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June 20, 2006
Editorial Cartoons By Herblock are Subject of Library Exhibition Opening July 17
"Enduring Outrage: Editorial Cartoons by Herblock" will open on Monday, July 17, in the Southwest Gallery of the Thomas Jefferson Building, 10 First Street S.E., Washington, D.C. The exhibition, which will remain on view through Feb. 3, 2007, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday -Saturday, will feature approximately 40 original cartoon drawings by the Pulitzer Prize-winning political cartoonist Herbert Block, better known as Herblock.
The Herblock exhibition will be a featured display in the reopened "American Treasures of the Library of Congress" exhibition, which will be closed June 18 through July 16.
The Herblock exhibition’s main section, "Get Out the Vote," chronicles elections from 1946 to 1998 and comments on Democratic and Republican presidential administrations during the same time period. Other sections of the display highlight six major themes of enduring importance to Herblock that continue to resonate in American society today: environment, ethics, extremism, the Middle East, privacy/security and war.
When he died in October 2001, Block left the bulk of his estate to create the Herb Block Foundation to carry on his life’s work of championing the cause of social justice. In 2003 the foundation donated the Herbert L. Block archives of editorial cartoons to the Library of Congress, where they are available to both scholars and the general public.
In addition to 14,000 original drawings and more than 50,000 preparatory sketches, the collection includes voluminous files of records, correspondence, clippings and photographs. The donation also provides for display of portions of the collection. This exhibition will mark the debut in a Library of Congress exhibition of Herblock’s rough sketches for finished drawings. An online version of the upcoming exhibition will join several previous Library exhibitions of Herblock’s work at www.loc.gov/exhibits.
Herblock was one of the most influential political commentators and editorial cartoonists in American history. His work reflects a daily newspaper career that spanned much of the 20th century. From April 1929 to August 2001, Herblock chronicled the major social and political events of the nation and the world, summarizing issues others had taken thousands of words to explain in a single 4-by-6-inch drawing. Herblock spent the last 55 years of his career as the editorial cartoonist for The Washington Post.
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PR 06-132
06/20/06
ISSN 0731-3527
