Putting humour on display

Grove, L. (2020) Putting humour on display. In: Derrin, D. and Burrows, H. (eds.) The Palgrave Handbook of Humour, History and Methodology. Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 481-498. ISBN 9783030566456 (doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-56646-3_25)

Abstract

In the not-too-distant past, exhibitions allowed the public to see works of art which would not normally be accessible, displaying unique and precious masterpieces otherwise hidden under lock and key or uniting artefacts from far-flung and hard-to-get-to collections. But nowadays Hogarth, Rowlandson, and the artwork of their modern-day descendants are only a Google click away. Why then should we still mount exhibitions or, specifically, put the humour of comic strips on display? Initially, as Benjamin knew, there is always the allure of the authentic object whose presence crosses time and space. But with the comics world there are further possibilities that allow us to create interactive, three-dimensional experiences that play on the visitor as an intuitive component part. This chapter will describe these possibilities before assessing recent comics-related displays, including The Hunterian’s Comic Invention (Glasgow, 2016) and Kelvingrove’s Frank Quitely: The Art of Comics (Glasgow, 2017). Twenty-first-century exhibitions such as these need to bring humour of the past into the present and to do something that a modern stay-at-home laptop cannot.

• Item Type: Book Sections
• Status: Published
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Grove, Professor Laurence
• Authors: Grove, L.
• College/School: College of Arts & Humanities > School of Modern Languages and Cultures > French
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• ISBN: 9783030566456

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