Paper has been a popular medium for artists for pretty much the entire 2,100 years it’s been around.
Here we rundown 10 of the best museums and permanent exhibitions dedicated to the drawings, cartoons, stories, prints, pictures and impressions created on it.
The Cartoon Museum – Bloomsbury, London, England
The Cartoon Museum is dedicated to Britain’s longstanding tradition of cartoons, caricatures, comics and animation. In all, the museum has more than 2,300 originals in its collection, with around 250 on display at any given time.
Highlights include works by early 19th century political cartoonist Gillray, war cartoons by the likes of Sir David Low, and loans from famous comics like The Beano, The Dandy and Topper.
Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art – Upper East Side, New York, USA
The Society of Illustrators was started in 1901 when nine artists and one businessman established the beautifully understated credo “The object of the Society shall be to promote generally the art of illustration and to hold exhibitions from time to time”.
The society’s handsome five-story town house has been upholding that dictum ever since. Check the website to see forthcoming exhibits.
Kyoto International Manga Museum – Nakagyō-ku, Kyoto, Japan
Housed in a former elementary school, the museum has around 300,000 historical and contemporary artefacts connected to the manga comic book culture.
The collection includes 50,000 manga magazines and books (which are searchable through a database and free to read).
Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) – Midtown, New York, USA
MoMA has one of the most comprehensive collections of 20th-century drawings in the world. It has 10,000 drawings on paper, including pencil, ink, and charcoal, watercolour, gouache and collage works.
Tate – Millbank, London, UK
The Tate and its sister gallery Tate Modern have thousands of drawings, illustrations and cartoons on display at permanent and rotating exhibitions.
Cartoons by Roy Lichtenstein, Sir Eduardo Paolozzi, Michael Landy, Gilbert & George and David Shrigley are among the formidable collection of notable works.
Direktorenhaus – Nikolai Quarter, Berlin, Germany
Illustrative e.V., a non-profit collaborative for illustrators across the planet, was formed in 2006 with the aim of sparking innovation through cooperation. Their annual festival is now considered one of the world’s most important festivals of graphic art and illustration.
In 2010 the organisation took over the former state mint’s director’s house, a magnificent building located on the river Spree. The space is used as an “experimental laboratory for the synthesis” of art, craft, design and performance. To visit you have to make a prior reservation through the website.
The Graphic Art Gallery – Bondi Junction, Sydney, Australia
G.A.G. is part gallery, part art dealership and part picture framing business. The gallery stocks original lithographs, etchings and paintings.
It prides itself on exhibiting original works by emerging European and Australian artists.
The Society of Graphic Fine Art – various locations, UK
In 1919 students and teachers in the etching class at the London Central School of Arts formed a breakaway group to establish a society dedicated to the discipline of drawing.
The society holds one large annual open exhibition for what they deem “outstanding drawings” made by British professional artists. They also organise sporadic regional exhibitions around the UK that are accessible only to society members.
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco – Golden Gate Park and Lincoln Park, San Francisco, USA
The Achenbach Foundation for Graphic Arts (AFGA) department of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco runs rotating exhibitions of art on paper at its de Young and Legion of Honor locations.
Much of the 90,000 works in department’s collection can be viewed by appointment at the Achenbach Foundation for Graphic Arts Study Center, which is at the Legion of Honor building.
Hammer Museum – Westwood, Los Angeles, USA
The Hammer Museum started the Hammer Contemporary Collection in 2005 with the aim of creating extensive coverage of Southern Californian artists who’ve produced notable works within the last decade. The collection focuses mostly on works on paper, in particular drawings.
Written by insider city guide series Hg2 | A Hedonist’s guide to…
(Featured image: Boston Public Library)
