GREAT art: Spiegelman, Ware and Panter talk Feininger

For those of you happily staying home in NYC instead of braving nerd prom, you are being rewarded by an amazing event: The Fine Art of Comics, with Gary Panter, Art Spiegelman, and Chris Ware at the Whitney Museum on July 20th. Held in conjunction with a show on Lyonel Feininger, this trio of masters will talk about comics and fine art.

“The Kin-der-Kids” and “Wee Willie Winkie’s World,” the pioneering and popular comic strips that Lyonel Feininger debuted in 1906, formed the basis of many of his subsequent paintings, as the visual language of comics that he employed for his commercial work migrated into his canvases. The cross-pollination between comics and high art, which began in the early 20th century, also fed the extraordinary explosion of graphic novels and comics in the past several decades. In conjunction with the exhibition Lyonel Feininger: At the Edge of the World, a panel of master comic artists, including Gary Panter, Art Spiegelman, and Chris Ware, will discuss the intersection of comics and fine art. Moderated by John Carlin.

$8 general admission; $6 senior citizens and students; free for members.

SOMEONE PLEASE RECORD THIS.

German-born Feininger created a handful of astounding comic strips before moving on to become one of the most important Expressionist painters of his era.