Toon Talk: Tell Me A Story Where the Bad Girl Wins (SF’s Cartoon Art Museum)

Submitted by the Event Organizer

Cartoon Art Museum’s Drawing Room
Free and open to the public
Meet author Caitlin McGurk for a Toon Talk about her book Tell Me a Story Where the Bad Girl Wins: The Life and Art of Barbara Shermund followed by a signing at the Cartoon Art Museum. Tell Me a Story Where the Bad Girl Wins, McGurk’s debut publication, doubles as an official biography and coffee table art collection honoring the life and art of pioneering cartoonist Barbara Shermund. Caitlin will discuss Shermund and her work in the museum’s Drawing Room and sign copies of her book in the Bil Keane Family Lobby. McGurk will be joined by San Francisco native Amanda Janes Gormley, the niece of Barbara Shermund and author of the book’s preface. Gormley will share additional context about Shermund’s legacy and family. A limited number of books will be available for sale, first come first serve. This event is free and open to the public.

About Tell Me a Story Where the Bad Girl Wins: The Life and Art of Barbara Shermund
This gorgeous art book celebrates the work and legacy of Barbara Shermund, one of the first female cartoonists for humor and lifestyle magazines in the United States, including The New Yorker and Esquire.

Honoring the life and art of pioneering cartoonist Barbara Shermund, an unheralded early master of magazine cartooning whose career spanned the heyday of American magazines from the 1920s–1960s. Her sharp wit and loose style boldly tapped the zeitgeist of first-wave feminism with vivid characters that were alive and astute. Shermund’s women spoke their minds about sex, marriage, and society; smoked cigarettes and drank; and poked fun at everything in an era when it was not common to see young women doing so.

As one of the first women cartoonists to work for The New Yorker the year of its launch in 1925, she created nine covers and more than 600 cartoons for the magazine, in addition to countless spot illustrations, giving the nascent publication its unique visual brand. Shermund later became a mainstay at Esquire; contributed to Life, Colliers, Judge, and more; had a syndicated newspaper cartoon published by King Features; and illustrated a variety of books.

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