Baseball as Allegory (May 14 to November 3, 2008)
Outside the Frame (March 19 to July 14, 2008)
The Language of Lines (February 2 to August 11, 2008)

Schulz commented in an interview that when he created a sports-themed strip, he did not feel that it was dealing with sports. Instead, he said, “I use it as a springboard. Charlie Brown’s problems on the mound are emotional conflicts that everyone deals with.” Indeed, many important life themes—hope, perseverance, humiliation, and leadership —can be found disguised in the Gang’s often ill-fated baseball games. Get beneath the surface of Schulz’s epic baseball strips in this exhibition featuring over 70 original Peanuts strips.

>> Press release about Baseball as Allegory

Exhibition Information

In Peanuts there are many instances of people (and a few things!) that never appear in the strip. Adults of all stripes—parents, principals, teachers, storekeepers, and even the Red Baron—never make an appearance. Charles Schulz offered a couple of reasons for keeping the strip an adult-free zone. First and foremost, the appearance of adults would bring a certain gravitas to the proceedings: “As soon as an adult is in the strip,” Schulz remarked, “bang, the whole thing collapses. Because adults bring everything back to reality. And it just spoils it.” The other reason Schulz offered was more mundane: it was a matter of the size of the strip, “There’s just no room for adults. . . ”

Throughout the run of Peanuts, other things are also left to readers’ imaginations: the Little Red-Haired Girl’s appearance, the inside of Snoopy’s doghouse (quite well appointed from all we read!), and even Snoopy’s nemesis, that nefarious rascal the Cat Next Door. Outside the Frame exhibits strips that include (or rather, don’t include) these unseen inhabitants of the Gang’s neighborhood.

Exhibition Information

Much of what readers interpret from cartoon art is non–verbal: they take their cues from visual iconography, a language they have learned but may not realize they know. For example, what has happened to a character with stars for eyes and how do we know that?

The Language of Lines examines this visual shorthand of comic art and its meaning. Elements of visual iconography include speed lines, sweat drops, footprints, dotted eyesight lines, sound effects, and thought balloons— specialized graphic devices that are used to represent human emotions and abstract ideas. This exhibition explores the use of visual shorthand in comic strips past and present, including Peanuts, Beetle Bailey, Pogo, Mutts, and Pearls Before Swine.

>> Press release about The Language of Lines

Co-curated by Brian Walker, co-curator of the critically-acclaimed exhibition, Masters of American Comics.

Exhibition Information