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Event Details - Visual artist Frances Jetter connects her own life to her ancestors’ and their interweaving ties to the twentieth-century labor movement.
A uniquely told immigrant story, Amalgam is populated by impressionistic figures, rendered with piercing faces that stare down the reader as if out of an old photograph. The narrative follows Abram, or “Abe,” a Polish Jew who immigrates to America for economic opportunity. He is a passionate arbitrator and advocate in his union but an unyielding patriarchal tyrant at home. In a patchwork of linocuts, keyholes, and hinges, Frances Jetter uncovers the convictions and contradictions that make up the tapestry of Abe’s life and so many others’. In these pages are mini epics depicting the struggle of workers; haunting vignettes of abandoned dolls and forgotten friends; and a love letter to Jetter’s mother, Rose, who hovers in the artist’s mind like a ghost. Twelve years in the making, Amalgam is a profound, multimedia meditation on memory and legacy.
Frances Jetter worked on “Amalgam: An Immigrant, His Labor Union, and His American Family in Brooklyn” during her 2017-2018 Fellowship at the Library’s Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers. She discusses her book with award-winning graphic novelist Peter Kuper.
ABOUT THE SPEAKERS
Frances Jetter is an illustrator and printmaker whose linocut prints, often with political and social subject matter, have illustrated articles in the New York Times, the Washington Post, TIME Magazine, the Nation, and the Village Voice, among other publications. Jetter’s prints are included in the collections of the Fogg Art Museum at Harvard University, the Detroit Institute of Arts, The New York Public Library, and the Grinnell College Print and Drawing Study Room. In 2016, the Library of Congress acquired twenty-four of her relief prints for “The Frances Jetter Illustration Collection.” In 2019, the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, MA, exhibited more than sixty-five prints from Amalgam. Jetter has received fellowships from the New York Foundation for the Arts and grants from the Puffin Foundation. She teaches at the School of Visual Arts.
Peter Kuper is a regular contributor to the New Yorker, the Nation, and MAD Magazine and teaches comics at Harvard University. He was the Jean Strouse Fellow at the Cullman Center in 2020-2021, and his exhibition INterSECTS was on display at the NYPL in 2022. His upcoming graphic novel, Insectopolis, will be published by W. W. Norton in May.
Amalgam: Frances Jetter with Peter Kuper - link to Conversation from the Cullman Center
The Society of Illustrators
Amalgam: A Conversation with Frances Jetter and Steve Brodner
October 17 @ 6:30 pm - 8:00 pm
Join us for an evening with celebrated visual artists Frances Jetter and Steve Brodner in conversation about Jetter’s latest work, Amalgam (published by Fantagraphics). This uniquely told immigrant story connects Jetter’s personal journey with that of her ancestors, exploring their interwoven ties to the 20th-century labor movement.
Following the conversation, there will be a Q&A session and a book signing.
About the book:
At the heart of the narrative is Abram, a Polish Jew who immigrates to America seeking economic opportunity. Much like his biblical namesake, he adopts a new identity, “Abe.” A passionate union advocate yet a rigid patriarch at home, Abe’s life is one of convictions and contradictions, reflecting the broader immigrant experience.
The book’s visuals are haunting and evocative, populated by impressionistic figures with piercing expressions, bringing to life scenes of worker struggles and intimate moments of lost connections. Throughout, Jetter weaves a love letter to her mother, Rose, whose memory is etched into the story like a ghostly presence.
Twelve years in the making, Amalgam masterfully blends linocuts, keyholes, and hinges to create a powerful meditation on memory, legacy, and the enduring presence of the past.
Frances Jetter’s linocut prints, often with political subject matter, have illustrated articles in the New York Times, the Washington Post, TIME Magazine, the Nation, and the Village Voice, among other publications.
Jetter’s prints and artist’s books are included in the collections of the Fogg Art Museum at Harvard University, the Detroit Institute of Arts, The New York Public Library, the Grinnell College Print and Drawing Study Room, the Library of Congress’ Rare Books and Special Collections, and in university collections across America.
Jetter has received fellowships from the New York Foundation for the Arts. During her fellowship at the New York Public Library’s Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers she researched integral parts of Amalgam. In 2019, The Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, MA exhibited more than 65 of its prints.
Frances Jetter teaches at the School of Visual Arts.
Steve Brodner is an award-winning caricature artist, political cartoonist, educator, and author; publications such as The New York Times, Esquire, and The New Yorker feature his work. His work currently appears daily at stevebrodner.substack.com and weekly in thenation.com .
His career retrospective: Freedom Fries (2004) and the story of the Covid years in the US: Living and Dying in America (2022) were both published by Fantagraphics Books.
In 2024, he won the Herb Block Award. The Herblock Prize judges said "Brodner's work is unflinching, driven by a strong moral compass and imbued with a powerful sense of compassion. Also in 2024, he was inducted into the Society of Illustrator’s Hall of Fame.
He currently lives in New York City where he teaches at the School of Visual Arts.
