World's oldest comic on Glasgow display

The oldest comic book in the world goes on display for the first time in a major comic exhibition opening at the Hunterian Art Gallery in Glasgow tomorrow.
'The Glasgow Looking Glass' predates Punch by 16 years and is the world's oldest comic. Picture: Glasgow University Library'The Glasgow Looking Glass' predates Punch by 16 years and is the world's oldest comic. Picture: Glasgow University Library
'The Glasgow Looking Glass' predates Punch by 16 years and is the world's oldest comic. Picture: Glasgow University Library

The Comic Invention exhibition will feature the little known work ‘The Glasgow Looking Glass’ - first published in 1825 - which predates Punch by 16 years.

The comic book establishes Scotland as “the birthplace of comics”, according to the University of Glasgow.

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Other major artworks in the new exhibition will include originals by Roy Lichtenstein with his iconic In the Car, as well as special loans such as Andy Warhol’s Campbell’s Soup and Jackie II featuring Jackie Kennedy.

Artwork by Rembrandt will also be on display, alongside the first-ever display of work from by Turner Prize winner Martin Boyce. There will also be prints by Picasso, Rauschenberg, Max Ernst and David Hockney.

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Another star attraction will be an exclusive selection of 20 drawings by DC Comics’ Glasgow artist Frank Quitely. The collection features his original artwork for Batman, the new X-Men and Superman.

Professor Laurence Grove, lead academic for the Comic Invention exhibition and an expert in the history of comics, said: “This is a unique exhibition. For the first time comics are being put on an equal footing alongside major artworks such as Rembrandt and Warhol, and that is where they belong.

“They are works of art in their own right.”

The Comic Invention exhibition will open at the Hunterian Art Gallery on Friday 18 March and runs until Sunday 17 July 2016.

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