It’s Saturday, and I’m finally back home after a week of Maine rest. With a short stop in Westerly, Rhode Island to give a talk about one of my favorite women cartoonists from the early New Yorker, Barbara Shermund. I have written about Shermund before- in my book, in The New Yorker, and in a recent article for Medium.
The drawing above is huge! I didn’t take dimensions, but if you look at this video below of the exhibit, you can see how large it is in comparison to her other drawings and paintings. In essence, I believe Shermund was more of a painter—it was in the captions where her intelligent, cartoon mind came out. A mind that was very feminist and very funny.
The show was curated by Hilary Pierce Hatfield, who did an absolutely beautiful job showcasing the work. The venue was The United, an old theater that has a few screening rooms. The night I spoke, I delivered my talk in one small screening room, and Barbie The Movie was playing in another other room. An interesting juxtaposition that I addressed in my talk, how the interpretation and expression of feminism has changed over the generations. Even in my lifetime. The audience was very attentive and generous with their laughter and clapping, and had great questions. We could have kept talking for another half hour. Thanks for having me!
The Cafe, a restuarant next to the theater, even had a drink in Shermund’s honor. The bartender made me one, even though I told him I wasn’t going to drink anything before my talk. I had to taste it, of course, and while I am not a drinker of gin, it was lovely!
On the wall behind the drink are more paintings by Ms. Shermund.
I will leave you with one of my favorite Shermunds, perhaps I have shown it to you before. An early mansplaining cartoon from the late 1920s.
I hope you have a lovely weekend! I am going to try to maintain calm going into next week, a week that could be politically charged.
So glad your talk was appreciated. We appreciate everything you post. Funny, fascinating, entertaining. Thanks!
No one called you a pot of gold yet?