Synopses & Reviews
Charles M. Schulz (1922andndash;2000) believed that the key to cartooning was to take out the extraneous details and leave in only whatandrsquo;s necessary. For 50 years, from October 2, 1950, to February 13, 2000, Schulz wrote and illustrated Peanuts, the single most popular and influential comic strip in the world. In all, 17,897 strips were published, making it andldquo;arguably the longest story ever told by one human being,andrdquo; according to Robert Thompson, professor of popular culture at Syracuse University. For Only Whatandrsquo;s Necessary: Charles M. Schulz and the Art of Peanuts, renowned designer Chip Kidd was granted unprecedented access to the extraordinary archives of the Charles M. Schulz Museum and Research Center in Santa Rosa, California. Reproducing the best of the Peanuts newspaper strip,all shot from the original art by award-winning photographer Geoff Spear, Only Whatandrsquo;s Necessary also features exclusive, rare, and unpublished original art and developmental workandmdash;much of which has never been seen before.
About the Author
Chip Kidd is a graphic designer and writer, and editor-at-large for Pantheon. A three-time Eisner Award winner, he has written and designed over a dozen books on comics including
Peanuts: The Art of Charles M. Schulz. His novels,
The Cheese Monkeys and
The Learners, were national bestsellers, as was
True Prep: Itandrsquo;s a Whole New Old World (with Lisa Birnbach). Other books include
Go: A Kiddandrsquo;s Guide to Graphic Design and the forthcoming
Judge This. He lives in New York City.
Geoff Spear is an award-winning photographer who has collaborated with Chip Kidd on over a dozen books and numerous book jackets. His compelling photographs have appeared on the cover and in the pages of TIME, Newsweek, Fortune, Entertainment Weekly, GQ, the New York Times Magazine, and many others. He lives in New York City.