6/7/2017 Why Art Historians Still Ignore Comics | JSTOR Daily

(https://daily.jstor.org/)

JAZMIN SMITH(HTTPS://DAILY.JSTOR.ORG/AUTHOR/JAZMIN_SMITH/) / JULY 5, 2017

W H Y A RT H IS T ORIA NS
S T ILL IGNORE C OM IC S

A German Refugee child reading a Superman comic, 1942

via Library of Congress(http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2013649072/)

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6/7/2017 Why Art Historians Still Ignore Comics | JSTOR Daily

In recent history comic art has crossed boundaries to enter other mediums. We can watch comic book
adaptations(https://daily.jstor.org/horses-mouth-wonder-woman/) in movies and on TV, read about comic books in popular novels
comic art on the walls of our local museums. Katherine Roeder examines why art historians are not paying more attenti
(https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/587910?mag=why-art-historians-still-ignore-comics)

Studying comic art through the lens of art history has unique challenges. The medium is visual but the text is just as imp
This leads experts to compartmentalize comics into either literature or art. The University of Florida offers a Comics and
Rhetoric track through its PhD in English Literature program. The National Associate of Comic Art Educators offers
syllabi(http://www.teachingcomics.org/) with titles including Reading Comics as Literature. Then on the other hand, books su
Robert C. Harveys The Art of the Funnies take a close look at aesthetics but neglect the literary side. (Will Eisners Com
Sequential Art and Scott McClouds Understanding Comics are two important works that reject this dichotomy.)

Another set of obstacles to comics scholarship and criticism are the ambiguities of the industry. High volume publishers
Marvel list separate credits for inker, artist, author, editor, and colorist. This practice confuses authorship and makes bio
examinations of the work difficult.

The comics industry also lacks set rules on what to

call itself. Terms like graphic novel(https://daily.jstor.org/
Instead of comics, Will remembering rights-movement-with-comics/) are used to
imply a serious distinct from regular comics. Yet

Eisner once suggested the graphic novel is fals attributed to books that are not
novels at all. For exam Marjane Satraptis Persepolis
and Joe Saccos Palesti both works of non-fiction.
term sequential art, but it Even the word comics imp the subject matter will be
funny. Eisner suggested the sequential art but it

failed to get off the ground. failed to get off the ground.Comic art, and therefore
scholarship on comic art, has trouble
assessing the audiences desires. Many monographs
reprints miss the opportunity to engage in criticism, instead opting to focus on nostalgia. The seminal exhibition Masters
American Comics (2005 to 2007) attempted to establish a comic art canon but failed to include any women. Not only are
voracious comic consumers, making up 60% of manga readership, but the work of women such as Satrapti, Alison Bec
Lynda Barry are at the forefront of expanding the medium.

There are opportunities for art historians to take on the challenge of examining comics, including scholarships and gran
specifically focused on the subject. Roeder offers potential avenues of inquiry for art historians to explore such as using
primary sources, interrogating the high art versus low art divide, and the architecture of the comic-strip page. She also
growing interest in comic scholarship in the form of panels and dissertations, a hopeful indication of more to come.

JSTOR CITATIONS
Looking High and Low at Comic Art(https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/587910?mag=why-art-historians-still-ignore-
and
BY: KATHERINE ROEDER

American Art, Vol. 22, No. 1 (Spring 2008), pp. 2-9

The University of Chicago Press on behalf of the The Smithsonian Institution
nt
Visua
Jazmin Smith (https://daily.jstor.org/author/jazmin_smith/)
as
Jazmin Smith is a writer and art historian based in Los Angeles, California. She specializes in
contemporary black art. Follow her on Instagram at: www.instagram.com/jazminwrites
an

Website (http://www.jazminwrites.com/)

like
graphi

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