A Southern View
Adalbert J. Volck (1828-1912)
[Caricature of Lincoln writing
the Emancipation Proclamation],
in V. Blada's War Sketches
London [Baltimore]: 1864
Lithograph
Rare Book & Special Collections
Division (5.3)
|
During times of war, art often serves as propaganda, as artists
seek to demonize the enemy and glorify a cause. During the American
Civil War, no artist attacked the Northern war effort more savagely
than the satirical printmaker and Southern sympathizer Adalbert
J. Volck. A dentist by trade in Baltimore, Maryland, a city which
harbored strong secessionist sentiment, Volck covertly published
numerous scathing caricatures of Union leaders, including this
portrayal of President Abraham Lincoln as the Devil himself, composing
the Emancipation Proclamation while trampling the United States
Constitution.
|