This free community screening of the PBS American Masters documentary Art Spiegelman: Disaster Is My Muse is presented by the Willson Center for Humanities and Arts, the department of history, and the department of Germanic and Slavic studies.

The screening will be preceded by a short introduction by Jake Short, associate professor of history, and followed a Q&A with producer Philip Dolin and editor Molly Bernstein, moderated by Prof. Short.

From his early art for the countercultural underground comix movement to his acclaimed graphic novel Maus, Art Spiegelman’s legacy in the comic arts world continues to grow and has inspired many of today’s beloved cartoonists. This film explores Spiegelman’s career and how his life story inspired his groundbreaking work, even in the face of looming censorship. The film is part of The WNET Group’s Holocaust Days of Remembrance exploring antisemitism through the history and personal stories of the Holocaust, and their impact on Jewish life and culture. 

Featuring archival footage and stills, illustrations and new interviews with Spiegelman, Art Spiegelman: Disaster is My Muse follows Spiegelman’s early career as co-editor of comic magazines Arcade and Raw before becoming a contributing artist for The New Yorker, as well as the origins and impact of Maus, his autobiographical work that became the first and only graphic novel to win a Pulitzer Prize. 

Art Spiegelman: Disaster is My Muse, which won the Metropolis Grand Jury Prize at its world premiere at the DOC NYC Festival in November 2024, features interviews from Spiegelman’s family and contemporaries, including designer and wife Françoise Mouly, fellow cartoonists Joe Sacco, Robert Crumb, Emil Ferris, Jerry Craft and Bill Griffith, writer and artist Molly Crabapple and author J. Hoberman.