Comics as an artform – Öyvind Fahlströms contribution to comics theory in the mid 1950s. Even though scholarly interest in comics seems to have erupted after McCloud, there are previous examples attempting to include comics into academia (Duncan & Smith 2019), beginning with Töpffer’s Essai de physiognomonie (1845). In 1947 Coulton Waugh presented his historical overview; The Comics (1947) and in the early 1960s Gombrich reflected on them, as did academics in Italy, France and Spain. The recent discovery of a text by artist Öyvind Fahlström from 1954, declaring comics to be an artform on its own expands this narrative in time. Fahlström’s legacy within contemporary art is widely known. As his involvement with concrete poetry, l’Art informel, and affiliation with the Situationists and pop-art. But Fahlström always had one foot within popular culture and published essays discussing comics. His “Serierna som konstart” [“Comics as an artform”] published in Expressen (1954-08-27) is nothing else than an analysis of comics that precedes theories established decades later.

Literature:

Gombrich, E. H. (1960). Art and illusion: a study in the psychology of pictorial representation. New York: Pantheon Books.

Groensteen, Thierry (2007). The system of comics. 1. ed. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi.

Schultz Lundestam, Barbro (2021). Party for Öyvind: group exhibition catalogue, Öyvind Fahlström & his artist friends, São Paulo, Rome, Stockholm, Germans, Paris, New York. Stockholm: Schultz förlag.

Töpffer, Rodolphe (1845) Essai de physiognomonie [elektronisk] https://www.gutenberg. ca/ebooks/toeppferr-phys

Inking is a practice where an artist fills in contours and create effects of shadow and light on a penciled drawing, traditionally with black India ink, steel nib pens and/or brushes. The purpose of inking was originally intended to produce images that could be reproduced mechanically. Eisner (1985) touches upon the subject, and states that artwork is rendered in response to the method of reproduction. To understand the phenomenon of inking, we must therefore know something about printing-techniques. The four main are: Gravure, planographic, intaglio and stencil. The production of a printing matrix with the first three require certain skills, time and special equipment. The third however – stencil – enables more efficient and economical ways of experimenting, where the duplicator can be used as a prototyping tool. In recent years comics printed with duplicators from the Riso Kagaku Company (Japan), have emerged to become a niche of it’ s own. In this project we are using an A2-risographic duplicator with seven different colors, to prototype a comic in the large A2-format, where double exposure of drawings are used to create non-linear narratives. The project is funded by The Swedish Research Council

Serien Stad Solidar är en tecknad berättelse om Kvarteret Oket på Möllevången i Malmö. Den ger inblick i en politisk aktion mot hemlöshet, med bakgrund i områdets historiska betydelse som vaggan för den svenska arbetarrörelsen. Serien produceras med risograftryck på K3 Riso Lab och digitaliseras därefter.

The comic Stad Solidar is a cartoon story about Kvarteret Oket in Möllevången, Malmö. It provides insight into a political action against homelessness, set against the backdrop of the area’s historical significance as the cradle of the Swedish labor movement. The comic is produced using risograph printing at K3 Riso Lab and then digitized.

The literature on Töpffer and his work is extensive. What strikes the informed reader, however, is the lack of a clear description of autography, his "technical 'secret' " as Kunzle puts it (2007) when describing the technique he used to produce his littérature en estampes. So, what then is autography? A closer look reveals that the technique that allowed Töpffer to both draw and write without having to reverse image and text, is nothing else than transfer-lithography – already described by the inventor of lithography, Alois Senefelder (1818). In “notice sur Essais d’autographie” (1842) Töpffer mentions drawing with ink and a steel-nib pen as part of the method. This is especially notable since this method still is considered industry standard (McCloud 2006). But what kind of tools did Töpffer use? And did he, as Kunzle suggests, trace his own drawings? (Kunzle 2009). What did his artwork look like and how does autography relate to contemporary methods. By experimenting with autographic print on stone – as I understand Töpffer’s method – I have discovered both similarities and noticeable differences with today’s praxis of drawing comics. In this paper, I will present both the process of autographic print as well as my reflections of the result.

 References:

Kunzle, David. (2007). Father of the Comic Strip [electronic resource] : Rodolphe Töpffer

Kunzle, David (2009). “The Gourary Topffer Manuscript of MonsieurJabot: A Question of

Authenticity. With the Dating and Distribution of Rodolphe Topffer's First Published Picture Story, and the World's First Modern Comic Strip”. European Comic Art, vol. 2. Issue 2.

McCloud, Scott (2006). Making comics: storytelling secrets of comics, manga and graphic novels. 1st ed. New York: Harper

Senefelder, Alois (1818). Vollständiges Lehrbuch der Steindruckerey enthaltend eine richtige und deutliche Anweisung zu den verschiedenen Manipulations-Arten derselben in allen ihren Zweigen und Manieren, belegt mit den nöthigen Musterblättern, nebst einer vorangehenden ausführlichen Geschichte dieser Kunst .... München:

Töpffer, Rodolphe: Notice sur les Essais d’autographie (1842). Courriere de Genève 1842-07-02, in Töpffer, Rodolphe, 1799-1846. - L' invention de la bande dessinée / Töpffer ; textes réunis et présentés par Thierry Groensteen et Benoît Peeters. - 1994.

25 years ago Malmö was named "The City of Comics". Malmö Konsthall celebrates this with a group exhibition curated by Gunnar Krantz. All artists have some kind of relation to Malmö University, through teaching, research or collaborations and all work with the same printing technique - risography. 

An adaptation of Robert Johnsons "Love in vain" originally "Love in vain blues", recorded in Dallas during  during his last session. Originally released in 1939. Drawing and lyrics by Gunnar Krantz. Four pages drawn in a realistic style, based on photographs from Kristianstad (late 70s).

Liftning –  att med hjälp av tummen och välvilliga bilister ta sig från en punkt till en annan är en praktik uppstod i USA i under 20-talet och sedan fick stor spridning under depressionen.  Efter 2:a världskriget blev liftning vanligt förekommande i Europa, mycket tack vare amerikanska soldater och det tidiga 50-talets europeiska vägar kom sedan att präglas av en generation frihetstörstande ungdomar, som varit instängda under långa krigsår och nu reste från ett vandrarhem till ett annat. Trots fenomenets popularitet (även i litteratur och konst) finns, som Schlebecker och flera andra forskare påpekar, mycket litet skrivet om liftning rent akademiskt.  Än mindre om liftning i det tidiga 50-talets Europa ur ett svenskt perspektiv. 1951 liftade min far, som då var 19 år gammal, under sju veckor genom Danmark, Tyskland, Frankrike, Schweiz, Belgien och Holland. Hans noggrant förda dagbok, omfångsrika samling fotografier och pass-stämplar berättar om en ung man som upplever frihet och utvecklar självkänsla i mötet med en internationell skara liftande ungdomar. För att bättre förstå denna resa bestämde jag mig för att med den tecknade serien som metod bearbeta hans material; kartor över dagsrutter, utvalda texter och fotografier, till sammanhängande berättelser.

Kooperativa förbundet (KF), en av världens mest framgångsrika kooperativa rörelser, hade ett avgörande inflytande på det Svenska samhällets utveckling under 1900-talets första hälft. Detta berodde mycket på rörelsens tidiga omfamnande av modernismen och då särskilt funktionalismen inom både arkitektur och design. Med KF:s stora nätverk av Konsum-butiker (ca 4000 st), starka ekonomi, tilltro till rationalitet och uttalade vilja att utbilda sina medlemmar till att bli medvetna konsumenter (kooperatörer), hade KF både en infrastruktur och kapacitet att påverka hela landet med sina idéer.

The Swedish Cooperative movement (KF), one of the most succesful cooperative movements in the world, had a big influence on Swedish society in the 20th century. Much of this success is due to the movements early embrace of modernism - especially functionalism. With KF:s wast network of Konsum-stores (around 4000), strong economy, belief in rationality and outspoken mission to educate the masses to become concious consumers (kooperatörer), KF had both the infrastructure and capacity to reach out and influence the whole country with it’s ideas.

Due to Covid19, all teaching on our comics courses has been moved online, including workshops and exercises on drawing, image composition, and development of visual narratives. As the focus is on sketching and sequence composition processes, as critique and reflection is closely connected to work-in-progress, the move to distance teaching has removed the partners in these processes and conversations from one another. With tight budgets, no dedicated software-licences are bought, but the idea is to use what we have and add as little necessary freeware as needed / possible. 

While lecturing on and introducing to theoretical backgrounds, techniques, and examples on distance has continued to work quite well, the need to optimise student learning on online design assignments and workshops has been a challenge. It was understood before we had to move all teaching online that developing drawing skills as well as advancing the understanding of pictorial sequential narratives depends on continuous feedback between teachers and students as well as peer-learning between the students. But in practice, this has been the biggest challenge. 

We have been forced to develop alternative strategies and methods for teaching visual composition processes, showcasing as well as exercising comics-production processes. Didactic strategies have been developed to overcome the restrictions caused by online low-resolution visuals, the inability to unobtrusively observe and participate in design processes, to involve all students actively in critique-sessions, etc. In due consequence, we are putting together a kind of tool-box for teaching and workshopping on visual gestaltung online. 

We would like to present the results and invite the participants of this workshop to play through and discuss them to help us understand what is needed to make them work for other teachers on other courses that teach visualising / drawing / visual narratives.