Written By Sofia Heins, Unionville Press
A Review of the Brandywine Museum of Art’s Tell Me a Story Where the Bad Girl Wins: The Life and Art of Barbra Shermund
Along the Brandywine River sits the scene of Barbra Shermund’s life’s work of cartoons, titled: Tell me a Story Where the Bad Girl Wins: The Life and Art of Barbra Shermund, at the Brandywine Museum of Art. The exhibit is all-encompassing; upon one step into its room, you feel as if you’re immersed in editions of The New Yorker, where Shermund’s cartoons were primarily featured, spanning from the 1920s through the ‘50s. There is history and boldness embedded within the gag cartooning highlighted under the museum’s light. Through bits and blurbs accompanying the walls of her artwork, visitors learn that Barbra Shermund had been one of the first female cartoonists working for The New Yorker. And despite her artistic endeavors and accomplishments, Shermund was barely remembered during the years of her lifetime. A researcher, Caitlin McGurk, encountered Shermund’s art and worked to publish the book, Tell Me a Story Where the Bad Girl Wins, which highlights Shermund’s art to counteract the lack of recognition she had received in the past. Her cartoons were then initially organized into the Brandywine Museum of Art by the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum at The Ohio State University.
Through Shermund’s hundreds of cartoons for The New Yorker, her sense of humor and talent shine through. As Shermund was the type of artist to draw at her kitchen table and sleep with a notepad and pencil under her pillow, her creativity is immensely apparent in the production of her artwook Shermund’s cartoons displayed at the Brandywine Museum articulate a wave of feminism—from clever captions to witty facial expressions, she provides a liberating nuance to the cartoon world.
Shermund articulates a wave of feminism in the history of cartoons while presenting the cultural and societal strains on such a position. Brandywine Museum’s exhibit offers museum-goers the ability to witness this trailblazing experience. Commonly, her cartoons instill comedic relief, speaking to a teasing, charming, and even wicked tone. She captures the journey of women wilist in society, travelling, or even at home. The women portrayed are to befriend, to laugh with, and to admire. They make quips about their husbands, modern artwork, and high-brow society, coming across a broader theme that these women did not rely on nor need men. The characters are alive and loosely-styled, but also very frank and candid. A personal favorite is a cartoon focused on two ladies in a library, one of which the librarian and the other holding a book. The librarian tells the other woman, as noted in the cartoon’s caption, “It’s either very good or very bad. Everyone brings it right back the next day.” Only Barbra Shermund could tackle wit and artistic creativity so cleverly with one cartoon.
As the museum continues to attract the attention of many, the exhibit will remain open until June 1st of this year. As Shermund’s art lives on, her creativity remains insightful and humorous to the audiences of today.
