Lubin House Gallery Reopens with ‘New York, New Yorker II’ exhibition

Lubin House Gallery Reopens with ‘New York, New Yorker II’ exhibitionSeptember 27, 2002Anne Auchincloss

The personality of New York City and its people as reflected in the covers and cartoons of The New Yorker Magazine over the past 50 years will be on public display at the Lubin House Gallery between Oct. 8 and Nov. 15.

In the late 1970s, Syracuse began a program of exhibitions, publications and acquisitions centered on social cartooning. New Yorker artists Alan Dunn and Mary Petty were instrumental in the success of this program. In Dunn’s words, the social cartoonist “- reminds us constantly that we do not act as we speak or think. Since, by its very objectivity, it raises few hackles, its gentle approach tends to soften and ameliorate the aggravations of one’s time and thereby to enlighten.”

Included in the exhibition are works by Dunn, who contributed several hundred cartoons to The New Yorker between 1926 and his death in 1974, and his wife, Mary Petty, whose career at The New Yorker spanned five decades. “The Art of Mary Petty,” curated by Domenic Iacono, associate director of the Syracuse University Art Collection, was shown at the Lubin House Gallery in 1995. Petty was responsible for a group of 38 cover illustrations for the magazine that gently satirized the old guard of New York City’s Victorian era society. She created and chronicled the life of the Peabody family, from its dowager head to the family maid.

Also represented are alumni Robert Mankoff ’66 and Harry Bliss ’94. Cartoon editor of The New Yorker since 1997, and a contributor for 20 years, Mankoff is easily recognizable for his pointillist style. A well-known illustrator, Bliss has contributed cover art as well as cartoons to The New Yorker.

The exhibition also includes works by Arthur Getz, who sold his first “spot” drawings and cover to The New Yorker in 1936. Getz was associated with The New Yorker until his retirement in 1988. Also featured are drawings by Lee Lorenz. As art editor of the New Yorker from 1973-93, he drew 12 covers and over 1,500 cartoons for the magazine. He remains on staff as a consultant and one of their leading cartoonists. During his time as art editor, he published a comprehensive illustrated survey, The Art of The New Yorker, as well as many children’s books and cartoon collections.

According to curator “Each of the artists selected to participate in the exhibition have developed unique styles of cartooning or cover art, and many of the images capture the essence of Alan Dunn’s description of the social cartoonist. When their subject matter for the cartoon or cover was New York City, these artists used their exceptional wit to help ‘ameliorate the aggravations’ of our time or, they just made us think about New York City in a different way.” This is the fourth exhibition Iacono has developed about New York City as a cultural icon including New York New Yorker that was developed in 1981.

The gallery is open Monday through Friday, noon to 5 p.m., and Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.