The family immigrated to New York City when Spiegelman was two. Afterward they moved to Sweden, where Spiegelman was born. His parents and older brother were imprisoned in concentration camps at Auschwitz during World War II the couple survived, but their first son did not. Spiegelman was born on February 15, 1948, in Stockholm, Sweden, to Vladek and Anja (Zylberberg) Spiegelman. In 1997 he published a children's book titled Open Me, I'm a Dog. In 1980, he and his wife started the avant-garde graphic magazine Raw, and in 1992 Spiegelman began serving as a contributing editor for the New Yorker, stirring controversy with his cover designs because of what some considered offensive themes. Spiegelman was awarded a Pulitzer Prize special citation for Maus in 1992.įormerly known as a driving force in the quirky world of self-published and underground comics, Spiegelman was also responsible for many of the offbeat ideas and artwork for Topps Chewing Gum's Wacky Packages and Garbage Pail Kids-trading cards and stickers that featured irreverent pokes at popular culture. The work brought respect to the comic art world, fully transforming the genre from 'funnies' or superhero stories into a new medium for literature. Swedish American author and artist Art Spiegelman won acclaim in the 1980s with his two-part graphic novel Maus, an account of his parents' experiences as Jews in concentration camps during the Holocaust. Click here to watch it in full length: ĭirected by Clara Kuperberg, Joëlle Oosterlinck This is an excerpt from the documentary 'The Art Of Spiegelman'. He struggled with the success of the comic and created a kind of 'Alter Ego', the 'Spiegelmonster', to cope with the media interest.

The 'Holokitsch,' as Spiegelman calls it, did not yet exist in Hollywood.įor Art Spiegelman, it is one of his greatest achievements that MAUS was never made into a film, although Steven Spielberg showed interest even before it was first published.

At the time, in the seventies, sources for research were sparse.

These conversations were followed by extensive research, both through books and through visits to the places in Poland where the scenes later depicted in the comic actually took place. Oddly enough, this was the only time the two spent together without arguing. MAUS: The comics that won the Pulitzer Prize | Excerpt from 'The Art Of Spiegelman' MAUS is a comic about a father and son, trying to understand each other.' At the core of Art Spiegelman's most famous work were countless hours spent talking with his father, who told him the story of his survival.

The Complete Maus by Art Spiegelman