Houston Gordon Museum to present early 20th-century editorial cartoons

MARTIN, Tenn. – The J. Houston Gordon Museum, located in the University of Tennessee at Martin’s Paul Meek Library, will showcase “Lines With Power and Purpose: Editorial Cartoons” beginning Oct. 22. The museum is open to the public from 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday.

“Lines With Power and Purpose” features 51 original editorial cartoons printed in metropolitan newspapers during the golden age of print journalism. These early-to-mid 20th century drawings depict public understanding of events like World War I and II, the Great Depression, presidential elections, and more. This exhibition conveys how political cartoons provide comic relief, expose hypocrisy, reveal contradictions and introduce ideas.

The exhibit will include works by Pulitzer Prize winners in editorial cartooning such as Bruce Alexander Russell, Herbert Lawrence Block, Charles G. Werner, C.D. Batchelor, Charles R. Macauley and Vaughn Shoemaker.

This exhibition is curated by the Melton Gallery at the University of Central Oklahoma and organized by ExhibitsUSA, a program of the Mid-America Arts Alliance.

For more information, contact Sam Richardson, UT Martin chief archivist and curator, at 731-881-7094.

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