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From the exhibition

Mrs. Trixie Trix—And How She Got Her New Fur

· 1911

Mrs. Trixie Trix—And How She Got Her New Fur
Harry Lewis's *Mrs. Trixie Trix* exemplifies the narrative comic strip that dominated Sunday newspaper supplements in the early 1900s. The strip follows a domestic comedy centered on a wife's desire for a fur coat and her husband's resistance to the expense. Lewis uses six panels arranged in two rows to develop the gag sequentially: debate, scheming, a fur store visit, and the surprise reveal of a solution. Speech balloons carry dialogue; expressive caricature conveys character and emotion. The strip's format and visual economy—established characters, recurring conflicts, escalating complications—became foundational to American comics, directly influencing the comic books that would emerge as a distinct medium in the 1930s.

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