Online Exhibit: Eugene "Zim" Zimmerman

Eugene "Zim" Zimmerman was born in 1862 in Switzerland, and his family emigrated to the United States when he was seven. As a poor immigrant, Zim witnessed the "melting pot" of American culture first hand. His depictions of ethnic minorities were pointed, but honest and well observed. Although he is pretty much forgotten today, he was very well known in his time, and his humor captured the essence of turn-of-the-century America.

Zim was the founder of the so-called "Grotesque" school of caricature, and was one of the first caricaturist to incorporate exaggerated cartooniness not only in the faces of his subjects, but in the bodies as well. Zim worked for Puck and Judge, the two top humor magazines of their day.


Zim was a prolific artist, with more than 40,000 illustrations published in his lifetime. He retired from Judge in 1897 and founded the American Association of Cartoonists and Caricaturists. He was also a writer and teacher. His columns ran in Cartoons magazine during the early years of the century, as did ads for his landmark correspondence course in cartooning.

For more biographical information on Zim, see the Cartoon Hall of Fame entry... Eugene "Zim" Zimmerman

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ZIM: ONLINE EXHIBIT

• Zim's Cartoons & Caricatures


• How To Draw Funny Pictures


• Zim's Correspondence School in Cartooning, Comic Art & Caricature


• Zim At Judge Magazine

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For the first time in nearly a century, Eugene "Zim" Zimmerman's legendary 1914 cartooning course is available again in a deluxe two-volume edition published by the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive. Lavishly illustrated with nearly 1,000 B&W illustrations and 22 hand-tipped color plates, this landmark course deserves a place on every cartoonist's bookshelf.

Edited by Stephen Worth and with a foreword by Ralph Bakshi, these books cover a broad range of subjects, from practical advice for aspiring artists to philosophical musings on what it means to be a cartoonist. Zim's infectious sense of humor and vividly observed caricatures leap off the page. This drawing course may just be the keystone document of American cartooning.

These books are now being offered to the general public for $250 a set, and to members of ASIFA-Hollywood at a discounted price of $200 (plus $15 shipping and CA sales tax).

ORDER NOW

As a special price for readers of the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive blog who are not yet members of ASIFA-Hollywood, we are offering a discounted bundle of both books and a year's membership in ASIFA-Hollywood for only $275.

Shipping to Canada on both of these offers is an additional $17. International shipping is an additional $40. Proceeds from the sale of these books go to support the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive. ASIFA-Hollywood is a 501(c)(3) California non-profit organization, so your contribution may be tax deductible. (See your tax accountant for details.)

REVIEWS

Eddie Fitzgerald: Uncle Eddie's Theory Corner

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VISIT OUR GALLERY OF FINE ART PRINTS

The ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive in association with Imagekind is proud to present a collection of fine art prints representing some of Eugene Zimmerman's best work. Produced on demand from high resolution archival scans, these prints are of sufficient quality to be printed all the way up to poster size without any image degradation. Visit the Zim Gallery at Imagekind to see all the available images.
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Comic-Con: Zim Cartooning Course Debuts

THE ZIM CORRESPONDENCE SCHOOL OF CARTOONING, COMIC ART AND CARICATURE


For the first time in nearly a century, Eugene "Zim" Zimmerman's legendary 1914 cartooning course is available again in a deluxe two-volume edition published by the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive. Lavishly illustrated with nearly 1,000 B&W illustrations and 22 hand-tipped color plates, this landmark course deserves a place on every cartoonist's bookshelf.

Edited by Stephen Worth and with a foreword by Ralph Bakshi, these books cover a broad range of subjects, from practical advice for aspiring artists to philosophical musings on what it means to be a cartoonist. Zim's infectious sense of humor and vividly observed caricatures leap off the page. This drawing course may just be the keystone document of American cartooning.

These two volumes will be available beginning July 23rd at ASIFA-Hollywood's booth at the San Diego Comic-Con. (Booth #5334: To the right of the main entrance, against the lobby side wall.) Quantities are very limited. Copies will also be available for sale on ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive website soon after. Also available is a series of high quality glicee fine art prints of some of Zim's finest cartoons produced by imagekind, a CafePress company.

The books are available to the general public for a donation to the ASIFA-Hollywood of $125 per volume. ASIFA-Hollywood members may receive the books for a donation of $100 per volume. (Non-members: Buy both books and join ASIFA-Hollywood and take the discount right away. This means that ASIFA-Hollywood membership is just an additional $25!) Proceeds from the sale of these books go to support the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive. ASIFA-Hollywood is a 501(c)(3) California non-profit organization, so your contribution may be tax deductible. (See your tax accountant for details.)

ABOUT EUGENE ZIMMERMAN (1862-1935)
ZIM was a familiar a name to people in the early years of the 20th century; but today, he is largely forgotten. He was a pioneer of the art of caricature with over 40,000 illustrations published in his lifetime. ZIM was a mainstay of the magazines Puck and Judge, lampooning politicians of all parties and poking fun at the ethnic roots of America's melting pot. After his retirement, he created a correspondence school in cartooning that educated many fledgling artists who went on to follow his lead.

For more information on Eugene "Zim" Zimmerman and his cartooning course, see...
http://www.animationarchive.org/labels/zim.html

HELP US SPREAD THE WORD
An extensive electronic press kit is available upon request to members of the press and bloggers interested in spotlighting the books on their sites. Email sworth@animationarchive.org for a complimentary copy.
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Zim Books Coming Soon

DEBUTING AT THE SAN DIEGO COMIC-CON, JULY 23rd - 26th


Eugene "Zim" Zimmerman was one of America's greatest caricaturists. Here, reprinted for the first time in nearly a century is Zim's complete mail order cartooning course. Lavishly illustrated with nearly 1000 B&W illustrations and 22 hand tipped color plates, this landmark publication deserves a place on every cartoonist's bookshelf.


The Zim course is formatted in two large hardback volumes consisting of 20 lesson books spanning over 700 pages in total. The foreword is by Ralph Bakshi with an introduction and biography of Eugene Zimmerman by Stephen Worth. The set is digitally printed to exacting standards using high resolution archival scans from the collection of the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive.


Proceeds from the sale of Zim's Correspondence School of Cartooning, Comic Art & Caricature go to support the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive, a 501(c)(3) non-profit museum, library and archive dedicated to preserving and promoting the art of animation. The two volumes will be available individually or as a set at this year's San Diego Comic Con at the ASIFA-Hollywood booth. Quantities are limited.


Soon after the Comic-Con, copies of the book and fine art prints by Zim will be available on this site. Check back for details.



For more on the Zim Course, see our Previous Post on the subject.
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ZIM Book Update

All ethnic groups were fair game for caricature in Judge magazine in the 1880s- even white people. "Crackers" referred to the type of boastful "rube" or "hick" who might be found congregating around the cracker barrel at the general store.

ZIM BOOK NEARING COMPLETION
The Archive volunteers and I have been cranking for the past few months on cleaning up and formatting the over 650 pages in Zim's Correspondence School of Cartooning, Comic Art and Caricature. This is the granddaddy of all cartooning courses, written by the man who was a pioneer in the art of the humorous caricature. I've been in touch with the Horseheads Historical Society, the group that operates ZIM's home as a museum, and have received some valuable biographical information from them for the upcoming book. At this point, the entire cartooning course spans two large hardback volumes. We may release it as four smaller paperbacks in the future.


For more on the genius of Eugene "ZIM" Zimmerman, see our Previous Posts on ZIM. (Scroll down for earlier posts.)

RALPH LENDS A HAND
Ralph Bakshi has been assembling a collection of ZIMiana for four decades. His collection includes original art, magazine illustrations and books by ZIM. Ralph has agreed to write the forward for our republication of the ZIM course. When he heard that I was looking for examples of ZIM's watercolor work for the covers and frontispieces, Ralph dug into his collection and came up with some wonderful treasures... enough for another volume of ZIM's cartooning to follow the cartooning course.


But that wasn't all... Ralph heard that there was a bound volume of Judge magazines from 1885-1887 for sale at eBay. During this time period, ZIM was the leading cartoonist at Judge, and he was producing the best work of his lifetime. The ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive doesn't have an acquisition budget, so we couldn't afford to purchase the book. But Ralph felt that we needed it to do ZIM justice, so he dug into his own pocket to make sure we got it.

The book hasn't arrived yet, but check out these photos from the seller...


Judge was the National Lampoon or Mad magazine of its day. Each issue was devoted to making fun of a particular subject. This issue deals with "Jays", a slang term for oblivious and reckless people. The stereotypical "jay" was the ignorant rural farmer who came to the big city and ignored all traffic and safety laws. The term "Jay" is the root of our slang term "jaywalker".


Here, a hobo tries to get a bank to invest in him... ZIM was the first cartoonist to apply the principles of caricature to the whole body, not just the head. Every part of this character, from the hat down to the shoes, exemplifies the type of personality ZIM was trying to convey.


In his boyhood, ZIM worked as a farmhand. The placement of the signature and the familiar profile (see the photo above) indicate that this gag may have been autobiographical. The caption reads...

Mr Rodgers: Who's that, my young man?
Silas (nervously): B-ben H-harrison, pop.
Mr Rodgers: By Moses! It's great boy. I'll have to send ya down to N' York an' git ye on a paper.

At the time this was published, Benjamin Harrison was the Republican candidate for President of the United States.


Check out the strange shapes and contrasts in this drawing! Bizzare.


ZIM is largely known today for the racial stereotypes that were the stock-in-trade at Judge and Puck magazines at the time. But although the racial humor may now seem too abstract to translate into today's world; the caricatures are well-observed and honest. They were undoubtedly based on real people ZIM knew.


New York City was a melting pot in the late 19th century. Just about everyone was an immigrant. The cartoonists of the day found humor in the juxtapositions of culture one experienced walking through the poorer neighborhoods of the big city. ZIM was no exception. He was an immigrant himself. He arrived in America as a child speaking no English, and quickly adapted to life in a totally new world. His aspiration was to become an American through and through.


Wow, what a drawing! This one really resonates with me. We're looking at two people who were probably born as slaves not only making the transition to becoming a part of society, but depicted as American citizens- note the American flag pants. When I look at this drawing, I can tell how they walk, their personality and temperament... everything. This is as perfect an example of caricature as I have ever seen. Absolutely brilliant.


The Irish are lampooned in this issue.


Here we see a dormer window in a tenement building populated by the faces of all the types of people who made up New York City...


...and here is the common denominator between all of the types of faces in the world- the smile.


ZIM's eye took in all the details of urban life in the 1880s. He definitely exhibited more of an affinity for the poor immigrants than he did the established well-to-do. This set him apart from most of the other illustrators who drew for Puck, Judge and Life.


Can you see a little bit of Don Martin in this comic? The amazing thing about it is that this comic was drawn when Outcault's The Yellow Kid was just getting its start. A. B. Frost had just pioneered sequential "time stop" drawings in his book Stuff and Nonsense a few years before. T. S. Sullivant hadn't even begun his career as a cartoonist yet!


When I saw these images, I was blown away. It's very difficult for me to wrap my head around the fact that these drawings are 120 years old! Before I discovered the genius of ZIM, I had no idea that the art of cartooning was this advanced in the 1880s. That's why I'm so pleased to be able to bring this material to you.


I hope you will support the archive by buying a copy of ZIM's Correspondence School of Cartooning, Comic Art and Caricature when it comes out.

But that's not all! Check out these amazing covers by James Montgomery Flagg!




And how about this cover by Gillam...


Whenever I speak to people interested in the history of cartooning, I find that they have pretty much the same frame of reference as I have... the earliest cartoonists they know about are Sullivant, Outcault and Herriman. A few know a little bit about the most powerful cartoonist who ever lived, Thomas Nast. I'm now discovering that there is a rich history of cartooning between Nast and Sullivant. As I discover more about this exciting period, I'll share it with you here on the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive blog.

Many thanks to Ralph Bakshi for making this possible. Make sure to bookmark The Bakshi Blog.

Stephen Worth
Director
ASIFA-Hollywood
Animation Archive
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ZIM E-Books

Those who ordered the ZIM e-books in our last fundraising drive can expect to find them in their mailboxes this week. (Overseas shipments went out air mail and will arrive a little later.) Thanks to your support, the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive was able to purchase 6 TB of hard drives to back up our collection! I hope you find the books useful.
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Education: The Zim Course in Cartooning, Comic Art and Caricature

This post is just the tip of the iceberg... see reason number 8 on our The Top Ten Reasons To Support The A-HAA for links to more great info on the history of animation told through the careers of great cartoonists.


A few months ago, I stumbled across a "how to" book on cartooning by Eugene "Zim" Zimmerman. It was titled Cartoons and Caricatures, or Making the World Laugh. I happened to be speaking on the phone to Ralph Bakshi, and I mentioned the book. "Ooooohh! So you've discovered ZIM now! He's one of my secrets..."

In 1967, right after he had resigned as the head of the Paramount cartoon studio, Ralph and his wife Liz were walking through Brooklyn when they saw a sign on an old house advertising an estate sale. They went inside, but it was late in the day and there wasn't much left. Ralph glanced up at a tall bookcase and saw a pile of pamphlets stacked up on a high shelf. It was too high to reach, so he didn't bother to look at them. As they were walking out the door, he got the feeling that he needed to go back and look at the pamphlets. It was a good hunch. The stack contained a nearly complete set of Zim's correspondence course in cartooning. He asked the estate agent how much they cost, and was told $50. That was more than he and his wife had in their pockets, so Liz volunteered to run home and get the money. The Zim books were on his desk every day throughout the production of Fritz the Cat, Heavy Traffic and especially Coonskin. This set is Ralph's most prized possession, and now he is sharing them with the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive.


Zim's correspondence course was the most highly regarded cartooning course of its day. Spanning 20 volumes, it covered a wide range of subjects, from practical homespun advice to lofty philosophy. Here are some examples of Zim's genius from the pages of the four volumes we completed digitizing today...


The course originally ran in 20 volumes. We have been able to find an earlier edition of the course to supplement and complete Ralph Bakshi's set. There aren't chapters or specific assignments. The books consist of page after page of individual nuggets of wisdom. Each book and each page stands on its own.



Zim's course is much more than just a "how to draw" course. In short anecdotal paragraphs, Zim succeeds in conveying what it means to be a cartoonist... the history behind the artform... how to deal with everyday problems and setbacks... and how to live the life of an artist.


There's plenty of drawing lessons too. Zim's masterful expressive line fills every page with perfect examples of the principles he is discussing.


Zim was the founder of the "grotesque" school of caricature, which formed the basis of what we now call "cartoony drawing". He provides lots of examples of caricatures drawn from life, with photos of his subjects alongside his caricature of the person.


Zim's technical skill was unmatched. Just look at the amazing precision and expressiveness of this drawing as he takes it from rough sketch to ink to watercolor.


The book is full of amusing contrasts. A tip on not thinning your ink too much leads into a speculation on what Rembrandt would be doing if he lived in modern times.


If you aren't convinced yet that Zim is a drop dead genius, just click on this image!


The most impressive illustrations in the course are the examples of Zim's rough sketches. He had an uncanny knack for being able to express every nuance of his subject with a free flowing and loose pencil technique.


He was capable of extreme exaggeration that captured the essence of the unique qualities of the personalities he chose to caricature.


But the most amazing thing about Zim's artistry was his ability to draw the viewer into his world and make them feel the way the characters in the drawings feel. Look at these sketches of dogs... They make you feel like a flea bitten hound!

If you would like to see more from the Zim course, let me know in the comments.

If you found this post to be interesting, see more great educational material by Zim... Cartoons and Caricatures and How To Draw Funny Pictures.

Also see... W. L. Evans Cartooning and Caricature Course Brochure, Lesson One and Lesson Two, Preston Blair and John K's $100K Animation Drawing Course, Gene Byrnes' Complete Guide To Cartooning Part One: The Men Behind The Newspaper Comics, Part Two: How To Get Ideas / Studies of Comic Strips, Part Three: Single Panel and Sports Cartoonists, Part Four: Editorial Cartoons & Comic Books, Part Five: Sketching, Part Six: Magazine Cartooning and Part Seven: Magazine Cartooning (continued); Nat Falk's "How To Make Animated Cartoons" Part One: The History of Animation, Part Two: The Cartoon Studios, Part Three: How Cartoons Are Made, Part Four: How To Draw Cartoons and Part Five: How To Animate, Willard Mullin on Animals.

Stephen Worth
Director
ASIFA-Hollywood
Animation Archive
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Cartooning: How To Draw Funny Pictures

This post is just the tip of the iceberg... see reason number 8 on our The Top Ten Reasons To Support The A-HAA for links to more great info on the history of animation told through the careers of great cartoonists.


Last week, I discussed Zim's Cartoons and Caricatures. Here are some more examples of the genius of Zim from another vintage "how to" book... How To Draw Funny Pictures by E.C. Matthews. This chapter deals with a topic that is widely discussed today, racial stereotyping.

Ethnic humor was Zim's stock-in-trade. He once joked that he and his fellow cartoonists at Puck magazine treated the various races and creeds that made up America with gloves... the kind boxers wear. Perhaps this is why he is virtually unknown today. But it's unfair to sit like an armchair quarterback a century later judging an entirely different time by our own standards. Zim approached every person as a peer. He made fun of all of them equally.

Stereotypes are still part and parcel of caricature and cartooning. Pirates have eye patches and parrots on their shoulders. Surfer dudes wear baggy shorts and have long blonde hair. These are the generally understood symbols that represent specific types of people. How does a cartoonist utilize these common perceptions to communicate clearly while still remaining honest? Here is an important first-hand document of how Zim himself explained the purpose and limits of ethnic caricature in the "melting pot" of the early 1920s.















Take note of this advice from the conclusion of this chapter...

Greatness makes one tolerant. Great men are not ashamed to stop on the street and talk to the man in overalls. They recognize the bond of friendship between the common people and themselves. The social sheik who feels above talking to a mere laborer is fooling only himself.

Take this little sermon to heart and treat every man as your equal; it will help you get ahead. How truly the Bible says, "The greatest among you shall be the servant of all."

If you found this post to be interesting, see the... W. L. Evans Cartooning and Caricature Course Brochure, Lesson One and Lesson Two, Preston Blair and John K's $100K Animation Drawing Course, Gene Byrnes' Complete Guide To Cartooning Part One: The Men Behind The Newspaper Comics, Part Two: How To Get Ideas / Studies of Comic Strips, Part Three: Single Panel and Sports Cartoonists, Part Four: Editorial Cartoons & Comic Books, Part Five: Sketching, Part Six: Magazine Cartooning and Part Seven: Magazine Cartooning (continued); Nat Falk's "How To Make Animated Cartoons" Part One: The History of Animation, Part Two: The Cartoon Studios, Part Three: How Cartoons Are Made, Part Four: How To Draw Cartoons and Part Five: How To Animate, Willard Mullin on Animals.

Stephen Worth
Director
ASIFA-Hollywood
Animation Archive
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Cartooning: Zim's Cartoons and Caricatures

This post is just the tip of the iceberg... see reason number 8 on our The Top Ten Reasons To Support The A-HAA for links to more great info on the history of animation told through the careers of great cartoonists.



Eugene "Zim" Zimmerman was born in 1862 in Switzerland, and his family emigrated to the United States when he was seven. As a poor immigrant, Zim witnessed the "melting pot" of American culture first hand. His depictions of ethnic minorities were pointed, but honest and well observed. Although he is pretty much forgotten today, he was very well known in his time, and his humor captured the essence of turn-of-the-century America.


Zim was the founder of the so-called "Grotesque" school of caricature, and was the first caricaturist to incorporate exaggerated cartooniness not only in the faces of his subjects, but in the bodies as well. Zim worked for Puck and Judge, the two top humor magazines of their day. Along with caricatures by George McManus and Frederick Burr Opper, Zim's caricature of a moon faced grinning kid (an example of which appears on page 3 of this book) was said to be one of the earliest inspirations for Mad magazine's mascot character, Alfred E. Neuman.


Zim was a prolific artist, with more than 40,000 illustrations published in his lifetime. He retired from Judge in 1897 and founded the American Association of Cartoonists and Caricaturists. He was also a writer and teacher. His columns ran in Cartoons magazine during the early years of the century, as did ads for his correspondence course in cartooning.


Archive supporter Marc Schirmeister has been searching high and low for a copy of Zim's early educational materials with no luck. But recently this 1910 book, packed with tips for the aspiring cartoonist, turned up in a used bookstore in Arizona...


It's worth noting that the price tag on the cover is an important clue to the value of these lessons to contemporary artists. According to the Consumer Price Index, $5 in 1910 is equivalent to $116 today. Five dollars represented a full day's labor to many of the cartoonists who bought this book. Zim's name in gold letters on the cover was the selling point that made so many aspiring cartoonists part with the "five plunks (in real Money)" as Zim so colorfully puts it in his introduction.


These 100 pages are packed with great cartoons, helpful drawing tips, technical information and business advice for the aspiring cartoonist. Most importantly, Zim passes along his unique philosophy of life, and offers a shining example of how an artistic career as a caricaturist can be incorporated into a person's lifestyle. At the time this book was written, Zim had thirty years of experience under his belt, and had attained the highest level in his field.

Here are just a few choice snippets from this great book...





Guess who?
If you are a fan of caricature, check out Will Finn's latest post and the blog of my favorite caricaturist, Marlo Meekins.

If you found this post to be interesting, see the... W. L. Evans Cartooning and Caricature Course Brochure, Lesson One and Lesson Two, Preston Blair and John K's $100K Animation Drawing Course, Gene Byrnes' Complete Guide To Cartooning Part One: The Men Behind The Newspaper Comics, Part Two: How To Get Ideas / Studies of Comic Strips, Part Three: Single Panel and Sports Cartoonists, Part Four: Editorial Cartoons & Comic Books, Part Five: Sketching, Part Six: Magazine Cartooning and Part Seven: Magazine Cartooning (continued); Nat Falk's "How To Make Animated Cartoons" Part One: The History of Animation, Part Two: The Cartoon Studios, Part Three: How Cartoons Are Made, Part Four: How To Draw Cartoons and Part Five: How To Animate, Willard Mullin on Animals.

Stephen Worth
Director
ASIFA-Hollywood
Animation Archive
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