The cartoons of Abner Dean

201010221006


"Abner Dean (1910  – 1982), born Abner Epstein, was an American cartoonist who was the nephew of sculptor Jacob Epstein. In allegorical or surrealist situations, Dean often depicted extremes of human behavior amid grim, decaying urban settings or barren landscapes. His artwork prompted Clifton Fadiman to comment, 'His pictures are trick mirrors in which we catch sight of those absurd fragments of ourselves that we never see in the smooth glass of habit.'"

What Things Do, Jordan Crane's wonderful online comics site, has large reproductions from Abner Dean's brilliant 1947 book, What Am I Doing Here?