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SEPTEMBER 2010 <>
WEB INQUIRIES and ORDERS call 1-800-627-8223 or e-mail us
Williamsburg SHOWROOM HOURS Open
Thursday 11:00 - 5 Friday 11:00 - 5 Saturday 11:00 - 3
AND Tues. and Wed. by Appointment
<> Call <> (757) 565-7424 1-800-627-8223
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Williamsburg, Virginia
Home of the Art-cade Gallery
Our Williamsburg area was named the 2010 “Best Family Destination” by the Budget Travel Readers Choice poll. Visit the “Historic Triangle” and stop to see the gallery too!
If you’re coming to town, may we suggest two planning sources:
• Monthly Visitors’ Guide
• Lodging
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The comic strip is a uniquely American creation. Even though some mid-Nineteenth Century European artists drew satirical cartoons telling a story within a single frame, the furthest European cartoon art developed was the serialization of stories by such writers such Charles Dickens accompanied by illustrations of contemporary cartoonists.
American humor and cartoon weekly magazines founded after the late 1870s (Puck, Judge, and Life) first introduced single panel cartoons (and later a strip of panels) to American audiences. Striking storytelling artwork was the result. (See the American Memories page on this site for examples of these works.)
As the Twentieth Century approached, the United States was a growing nation with a huge new immigrant population focused particularly in the large cities. Newspaper publishers waged battles for increased readership. The comic cartoon became a major weapon in these economic skirmishes. Cartoonists like R.F. Outcault (The Yellow Kid and Buster Brown), Winsor McCay (Little Nemo), and Frederick Opper (Happy Hooligan) drew large multi-paneled cartoons often a full newspaper page in size printed in full color. Readers often chose their newspaper based on which cartoons a newspaper featured. Comic cartoonists became frontline soldiers in the newspaper circulation wars, but this afforded them a continuing showcase plus enormous freedom to experiment.
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| In time, publishers and cartoonists settled on the cartoon strip we know today as the standard format. Theme and content varied by the times, social conditions, and location. Something was offered for everyone. Strips featured little kids, immigrant families, social criticism and comment, heroes and adventure, soap operas, or humor. The single panel cartoon never totally left comic newspaper art and became an ideal form for new magazines such as in The New Yorker. |
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Comic strips continue today as part of mainstream American life. Strip artists have a way of capturing an irony, an idea, or human condition using only a few lines and words, a bottle of India ink, and a piece of illustration board. Because there is only one original of a comic strip, they are highly sought after by collectors. Few original cartoons are offered for sale by artists, making those available even more collectible. The Art-cade inventories a wide selection of classic and modern strips in a wide range of prices. |
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Website ©2010 Kings Court Communications, Inc.
All displayed artwork © by artist and/or publisher
and is for illustration and promotion purposes only.
All rights reserved. None may be used, in whole or
in part, for any other purpose. "Webportfolio" and the
portfolio icon are service marks of The Art-cade Gallery.
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