Jack Davis Distinguished Visiting Artist Lectures

Jack Davis (1924–2016) was one of the most important figures in American illustration. A founding editor of MAD Magazine, his work spanned every genre from MAD to movie posters to Playboy. His work is noted for his style of wild, free-flowing brushwork, wacky characters and incredible crowd scenes. He received the highest award, the Rueben, from the National Cartoonist Society and was inducted into the Society of Illustrators Hall of Fame at the Museum of American Illustration in New York. A hallmark of Jack Davis' work is how with humor and humanity, he captures the spirit of life in America. Davis studied with artist Lamar Dodd at the University of Georgia and honed his skills drawing for the campus student newspaper, the Red and Black, and Bullsheet, an Athens humor publication. He later moved to New York, where he attended the Art Students League before working with William Gaines' EC Comics. He supplied numerous cover illustrations for Time and TV Guide, created album cover art and designed movie posters.

Ann Orr Morris Memorial Lectures

The intent of the Jack Davis Distinguished Visiting Artist program is to honor Davis and his contributions to popular culture, and to bring outstanding professional illustrators and designers who share in this tradition to the UGA campus for a public lecture and creative exchanges with students and faculty.