VO L. 1, N O .3 T HE CLEME NTS LIBRARY ASSO C IATES APRlL. 1995

AMERICA IN A MIRROR: CARICATURE AS HISTORY

Cartoonist Grant Hamilton used nursery rhyme imagery to make asimple point - corruption is bipartisan. Republican Boss Platt licksthe platter of New York state patronage clean; seated is DemocraticBoss Croker. his stomach bulging. From Judge, November 19, /898.

Caricature has a long tradition inAmerican popular culture. Pictures thatuse exaggeration and wit to make apolitical point, a social comment, or amoral judgment have had a peculiarpower over our imagination.Whatever the rhetoric,written or spoken, it hasoften been the cartoon,journalism's most devastat­ing weapon, that has madean issue or an individualstick in the public mind.

"Caricature," accordingto editorial cartoonistDraper Hill , "is not asynonym for satire, or evena genre of drawing. It is alanguage of exaggeration , amethod of projecting innercharacteristics,' real orimagined, into appear­ances ," The cartoonistcombin es caricature with acode - a set of symbols oremblems, the visualmetaphors that speak topeople living in a part iculartime and place. Conse­quently, caricature isephemeral. When we nolonger understand its code,when its message has lostits immediacy, it lose s itsimpact on our imaginations.Yet, it is this transientquality that makes cartoons so valuableas historical evidence , as a vernacularrecord of our political values and socia lmores. Becau se caricature is designedfur print , for popular con sumption in thecheapest format, it is the most genuinelydemocratic art. It is the perfect devicefor criticism. The cartoonist doesnothave to justify his point of view; he canuse his art to report , accuse, entertain,

moralize, or to focu s public opinion onany target he chooses . His only obliga­tion is to use his art to express an idea,and to make that idea accessible andengaging to the broadest audience.

Caricature, as art historian RonaldPaulson has written, has two components- the repre sentational and the rhetori­cal. As pictu res of people, objects, orscenes, caricature ranges freely aroundartisti c conventions. It takes familiarsettings and human emotions or theimages of allegory, folklore, history, orfanta sy, compresses them into onepicture, and makes us laugh by the

unexpected incongruitie s. "A goodcaricaturi st needs no great talent in anyother artistic direction ," cartoon istBoh un Lynch insists. "He is governedonly by his own sense of truthful

misrepre sentation."As rhetori c or pole mic,

American caricature has anhonorable tradition.Cartoonists have exposedabuses of power, thecorruption of government,and the hypocrisy ofsociety. At their mosttrivial, cartoons provide arunning commentary onevents, people, attitudes,and preoccup ation s, theirinfluence no more than onefac tor in any given politi calclimate. They reflect themomentary shifts in publ icsentiment. At its mostskillful, American caricaturehas been moral satire. WhenThomas Nast exposed thecorruption of Boss Tweed, or

. crusaded for minority rights,or denounced the futility ofwar, he followed a traditionthat began in the Reforma­tion with Luther 's satiricalwoodcuts, and continuedwith Bruegel, Callot,Hogarth, Goya, andDaumier.

Although the idea of caricuturaexaggerating a human form for comiceffect - began in late sixteenth centuryItaly. printed caricature , as a form ofpolitical and social commentary, is theinvention of eighteenth century England.As a popular political culture developedin the relatively free climate of mid­eighteenth century England, the demandfur information and for comment grew.

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Above : "A Conference between the Devil and Doctor Dove," by Henry Dawkins (Philadelphia, 1764), is one ofthe earliest Americanpolitical cartoons. Doctor Dove, a writer ofscurrilous verse for Pennsylvania 's Proprietary Party, is shown kneeling before the Devil (hisown demon's tail visible beneath his coatta ils), "Thou Great Prince ofDarkness, ass ist me in my Undertakings." Satan replies, "Welldone, thou Good and Faithful Servant." From the origin ofcaricature in the satirical woodcuts ofthe Ref ormation, the Devil has been acommon motif.

Below : Pirating material from English sources was standa rd practice in colon ial publishing. Paul Revere lifted "The able Doctor; orAmerica Swallowing the Bitter Draught" from the London Magazine. He appropriated the cartoon to the radical cause by adding theword TEA, publishing it in 1774 to mobilize support for Boston when Parliament passed retaliatory legislation following the notorious teaparty.

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Cartoons in the /790s were the work ofanonymous amate urs. They were relentlessly political in content, often cluttered in design ."Congressional Pugilists " (/798) records an unedifying moment in American history when a Vermont Congressman accused ofcowardicespat in the fa ce ofhis colleague from Connect icut. They Jought with. cudgel and fire tongs until separated.

Graphic satire was an important compo nent in periodicals during the first decades ofthe nineteenth century. The Echo, published by Richard A lsop (Boston,/ 807- /8/2), was openly hostile to Jefferson. It ran a particularly vicious series of cartoons by Tisdale and Leney in 1807. One was "Infan t Liberty Nursed byMother Mob." A slattern holds an infant to huge breasts laheled " whiskey " and "rum," In the background Jefferson 's "republican mob" storms a publicbuilding.

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Below: Philadelphian Edward Clay's socialsatire (ca. 1830) conlmUS a Quaker ofplainbut elegant dress. accompanied b.v hislovely dau ghte r, with WI Irish immigrantcarrying his worldly po ssessions 0 11 hisback . clay pipe stuck in the band of his high -crowned hat. A guest, mounted 011 a well-bred horse, is welcomed to the Quaker 's prosperoushome. But the Irishman, asking directions to Phila delph ia, is given a condesc ending answer, one that belies the Quaker reputation jartolerance.

Right : William Charles hod learned theengraver's trade in London be/oreemigrating to Philadelphia in 1808, and heborrowed f reelyfrom the work ofGillray. Apopular, prolific artist duri ng the War of1812, Charle s helped make the cartoon partofour national political life. In "John BullMaking a Nell' Batch ofShips to Send to theLakes" (1814), Charles ridicules the Brit ishloss of their ent ire Great Lakes fleet to theAm ericans. King George sput ters, "What,What, What! " 10 his right a man warns," You had bette r keep both your ships andguns at home. If you send all you 've got tothe Lakes, it will only makefun for theYankl')'s to take them."

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Technology revolutionize d the popular market for cartoons in the J820s. Commercial lithography, a relatively inexpensive, flexible processby which impressi ons are taken f rom designs inked on stone, replaced the difficult process of engraving on metal. Prints could be massproduc ed on cheap, single shee ts. The result was a floo d ofpolitical cartoons during the Jacksonian Era (1828-1840). In his fir st messageto Congress, President Jackson proposed sending Native Americans to unoccupied land west of the Mississippi. By May J830, the IndianRemoval Bill had become law. An anonymous artist, with. masterful san'Wim, drew Jackson as the Great Father.

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Above: Lola Montez , celebrated "European" beauty, mistress variously of Liszt, Dumas, and a Bavarian king, arr ived on the New Yorkstage in 1852, billed as a "Spanish dancer." No amount ofpublicity could disguise her limited talent. Johnston records the "enthusiasticreception ofLola by an American audience" - one Quaker, who hardly dares to look , and one dismayed gentleman, peering over his NewYork Herald, whose pages endlessly had promoted Lola.

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David Claypool Johnston had ambitions tobecome America 's Cruikshank. Althoughthe quality ofhis draf tsmanship was uneven,his caricatures, published as bookillustrations and single sheets, show he hadan eye for human foibles and the ability totranslate them into witty drawings.

Left: Johnston '.'I ingenious cartoonenvelope allowed him to change apolitician '.'I express ion with the pull ofatab, a device he used to comment on theresults ofseveral presidential electio ns. His1849 version, Metamorphosis: A LocofocoBefore, and After, the Late Elec tion, showsa radical Democrat reacting to the newsthat Whig candidate Gen. Zachar)' Taylorhas defeated Democrat Lewis Cass ­"Hurra For Cass.''' changes to "What.' OldZack Elected."

Comic almanacs began to appear in the 1830s. a welcome relieffrom the moraliz ing fare ofconventional almanacs. From them evolved theillustrated humorous weekly. Yankee Notion s: or, Whittlings from Jonathan' s Jack-kn ife, is representative ofthe genre. Chauvinistic, racist,bigoted, its favorite targets were foreign immigrants, Jews. Blacks, and women. Racial stereotypes used in facial features and dialects werestandard devices f or cartoonists like Augustus Hoppin. His cover for Febraury; 1853, had Jonathan and son Junior commenting on thestupidity of a "[ urriner" who has fa llen through the ice.

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Above: Vanity Fair, America 's Punch during the 1850-60s, owed its popularity on the eve ofthe Civil War to the cartoon s ofHenry LouisStephens, as they refl ected the controversies tear ing the nation apart, During the 1860 presidential campaign, Stephens caricaturedDouglas as a pious hypocrite. Lincoln 's inau gu ral address. March, 1861. had been conci liatory towa rd the South on slavery, hut fi rmlyopposed secess ion. Stephens drew Lincoln balancing hope for peace aga inst the reality that Confederate guns had fi red on Fl. Sumte r.Stephens , in 1862, raged against "Old Ma nn Britann ia " jor her continued sympathy with the South, but he was ambivalent 011 emancipation,unconvinced thatfreed slaves wou ld find kinder maslcrs.

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Right: Theftrst issue ofRichmond 'sSouthern Illustrated News, September,1862, carried an advertisementforengravers and the blocks ofash wood usedto make newspaper WOOdClitS. It wouldreplace Harper 's Weekly in the South andhe the Confederacy's only pictorialmagazine. Cartoons were a regular feature."Butler; the Beast, at Work," carried onApril30, 1864, shows the hated BenjaminButler. Appointed military admin istratorwhen Union troops took New Orleans in1862, Butler incensed the South with hisorder that a local woman who insultedUnion officers or soldiers "shall beregarded and held liable to be treated as avv'oman of the town plying her avocation.Today, copies of the Southe rn IllustratedNews are extremely sca rce.

'tHE GUlSB ,.!1T CAN DIOATEAbove: During the Civil War, Currier and Ives mass produced lithograph cartoons. Hastily done , few were well drawn. 17Je best were byLouis Maurer. "The Gunboat Candidate at the Battle ofMalvern Hill" appeared during the 1864 Presidential election. Democraticcandidate General McClellan is accused of incompetence. Sitting safely in his saddle mounted on the boom of the ironclad Galena (areference to his abortive gunboat attack on Richmond and the battle ending the disastrous 1862 Peninsular Campaign), his uniformimmaculate, McClellan urges, "Fight on my brave Soldiers and push the enemy to the wall, from this spanker boom your beloved Generallooks down upon you. "

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Thomas Nast, America's greatest politicalcartoonist, influenced public opinion forthree decades. Between 1862 and 1885,over 3,000 ofhis drawings appeared inHarper 's Weekl y. Nast was a genius increating powerful images that simplifiedissues and focused emotions . He isremembered as the creator of Santa Claus,the Tammany Tiger, the RepublicanElephant, and the Democratic Donkey. Likeall great satirists, Nast had a strong moralsense. He crusaded for the rights ofNativeAmericans and against the corruption ofNew York 's Tammany Hall, yet he wascapable ofusing ethnic stereotypes sovicious that they may reasonably bedescribed as racist.

Right: In "Move On," Nast used ethnicstereotypes ofboth European immigrantsand Native Americans to argue the injusticeof excluding the latter group while allowingthe former to become full citizens.

Below : The Irishman 's image in American and English caricature had evolved from the crude but benign Paddy of the 18305 into amenacing, simian brute by the 18605. Nast. using the code for Irishmen fi rst seen in Punch cartoons - the sloping forehead, long upperlip, huge mouth, and jutting jaw - depicted Irish marchers attacking policemen during the St. Patrick 's Day riot of1867.

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Left: Judge attracted a stableofartists whose talents wereenlisted for the RepublicanPart): Gram Hamilton 's "HowWomen 's Suffrage Will Increasethe Power a/the Ward Heeler "(1894) is typical in usingprejudice against Irishimmigran ts andf ear of corruptpoliticians as a rationale fordenying women the right tovore.

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Judge and Puck changed the character ofAmerican graphic humor in the 1870-805. Bothwere militantl y partisan weeklies - PuckDemocratic , Judge Rep ublican. They raised theartistic quality of American graphic humor. but intheir competition, both reached new depth s inpolitical abuse. Puck and Judge wouldmonopoliz e the market until the final years of thecentury, when they were eclipsed by themetropolitan newspapers and syndicated editorialcartoons.

Right: Joseph Keppler, Puck's fo under, succeededNast as America 's leading cartoonist. For Puck'scover, February 2, 1898, Keppler drew on thetraditional alliance between the Democratic Partyand the American 'Working man.

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Prints, unlike newspapers orperiodicals, were not subject to censor­ship or libel laws. They obviat ed theneed for literacy. Caricatures were soldas separate sheets in printshops andcirculated in coffeehouses. In the handsof arti sts like Hogarth , Gillray,Rowlandson, and Cruikshank, thecartoon became an accepted part ofpolitical controversy.

It was this English tradition thatAmericans imitated. Over the years, asthe Clements Library collected Ameri ­can caricature, it collected Englishgraphic satire as well. During the 1950s,

the Librar y developed an outstandingbody of cartoons relating to the Ameri­can Revolution by English arti sts. In the1980s, the library began collecting thecaricatures of James Sayers and JamesGillray. Through the generosity ofDuane N. Diedrich , the Library has atine group of original Thom as Nastdrawings. Recently, a remarkabl eopportunity arose to acquire a largenumber of Jack sonian and Civil War eracartoons from a collection made at thetime these prin ts were issued. Today, theClements can provide researchers with abroad range of graphic satire.

The American caricatures presented

here, a sampling of our holdings, rangefrom rare colonial imprints to nineteenthcentury pulp magazin es, from fineengravings on single sheets to litho­graph s mass produced for the popularmarket; there are woodcuts, the staple ofweekly illustrated newspapers, and evenoriginal drawings. Together, they covernearly 175 years of Ameri can caricature,from the l760s to the 1930s, from PaulRevere to Gluyas Williams. They arepresented, not as art, but as evidence, asa mirror reflecting changes and continu­ity in American history.

Right: Gluyas Williams ' cartoons are synonymous with the early years of the The New Yorker . One of the original group ofartists hiredwhen the magazine was founded in i925, his elegant drawings and urbane wit projected exactly the right ima ge. American comic artwas transf ormed by The New Yorker. The mod ern cartoon - {l picture integra ted w ith. a capti on to clinch a joke - was created for itspages. Williams produced a series of "industrial Crises" drawings f or The New Yorker. Here multimillionaire IF. Morgan, to makeends meet after the 1929 Stock Market crash, resorts to lending out the Morgan Library 's priceless rare books and manuscripts topatrons for 4 cents a day.

Below: Rube Goldberg drew this caricature ofhimself in 1910 as his affectionate contribution to a fr iend's autograph book.

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T il E Q1JA ItTO PAG E 13

MARY DARLY, CARICATURIST

Mary Darly. a London print maker and etcher by trade , an ingenious arti st with a wicked wit. chang ed the face ofEngli sh politi cal print". A contemporary of Hogarth , she lacked his genius and skill, yet her caricatures . drawn, asshe advertised them, in the "O'Garthian Stile ," were striking. No less so was her con tribution to the art of graphicsatire.

Mary and her husband, Matt hew, were well known in the London publishing trade of the 1750s-1760s. Th eirshop in the Strand, oppos ite the sta lls of Hungerford Market, produced more politi cal prints than any of the othersscattered between 51. Paul' s Churchyard and Charin g Cross. Th e Darl ys were creative in marketing their politicalprints. Some they sold as single sheets, others were coll ected into small books. They were the first to print satireson small cards. a popular innovation, muc h like the modem picture postcard . The Darl ys thrived on political rancor.They had greeted George the Third 's new reign with a torrent of scurrilous attacks on Lord Bute , advisor to theyoung King and allegedly his moth er 's lover. Mary herself had designed and etched most of the print s they sold.

In December 1762, a notic e app eared for A Hook ofCaricatures on Sixty Copper-Plates. With the Principles ofDesigning, in that Droll and pleasing Manner: by M. Darly . It was the first attempt by an Eng lish arti st to set rulesfor caricature dra wing . Mary's text was two brief paragraph s. "Car icature is the burlesque of character, or anexaggeration of nature, when not very pleasing ." Drawing, she claimed, was excellent diversion for young lad iesand gentlemen, "Tis the most dive rting species of designing and will certainly keep those that practise it out of thehippo or Vapours,' that is, off the race track and free of melancho ly. Her rules were simple :

"Observe what sort of a line [onus the Phiz or Carrick, you wa nt to describe, wither its straight lined, Externa lycircular, intemaly circular, or Ogeed . Wh en you have found out the line, then take notice of the parts as to their

Bottom row, pages 14 and 15: Ma ry Darty's technique f or drawing "carricks" shown on the left, wa." adopted by James Saye rs to caricature English. politiciansWilliam Pitt, Lord North, and General Burgoyne (1789).

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situation, projection and sinking. then bycomparing your observations with the samples inthe book. delineate your Carrick giving it theproper touches till finished. Keep constantlypractising from this book till drawing in thismanner becomes familar & easy & is attendedwith pleasure."

The remainder of Mary Darly's small bookconsisted of plates illustrating her rules fordrawing "carricks," based on physiognomy ­the "science" of reading an individual' s characterfrom outward appearance. Her drawingsrevolutionized the style of English politicalprints. Rather than use emblems. symbols, oranimals, to represent public figures. artists beganto produce caricatures of public figures. JamesSayers. working in the 17805. was the first to useMary Darly's rules to develop a recognizable.easily repeated recipe for an individualpolitician's face. Gillray perfected the techniquea decade later.

Thanks to the generosity of our Associates.the Clements Library recently acquired a finecopy of Mary Darly's seminal book.

Figure s 1 and 2 (Right): Heads dra wn by MaryDarty to illustrate the technique of caricature.

Figure 6

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Figure 7

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T H E Q]JARTO PAGE IS

Above: James Gil/ray's masterpie ce, Doublures of Characters: or - Striking Resemblances in Phisiogmomy (1798) predicts the moral deterioration ofleading Whig politicians , including Charles James Fox (jig. 1) and playwright Richa rd Brinsle y Sheridan (jig. 2).

CALE N DAR OF EVE NTSApril In-Ju ne 30. Exhibit. America in/ 795: "The Preservation ofour Peace.Foreign and Domestic "

J\1a)' 2. Clement s Library Associates BoardMeeting. three o'clock in the afternoon, atthe Library.

May 6-7. 171h Annual Ann Arbor Antiquar­ian Book Fair. a benefit for the ClementsLibrary. at the Michigan Union , in theballroom, 2nd floor. Sat. May 6. 5:30-9:00.Sun . May 7. I I:00-5:00 . Admis sion S3.00.

May 19. Clements Library Duplicate Sale.closing date.

June 1, Clements Library Associate s SpringProgram, Lectu re, Declarations of Indepen­dence, Professor Pauline Maier, Massachu­setts Institute of Technology, at the Library,7:30 prn. reception following.

June 2~4. First Annual Conference of theInstitute of Early American History andCulture

July IO-September 8. Exhibit commemorat­ing the end of World War II.

ANN OUNCEMENTSConference on Ear ly American HistoryOn June 2-4 the First Annual Conference ofthe Institute of Early American History and

Culture. based in Williamsburg, Virginia , willtake place at the University of Michigan. Theaim of the Conference is to bring together seniorand younger scholars of early America (to about1815) in a forum for the rich and diverse rangeof work now being done in that acti ve andexciting field of study. Meeting rooms at thelop of the Rackham Building are the site ofthirty sessions scheduled for the three days.Friday through Sunday. while llie ClementsLibrary will host informal receptions Friday andSaturday evenings. Clements Library Associ­ates are welcome to attend the Conference. Forprogram information, please call the Library(313) 764-2347.

Clements Library Associates Sp ring ProgramProfessor Pauline Maier will speak on "Decla­rations of Independence" at the ClementsAssociates Spring program. June I. at 7:30 pm.A distinguished historian of the Colonial,Revolutionary, and Early National periods,Profe ssor Maier has been on the faculty of theMassachusetts Institute of Technology since1978. Her numerous publica tions have exploredthe nature of popular politics in early America;they include From Resistance to Revolution:Colonial Radicals and the Development ofAmerican Opposition to Britain: 1765-1776,and more recently. The Old Revolutionaries:Political Lives ill the Age of Samuel Adams.

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