HARVEY KURTZMAN 2012 fine art print / special edition of 15 / $235.00

Harvey Kurtzman (1924-1993), portrayed at right by Drew Friedman, was one of the legends of comic books (as artist, editor, and writer). Though his projects were sporadic and his involvement often short-lived, Kurtzman's influence on the genre of comic book art was immense and has been universally acknowledged by everyone from Robert Crumb to the cast of Monty Python. Art Spiegelman said that "Harvey Kurtzman has been the single most significant influence on a couple of generations of comic artists."

In 1952 Kurtzman founded MAD (as a comic book; he later turned it into magazine), and staffed it with iconoclastic visual satirists such Will Elder and Wally Wood. (See Drew's portraits of Elder, Wood, and Al Jaffee, also available as limited edition fine art prints.) He later founded several brilliant satirical periodicals (Trump, Humbug, and Help!), and for 26 years, in collaboration with Elder, produced the lushly painted comic strip Little Annie Fanny for Playboy.

Drew Friedman wrote about Kurtzman in "Seriously Funny" for the Comics Journal, where this portrait first appeared. "In 1975, Harvey Kurtzman became a teacher at the School of Visual Arts in New York," wrote Drew. "That's where I met him. In fact, the main reason I chose SVA as an art school was because Kurtzman was listed as an instructor in their catalog. Most of his students just thought of him as their amiable cartoon instructor 'Mr. Kurtzman,' perhaps knowing he had a vague connection to MAD or that he wrote a sexy comic strip in the back of Playboy. But to me and many others, he was the droopy, turtle-faced Living Legend in our midst. I was honored when he later wrote the foreword to one of my books."

DrewFriedman.net has produced a very limited edition of fifteen (15) artist-signed, hand-titled and -numbered prints. These prints are offered on a first-come, first-served basis. Once the run sells out, the work will not be offered in any other fine art print format.
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SHIPPING COSTS
  • U.S. DOMESTIC via USPS Priority: $35
  • HAWAII & ALASKA via USPS Priority mail: $40
  • CANADA via USPS Priority Mail International: $60
  • INTERNATIONAL via USPS Priority Mail International: $75
Only fifteen (15) prints of HARVEY KURTZMAN were produced for this edition. Each print is signed in the lower right by the artist, hand-titled in the center, and numbered in the lower left (all beneath the image). We have sold print numbers 1/15 thru 11/15 and are now offering number 12/15, unframed, at $235 (plus shipping & handling). Prices will increase for each subsequent print (13: $250, 14: $275, and 15: $300). However, multiple prints can be purchased in one order, each at the current asking price. After the final print is sold, this work will no longer be available as a fine art print from DrewFriedman.net.

The image area is 14-3/4" high x 11-1/4" wide centered on an untrimmed 19" x 13" sheet. Paper, ink, and production specifications, as well as shipping details, are available on our PRINT SPECS page.