These drawings
were done from 1918 to 1919 by Elizabeth Stohn. Ms Stone was a child at the
time, and was something of a "cross-category" artist. Part Schoolgirl art, part naive,
part trained (as she had just completed her "art school training" by
correspondence school. ) Certainly not what is generally considered
"outsider" art, though that term is pretty widely applied as far as I
can tell. These are folky and charming, but not really folk art
either. Outsider Art? Nah.
While
thousands of women studied art and (like Ms. Stohn) aspired to be an
artist, even naming early woman artists is hard. They were screwed over
ever since they were here in every field. Why should art (or comics,
for that matter) be the domain of men? Plus, here is a secret…they were
often better than the men and never received the credit. They were
lost and laboring as "anonymous" in quilting, needle-point, and other
acceptable near domestic arts.
Labels appropriate to Ms.
Stohn could maybe include "rebel" too. I have written about her life and how she was one of the first women to use "thought and caption" balloons. That post sorta went mini-viral in the comic book world,
being picked up by comic historians and such. The Comics journal linked to it as well. One day I hope to scan
her entire "graphic novel" From Poverty to Luxary (sic)
I
remember respected art scholar and dealer Randall Morris saying
something like "Cartoonists have their own school, they aren't outsider
artists" and I don't differ with him. Still there are many standards
being applied on the walls of the outsider art fair, and each show will continue the
mixed blessing of being labeled as an outsider.
"I
know it when I see it" was used to describe pornography by Justin Potter
when ruling in a landmark obscenity case heard by the Supreme Court in
1964. I am pretty sure he threw his hands up when he said it. "I
shall not today attempt further to define the kinds of material I
understand to be embraced within that shorthand description ["hard-core
pornography"], and perhaps I could never succeed in intelligibly doing
so. But I know it when I see it..." he said. We should avoid that esteemed opinion
when evaluating outsider art.
A wonderful group of "comic books" were one of discoveries at the last Outsider Art Fair. I'll guess
he took some courses too, but it is a guess. Dan Nadel would be the person to ask. I sure would love to see
them, but as I say, I wasn't there.
(There was another Johnson
(real name Ferd or Ferdinand Johnson) working at the same time in
Chicago, and he became quite well-known among other cartoonists. Same
fellow? I can't tell…I didn't go go cartoonist school! (joke) It was certainly
not the same fellow, but neither of them were being "obsessive" about
drawing. They were just doing what comic book artists do. That would be
filling page after page with drawings. Ask Gary Panter, a great artist
who is not an outsider. He published a massive book containing his
sketchbooks. Read the great essay on Frank, the outsider HERE by Dan Nadel. There were other great cartoon artists (Basil Wolverton, Windsor
McCay for example) and there were plenty of bizarre comic strip artists
who were visionaries. Mr. Nadel knows his stuff…See the magnificent
volumes he put together on some HERE. Any library specializing in any art must have
these two books. Like the books displayed at the last outsider art
fair, he reveals dozens of quirky and magnificently talented artists, be
they self-taught or not.
Ponder on what an outsider artist is,
and if the work you are appraising fits some arbitrary non-definition
like Justice Steven's frustrated legal opinion of smut, ponder more. Everyone
has their own concept. But can we agree, at least, that if one went to
art school, he isn't an outsider? Outsider Art...I know it when I see it.
Other articles in the I'm Not at the Outsider Art Fair series are HERE. See also two books on Folk art Outsider art by the writer Jim Linderman HERE and HERE.
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While this early, drawn by hand "comic" strip (or graphic novel if you like) is nearly 100 years old, the young woman who drew it had little to base her format on. Dating to 1918 or so, there seems to have been only some 20 major published newspaper strips at the time being told in panels. The Katzenjammer Kids, which appeared in 1897, is credited as the first strip with a story told in panels. Mutt and Jeff came along ten years later. The third major strip of the era, Krazy Kat, appeared in 1913. The character had been part of "The Dingbat Family" a few years before it appeared as a spin-off.
The other characteristic defining a comic strip is the use of "balloons" to carry conversations. This has that as well.
Substantial strips of the early 20th century are far better known today than when they first appeared. Research and compilations have documented them to an audience far larger than those who saw the original work on a regular basis.
The artist here is a young woman named Elizabeth Stohn of Newburgh, New York. This work was found with several sketchbooks filled with single drawings as well as an 88 page graphic novel drawn in 1921. She had progressed, and some of the work from that book are shown below.
It appears her maturation was due to a correspondence school of art. in 1924 she received somewhat persnickety feedback from the Associated Art Studios in New York City. Specifically from Mort Burger, who was director of the school of cartooning then located in the Flatiron Building. Mr. Burger was a cartoonist himself, though maybe not much of one. Comic historian Allan Holtz writes "Mort was a producer of small panel cartoons which peppered the daily papers of New York and other cities in the 1900s and 1910s. These mini-cartoons fell out of favor in the mid-teens and Burger turned to other cartooning pursuits like this school." Well…I always wondered why artists taught art instead of making art. Mort did both, but seems to have been slightly more successful teaching. He tried performing on stage as well. As also found by Allan Holtz, Mort was killed in an automobile accident just 6 months after the artist here received his letter of criticism! It is not known how many working cartoonists the school turned out. One can find numerous examples of the advertisements he placed in magazines, but little about any successful graduates.
Ms. Stohn seems to have seen her share of misery by an early age…and in fact "comic" strip is a misnomer. Her strip works are lurid. The earliest comic strips were often far from funny. As David Kunzle writes "the early (pre-19th-century) strip was seldom comic either in form or in content, and many contemporary strips are in no sense primarily humorous. The terms comics and comic strip became established about 1900 in the United States, when all strips were indeed comic." Still, if anything characterizes her strip work, it is perils of a young woman. This and the larger book work are filled with abuse and violence. One hopes it was not autobiographical. But she was ahead of her time.
There is a Hedwig Stohn from Newburgh, NY listed as being born in 1880. Father of Elizabeth? Husband? There is an Elizabeth Stohn born nearby in 1910, which would make the artist a child while doing the works shown here, and only 14 at the time of enrolling in the Associated Art Studios. Possible but unlikely? She passed in 1988, and could be our artist, if a precocious one. In an earlier post on Dull Tool Dim Bulb a drawing by the artist was shown requesting further information. As yet, no response. Should additional information be forthcoming, it would be nice to see the entire 88 page graphic novel "From Poverty to Luxary" (sic) published!
Works by Elizabeth Stohn 1918 - 1924 Collection Jim Linderman
(You may also be interested in the BOOK Eccentric Folk Art Drawings by the Author.
available from Blurb.
Any information on the young artist Elizabeth Stohn of Newburgh, New York who was producing art from at least 1917 to 1922 or so would be much appreciated. Anyone? Leave comment for follow-up. Thank you!
