Premieres Monday, April 21, 2025 at 10 p.m. on KPBS TV / PBS app
Throughout his career as a cartoonist and editor, Art Spiegelman has never shied away from provocative storytelling in his comics. From his early art for the countercultural underground comix movement to his acclaimed graphic novel "Maus," Spiegelman’s legacy in the comic arts world continues to grow and has inspired many of today’s beloved cartoonists.
Discover Spiegelman’s career and how his life story inspired his groundbreaking work, even in the face of looming censorship, in AMERICAN MASTERS "Art Spiegelman: Disaster is My Muse."
Featuring archival footage and stills, illustrations and new interviews with Spiegelman, the film 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.
The film, 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.
Born to Polish-Jewish immigrant parents, Spiegelman began cartooning at a young age, taking inspiration from MAD Magazine and Topps Company’s trading card illustrations. He met Woody Gelman, then the Art Director of Topps, who encouraged him to apply for a job at the company after high school.
While he was a student at Harpur College of Arts and Sciences at Binghamton University, Spiegelman began freelancing for Topps and subsequently moved to San Francisco to participate in the city’s burgeoning underground comix scene.
While co-editing Raw with Mouly, Spiegelman started developing "Maus" as a book based on his father’s experiences as a Jewish immigrant and Holocaust survivor. The project was serialized in Raw starting in December 1980 before being published as a graphic novel six years later.
"Maus" was a soaring success — it became a New York Times Best Seller and has since sold millions of copies worldwide. The acclaimed graphic novel won the Pulitzer Prize in 1992 and helped establish comics as a formidable storytelling medium and art form.
Since "Maus’" release, Spiegelman has continued illustrating as a contributing artist for The New Yorker and released comic collections In The Shadow of No Towers, Breakdowns and Metamaus. While Spiegelman’s work is not without its critics, Spiegelman continues to be recognized as a pioneer of comic arts, whose thought-provoking work reflects his ardent defense of free speech.
Watch On Your Schedule: "Art Spiegelman: Disaster Is My Muse" will be available for streaming concurrent with broadcast on all station-branded PBS platforms, including PBS.org and the PBS app, available on iOS, Android, Roku streaming devices, Apple TV, Android TV, Amazon Fire TV, Samsung Smart TV, Chromecast and VIZIO.
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.
Credits: A production of Particle Productions Inc. and Pollyanna in association with American Masters Pictures and Foothill Productions. Molly Bernstein and Philip Dolin are directors and producers. The program is produced by Alicia Sams. Lauren Lexton is executive producer and Sam Jinishian is producer. Nathalie Seaver and Jamie Wolf are co-executive producers. For AMERICAN MASTERS, Michael Kantor is executive producer, Julie Sacks is series producer, and Joe Skinner is digital lead.
