The Language of Lines: Imaginary Places in the Comics

April 24 through August 22, 2010
Downstairs Changing Gallery

From the richly detailed flora and fauna of Pogo’s Okefenokee Swamp to the minimalist surroundings of Peanuts, cartoonists have long created rich environments in which their characters live, work, and play. Imaginary Places in the Comics presented an in-depth look at the choices cartoonists have made when creating the places their cartoon characters inhabit. This exhibition, the final installment of The Language of Lines trilogy, explored the famous settings of many classic comics.

Imaginary Places featured over 60 comic strips and welcomed audiences to visit Li’l Abner’s Dogpatch, Krazy Kat’s Coconino County, and Beetle Bailey’s Camp Swampy. Among the exhibition’s highlights were a hand-colored drawing of the Krazy Kat cast visiting Monument Valley in 1925 by George Herriman; a map of Cul de Sac illustrated specifically for this exhibition by Reuben-nominated cartoonist Richard Thompson; and three sequential Little Nemo in Slumberland pages, featuring Nemo and Flip cavorting among Manhattan skyscrapers, created in 1907 by the amazingly gifted Winsor McCay. This exhibition presented these famous yet imaginary places as silent characters within their respective comic strips.

Co-curated by Brian Walker, co-curator of the critically-acclaimed exhibition, Masters of American Comics