Good grief, Charlie Brown!: the art of Charles Schulz: "At the heart of Schulz's great connection with the world was his humanity." (Museum Today).

• Author: Egan, Richard

"I'LL NEVER BE Andrew Wyeth" the late Charles M. Schulz often lamented, referring to the famed American artist. This, from the man whose comic strip "Peanuts," over the course of its 50-year lifetime, grew into the most-successful and beloved strip of all time, one that would see publication in 2,600 newspapers with 355,000,000 readers in 75 countries. The strip and its characters were the inspiration for dozens of television specials, two plays, a symphonic concerto, many books, and countless licensed products. Peanuts products became a $1,000,000,000-a-year worldwide industry for United Features, and Schulz became the highest-paid, most-widely read cartoonist ever. Yet, even with the adoration of an eternally grateful public, he would rarely allow a self-congratulatory moment. In 1997, Schulz noted that comics illustration is "a low art form. We don't hang in art galleries. We're not good enough."

The world's artistic perspective isn't quite as narrow as Schulz had feared. An insightful new exhibition of his work is on view at a museum built around the work of a similarly beloved 20th-century illustrator and American icon. The Norman Rockwell Museum--where for over 30 years patrons have found inspiration, humor, and hope in his enduring depictions of the best of America--is a center devoted to the art of illustration, with the world's largest collection of Rockwell's original paintings as its centerpiece, Schulz, like Rockwell, was an artist and a Storyteller of the first caliber who transformed images of everyday life into art that captured the humor, vulnerability, and dignity of the human spirit.

The exhibition presents the chronology of Schulz's life from his Minnesota roots to his years in California. More than 40 original drawings for the strips, Schulz quotes, a timeline of the artist's life, and selected Peanuts collectibles illuminate the story behind the creation of this influential cartoon strip and tracks the developments of the characters that make up its unique world. Through the familiar gang of well-loved characters, Schulz shared his vision with readers, exploring such topics as friendship, compassion, disappointment, and unrequited love.

Schulz's spare graphic style and his subtle sense of humor have spoken deeply to readers for more than five decades, but what was the source of this deep-seated connection? Was it Schulz's artwork? Surely, he was a master of the understated grace note in his illustrations. A simple...