Talking Lines

Description

A collection of graphic narratives from one of the most influential and respected visual artists of the past half century Talking Lines is the first-ever comprehensive collection of the work of R. O. Blechman, one of the most prolific and influential visual artists of the twentieth century. His graphic stories are at once jocular, wry, and profound. Blechman ruminates on such various topics as nuclear weapons, war, wiretapping, Christopher Columbus, Leo Tolstoy, William Shakespeare, and Virginia Woolf. His stories have appeared in the seminal magazine Humbug (edited by Harvey Kurtzman), The Nation, Nozone (edited by his son, Nicholas Blechman), The New York Times, and The New York Times Book Review. Blechman is a modern master of all things visual whose timeless intellect and stripped-down artistry propels his nonstop relevancy. He is one of the few artists who has been able to balance the commercial and the artistic. In his polished and unparalleled career, he has been heralded as one of the great cartoonists, the author of one of the first modern graphic novels, an Emmy and Cannes Film Festival award-winning animator with a retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art, a Hall of Fame art director, and even a blogger for The Huffington Post.

Born Oscar Robert Blechman in 1930, R. O. Blechman's internationally acclaimed artwork spans decades, mediums, and industries. He is one of the first contemporary cartoonists to pen a full-length graphic novel, The Juggler of Our Lady, which he published in 1953 after graduating from Oberlin College. His illustrations and comics have graced magazines, anthologies, and newspapers. He has created more than a dozen New Yorker covers. Blechman is also an animated filmmaker, and at one time he owned his own animation studio, The Ink Tank. He has been awarded the Gold Medal from the Cannes Film Festival and numerous Emmy Awards, and has been nominated for a BAFTA. In 2002, the Museum of Modern Art held a retrospective of his films titled "R. O. Blechman and The Ink Tank: A Celebration." Blechman is also a member of the Art Directors Club Hall of Fame, has been named Illustrator of the Year by Adweek, and is the creator of many notable advertising campaigns. Blechman is married, has two sons, and lives in Ancram, New York.

"An immensely rich talent . . . His qualities of taste and intelligence, and--most vital--his instincts never to stray into forms that will betray him, have allowed Blechman to express himself in a variety of ways that have enhanced the quality of American life." --MAURICE SENDAK "I have always believed that humor--particularly political satire--is one of the most effective ways to make a point. And R. O. Blechman is a master of the form." --ARIANNA HUFFINGTON