James Gillray introduced caricature in the late eighteenth century. He took a conservative and critical stance against the French Revolution. In one of the many stark images, a print in 1796, Gillray imagines a revolution on the streets of London, a consequence of a possible French invasion. Gillray drew more that demonstrated his antipathy towards Napoleon against the backdrop of Revolutionary France.
In 1841, the establishment of British periodical Punch by Henry Mayhew and Ebenezer Landells capitalised on this. They appreciated the use of cartoons to describe political and social landscapes, and in 1842, utilised the mass printing technologies to transform the smaller magazine into a national phenomenon. Artists like John Leech and Charles Keene were featured as well as John Tenniel who was later also known for his illustrations of Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. John Leech was the most prolific of his time; his fecund imagination was celebrated, and his art style featured symbols like Uncle Sam and characterised Britannia, the British Lion, and the Russian Bear. The exponential boom in the entertainment industry in the late nineteenth century meant that cartoons could be found in most mainstream political newspapers.
An American cartoonist and satirical artist, Thomas Nast, allured his audience with his dark wit and bold antagonism against William Magear Tweed’s political machine in New York City. Both President Lincoln and President Grant acknowledged the importance of his work. Back in Britain, the use of caricature grew during both wartimes in the twentieth century with their brutal imagery. The anti-establishment position of satirical artists was cemented with the cartoons of Private Eye (created 1961), and then introduced on television for Spitting Image which were notable for how iconoclastic they were. Israeli cartoon strip ‘Dry Bones’ was created in 1973 by Yaakov Kirschen for The Jerusalem Post and has since been reprinted and commented on in The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. Kirschen’s cartoons have been celebrated in Israel for their awareness of persecuted Jewish communities in North Africa whilst criticised for their simultaneous racist and anti-Arab sentiments.
Cartoons have enhanced our understanding of politics in contemporary society. Humour introduces a less dark outlook on bleak political landscapes at times, whilst simultaneously being critical, and it’s no surprise caricature is still so popular.
