Throughout his career, Lyonel Feininger had one foot in fine art, as a leading figure of German expressionism and the Bauhaus.  But, as we all know, he had his other foot planted in the world of comics, with his ground-breaking strips in the Chicago Sunday Tribune, The Kin-Der-Kids and Wee Willie Winkie's World.

This summer, the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City celebrates Feininger with his very first major show in the states in forty-five years! Lyonel Feininger: At the Edge of the World will showcase not only his historic strips, but his paintings, photography, and even a series of miniature hand-carved wooden figures and buildings he created, known as City at the Edge of the World. 

On Wednesday, July 20th, The Whitney spotlights some recent artists who also intersect fine art and comics: Gary Panter, Chris Ware , and Art Spiegelman!  Join them at 7 PM for the panel The Fine Art of Comics, moderated by John Carlin. 

You might even win tickets to the event if you follow The Whitney Museum on Twitter at @whitneymuseum!  At 2 PM ET, they'll tweet a trivia question, and the winner gets tickets to the panel, and a copy of Feininger's complete comics collection The Comic Strip Art of Lyonel Feininger!

Lyonel Feininger: At the Edge of the World runs until October 16th at the Whitney Museum of American Art [945 Madison Avenue at 75th Street, NYC].

Move over, Peter, Bjorn & John!  Or, Peter, Paul & Mary, for that matter!

Devin, Gary & Ross is the musical project of artists Devin Flynn, Ross Goldstein, and our very own, Gary Panter! They've been described as "Velvet Underground-era VU meets Alexander "Skip" Spence meets the equally LSD-infused solo output of Germany's Juergen Gleue, only WAY more deadpan."

You can hear for yourself: their debut EP, Four Corners Bounce, is out now on the Arbitrary Signs label, and to celebrate, they're having a Record Release Party this Friday, June 24th at Desert Island in Brooklyn! 

You wouldn't think it to be possible, but it gets even better as Gary will have TWO new books in tow: The Wrong Box and The Land Unknown, both of which were recently published in France, and have been tricky to get in the states... until now!

The psychedelic sonic bliss blasts off at 8:00 PM at Desert Island [540 Metropolitan Ave, Brooklyn, NY]. Do not miss it.

(Click to enlarge)

Gary Panter's collected Dal Tokyo is on our spring list and production on the book is proceeding apace. Here, courtesy of Raymond Sohn, who is working on the book with Gary P., is a sneak peek at the new, much much improved (from the "horrible protocover" — Gary's words — that we used for our catalogs last time) cover.

If we publish the first Pogo book, the Joost Swarte collection, and this one all within about six months of each other, then, dear readers, what will you have left to complain about in terms of superlate books from Fantagraphics by next summer?

Don't answer that; we know there's a bunch. (B. Krigstein Vol. 2, for one.) Allow us our moment of relative triumph here.

Sorry for the short notice on this must-see exhibit which opens tonight at Andrew Edlin Gallery in NYC:

"Andrew Edlin Gallery is pleased to present Zap: Masters of Psychedelic Art, 1965-74, curated by Gary Panter and Chris Byrne. The exhibition will include works by the seven artists from the original Zap lineup: Robert Crumb, Victor Moscoso, Rick Griffin, S. Clay Wilson, Gilbert Shelton, Spain Rodriguez and Robert Williams. The focus of the show is the early days of Zap, when these artists begat their visionary deconstruction of the comic book with remarkable innovations in storytelling and drawing. An accompanying catalogue is being published by the gallery."

'Nuff said! (Well, if it's not 'nuff, there's more info and links to preview the artwork here.)

UPDATE: More on the show from Gary at his blog!

Artwork from Gary Panter's solo show at Galerie Martel in Paris — well over 100 drawings and paintings spanning 4 decades — is now visible on their website, along with photos of the exhibit installation. Wow wow wow.

Gary Panter will be in Paris for the opening of his art show at Galerie Martel on the 29th of April. On his blog he says "I am excited. I have many friends in France and it has been decades since I was there." 

Turn Handle by Gary Panter, part of the Gumption art show at the ZieherSmith gallery opening tonight. (Via Gary's blog.)

A Stacy Fisher / Gary Panter art show opens at Cleopatra’s in Brooklyn on Sunday. See/click the invitation for more info. Via Gary's blog.

Gary Panter did this sweet flyer for an upcoming show with his band Devin Gary & Ross (info at the link).

Today's Online Commentary & Diversions:

• Review: "In the serialized adventures of Buz Sawyer, ace World War II Navy pilot and clean-cut ladies man, Crane expertly mixes high action in the Pacific with just the right amount of romance, creating a storytelling engine as sturdy and reliable as Sawyer’s SBD Dauntless. Crane’s gorgeous art, with cleanly drawn figures, extensive shading, and a slightly cartoonish style, took full advantage of the space provided comic strips back in the day. [...] Rating: 9.0 [out of 10]" – Garrett Martin, Paste

• Review: "Depending on who you are and your social outlook this final collection [FUC_ __U _SS __LE] is as brilliant or as appalling as the previous three so if you’re prudish, sensitive or concerned about moral standards – don’t buy this book. There’s plenty of us who will." – Win Wiacek, Now Read This!

• Review: "Sergio Ponchione’s conclusion to Grotesque returned to the mind-bending storytelling of the first issue, tying together loose story threads in a manner that treated those threads as tangible objects. [...] There are echoes of R.Crumb, Elzie Segar, Charles Burns and Kim Deitch in his work, creating a lush, bizarre world that he doesn’t quite allow the reader to get lost in. Indeed, if the past two issues (the 'Cryptic City' story) felt a bit more conventional than the more expansive first issue, the finale not only fully fleshed out the first issue’s themes, it gave the last two issues a new context." – Rob Clough, The Comics Journal

• Interview: Joe MacLeod of the Baltimore City Paper talks to their erstwhile cartoonist Tim Kreider about his new book Twilight of the Assholes: "In principle I subscribe to the Kubrick policy about discussing your own work, to wit: Do not. It can only ever limit and diminish it. I tried not to explicate my own cartoons, just use them as starting points for tangential rants, occasions to say things that the cartoon form didn’t allow for. Still, it makes me squirmy whenever artists hold forth about their own work, and I still second-guess myself about having included the essays."

• Interview: The third part of Ian Burns's chat with the creators of "The White Rhinoceros" serial from Mome at The Comics Journal shifts to artist Josh Simmons: "I was trying to capture a certain look; I was thinking very loosely (I didn’t look at a lot of these comics, but the Disney comics from the ’60s or so — very nice, smooth, rubbery, cartoony line and bright colors) but trying to draw it somewhat realistic too. Not too cartoony. For me the main influences would be those kind of comics, and fantasy epic stories like Narnia, Lord of the Rings. And Shaun [Partridge] is a huge Narnia fan. That was a large jumping-off point for him."

• Interview: The Daily Cross Hatch's Brian Heater continues his chat with Stan Sakai: "...I read through the old Fantagraphics stories, and I’m really happy with how it all holds together, and how it flows into the current continuity. The characters mature, but they pretty much stay in character. So, I’m really happy with that. And the types of stories that come about, I think I’ve matured as a storyteller. And Usagi has matured as a character, so I’m quite pleased."

• Commentary: At HiLobrow, Gary Panter examines a Jack Kirby panel. I repeat: PANTER ON KIRBY (via Gary's blog)