MONSTROUS CRAWS & CHARACTER FLAWS:
Masterpieces of Cartoon and Caricature at the Library of
Congress
For centuries great graphic
artists have created enduring images that demonstrate the
power of art as a vehicle for social and political commentary.
Caricatures and cartoons are among the most lasting and
effective of these images. These drawings, often depicting
principal events and figures of the day, become in the hands
of a master at once topical and timeless, unique and universal.
Usually created under short deadlines for reproduction in
a commercial format such as a newspaper or magazine, cartoons
and caricatures reflect the artists' attempts to enlighten,
amuse, provoke, or persuade their readers. In the effort
to express themselves and engage their audience, these artists
have produced original works of extraordinary historical
and artistic value, shedding vivid light on their times,
and, in retrospect, our own.
The masters of caricature
and cartoon represented in this exhibition are as diverse
as their works and equally compelling. James Gillray, an
Englishman working primarily in the eighteenth century,
established a high standard for the genre that subsequent
cartoonists and caricaturists have worked hard to equal.
Honoré Daumier, active in nineteenth-century France,
outraged King Louis Philippe with satirical lithographs
that belittled the monarchy and its achievements. At the
turn of the twentieth century in America, Rose O'Neill did
the unthinkable for a woman, carving out a successful career
as a cartoonist while exhibiting more sophisticated work
in the Paris salons. Miguel Covarrubias, already well-established
in his native Mexico, arrived in New York in 1923 and astounded
audiences with his pointed caricatures. Oliver Harrington,
an African American, labored in obscurity, his cartoon genius
and exceptional draftsmanship only revealed to a widespread
audience at the end of his life.
The sheer ability of these
artists is fully revealed through the study of their original
works. We gain insight into their working methods and the
technical limits imposed on them by time, place, and mode
of publication. The earliest printing techniques, involving
copper plates, lithographic stones, and woodblocks, reproduced
images with painstaking labor that took days or weeks. Caricatures
and cartoons appeared either as separate sheets for sale
by printsellers or within periodicals that audiences could
savor over time; artists created more complex images because
audiences had time to read and learn from them. In the twentieth
century, photomechanical techniques permitted reduction
from the original. In general, artists began to create larger,
simpler drawings that could be reduced and retain their
impact, as well as accommodate the ever more fleeting attention
span of modern readers. Such diversity of methods, materials,
and formats, however, does not obscure the shared legacy
of graphic wit, creativity, and ingenuity, that is so amply
represented in the Library of Congress collections.
All objects in this exhibition,
unless otherwise noted, are preserved in the Prints and
Photographs Division. This exhibition was prepared with
support from the Caroline and Erwin Swann Memorial Fund
for Caricature and Cartoon.
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