According to Britannica.com, political cartoons have been identified as drawings made to convey editorial commentary on politics, politicians, and current events. Cartoonists will use metaphors and caricatures with humorous or emotional pictures to address complicated political situations. There are 5 elements to the cartoons: symbols, exaggeration, irony, labeling, and analogy. Political cartoons began in 1720 with the collapse of the South Sea Company. This sparked the inspiration for cartooning political events that were occurring during the time.
Throughout the years there have been many well-known political cartoonists. Starting with the early origins of politician and editorial cartooning public figure Willaim Hograth (1697-1764) was a well-known enlight painter. His pictures consolidated social criticism with a heavy moralizing element that targeted the corruption of early 18th-century British politics. One of his “Modern Morale Series” engravings, A Harlot’s ProgressI, was published in 1732. It consisted of 6 paints that showed the unfortunate downfall of the likable Moll Hackabout from a pretty young ingénue to a prostitute after she arrived in London.
In this specific image, Moll Hack about arrives in London and meets Mother Needham a well-known procuress
One of the founding fathers, Ben Franklin (1706-1790) was another public figure who created political cartoons. His most famous one was titled “Join, or Die” which was the first American newspaper cartoon in 1754. This cartoon represents the eight colonies as the snake which is divided into 8 pieces. This image reappears in every conflict through the Revolutionary War
George Townshend (1724-1807) was the captain of the 1st Marquess Townshend had created some of the first openly political cartoons of his commander James Wolfe among the troops. No mercy to captives Before Qubeck of 1759
This cartoon was one of many created by Townshend proceeding the British Conquest of 1759. Townshend saw General Wolfe, a British officer as a weak leader and an arriviste. Townshend stated him to be a “fiery-headed follow fit only for fighting”. In most of his cartoons like this one here he would talk down on him and how he sees him as a leader.
James Gillary (1756-1815) was considered the father of political cartooning. He directed his satires against Britain's King George III, portraying him as a clown as well as cartoons representing Napoleon and the French people during the French Revolution. He became an extremely popular cartoonist for his intelligence, absurdity, and talented artistic ability.
This cartoon created by Gillary published on October 20th, 1796 was titled, “Promis’d Horrors of the French Invasion - or - Forcible Reasons for Negotiating a Regicide Peace”. In this image British politician Charles James Fox wacks Prime Minister Willaim Pitt the Younger while the head of future Prime Minister George Canning hangs on a pole
George Cruikshank (1792- 1878), another famous cartoonist, grew up in a family of caricaturists and artists where he learned techniques of etching, sketching, and watercolor
His success began in 1811 when he drew a series of political caricatures for The Scrounge, a Monthly Expositor of Imposture and Folly. His style, similar to Gillarays, consisted of mocking British political parties and the prince.
In this cartoon, the French revolution is symbolized as a huge monster who scares away multiple “heads of the nation”. This creature is wearing a red bonnet on its head which is a symbol of the French revolutionaries and the monster is also half guillotine symbolizing the numerous executions spawned by the new French revolutionary regime.
Many humorous magazines were started in France and Britain with the most famous one being Punch. This magazine was founded in 1841 by journalist Henry Mayhew and engraver Ebenezer Landells. Shortly after the beginning of this magazine the term “cartoon” was introduced to the magazine in 1843 as comic drawings. This weekly publication was known for its intelligence and ridicule. John Tenniel (1820-1914), was achieved cartoonist for Punch. He was the most creative and influential cartoonist of the 1850s and the 1860s. Many would say he perfected the “art of physical caricature and representation”
In this illustration here Tenniel illustrated, Lincoln and Jefferson Davis who were often portrayed together. Here, Davis is drawn as a Confederate general.
Other cartoonists represented by Punch magazine included John Leech, George du Maurier, and Charles Keene. Major political newspapers in many countries began to feature cartoons designed to express the publisher's opinions of politics that day by the mid-19th century.
A quite recognizable cartoonist was Thomas Nast (1840-1902) who landed an illustration job at Harper’s Weekly where he criticized the major political issues of his era. This included slavery, the Civil War, Reconstruction, and corruption. His most famous cartoons were those that drew attention to the criminal activities of Willaima Marcy “Boss” Tweed’s political machine in New York City. This led to Tweed fleeing the country to avoid prosecution
Nast was responsible for the association of the donkey and elephant in the republican and democratic party cartoons. This has become a viral cartoon that others use and creates new visions of today. The Democratic party being represented as the donkey and the Republican party as the elephants.
Rube Goldberg (1883- 1970) was an editorial cartoonist for The New York Sun in 1938. One of his most popular political cartoons that used strong visual metaphors titled Peace Today, published on July 22, 1947, won the Pulitzer Prize.
This cartoon of a dangerous poised atomic bomb was created during the cold war that captured many of the anxieties people had felt during that period.
Garry Trudeau (1948-present) is a well-known political cartoonist who tells linear stories typically in comic strip format. He won the Pulitzer Prize for his cartoons titled Doonesbury. These comic strips have become very popular and appear in The Washington Post. These cartoons initialize political and current topics going on in the world today.
Now, political cartoons can be found almost everywhere in newspapers or comic strip pages. These cartoonists will use metaphors and caricatures with humorous or emotional pictures to address complicated political situations going on in the world. Today you can find these political cartoons in almost every newspaper and all over the Internet. A super cool website that has a lot of cartoons from these political cartoonists is listed below. With the search for a name, you can learn about the political cartoonist and can see a variety of their published cartoons!
https://www.lambiek.net/comiclopedia/artist-compendium.html
