22

May

ARCE Missouri: Infinite Canvases: Beyond the Sequential

Registration is required

Presented by: Dr. Jennifer Miyuki Babcock; Fashion Institute of Technology, SUNY; Pratt Institute

  • 4:00 PM Central TimeMissouri
  • Online-Zoom
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Lecture Information: 

Is Egyptian art like comics? Cartoonist and comics art scholar, Scott McCloud, famously described ancient Egyptian art as an early form of comic art, citing its sequential nature and fusion of text and image as support for his argument. However Egyptian narrative is more than sequential, and as McCloud himself notes a few years later, so is comic art.

This talk will also ask why comics may first come to mind when we think of Egyptian art, despite the long tradition of narrative art in human history. In considering this question, we will also examine what comics may tell us about ancient Egyptian artwork and vice versa, and what modern day cartoonists and graphic novelists can learn from the ancient Egyptians.

About Dr. Babcock:

Dr. Jennifer Miyuki Babcock earned her PhD at the Institute of Fine Arts, NYU and is now a Visiting Assistant Professor in the Department of History of Art and Design at Pratt Institute while also teaching at New York University, The New School, and The Fashion Institute of Technology. Prior to teaching, Dr. Babcock was a Postdoctoral Curatorial Associate at The Institute for the Study of the Ancient World and held research and fellowship positions at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Museum of Fine Arts Boston, and the Brooklyn Museum. From 2007-2008, she was a curator at the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art in New York City, where she organized and developed the first exhibition in the world about the art of digital and online comics.

Currently, Dr. Babcock is finishing her first book, Tree Climbing Hippos and Ennobled Mice: Animal Fables in Ancient Egypt, which examines ancient Egyptian visual narrative construction and conceptions of aesthetics. Her publication also investigates how images of anthropomorphized animals are linked to oral folklore and religious practices. Faculty development grants and awards from The New School and The Fashion Institute of Technology have supported her publications and research interests.