Cartoons from "Puck", 1877-1893

A Selection of Cartoons from Puck

So careless has been the popular use of the words cartoonist and caricaturist, that to many minds they no doubt seem practically interchangeable. Yet, as a matter of fact, not only do the two titles imply two different functions of pictorial satiric art, but, although there is a school of that art for almost every one of the great races of civilized men, there is but one school that positively demands the union of these two factors in the work of its pupils. That school is the German school, and it is Mr. Joseph Keppler who, as an American cartoonist and caricaturist, has not only imposed its canons and traditions upon this country, but has, in so doing, placed himself at its head, both in this country and in Europe, by virtue of a genius that has made him eminent above the generation of his masters. The spirit of French comic art turns distinctlyand delightfullyto caricature. The French cartoonthe pictorial lampoon, that ishas but to exhibit in an exaggerated form the objectionable characteristics of an individual, to serve its purpose and to touch its public. It is the revelation of character, of purpose, of intellectual or moral scope which affects, apparently, the French mind, by nature rather observant than deductive. The Anglo-Saxon spirit, less quickly perceptive, more deliberately logical, asks something beyond this of the man who tries to reason with it in a picture. It must be approached by means of a fable, a parable, an allegory, something that will stand the test of argument and comparison. Caricature, or the significant exaggeration of physical characteristics, may or may not be an incident to this. Few of the English cartoonists, for instance, have been caricaturists of any account. The greatest of them all, John Tenniel, is a cartoonist pure and simplethat is, one who draws allegories or parables. In his delightful Alice in Wonderland work, he shows his power of caricature; but in his cartoons he is classically faithful to nature, save for just sufficient accentuation to point his satiric intent. And in the United States, up to twenty years ago, the prime idea of the cartoonist was simply to express in drawing a figure of speechand the more realistically the better. ......Buy Now (To Read More)

Product details

Ebook Number: 59604
Author: Keppler, Joseph Ferdinand
Release Date: May 25, 2019
Format: eBook
Language: English