Caricature
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A common caricature of Charles Darwin focuses on his beard, eyebrows, and baldness, while often giving him the features of an ape or monkey. |
A
caricature is a
portrait that exaggerates or distorts the basic essence of a person or thing to create an easily identifiable visual likeness. The word is often mispronounced as "character" or "characterture." It is also often mistaken for
Portraiture, neither of which has any remote connection to the art of
Caricature. Caricatures can be insulting or complimentary and can serve a political purpose or be drawn solely for entertainment. Caricatures of politicians are commonly used in
editorial cartoons, while caricatures of movie stars are often found in entertainment
magazines.
An early definition of the origins of 'caricature', an Italian word meaning 'to load', occurs in the English doctor
Sir Thomas Browne's
Christian Morals (first pub.1716).
Expose not thy self by four-footed manners unto monstrous draughts, and Caricatura representations.with the footnote â€"
When Men's faces are drawn with resemblance to some other Animals, the Italians call it, to be drawn in CaricaturaThus, the word "caricature" essentially means a "loaded portrait". According to caricature teacher
Sam Viviano, who stressed this definition of the term in the classes he taught at the
School of Visual Arts in
New York City, the term refers only to depictions of real-life people, and not to cartoon fabrications of fictional characters, which do not possess objective sets of
physiognomic features to draw upon for reference, or to
anthropomorphic depictions of
inanimate objects such as
automobiles or coffee mugs.According to
Kerala cartoonist
S.Jithesh cartoon is the satirical illustration of an idea. But caricature is different from a cartoon. Caricature is the satirical illustration of a person-
S.Jithesh says.=History==
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Ancient Pompeiian graffiti caricature of a politician. |
Some of the earliest caricatures are found in the works of
Leonardo da Vinci, who actively sought people with deformities to use as models.
The inventor of caricature as an independent art form was, according to seventeenth century sources, the Bolognese history painter,
Annibale Carracci. A writer calling himself Mosini recorded Annibale's 'theory' of caricature as being the ultimate antithesis of beauty: 'una bella... perfetta deformità .' Like beauty in art, Annibale held, it was based on selection and synthesis. The artist was to devise it, in a playful spirit like that of
Nature, whenever She offered him suitable models. The point was to offer an impression of the original which was more striking than a portrait.
Gianlorenzo Bernini (1598-1680), one of the great early practitioners, was favored by the members of the papal court for his ability to depict the essence of a person in 'three or four strokes.'(In fact, the word caricature comes from the Italian
caricare, "to load," i.e., the caricaturist's aim is to invest his image with as much meaning as possible.)
Caricature, therefore, experienced its first successes in the closed aristocratic circles of France and Italy, where the such portraits could be passed about for mutual enjoyment.
This aura of privilege (for both those depicted and those viewing the caricature) passed on to
England during the middle of the 18th century, when caricature enjoyed its first wave of popularity there. The first book on caricature drawing to be published in England was Mary Darly's
A Book of Caricaturas (c. 1762). Probably the greatest practitioner of the art of caricature in 18th-century Britain was
James Gillray(1757-1815). See the Tate Gallery's exhibit
James Gillray: The Art of CaricatureThe art form gained further popularity in the early
19th century, when satirical drawings of politicians and local celebrities would be printed in
newspapers. Caricatures would often be less than warmly received by their powerful targets, and for many years the art form was one of anonymous mischief.
In the years after
World War I the art form experienced a
renaissance in the
United States, and in some magazines caricatures became more common and in higher demand than actual photographs. A new wave of artists like
Al Hirschfeld and
Miguel Covarrubias showed that caricatures could be fun, colorful, and graceful, and not always the crude, vicious insults found on the editorial page. In the UK
Punch magazine kept the tradition alive through the 1950 to 1980 period. The cartoonist
Steve Bell maintained the tradition thereafter to great effect. The
puppet show
Spitting Image on British television during the
1980s brought an awareness of caricature to a new generation, combining rod-operated puppets with accurate vocal impressions. Politicians, media stars and sporting celebrities remained the main targets and the grey finish of a much used
John Major puppet played a very significant role in establishing his unadventurous public image in the UK.
Today, the art of caricature is still around, though nowhere near as prevalent as the "Golden Age" of the 20's and 30's. In recent years there has been a rise of amateur "On-the-spot Caricaturists" who can be found on street corners or fairs and will draw a quick sketch of anyone willing to pay their fee.
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MONSTROUS CRAWS, at a New Coalition Feast
by James Gillray
Copperplate engraving published May 29, 1787
The King, Queen, and Prince of Wales sit around a bowl of guineas and ladle coins into their mouths. |
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Characters & Caricaturas
by William Hogarth
Copperplate engraving published April 1743
Hogarth uses his own drawings along with works by Raphael, Caracci and Da Vinci to demonstrate the difference between "character" and "caricature." |
See list of caricaturists. [[Image:1841 december 280.jpg|thumb¦¦left|
DECEMBER - A Swallow at Christmas (Rara avis in terris)by George Cruikshank
Copperplate engraving published in The Comic Almanack for 1841]]
George Cruikshank (1792-1878, British) created political prints in the 1790s that attacked the royal family and leading politicians (in 1820 he received a royal bribe of £100 for a pledge
"not to caricature His Majesty (
George III of the United Kingdom)
in any immoral situation ." He went on to create social caricatures of British life for popular publications such as
The Comic Almanack (1835-1853) and
Omnibus (1842). Eventually earned fame as a book illustrator for
Charles Dickens and many other authors.
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Une discussion littéraire à la deuxième Galerie
by Honoré Daumier
Lithograph published in Le Charivari newspaper, February 27, 1864 |
Honoré Daumier (1808-1879, French) is considered by some to be the father of caricature. During his life, he created over 4,000 lithographs, most of them caricatures on political, social and everyday themes. They were published in the daily French newspapers (
Le Charivari, La Caricature etc.)
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A Group of Vultures Waiting for the Storm to "Blow Over"--"Let Us Prey."
by Thomas Nast
Wood engraving published in Harper's Weekly newspaper, September 23, 1871 |
Thomas Nast (1840-1902, American) was a famous caricaturist and editorial cartoonist in the 19th century and is considered by some to be the father of American political cartooning. He is often credited with creating the definitive caricatures of the Democratic Donkey, the Republican Elephant and Santa Claus.
Al Hirschfeld (1903 â€" 2003, American) was best known for his simple black and white renditions of celebrities and
Broadway stars which utilized flowing contour lines over heavy rendering. He was also known for depicting a variety of other famous people, from politicians musicians, singers and even television stars like the cast of
Star Trek: The Next Generation. He has was even commissioned by the
United States Postal Service to provide art for U.S. stamps. Permanent collections of Hirschfeld's work appear at the
Metropolitan Museum of Art and the
Museum of Modern Art in New York, and he boasts a star on the
St. Louis Walk of Fame.
Mort Drucker (1929 - , American) Drucker joined
Mad magazine in 1957 and has become well known (and revered by some) for his brilliant parodies of
movies and
television shows. He manages to combine a
comic strip style with consistent photographic likenesses of film and TV stars panel after panel. He has also contributed covers to
Time magazine. He has been recognized for his work with the
National Cartoonist Society Special Features Award for 1985, 1986, 1987, and 1988, and their
Reuben Award for 1987.
Robert Risko (1946 â€" , American) is known for his
retro airbrush style. His work has appeared in
Rolling Stone,
Playboy,
Vanity Fair,
Esquire, and
Interview.
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Self portrait by David Levine. |
David Levine (1926 â€" , American) is noted for his caricatures in the
The New York Review of Books and
Playboy magazine.. His first cartoons appeared in
1963. Since then he has drawn hundreds of pen-and-ink caricatures of famous writers and politicians for the newspaper.
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Cover to MAD #223 (June 1980), Viviano's first cover work. |
Sam Viviano (1953 â€" , American) has done much work for corporations and in advertising, having contributed to
Rolling Stone Family Weekly,
Reader's Digest,
Consumer Reports, and
Mad, of which he is currently the
Art director. Viviano's caricatures are known for their wide jaws, which Viviano has explained is a result of his incorporation of side views as well as front views into his distortions of the human face. He has also developed a reputation for his ability to do crowd scenes. Explaining his twice-yearly covers for
Institutional Investor magazine, Viviano has said that his upper limit is sixty caricatures in nine days.
Sebastian Kruger (1963 â€" ,
German) is known for his grotesque, yet
hyper-realistic distortions of the facial features of celebrities, which he renders primarily in
acrylic paint, and for which he has won praise from
The Times. He is well known for his lifelike depictions of
The Rolling Stones, in particular,
Keith Richards. Kruger has published three collections of his works, and has a yearly art calendar from Morpheus International. Kruger's art can be seen frequently in
Playboy magazine and has also been featured in the likes of
Stern,
L'Espresso,
Penthouse, and
Der Spiegel and
USA Today. He has recently been working on select motion picture projects.
Hermann Mejia (
Venezuelan) is known for his frequent work for
MAD Magazine. Mejia uses multiple techniques for his work, sometimes rendering his illustrations in black & white ink and copious amounts of
cross-hatching, sometimes using
watercolor, and sometimes combinations of both.
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Cartoon*
Satire*
Physiognomy*
ZoomorphismThe Complete Book of Caricature by Bob Staake
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Honoré Daumier site with a list of exhibitions and bibliography.
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caricatures Create caricatures from your photo
