Sneak Peek: New Yorker Cartoon Memoirs by Roz Chast at The Museum of the City of New York

When your New Yorker magazine arrives in the mail, do you go to the cartoons first? If you do, than we won’t have to introduce you to Roz Chast, cartoonist. Her cartoons first appeared in The New Yorker in 1978 in the form of a cartoon named Little Things, which was a collection of small objects named Chent, Spak and Tiv. From black-and-white cartoons, color spreads, back pages and New Yorker covers, we have enjoyed her cartoons ever since. Next week, The Museum of the City of New York will present the exhibit Roz Chast: Cartoon Memoirs, featuring over 200 works, many of which have never been published. Curated by Fran Rosenfeld, the exhibit will open to the public on April 14. Untapped Cities was there today to get a sneak-peak of Roz preparing for her installation.

Cartoonist, Roz Chast working on a piece that will hang at the entrance to her exhibit

Chast’s images and characters mirror our every-day lives, from the subways and streets, to inside the places we call home. She is there to critique us, and all our eccentricities, bringing humor to life in our city in cartoons. She is known to hand-write every caption of her cartoons, and will tell you that she submits “batches” of work – with only a fraction published. In addition to being on staff at The New Yorker, she has written and illustrated dozens of books, including her most recent best-seller, Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant (2014), which is about her experience losing her elderly parents.

Working to music she brought with her, we were thrilled to watch

Two-hundred pieces of her work are currently being installed inside the door to the left

Roz Chast: Cartoon Memoirs will be on view from April 14 through September 5, with related programming that will include An Evening with Cartoonist Roz Chast on May 6, and Funny Ladies: A Conversation with Four New Yorker Cartoonists on June 29.

Roz Chast, taking a break to speak with us

While you’re at the Museum of the City of New York, explore the history of Yiddish Theater and the History of NYC through Portraiture. Contact the author at AFineLyne.