Denys Wortman Rediscovered in NYC

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"If I have to come down to buy them, you'll have to come down on your prices." — Photo courtesy of The Center for Cartoon Studies/Denys Wortman VIII

Denys Wortman (1887-1958), father of current Vineyard Haven resident of the same name, will have his original cartoon drawings on display at the Museum of the City of New York starting this Friday, Nov. 19, through March 20, 2011. The exhibit, Denys Wortman Rediscovered: Drawings for the World-Telegram and Sun, 1930-1953, includes drawings that illustrate episodes of everyday life in New York City.

According to the museum’s website, “Wortman was among a new generation of social realists who believed in the artistic possibilities of modern urban life as a creative subject. The benches at Union Square, the tenement rooftops on the Lower East Side, and the stifling garment industry sweatshops provided the backdrops for his drawings that, in combination with Wortman’s colorful characters, instill a sense of place that was distinctly ‘New York’…His cartoons illustrate the complex social impact of the economic roller coaster that was the Roaring Twenties, the Great Depression and the eventual recovery of the Post-War years.”

Son Denys traveled to New York on Wednesday, Nov. 17 to attend Thursday’s opening reception and to partake in a panel discussion with others, including award-winning cartoonist Jules Feiffer. An article about the exhibition will appear in this Sunday’s Arts section of The New York Times.

Anyone visiting the museum who brings this article with them, or mentions they read about Mr. Wortman in the M.V. Times, will be given free admission. The museum is located at 1220 Fifth Avenue. For more information, email info@mcny.org or call 212-534-1672.