Barbara Shermund (1899–1978) is an unheralded early master of gag cartooning, whose career spanned the heyday of American magazines from the 1920s-1960s. Her sharp wit and loose style boldly tapped the zeitgeist of first-wave feminism with vivid characters that were alive and astute. Shermund’s women spoke their minds about sex, marriage, and society; smoked cigarettes and drank; and poked fun at everything in an era when it was not common to see young women doing so. Her work was ahead of its time, and remains insightful, witty, and relevant to audiences of today. In Liza Donnelly’s book Funny Ladies, she writes, “What comes through in many of the cartoons is that Shermund’s women did not need men.”
Born in San Francisco in 1899, Shermund briefly attended the California School of Fine Arts before relocating to New York City. As one of the first women cartoonists to work for The New Yorker after its launch in 1925, she created nine covers and hundreds of cartoons for the magazine. Shermund later became a mainstay at Esquire, contributed to Life and Collier’s, had her syndicated newspaper cartoon Shermund’s Sallies published by King Features, and illustrated a variety of books and advertisements.
In 1950, Shermund was among the first three women to be accepted as a member of the male-dominated National Cartoonist Society. She lived a private life and traveled extensively. Without ever having a formal studio space, she preferred drawing at the kitchen table, and should an idea strike her in the middle of the night, she slept with a notepad and pencil under her pillow.
Through photographs, letters, original art and books, this exhibition uncovers and celebrates the life and career of this outstanding cartoonist. With the exception of two works in the Brandywine Museum of Art collection, all items in this exhibition are on loan from The Ohio State University Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum. This exhibition is curated by Caitlin McGurk, Associate Professor and Curator of Comics and Cartoon Art at The Ohio State University.
About the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum (BICLM): The BICLM is one of The Ohio State University Libraries’ special collections. Its primary mission is to develop a comprehensive research collection of materials documenting American printed cartoon art (editorial cartoons, comic strips, comic books, graphic novels, sports cartoons, and magazine cartoons) and to provide access to the collections. The BICLM’s 30,000 sq. ft. facility includes a museum with three exhibition galleries, a reading room for researchers and a state-of-the-art collections storage space.