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The cartoonist’s creation and impact of his Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic novel in “Art Spiegelman: Disaster is My Muse” on AMERICAN MASTERS – April 15 at 10 pm
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“Art Spiegelman: Disaster is My Muse”
A Personal Exploration Into the Life and Work of Cartoonist and Pulitzer Prize-winning Maus Author Art Spiegelman
April 15 at 10:00 pm on PBS
Throughout his career as a cartoonist and editor, Art Spiegelman has never shied away from provocative storytelling in his comics. From his early art for the counter cultural underground comix movement to his acclaimed graphic novel Maus, Spiegelman’s legacy in the comic arts world continues to grow and has inspired many of today’s beloved cartoonists. Discover Spiegelman’s career and how his life story inspired his groundbreaking work, even in the face of looming censorship, in American Masters – Art Spiegelman: Disaster is My Muse.
Featuring archival footage and stills, illustrations and new interviews with Spiegelman, Art Spiegelman: Disaster is My Muse follows Spiegelman’s early career as co-editor of comic magazines Arcade and Raw before becoming a contributing artist for The New Yorker, as well as the origins and impact of Maus, his autobiographical work that became the first and only graphic novel to win a Pulitzer Prize.
Art Spiegelman: Disaster is My Muse, which won the Metropolis Grand Jury Prize at its world premiere at the DOC NYC Festival in November 2024, features interviews from Spiegelman’s family and contemporaries, including designer and wife Françoise Mouly, fellow cartoonists Joe Sacco, Robert Crumb, Emil Ferris, Jerry Craft and Bill Griffith, writer and artist Molly Crabapple and author J. Hoberman.
Born to Polish-Jewish immigrant parents, Spiegelman began cartooning at a young age, taking inspiration from MAD Magazine and Topps Company’s trading card illustrations. He met Woody Gelman, then the Art Director of Topps, who encouraged him to apply for a job at the company after high school. While he was a student at Harpur College of Arts and Sciences at Binghamton University, Spiegelman began freelancing for Topps and subsequently moved to San Francisco to participate in the city’s burgeoning underground comix scene.
While co-editing Raw with Mouly, Spiegelman started developing Maus as a book based on his father’s experiences as a Jewish immigrant and Holocaust survivor. The project was serialized in Raw starting in December 1980 before being published as a graphic novel six years later. Maus was a soaring success — it became a New York Times Best Seller and has since sold millions of copies worldwide. The acclaimed graphic novel won the Pulitzer Prize in 1992 and helped establish comics as a formidable storytelling medium and artform.
Since Maus’ release, Spiegelman has continued illustrating as a contributing artist for The New Yorker and released comic collections In The Shadow of No Towers, Breakdowns and Metamaus. While Spiegelman’s work is not without its critics, Spiegelman continues to be recognized as a pioneer of comic arts, whose thought-provoking work reflects his ardent defense of free speech.