The McMullen Museum of Art (Gary Wayne Gilbert)
The McMullen Museum of Art at Boston College will present two innovative and historically significant exclusive exhibitions this fall, which respectively explore important periods of change: American Alternative Comics, 1980鈥�2000: 鈥淩aw,鈥� 鈥淲eirdo,鈥� and Beyond looks at a transitional time for artistic comics in America; the retrospective Arnie Jarmak: Photographing Chelsea in Transition, 1977鈥�89 focuses on demographic and social changes in Chelsea, Mass., a city north of Boston, as witnessed and documented by the accomplished photographer. The exhibitions will be on view from September 6 through December 4.
(Members of the University community will receive an email invitation from the McMullen Museum to attend a September 14 Zoom lecture on both exhibitions by curators. The lecture will begin at 5:30 p.m.)
漏 Gilbert Hernandez (1957鈥�) and Jaime Hernandez (1959鈥�), color separations from "Love and Rockets 5" - 1982. Acetate overlays on board. From private collection
The groundbreaking exhibition American Alternative Comics, 1980鈥�2000: 鈥淩aw,鈥� 鈥淲eirdo,鈥� and Beyond in the Daley Family Gallery explores the unique qualities of comics and the place of the medium in relation to art. Today, comics enjoy wide critical and academic acceptance, organizers note, but this respectability is only a few decades old. Literature classes now teach works such as Maus and Fun Home. The New York Times reviews comics and publishes comics features. Scholars work both to chronicle comics鈥� long history and to describe the medium鈥檚 grammar and methods.
American Alternative Comics examines the 1980s and 1990s, a transitional time for artistic comics, when cartoonists sought to enlarge the medium鈥檚 potential for artistry and self-expression. The influential magazine Raw promoted comics as ambitious, experimental art worthy of galleries and bookstores. The anthology Weirdo celebrated comics as an outsider form through self-disclosive and often self-critical narratives. A new marketplace and a new generation of publishers and alternative newspapers produced work for a growing readership.
漏 Kim Deitch (1944鈥�), "Hollywoodland" 1987. Ink, watercolor, pencil on paper. The Ohio State University Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum, Erwin and Alfred Bergdoll Collection of Underground Comics and Original Art
聽鈥淎lternative comics are recognized as a progenitor of today鈥檚 graphic novels widely studied in literature courses throughout the academy,鈥� said Nancy Netzer, the inaugural Robert L. and Judith T. Winston Director of the McMullen Museum and a 51茶馆 professor of art history. 鈥淔eaturing 40 creators, American Alternative Comics, 1980鈥�2000 and its accompanying catalogue shift the focus to the significance of the comics鈥� artistic innovations, which have until now received less attention. The McMullen is grateful to the many lenders who have made this landmark exhibition possible.鈥�
The exhibition features original art, printed comics, and more. It showcases more than 120 works by 40 artists, including Peter Bagge, Lynda Barry, Mark Beyer, Robert Crumb, Julie Doucet, Gilbert Hernandez, Jaime Hernandez, Keith Knight, Aline Kominsky-Crumb, Fran莽oise Mouly, Gary Panter, Art Spiegelman, and Chris Ware, among others.
Organized by the McMullen Museum, the exhibition is curated by John McCoy, a McMullen Museum assistant director, and Andrei Molotiu, art history senior lecturer at Indiana University Bloomington.
鈥淭his exhibition looks at a transitional period in the history of comics-as-art,鈥� said McCoy. 鈥淭he underground comics of the sixties and seventies had pushed boundaries of what was permissible, but their oppositional, transgressive stance had become a dead end. In the eighties and nineties, cartoonists experimented with form, content, and marketing. By 2000, comics had gained a new respectability, especially under the labels of 鈥榞raphic novels鈥� and 鈥榮equential art.鈥欌��
The exhibition is accompanied by a scholarly catalogue edited by the exhibition curators. Essayists from art historical, literary, and other fields focus on the role of influential editors and publishers as well as the strategies artists employed to encourage readers to take the art form seriously. Subjects include the aesthetics of Raw and Weirdo, the punk-influenced work of Gary Panter, and the genre-breaking work of the Hernandez Brothers. The catalogue also includes recent annotated interviews with American cartoonist Peter Bagge and Raw publisher Fran莽oise Mouly.
Exhibition loans were made by artists, private collectors, and The Ohio State University Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum. Major support is provided by the Patrons of the McMullen Museum and Leslie and Peter Ciampi.
Getting the 鈥淩ecord鈥� in the Square; archival pigment print 漏 Arnie Jarmak
Arnie Jarmak: Photographing Chelsea in Transition, 1977鈥�89 showcases the significance of the corpus of work by photographer Arnie Jarmak (b. 1949, Marblehead, Mass.), and the contribution it makes to understanding how and why local neighborhoods change. The exhibition presents more than 80 photographs from an archive of some 20,000 he produced as chief photographer for the city鈥檚 daily newspaper, the Chelsea Record, while living there in the late 1970s through the 1980s.
聽鈥淭he McMullen Museum is pleased to present this retrospective of Arnie Jarmak鈥檚 photographs, taken over 12 years (1977鈥�89), chronicling the culture of the city of Chelsea for its local newspaper,鈥� Netzer said. 鈥淛armak鈥檚 oral history recorded for this project and displays from his archives and of his cameras enhance the exhibition鈥檚 historical significance. The exhibition also celebrates the ongoing work of Boston College faculty and students on the digital history project, , documenting the area鈥檚 immigrant communities since 1870.鈥�
Among the last film photographers before the digital age, Jarmak used a Deardorff 8 脳 10 inch field camera and a Nikon F 35 mm camera (both displayed in the exhibition) to document Chelsea鈥檚 notoriously corrupt politicians, the fires that raged through its aging housing stock and the celebrated firefighters who fought them, long-established businesses of European immigrants (many of them Jewish from Eastern Europe), and the arrivals of immigrants from Central America who enriched the city. Jarmak chronicles these changes in sharply observed portraits of residents, lively vignettes of the city鈥檚 youth, and illustrations of community celebrations鈥攁 testament to the central role a local paper played in the life of a vibrant and complex city, according to organizers.
聽鈥淭he opportunity to photograph Chelsea was truly a gift given to me,鈥� said Jarmak. 鈥淚 am thankful to the people of this city who supported and embraced my work every day at the Chelsea Record.鈥�
Ballot Boxes, Election Night, archival pigment print 漏 Arnie Jarmak
According to exhibition co-curator Ash Anderson, a Boston College faculty member in art history, 鈥淛armak slyly draws on the intertwined histories of documentary and fine art photography and his intimate knowledge of Chelsea to create dynamic, insightful compositions that bring to life a chaotic period in the city鈥檚 history.鈥�
Recordings of interviews with Jarmak by co-curator Diana Larsen, a McMullen Museum assistant director, accompany the exhibition. The curators also edited an e-catalogue that includes a biography of Jarmak by Larsen, an essay by Anderson situating Jarmak鈥檚 work within the history of twentieth-century photography, including an examination of artistic and literary influences, and a study of Chelsea鈥檚 immigrant evolution and demographic transformations by 51茶馆 Professor of History Marilynn S. Johnson, Global Boston director.
鈥淛armak鈥檚 photographs tell a real American story,鈥� said Larsen. 鈥淎lthough they represent life several decades ago, they provide a window into what is occurring in Chelsea today鈥攖he residents of a small, ever-changing immigrant city striving to succeed.鈥�
Added Joshua Resnek, the artist鈥檚 friend and collaborator: 鈥淛armak has the passion of a young man and the support of a city with a big heart and soul.鈥�
Organized by the McMullen Museum, Arnie Jarmak: Photographing Chelsea in Transition, 1977鈥�89 received major support from Boston College and the Patrons of the McMullen Museum.
For more information about both exhibitions, hours, access, and related programs and events, visit the McMullen Museum website.
Rosanne Pellegrini | University Communications | September 2022