Overview
This volume is the only existing biography of one of America's greatest and most influential cartoonists. Winsor McCay (1867-1934) is universally acknowledged as the first master of both the comic strip and the animated cartoon. Although invented by others, both genres were developed into enduring popular art of the highest imagination through McCay's innovative genius. Originally published in 1987, it is now back in print in a newly expanded and revised edition on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Little Nemo in Slumberland. Included are new materials found since the previous publication of the book such as new comic strips of Little Nemo in Slumberland, and new sketches of Gertie the Dinosaur.In the book the author reviews and fully analyzes McCay's achievements in print and film while examining his work in relation to his life, family, and to American culture and values of the period. This painstakingly thorough biography begins with McCay's childhood in Michigan to his seat as one of the greatest of the early animators.
Synopsis
This volume is the only existing biography of one of America's greatest and most influential cartoonists. Winsor McCay (1867-1934) is universally acknowledged as the first master of both the comic strip and the animated cartoon. Although invented by others, both genres were developed into enduring popular art of the highest imagination through McCay's innovative genius. Originally published in 1987, it is now back in print in a newly expanded and revised edition on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Little Nemo in Slumberland. Included are new materials found since the previous publication of the book such as new comic strips of Little Nemo in Slumberland, and new sketches of Gertie the Dinosaur.
In the book the author reviews and fully analyzes McCay's achievements in print and film while examining his work in relation to his life, family, and to American culture and values of the period. This painstakingly thorough biography begins with McCay's childhood in Michigan to his seat as one of the greatest of the early animators.
Publishers Weekly
McCay's Little Nemo in Slumberland, introduced in the New York Herald in 1905, has been called the most beautiful comic strip ever drawn. A pioneer film animator (Gertie the Dinosaur and cartoonist whose works border on surrealist dream fantasies, McCay profoundly influenced artists ranging from Walt Disney to Maurice Sendak. At every turn, Little Nemo confronts irrational taboos and forbidden places; his Slumberland is a Freudian landscape. Another eerie strip, Dream of the Rarebit Fiend, cheerfully portrays the irrationality and instability of everyday life. Sendak, in his introduction, rightly calls McCay ``one of America's great fantasists.'' That this strange, elfin man (18671934) was also a political cartoonist who, at his best, rivaled Daumier is clear from animator-film historian Canemaker's authoritative, richly illustrated, oversize biography. A rare treat. (May)