Skip to main content

Link to Smithsonian homepage

Smithsonian Music

Main menu

  • Calendar
  • Listen
  • Learn
    • Ask Smithsonian
    • Collections Spotlights
    • Music Stories
  • Watch
  • Blog

Camera-ready comic art drawing for Blondie

Object Details

Description (Brief)
This pen-and-ink drawing produced for the Blondie comic strip shows the title character cooking a big dinner for her family, which they all enjoy and praise. Blondie is left disappointed when everybody disappears once it comes time to clean up.
Murat Bernard "Chic" Young (1901-1973) began working as a comic artist in 1921 on the strip The Affairs of Jane. The strip was published by the Newspaper Enterprise Association. A few years later Young was hired by King Features Syndicate to draw the strip Dumb Dora, which ran until 1935. Young had modest success with other strips, but his debut of Blondie in 1930 far overshadowed his other artistic products. He drew the strip until his death in 1973.
Blondie (1930- ) is portrayed as a sweet, if not featherbrained, young woman whose 1933 marriage to the affluent Dagwood Bumstead made national news. The strip followed the young couple after Bumstead’s parents disowned him because of their aversion to Blondie. The strip continued to gain in popularity after the introduction of Blondie and Dagwood’s two children, Alexander and Cookie.
Location
Currently not on view
Data Source
National Museum of American History
publisher
King Features Syndicate
date made
1966-02-24
Credit Line
Newspaper Comics Council, Inc., New York, NY
Physical Description
paper (overall material)
ink (overall material)
Measurements
overall: 16.5 cm x 48.4 cm; 6 1/2 in x 19 1/16 in
Object Name
drawing
Object Type
Drawings
Other Terms
drawing; Pen and Ink

Featured In

  • Comic Art
  • Comic Art:References
Comic art by Chic Young, Blondie (Copyright King Features Syndicate)
There are restrictions for re-using this image. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page .
International media Interoperability Framework
IIIF provides researchers rich metadata and media viewing options for comparison of works across cultural heritage collections. Visit the IIIF page to learn more.
View manifest View in Mirador Viewer

Link to Smithsonian homepage

  • About
  • Terms of Use
  • Privacy
  • YouTube
  • Twitter
Back to Top