique takes on a well-known word or phrase.  When she started drawing elements of superhero costumes, I was really intrigued. She answers questions about her work below:

KM: Wendy, I think the contrast between your photography and drawings is interesting. Your photos tend to be in color on a large scale, making mundane architecture look heroic, yet the drawings are very intimate, small and detailed in black & white. Do these show different sides of you?

Wendy Crittenden.
big boy, 2009.

WC: I guess they're different sides of me, I don't generally think of them that way though.  I see each as a different process that I can tap into my imaginative space with:  the drawings usually start with a title and then the image arises where the photographs are a process of my meandering through space and then manipulating what I see into a more interesting and iconic visual image - in this case the title comes after the image is made.  Each process is a way for me to solve a puzzle, that puzzle is "How do I draw/photograph this in a way that is unexpected and witty?"  If it feels even just a little bit hokey or sentimental, I scrap it.

As for color, I love bright saturated color, which is evident in the photography.  The more I have been shooting photographic images in the desert, though, the more muted that palette has become.   The drawings are a muted palette because I started out with santa beards, wanting to make white on white drawings for the sheer challenge of it...  and then I evolved to using different shades of white to bring out or subdue certain elements of the drawings.  Bright white is usually used to highlight the most poignant element of the drawing, at least in regards to the title, and the other shades I use to give more depth to the image.  I use translucent paper so that I can work the backside of it with white to add depth, and sometimes I add another layer of paper behind to create even more depth with white.

Wendy Crittenden. bated breath, 2010.

KM: I remember that you like to base your drawings on traditional fables. What's your favorite one?  What's your favorite source material?

WC: As for fables, I actually think that I only have one drawing that is based on an Aesop Fable, telltale, based on the Ass in the Lion's Skin, but I intend to pursue more.  My drawings are actually mostly based on phrases and the history of phrases; sometimes the actual history, sometimes the misunderstood history and sometimes my own imaginative interpretation of the phrase.  My favorite misunderstood and often misspelled phrase is bated breath, I had a hard time parting with the drawing I did of that.

I'd have to say my favorite source material is the phrases that I just mentioned.  I have a list of "to draw" phrases that is always growing.  I usually draw the one that I am most excited about at the time I am looking at the list.  Usually the newest added wins.  However, I am currently working on a drawing of a whippet on very tall stilts, I think it will be titled stilted.  I just had an urge to draw my dog on stilts, for the absurdity of it.  She already has long legs, why would she walk on stilts!?

Wendy Crittenden.
lasso of truth, 2009.

KM: You do lots of drawings referencing superheroes. Often it's an isolated item central to the character, like Wonder Woman's lasso. What do these mean to you?

WC:  The superhero drawings, in particular the lassos of truth, are related to my santa beard drawings.  I like isolating one of the iconic items about a well known character and then I redraw it without any context; it's not only pushing an iconic element further than the character, it's also a way for me to collect multiple examples of that item to point out how each is so different from the other though they are all the same thing.  Like fingerprints, snowflakes, or Becher water towers, but santa beards and lassos of truth.  I love it.

KM: I remember you had a long talk with Margaret Harrison after her Intersection show at their gala when they moved into the M5 space. Did she influence you?

WC:  I did have a lovely talk with Margaret Harrison, I don't think the talk was influential, but her early work is.  People themselves don't affect me, but seeing their work does.  I love the way she drew her early work that was shown at Intersection for the Arts that year.  Especially the women, I recall a woman with a lemon that I adored and the women in the sandwiches (Take One Lemon, 1971 and Good Enough to  Eat, 1971 can be seen on the Tate web site).  That's some witty stuff.

KM: The TV series Parenthood bought one of your drawings, soft serves, as a prop. Have they used it?

WC:  I don't actually know if Parenthood has used that drawing.  My drawing soft serves was purchased for the third season's set design, but I haven't seen any current episodes.  I don't subscribe to cable, I just watch old seasons of shows on Netflix, and to be perfectly honest, I only started watching episodes of the first two seasons after they purchased the piece.  It's a great show, and the set design of the first two seasons is really good, so I imagine that if they have used the drawing, they have used it well.  I will be looking out for it once the third season comes out.

KM: Any upcoming shows/goals?

WC:  I don't have any current shows coming up, I am mostly focused on making more large drawings right now.  I am quite obsessed with detail, so much so that the large drawings can be very time consuming.

See Wendy's etsy store here.

PCA/ACA San Antonio

San Antonio River Walk

The Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association's national conference, in conjunction with the Southwest Texas regional chapter, was held in San Antonio a couple of weeks ago. Hundreds of scholars converged on the San Antonio Marriott Rivercenter for this always amazing convention, with presentations on everything from Tarot Cards and Medieval Literature to Buffy and Twilight (and every imaginable topic in between, the program looks like a phone book!). Comics scholars come out in force at this convention, and between the national conference, and the the fact that the SWTX-PCA has an active comics contingent on their own, there were around a hundred papers on comics and related subjects presented.

panel from Captain
America #125,
May 1970

I was honored to chair a session with a group of excellent presentations. Kerry Soper's Doonesbury Goes to War discussed Trudeau's treatment of BD's war injury, and the way that war and wounded servicepeople are depicted in comics. Brannon Costello's presentation Fascism and Mass Culture in Howard Chaykin's 'Blackhawk' focused on Chaykin's use of motifs and layouts from propaganda posters and advertising. Laura Perna talked about the eerrie nature of Charles Burns' comics in her presentation There Was Something Screwy Going On: Viewing Charles Burns' Comics through the Lens of the Uncanny.  My own paper, Censorship and Super Bodies: the Creative Odyssey of Margaret Harrison, concerned my on-going research on the British artist Margaret Harrison and her life long relationship with the Marvel Comics character Captain America, as a foundation for inquiries about world politics and gender (previous posts).

Aside from hearing many interesting presentations, I enjoyed having some "face time" with my fellow comics scholars, many of whom were previously just names on the Comics Scholars listserve. I enjoyed Randy Duncan's progress report on his research into the Superman: Grounded storyline, Yuri Shakouchi's presention on Beat Culture and Beatniks in MAD Magazine, and Russell Johnson's analysis of fan culture's response to Grant Morrison's Hypercrisis. There was a tea sponsored by the SWTX-PCA that celebrated Jeet Heer and Kent Worcester, authors of the Comics Studies Reader and recipients of the Peter C. Rollins Award.  The special session of the Institute for Korvac Studies was a fun and mystical experience. The PCA national conference always has a good exhibit hall, and as usual I have additions to my already groaning bookshelves. They also have an excellent tradition called "the paper table" where everyone brings 10 copies of their paper, and the papers are sold for a dollar to sponsor student travel to the conference. I always end up with lots of papers, because it's a great way to dip into other areas, and to get more detail on papers of interest (presentations are only 15 minutes).

I had mixed feelings about San Antonio itself, although I probably didn't have enough time there to do justice to such a large city.  The hotel was right next to the Alamo (it's the 175th anniversary) and the River Walk area. I admit, coming from California with our wealth of great Mexican restaurants, I wasn't very impressed with that part, but there's a big variety to be had, and I enjoyed my meals at the Zuni restaurant and the comics section dinner at Luciano's. I did feel a little sorry for people I'd talk with at the hotel that were looking for Vegetarian or Vegan meals, as it seems that San Antonio, at least in a touristy area like the River Walk, isn't real accommodating that way. I did really enjoy the conference though and the staff at the Marriott was unfailingly nice and helpful.  Next year, Boston!

Margaret Harrison's Bodies

The Bodies are Back by Margaret Harrison

Intersection for the Arts, San Francisco. February 10-April 16, 2010

I'm catching up here on recent shows that I've found really interesting. This review and a couple of the other recent reviews I've posted will be published in hard copy in the Fall 2010 issue of the IJOCA. In this case, I've interviewed Margaret Harrison and gallery director Kevin Chen about this art, and plan to write a more extensive article in the future.

In The Bodies are Back, an exhibition that closed recently at Intersection for the Arts, British artist Margaret Harrison returned to a body of work that she had abandoned in a firestorm of controversy in 1971. Recognized as a pioneer of feminist art, her work tackles complex gender issues in a unique and often humorous way, reconfiguring well-known comics characters, art world icons and objects of consumer consumption to point out the arbitrary nature of the gender roles society assigns to us. In her use of color and line, the influences of 1970’s comic books are clear in her work. While she studied at the Royal Academy of Art (London) in the late 1960’s, a time full of turmoil in reaction to the Vietnam War, she was fascinated by the work of Eric Stanton, intrigued by the sexual freedom seen in underground comix, and surrounded by pop art in every direction.

When she launched her first solo show at London’s Motif Gallery in 1971 she incorporated all of these inspirations and made them her own. She included a gender challenged version of Captain America, a series of nudes represented as products, and two pieces commenting on Playboy publisher Hugh Hefner. After one day, the London police shut down the show for indecency, eventually offering the explanation that people didn’t find the nude women offensive, but Hugh Hefner in a corset and stockings was too much. Harrison heard through the grapevine that the Playboy organization was actually involved, and by an odd coincidence, the Hefner drawing could not be found when the gallery re-opened. Stunned by the controversy, Harrison moved on other work, and left this theme alone for years.

In the 1990’s she returned to this topic. The exhibition at Intersection combined new work with pieces from the 1971 show, ringed around the gallery more or less chronologically, allowing visitors to see how this body of work evolved over time. The infamous Hugh Hefner piece (He's Only A Bunny Boy, But He's Quite Nice Really 1971, 2010 on the left), recreated for the show, started things off on a satirical note. Looking at it now, with the corset, erect nipples, strategically placed bunny head and pipe, it’s hard to imagine this drawing causing a big scandal. In 1971, Harrison included a painting of Captain America (Captain America 1, 1971) in high-heels with strap on breasts to comment on machismo and the US involvement in Vietnam. Captain America 2 (1997, at top of post) continues to question cultural assumptions of gender, as the star spangled Avenger looks like he is springing into action after raiding Marilyn Monroe’s closet.

What's That Long Red Limp Wrinkly Thing You're Pulling On (2009, on the left) is part of a new series of paintings that depict comics characters or other pop culture icons interacting with other well known works of art. In this painting, Lady Deathstrike contemplates de Kooning’s Woman and Bicycle (1952-3) while Captain America crouches at her feet. She holds a red cape, wrapped around his neck, much like a leash. When I asked her about this painting, Harrison told me that she chose Lady Deathstrike not because she is a villain, but because she is a strong, driven female character, and that the de Kooning isn’t meant to be representation of a painting so much as that it is meant to be a reflection of cultural attitude or expectations. Generally, de Kooning’s women are pretty fierce looking and this one has always seemed to me to be the most welcoming piece in the series. If we take the de Kooning at face value, a nice (very tall) lady out for a bike ride on a summer day, what do we find when we contrast her with the dominating Lady Deathstrike? What’s up with the cape/leash? How is the Captain America character reflected in the de Kooning? It’s definitely a painting to ponder. And Harrison herself prefers to maintain the mystery of it. It’s a show that left me with much to think about, and I may never look at Captain America the same way again.

Previous posts (includes video & reviews) here & here.  I presented on this topic at the 2010 PCA/ACA national conference in San Antonio. An in depth article was published in the International Journal of Comic Art in 2011 (Censorship and Superbodies: the Creative Odyssey of Margaret Harrison also on JSTOR). We plan to write a biographical book on her life and work. Please click her name under labels in the sidebar to see more recent posts.

Margaret's Tate Page (1970's work) | Margaret's latest work including Northern Art Prize winner The Last Gaze.

The Bodies Are Back - Show Extended

Back in January, I posted about the truly astonishing exhibition of the art of feminist/pop art pioneer Margaret Harrison at Intersection for the Arts The Bodies are Back, which has just been extended through April 16, 2010. On the left is her Ejaculo, 2007, Watercolor, colored pencil, and graphite on paper (courtesy of Intersection for the Arts, © 2007 Margaret Harrison).

I am fascinated with the use of comics characters and other pop culture references to comment on gender and sexuality in these thought provoking works. Her dramatic story of censorship (her first showing of these works was shut down in by the police for indecency in 1971), success and eventual return to this theme is very interesting. I plan to write a longer article about this.

In the meantime, there have been many reviews including an interview with Jolene Torr on ArtSlant, SFGate, StarkSilverCreek, Mission Eyes (includes video), SFStation, and SF Weekly.

Harrison also tells me that some of her work has been selected to be included the Tate's Rude Britania show this summer (my post is below).

British Comic Art at the Tate Britain

I wish I could see this exhibition, it sounds amazing! Comic at left is Gerald Scarfe, Ptorydactul 1989 (© Gerald Scarfe).

LONDON.- In summer 2010, Tate Britain will collaborate with a host of comic talent to present Rude Britannia: British Comic Art, a ground-breaking exhibition about the role of humour in British visual culture. Through a great diversity of art forms – including painting, drawing, sculpture, film and photography – comedy, the comic, and visual humour will be explored in their many dimensions. The exhibition will be presented and interpreted by some of the country’s best-known cartoonists and comedy writers including Steve Bell, Harry Hill, Gerald Scarfe, and the team at Viz Magazine. Their expertise and opinion will offer visitors a fresh take on comic traditions from the 1600s to the present day, and encourage debate around the wider role of humour in British life.

Drawing on material far beyond the traditional realm of visual satire, Rude Britannia will bring together sculptures, installations and performances. Works by contemporary artists such as Angus Fairhurst will be contrasted with key historical pieces by Gillray and Cruikshank. Radio, film and new media will play a part in the show, reflecting how technological developments have consistently reinvigorated the genre and engaged new audiences.

Rude Britannia will focus on a group of key topics, devised in collaboration with the guest curators. These will show the wide variety of ways in which Britain’s thriving tradition of comic art has taken shape, and the links between comic practices of the past and present. Donald McGill’s saucy seaside postcards will be shown alongside works by Aubrey Beardsley and Sarah Lucas, in a section devoted to all things bawdy. Meanwhile, Britain’s love of the absurd and the visionary will be represented by such diverse material as Edward Lear’s illustrations and David Shrigley’s sculpture. Politics, social commentary and morality will each be explored, from Hogarth’s satires of Georgian society to Gerald Scarfe’s caricatures of the Thatcher government.

Harry Hill said: "I love comedy and I love art. The absurd is my area of expertise and it will be good to get the disparate strands under one roof, from Edward Lear to Spike Milligan to David Shrigley, plus a few surprises on the way. We have all laughed at art for one reason or the other, this time it will be for the right reasons! It is a thrill to be asked to curate a room for this Tate Britain show."

Martin Myrone, Curator of 18th & 19th Century British Art, Tate Britain said: “The comic has always been thought of as a key aspect of British culture, but while other exhibitions have looked at the classic story of graphic satire, Rude Britannia will offer a much bigger picture. The result should be a rich, exciting, and sometimes challenging, new vision of British art.”

Celebrating the vivid history of comical images, the exhibition will ask some provocative questions about humour in the visual arts: Is satire truly effective as a means of political messaging? What role have cartoons played in spreading and reinforcing prejudice? Are some things in life truly beyond a joke? Rude Britannia will explore these and other complex issues, reflecting the way that changing social attitudes and identity politics have always played an important role in both comedy and art history.

Rude Britannia will be curated by Martin Myrone, Curator of 18th & 19th Century British Art, Tate Britain; Cedar Lewisohn, Programmer for Tate Media; and Tim Batchelor, Assistant Curator, Tate Britain.

The Bodies Are Back: Comics and Gender Explored at Intersection for the Arts

The Bodies Are Back by Margaret Harrison at Intersection for the Arts, San Francisco.

Wed, Feb 10 - Sat, Mar 27 | 12pm - 5pm | FREE

"Margaret Harrison, renowned British artist and pioneer of feminist art, revisits the themes of her very early work exploring notions of the human body as an object of sexuality, consumption, and gaze. The Bodies Are Back consists of works on paper that Harrison produced in the late 1960's/early 1970's displayed alongside new works created for this show. In 1971, Harrison's work was instantly met with controversy and antagonism (the London police shut down her first solo exhibition the day after it opened feeling that its contents were too controversial). This controversy caused Harrison to abandon the issues and themes of this series. Now an established artist with work in the permanent collections of major international institutions, she is critically re-engaging with this body of work, continuing the dialogue that she began four decades ago." (more examples of this work here).

Sometime ago Intersection's curator/program director Kevin Chen gave me a peek at his image checklist for this show. It was fascinating to see so many (usually) macho superheroes re-imagined in this way. Anyone studying gender issues in pop culture should check it out (artist bio on Intersection site). New reviews: SF Chronicle/Gate, Bay Area Reporter.