Ben Katchor
Encyclopedia
Ben Katchor is an American
cartoonist
best known for his comic strip
Julius Knipl, Real Estate Photographer
. He has contributed comics and drawings to The New Yorker
and The New York Times
. In Michael Chabon
's collected essays, Maps and Legends, (McSweeney's, 2008), Chabon describes Katchor as "the creator of the last great American comic strip."
In 1993, Katchor was the subject of a lengthy profile by Lawrence Weschler
in The New Yorker and an extended essay by John Crowley in The Yale Review (1998).
Born in Brooklyn
, Katchor contributed artwork while on staff for The Kingsman, the student newspaper of Brooklyn College
, and he was an early contributor to RAW. He edited and published two issues of Picture Story, which featured his own work with articles and stories by Peter Blegvad
and Jerry Moriarty
.
with a decidedly Jewish sensibility. Julius Knipl has been published in several book collections including Cheap Novelties: The Pleasure of Urban Decay and The Beauty Supply District. Other serial
ized comics by Katchor include The Jew Of New York
(collected and published as a graphic novel
in 1998), The Cardboard Valise, Hotel & Farm and "Shoehorn Technique".
Katchor wrote and illustrated a "weeklong electronic journal" for Slate
in 1997, and he contributed articles to the now-defunct Civilization: The Magazine of the Library of Congress. His comics have been translated into French
, Italian
, German and Japanese
. He currently produces a monthly strip for Metropolis.
for his collaboration with Bang on a Can
on The Carbon Copy Building, a "comic book opera
" based on his writings and drawings that premiered in 1999. The same year, he was the subject of Pleasures of Urban Decay, a documentary
by the San Francisco filmmaker Samuel Ball. The first cartoonist to receive a MacArthur Fellowship, Katchor has also received a Guggenheim Fellowship
and is a fellow of the American Academy in Berlin
.
.
Katchor also gives "illustrated lectures" at colleges and museums accompanied by slide projections
of his work. He is an associate professor at Parsons.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
cartoonist
Cartoonist
A cartoonist is a person who specializes in drawing cartoons. This work is usually humorous, mainly created for entertainment, political commentary or advertising...
best known for his comic strip
Comic strip
A comic strip is a sequence of drawings arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions....
Julius Knipl, Real Estate Photographer
Julius Knipl, Real Estate Photographer
Julius Knipl, Real Estate Photographer is a weekly comic strip written and drawn by Ben Katchor since 1988. It is published in The Forward and various alternative weekly newspapers....
. He has contributed comics and drawings to The New Yorker
The New Yorker
The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
and The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
. In Michael Chabon
Michael Chabon
Michael Chabon born May 24, 1963) is an American author and "one of the most celebrated writers of his generation", according to The Virginia Quarterly Review....
's collected essays, Maps and Legends, (McSweeney's, 2008), Chabon describes Katchor as "the creator of the last great American comic strip."
In 1993, Katchor was the subject of a lengthy profile by Lawrence Weschler
Lawrence Weschler
Lawrence Weschler is an author of works of creative nonfiction.A graduate of Cowell College of the University of California, Santa Cruz , Weschler was for over twenty years a staff writer at The New Yorker, where his work shuttled between political tragedies and cultural comedies...
in The New Yorker and an extended essay by John Crowley in The Yale Review (1998).
Born in Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
, Katchor contributed artwork while on staff for The Kingsman, the student newspaper of Brooklyn College
Brooklyn College
Brooklyn College is a senior college of the City University of New York, located in Brooklyn, New York, United States.Established in 1930 by the New York City Board of Higher Education, the College had its beginnings as the Downtown Brooklyn branches of Hunter College and the City College of New...
, and he was an early contributor to RAW. He edited and published two issues of Picture Story, which featured his own work with articles and stories by Peter Blegvad
Peter Blegvad
Peter Blegvad is an American musician, singer-songwriter, and cartoonist. He was a founding member of the avant-pop band Slapp Happy, which later merged briefly with Henry Cow, and has released many solo and collaborative albums...
and Jerry Moriarty
Jerry Moriarty
Jerry Moriarty is an American artist and teacher at the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan. Moriarty entered the Pratt Institute in 1956 and earned a BFA in 1960. After graduating he worked as a freelance magazine illustrator to support his Abstract Expressionist painting...
.
Julius Knipl
Julius Knipl, Real Estate Photographer paints an evocative picture of a slightly surreal, historical New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
with a decidedly Jewish sensibility. Julius Knipl has been published in several book collections including Cheap Novelties: The Pleasure of Urban Decay and The Beauty Supply District. Other serial
Serial (literature)
In literature, a serial is a publishing format by which a single large work, most often a work of narrative fiction, is presented in contiguous installments—also known as numbers, parts, or fascicles—either issued as separate publications or appearing in sequential issues of a single periodical...
ized comics by Katchor include The Jew Of New York
The Jew of New York
The Jew of New York is a graphic novel by Ben Katchor, inspired by Mordecai Manuel Noah's attempt to establish a Jewish homeland in Grand Island, New York in the 1820s. It was originally serialized in the pages of The Forward before being published in book form in 1999.-External links:* by J....
(collected and published as a graphic novel
Graphic novel
A graphic novel is a narrative work in which the story is conveyed to the reader using sequential art in either an experimental design or in a traditional comics format...
in 1998), The Cardboard Valise, Hotel & Farm and "Shoehorn Technique".
Katchor wrote and illustrated a "weeklong electronic journal" for Slate
Slate (magazine)
Slate is a US-based English language online current affairs and culture magazine created in 1996 by former New Republic editor Michael Kinsley, initially under the ownership of Microsoft as part of MSN. On 21 December 2004 it was purchased by the Washington Post Company...
in 1997, and he contributed articles to the now-defunct Civilization: The Magazine of the Library of Congress. His comics have been translated into French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
, Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
, German and Japanese
Japanese language
is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...
. He currently produces a monthly strip for Metropolis.
Awards
He won an Obie AwardObie Award
The Obie Awards or Off-Broadway Theater Awards are annual awards given by The Village Voice newspaper to theatre artists and groups in New York City...
for his collaboration with Bang on a Can
Bang on a Can
Bang on a Can is a multi-faceted classical music organization based in New York City. It was founded in 1987 by three American composers who remain its artistic directors: Julia Wolfe, David Lang, and Michael Gordon...
on The Carbon Copy Building, a "comic book opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
" based on his writings and drawings that premiered in 1999. The same year, he was the subject of Pleasures of Urban Decay, a documentary
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
by the San Francisco filmmaker Samuel Ball. The first cartoonist to receive a MacArthur Fellowship, Katchor has also received a Guggenheim Fellowship
Guggenheim Fellowship
Guggenheim Fellowships are American grants that have been awarded annually since 1925 by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the arts." Each year, the foundation makes...
and is a fellow of the American Academy in Berlin
American Academy in Berlin
The American Academy in Berlin is a research and cultural institution in Berlin whose stated mission is to foster a greater understanding and dialogue between the people of the United States and the people of Germany.The American Academy was founded in September 1994 by a group of prominent...
.
Theater
Katchor has written several works of musical theater, including The Rosenbach Company (a tragi-comedy about the life and times of Abe Rosenbach, the preeminent rare-book dealer of the 20th century); ''The Slug Bearers of Kayrol Island, or, The Friends of Dr. Rushower, an absurdist romance about the chemical emissions and addictive soft-drinks of a ruined tropical factory-island; "A Checkroom Romance," about the culture and architecture of coat-checkrooms and "Up From the Stacks," about a page working the stacks of the New York Public Library in 1975. All feature music by Mark MulcahyMark Mulcahy
Mark Mulcahy is an American musician and former front-man for the New Haven, Connecticut-based band Miracle Legion in the 1980s to mid 1990s. The band earned modest renown, especially in their native New England region, but disbanded after a sad turn of events with their record label, Morgan Creek...
.
Katchor also gives "illustrated lectures" at colleges and museums accompanied by slide projections
Slide projector
A slide projector is an opto-mechanical device to view photographic slides. Slide projectors were common in the 1950s to the 1970s as a form of entertainment; family members and friends would gather to view slide shows...
of his work. He is an associate professor at Parsons.