2006年VOA标准英语-Comic Art Gains New Appreciation in US

By Amanda Cassandra
New York
26 October 2006 
 

Comic and cartoon art is moving out of specialty¹ shops and into galleries and museums as traditional art venues² recognize its artistic³ and literary value. From VOA's New York Bureau, Correspondent Barbara Schoetzau has the story by Amanda Cassandra.

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Recently, comics, such as those that have brought us popular characters like Superman and Batman, have been getting more attention from mainstream⁴ art venues. Prominent museums including the Whitney in New York and London's Institute of Contemporary Art have dedicated⁵ exhibits to comic art.

The Studio Museum in Harlem is focusing on a new generation of African comic artists. The Jewish Museum in New York and the Newark Museum in neighboring New Jersey⁶ are taking a serious look at comic art together. "Masters of American Comics" is a two-part exhibit at both museums highlighting 14 seminal⁷ comic artists in the 20th century.

Assistant Curator at the Jewish Museum Ali Gass says mainstream art venues that once overlooked comic art now see its artistic value. "It has been a long time coming and it has finally happened. People within the comic industry have always viewed them as a serious high art form that just were not given the appropriate recognition," he said.

New York now has a museum dedicated to the medium. Ken⁸ Wong is the Director of the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art. He says there has long been a bias⁹ against comics. "People tend to think of it as superheroes and other juvenile¹⁰ things, but also comics as an art form can be used to tell all sorts of different stories. Comics are not necessarily just what they might remember their childhood," he said.

Ali Gass says some comics deal with sophisticated issues that may surprise some. "The word comics as a title is a little bit misleading because really comic books and comic strips represent the social and political history of the 20th century very explicitly¹¹ in their art. And some of those themes are the experience of immigration and feeling marginalized in mainstream American society. World War II was dealt with very explicitly, both in terms of superheroes like Captain America fighting Nazis¹² literally¹³ or later on with Harvey Kurtzman where he, in his war comics, addresses and shows the actual agony and suffering of American soldiers at war. The images can make it very very real and really excellent comic artists have the ability to capture these experiences with just a few gestural strokes in a way that are very resonant," he said.

Comics are also increasingly being recognized for their literary value. Art Spiegelman's graphic¹⁴ novel "Maus", depicting¹⁵ his family's ordeal¹⁶ through the Holocaust¹⁷, received the prestigious¹⁸ Pulitzer Prize in 1986.

The graphic novel "Palestine", by Joe Sacco won an American Book Award. Author Marjane Satrapi says her coming of age graphic novel "Persepolis" set during the Iranian revolution, is required reading at West Point, the United States Military Academy.

Ken Wong says comics are just the means for delivering a story that can be about anything. "Comic art can be used to express all sorts of different stories. Prose, poetry, fiction, nonfiction. People are understanding that sequential art, comics are an art form. It's a medium not a genre," he said.

Wong says comics also have tremendous appeal for those seeking to convey religious messages. "Religious comics, comics using religious stories are big right now. Naturally, these sorts of epics¹⁹ are full of great stories. These are great stories; they are full of action and adventure. And they lend themselves visually as well to this medium," he said.

Blockbuster movies based on comics like Spiderman and Superman have spurred renewed interest in comics and propelled the medium to new heights of popularity.

Brian Walker, co-curator of the exhibits at the Jewish and Newark museums, says the appeal of comics transcends²⁰ the medium. "The characters that come out of the comics are very strong. You think about Charlie Brown and Snoopy in the newspaper comics and certainly the superheroes like Spiderman and Batman and Superman are iconic figures in world culture today. They are recognized all over the world," he said.

Wong says the success of movies shows how comics are extremely adaptable²¹ to other forms. "People do not even realize how many of the movies out there actually came from comic books. Movies like the Road to Perdition, Ghost World, History of Violence, Men in Black; these were all comic books first. People who are in Hollywood are understanding that comics are a great source material because they are so visual and they can tell such great stories," he said.

As more and more institutions showcase comic art, Walker says that the artists themselves would be shocked at the acceptance of their art in conventional art venues.

Wong thinks the newfound respect that comics have gained recently will likely continue. "It is influencing films, it is influencing books, it is influencing so much of culture that it is really being taken a lot more seriously so we are seeing other museums really take a look at comic and cartoons and their impact and their evolution as an art form," he said.

The dual²² exhibition Masters of American Comics turns the spotlight²³ on this medium focusing on the contributions of 14 innovative²⁴ practitioners²⁵.

The Newark Museum presents a retrospective of newspaper strips including Charles Schultz's "Peanuts." The Jewish Museum focuses on contemporary comic book artists including Jack²⁶ Kirby and Joe Simon, creators of Captain America and R. Crumb²⁷ whose cartoons appeared in New Yorker magazine. The Museum of Comic and Cartoon art is currently focusing on women comic artists and their influence on the medium in the show She Draws.

The museums show an array of comic art that go beyond the realm of superheroes and, like other Art forms, address major issues in the lives of the artists.

1 specialty   

n.(speciality)特性，特质；专业，专长

参考例句：

• Shell carvings are a specialty of the town.贝雕是该城的特产。
• His specialty is English literature.他的专业是英国文学。

2 venues   

n.聚集地点( venue的名词复数 )；会场；（尤指）体育比赛场所；犯罪地点

参考例句：

• The band will be playing at 20 different venues on their UK tour. 这个乐队在英国巡回演出期间将在20个不同的地点演出。
• Farmers market corner, 800 meters long, 60 meters wide livestock trading venues. 农牧市场东北角，有长800米，宽60米的牲畜交易场地。 来自互联网

3 artistic   

adj.艺术(家)的，美术(家)的；善于艺术创作的

参考例句：

• The picture on this screen is a good artistic work.这屏风上的画是件很好的艺术品。
• These artistic handicrafts are very popular with foreign friends.外国朋友很喜欢这些美术工艺品。

4 mainstream   

n.（思想或行为的）主流；adj.主流的

参考例句：

• Their views lie outside the mainstream of current medical opinion.他们的观点不属于当今医学界观点的主流。
• Polls are still largely reflects the mainstream sentiment.民调还在很大程度上反映了社会主流情绪。

5 dedicated   

adj.一心一意的；献身的；热诚的

参考例句：

• He dedicated his life to the cause of education.他献身于教育事业。
• His whole energies are dedicated to improve the design.他的全部精力都放在改进这项设计上了。

6 jersey   

n.运动衫

参考例句：

• He wears a cotton jersey when he plays football.他穿运动衫踢足球。
• They were dressed alike in blue jersey and knickers.他们穿着一致，都是蓝色的运动衫和灯笼短裤。

7 seminal   

adj.影响深远的；种子的

参考例句：

• The reforms have been a seminal event in the history of the NHS.这些改革已成为英国国民保健制度史上影响深远的一件大事。
• The emperor's importance as a seminal figure of history won't be diminished.做为一个开创性历史人物的重要性是不会减弱的。

8 ken   

n.视野，知识领域

参考例句：

• Such things are beyond my ken.我可不懂这些事。
• Abstract words are beyond the ken of children.抽象的言辞超出小孩所理解的范围.

9 bias   

n.偏见，偏心，偏袒；vt.使有偏见

参考例句：

• They are accusing the teacher of political bias in his marking.他们在指控那名教师打分数有政治偏见。
• He had a bias toward the plan.他对这项计划有偏见。

10 juvenile   

n.青少年，少年读物；adj.青少年的，幼稚的

参考例句：

• For a grown man he acted in a very juvenile manner.身为成年人，他的行为举止显得十分幼稚。
• Juvenile crime is increasing at a terrifying rate.青少年犯罪正在以惊人的速度增长。

11 explicitly   

ad.明确地，显然地

参考例句：

• The plan does not explicitly endorse the private ownership of land. 该计划没有明确地支持土地私有制。
• SARA amended section 113 to provide explicitly for a right to contribution. 《最高基金修正与再授权法案》修正了第123条，清楚地规定了分配权。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

12 Nazis   

n.（德国的）纳粹党员( Nazi的名词复数 )；纳粹主义

参考例句：

• The Nazis worked them over with gun butts. 纳粹分子用枪托毒打他们。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The Nazis were responsible for the mass murder of Jews during World War Ⅱ. 纳粹必须为第二次世界大战中对犹太人的大屠杀负责。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

14 graphic   

adj.生动的，形象的，绘画的，文字的，图表的

参考例句：

• The book gave a graphic description of the war.这本书生动地描述了战争的情况。
• Distinguish important text items in lists with graphic icons.用图标来区分重要的文本项。

15 depicting   

描绘，描画( depict的现在分词 )； 描述

参考例句：

• a painting depicting the Virgin and Child 一幅描绘童贞马利亚和圣子耶稣的画
• The movie depicting the battles and bloodshed is bound to strike home. 这部描写战斗和流血牺牲的影片一定会取得预期效果。

16 ordeal   

n.苦难经历，（尤指对品格、耐力的）严峻考验

参考例句：

• She managed to keep her sanity throughout the ordeal.在那场磨难中她始终保持神志正常。
• Being lost in the wilderness for a week was an ordeal for me.在荒野里迷路一星期对我来说真是一场磨难。

17 holocaust   

n.大破坏；大屠杀

参考例句：

• The Auschwitz concentration camp always remind the world of the holocaust.奥辛威茨集中营总是让世人想起大屠杀。
• Ahmadinejad is denying the holocaust because he's as brutal as Hitler was.内贾德否认大屠杀，因为他像希特勒一样残忍。

18 prestigious   

adj.有威望的，有声望的，受尊敬的

参考例句：

• The young man graduated from a prestigious university.这个年轻人毕业于一所名牌大学。
• You may even join a prestigious magazine as a contributing editor.甚至可能会加入一个知名杂志做编辑。

19 epics   

n.叙事诗( epic的名词复数 )；壮举；惊人之举；史诗般的电影（或书籍）

参考例句：

• one of the great Hindu epics 伟大的印度教史诗之一
• Homer Iliad and Milton's Paradise Lost are epics. 荷马的《伊利亚特》和弥尔顿的《失乐园》是史诗。 来自互联网

20 transcends   

超出或超越（经验、信念、描写能力等）的范围( transcend的第三人称单数 )； 优于或胜过…

参考例句：

• The chemical dilution technique transcends most of the difficulties. 化学稀释法能克服大部分困难。
• The genius of Shakespeare transcends that of all other English poets. 莎士比亚的才华胜过所有的其他英国诗人。

21 adaptable   

adj.能适应的，适应性强的，可改编的

参考例句：

• He is an adaptable man and will soon learn the new work.他是个适应性很强的人，很快就将学会这种工作。
• The soil is adaptable to the growth of peanuts.这土壤适宜于花生的生长。

22 dual   

adj.双的；二重的，二元的

参考例句：

• The people's Republic of China does not recognize dual nationality for any Chinese national.中华人民共和国不承认中国公民具有双重国籍。
• He has dual role as composer and conductor.他兼作曲家及指挥的双重身分。

23 spotlight   

n.公众注意的中心，聚光灯，探照灯，视听，注意，醒目

参考例句：

• This week the spotlight is on the world of fashion.本周引人瞩目的是时装界。
• The spotlight followed her round the stage.聚光灯的光圈随着她在舞台上转。

24 innovative   

adj.革新的，新颖的，富有革新精神的

参考例句：

• Discover an innovative way of marketing.发现一个创新的营销方式。
• He was one of the most creative and innovative engineers of his generation.他是他那代人当中最富创造性与革新精神的工程师之一。

25 practitioners   

n.习艺者，实习者( practitioner的名词复数 )；从业者（尤指医师）

参考例句：

• one of the greatest practitioners of science fiction 最了不起的科幻小说家之一
• The technique is experimental, but the list of its practitioners is growing. 这种技术是试验性的，但是采用它的人正在增加。 来自辞典例句

26 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。

27 crumb   

n.饼屑，面包屑，小量

参考例句：

• It was the only crumb of comfort he could salvage from the ordeal.这是他从这场磨难里能找到的唯一的少许安慰。
• Ruth nearly choked on the last crumb of her pastry.鲁斯几乎被糕点的最后一块碎屑所噎住。