Selections from the Sordoni Collection AMERICAN ILLUSTRATION & COMIC ART Selections from the Sordoni Collection AMERICAN ILLUSTRATION & COMIC ART The collector, Andrew J. Sordoni, III at his desk. Behind him are Frank E. Schoonover Stephen’s one desire and Mead Schaeffer Stede Bonnet faced his last fight. Selections from the Sordoni Collection AMERICAN ILLUSTRATION & COMIC ART Stanley I Grand with contributions by David Apatoff, Sam Gross, Laurie Norton Moffatt, David Saunders, Heather Sincavage, Jim Steranko and Fred Taraba April 7– May 20, 2018 Sordoni Art Gallery Wilkes University Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania This book was published on the occasion of “SELECTIONS FROM THE SORDONI COLLECTION AMERICAN ILLUSTRATION & COMIC ART” at the Sordoni Art Gallery from April 7–May 20, 2018 Published by the Sordoni Art Gallery Wilkes University, Wilkes-Barre, PA www.wilkes.edu/arts/sordoni-art-gallery/index.aspx Designer: Douglas Martin, Turtleboy Productions Photographer: Tom Musto Editor: Gary Mayk Printer: Payne Printery, Dallas, Pennsylvania, on McCoy Silk 100# Text and McCoy Silk 120# Cover Set in Adobe Garamond, a serif typeface named for Claude Garamond (c. 1480 –1561) ISBN 978-0-9997534-0-8 © 2018 by Sordoni Art Gallery Wilkes University, Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any other information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Cover: John Gannam, Gone Gal [Advertisement for Balanced Pacific Sheets]. 1948 Contents Artists in the Exhibition 6 Foreword 8 Acknowledgments 9 Preface 10 Introduction 12 Illustration Art, Commentary and Plates 14 Hopalong Cassidy, Commentary and Plates 80 Comic Art, Commentary and Plates 94 Catalogue of the Exhibition, Illustration Art 132 Catalogue of the Exhibition, Comic Art 164 Bibliography 181 Notes on Contributors 182 Artists in the Exhibition Charles Addams (1912 –1988) Robert Eckstein (b. 1963) Alfred Andriola (1912 –1983) Heinz Edelmann (1934 –2009) Rolf Armstrong (1889 –1960) Anton Otto Fischer (1882 –1962) Paul Bacon (1923 –2015) Ham Fisher (1900 –1955) Walter M. Baumhofer (1904 –1987) Harrison Fisher (1875 –1934) Rudolph Belarski (1900 –1983) James Montgomery Flagg (1877–1960) Frederick Blakeslee (1898 –1973) Thomas Fluharty (b. 1962) Enoch Bolles (1883 –1976) Hal Forrest (1895 –1959) Arthur William Brown (1881–1966) Harold R. Foster (1892 –1982) Buck Brown (1936 –2007) Frank Frazetta (1928 –2010) John Caldwell (1946 –2016) John Gannam (1907–1965) Milton Caniff (1907–1988) William Glackens (1870 –1938) Al Capp (1909–1979) Floyd Gottfredson (1905 –1986) Pruett Carter (1891–1955) Ray Gotto (1916 –2003) Howard Chandler Christy (1873 –1952) Chester Gould (1900 –1985) Jack Cole (1914 –1958) Walter Granville-Smith (1870 –1938) Dean Cornwell (1892 –1960) Harold Gray (1894 –1968) Bradshaw Crandell (1896 –1966) George Gross (1909 –2003) Douglass Crockwell (1904 –1968) Bob Haggart (1914 –1998) Paul Davis (b. 1938) V.T. Hamlin (1900 –1993) Phil Davis (1906 –1964) Fred Harman (1902 –1982) Chon Day (1907–2000) John Held, Jr. (1889 –1958) Billy DeBeck (1890 –1942) George Herriman (1880 –1944) Roy Delgado (b. 1935) Al Hirschfeld (1903 –2003) Joe De Mers (1910 –1984) Burne Hogarth (1911–1996) Rafael DeSoto (1904 –1987) Walter Beach Humphrey (1892 –1966) Walt Disney Studio E.M. Jackson (1896 –1962) Maynard Dixon (1875 –1946) John Jonik (b. 1942) Harvey Dunn (1884 –1952) Walt Kelly (1913 –1973) 6 Frank O. King (1883 –1969) Charles Rodrigues (1926 –2004) Anita Kunz (b. 1956) Arthur Sarnoff (1912 –2000) John LaGatta (1894 –1976) Norman Saunders (1907–1989) Walter Lantz Studio Mead Schaeffer (1898 –1980) Robert Lavin (1919 –1997) Frank E. Schoonover (1877–1972) William R. Leigh (1866 –1955) Charles M. Schulz (1922 –2000) J.C. Leyendecker (1874 –1951) E.C. Segar (1894 –1938) George Lichty (1905 –1983) Everett Shinn (1876 –1953) Richard Lillis (1899 –1995) John Sloan (1871–1951) Andrew Loomis (1892 –1959) Margaret Barnard Sordoni (1915 –1989) Tom Lovell (1909 –1997) Jack Sparling (1916 –1997) Orson Lowell (1871–1956) Dan Spiegle (1920 –2017) Mike Lynch (b. 1962) Saul Tepper (1899 –1987) Mara McAfee (1929 –1984) UPS Studio George McManus (1884 –1954) Alberto Vargas (1896 –1982) Leo Meiersdorff (1934 –1994) Harold von Schmidt (1893 –1982) Richard Merkin (1938 –2009) E.F. Ward (1892 –1990) Fred Mizen (1888 –1964) Jon Whitcomb (1906 –1988) Willard Mullin (1902 –1978) Walter Whitehead (1874 –1956) Rose O’Neill (1874 –1944) Coby Whitmore (1913 –1988) William Overgard (1926 –1990) Al Williamson (1931–2010) Maxfield Parrish (1870 –1966) Gahan Wilson (b. 1930) C.F. Payne (b. 1954) N.C. Wyeth (1882 –1945) George Petty (1894 –1975) Coles Phillips (1880 –1927) Howard Pyle (1853 –1911) Henry Patrick Raleigh (1880 –1944) Alex Raymond (1909 –1956) Norman Rockwell (1894 –1978) 7 7 Foreword T he Sordoni family and Wilkes University have a history programs to identify which were outstanding and which of working together to promote learning, thought, and civic needed improvement. He assembled and personally led an engagement in Northeastern Pennsylvania. Today’s University Arts Task Force that included Andrew as the sole community began as Bucknell Junior College in 1933. At the time Senator member. After much deliberation and some controversy, the Andrew J. Sordoni was on the Bucknell College Board of Arts Task Force unanimously embraced Dr. Leahy’s vision to Trustees and actively encouraged the establishment of a re-commit to the visual arts by building a new Sordoni Art center for higher learning in the Wyoming Valley. In 1947 Gallery, creating an exhibition endowment, and hiring a as thousands of World War II veterans took advantage of professional director. As planning for the new facility began, the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944 (the “G.I. Bill”), President Leahy extended an invitation to Andrew to exhibit Wilkes became an independent four-year college and in works from his collection of American Illustration & 1990, Wilkes University. Comic Art, which he accepted with the proviso that professional curators determine the content. As Director of the Sordoni Following the deaths of Senator Sordoni (1887– 1963) and his Art Gallery, it has been my pleasure to work with the Guest son Andrew J. Sordoni, Jr. (1916 – 1967), Margaret “Barney” Curator, Dr. Stanley I Grand, on this project. Sordoni (1915 – 1989, Cat. 128) worked with Dr. Eugene S. Farley, the first president of Wilkes College, to create a unique This exhibition and catalogue have benefited from the efforts resource for the college and community, and by 1973, her of numerous people. The catalogue in particular has been son Andrew J. Sordoni, III had joined the Gallery Advisory enhanced by contributions from recognized authorities in Commission, on which he continues to serve. The Sordonis’ the field including David Apatoff, Sam Gross, Laurie Norton gift of an Art Gallery to Wilkes also represented a profound Moffatt, David Saunders, Jim Steranko, and Fred Taraba. commitment to the rebirth of a community devastated by It is a privilege to be entrusted with the leadership of the Sordoni the great Agnes flood of June 1972. Art Gallery. The Gallery has an enviable tradition of mounting Andrew Sordoni has continued to advance culture at Wilkes. excellent exhibitions accompanied by scholarly catalogues. Over the years he has sponsored “Celebrations of Music and Previous directors Judith Hansen O’Toole, William Sterling, Art,” featuring performances and art exhibitions by prominent and Stanley I Grand set high standards to which the revitalized musician/artists, including Bob Haggart (1984), Pee Wee Gallery will adhere. Attaining this goal requires the wholehearted Russell and George Wettling (1986), Mel Powell (1987) support of the University Administration, especially Dr. and Paul Bacon (1999). Andrew also has collaborated on Patrick Leahy, president; Dr. Anne Skleder, provost; and exhibitions at the Gallery, most notably as curator of the Dr. Paul Riggs, dean of the College of Arts, Humanities and pioneering 1976 “Comic Strip Art from Private Collections.” Social Sciences. Their commitment has been unfailing. In recognition of his outstanding support of the arts, Wilkes Active community support of the arts is essential as well University bestowed on him the honorary degree of Doctor and the Gallery is fortunate to have a dedicated Advisory of Humane Letters in 1998. Commission, chaired by long-time supporter Virginia Davis. Shortly after assuming the presidency of Wilkes University, – Heather Sincavage, M.F.A. Dr. Patrick Leahy assessed all university departments and Director, Sordoni Art Gallery 8