Waubonsee Community College

Comics versus art, Bart Beaty

eng

Includes bibliographical references (p. [227]-254) and index

illustrations

index present

non fiction

Comics versus art

bibliography

765984919

Bart Beaty

Overview: On the surface, the relationship between comics and the 'high' arts once seemed simple; comic books and strips could be mined for inspiration, but were not themselves considered legitimate art objects. Though this traditional distinction has begun to erode, the worlds of comics and art continue to occupy vastly different social spaces. Comics Versus Art examines the relationship between comics and the most important institutions of the art world; including museums, auction houses, and the art press. Bart Beaty's analysis centers around two questions: why were comics excluded from the history of art for most of the twentieth century, and what does it mean that comics production is now more closely aligned with the art world? Approaching this relationship for the first time through the lens of the sociology of culture, Beaty advances a completely novel approach to the comics form

Introduction: Out of the historical dustbin : comics and the hierarchy of genres -- What if comics were art? Defining a comics art world -- Roy Lichtenstein's tears : Ressentiment and exclusion in the world of pop art -- Searching for artists in the entertainment empire -- Cartoons as masterpieces: an essay on illustrated classics -- Highbrow comics and lowbrow art? The shifting contexts of the comics art object -- On junk, investments, and junk investments: the evolution of comic book collectables -- Crumbs from the table: the place of comics in art museums -- By way of conclusion : Chris Ware's Comics about art