THE SUNDAY ITEMS team are in Blognor Regis (a.k.a. Bristol) for the annual staff beano, so normal service is suspended, but here's one we prepared earlier:
THE CARTOON : Leonardo to Steve Bell
LEONARDO'S CARTOON
not at all funny, nor meant to be; cartoon was the name given to a preparatory stage in the process of creating the final painting of The Virgin and Child with St Anne and St John the Baptist.
WILLIAM HOGARTH (18TH CENTURY)
A pioneer of satire and social commentary; in this work he depicts the appalling consequences of alcoholism amongst the population of London.
('Gin Street' 1751)
JAMES GILLRAY (18-19TH CENTURY)
Gillray was the leading social satirist and etcher and printmaker of the 18th century. Gillray has been called "the father of the political cartoon", with his works satirizing George III, prime ministers and generals.
PUNCH (Edwardian)
Thurber was a noted member of the Algonquin Club, a salon of literary, artistic, and journalistic wits who met every week at the Algonquin Hotel in New York to argue and amuse each other. He wrote and drew for the New Yorker, and others, producing his elegantly simple cartoons until his sight failed. Another member of the club, Robert Benchley was the person who famously telegraphed the New Yorker from his holiday in Venice with the words "Streets full of water. Please advise." Dorothy Parker was also in the Club, so to speak.
Feiffer was a cogent social critic known for his 'comic strip' cartoons, frequently published in the Observer. Somewhere in my papers I have a copy of his strip showing the transitions in terminology for black people in America from Black, through Nigger, Negro, Colored, Afro American, and back to Black. Published around 1968 at the time of the American Olympic athletes' Black Power podium salutes, without comment.
Feiffer was a wry and measured social critic - though also corruscating when necessary - focused as much on the neuroses and obsessions of individuals as wider social issues, but his contributions to the campaign against Richard Nixon were very influential in the Watergate affair.
R.Crumb (as he was known) was an icon of 60s sexual liberation and radicalism. His cartoons were technically brilliant, often obscene and frequently sexist viewed from now. At the time they were also very funny. Anarchic and irresponsible, he was the Hunter S Thompson of the cartoon world.
THE NEW YORKER
The home of the American cartoon. It is almost impossible to select a representative image from this treasure trove of graphic art and humour, but these two topical items will have to do.
GILES
Giles' cartoons were a beacon of wit and masterly graphic art in the otherwise execrable Daily and Sunday Express, from 1943 to 1991. His cartoons were gentle and observational, and hugely popular beyond the newspapers they graced. As a war correspondent he was present at the liberation of Belsen, interviewed the Commandant and found him, unwillingly, to be likeable and a fan of his catoons. He gave Giles a pistol and some Nazi regalia in exchange for an original cartoon. The deal was never completed because he was hanged. This demonstrates one of the problems with undue optimism.
STEVE BELL
His cartoons for the Guardian are frequently masterpieces of acid social commentary. He may well go down in history as one of the greatest satirical cartoonists of all.
MISCELLANY
A selection of cartoons from the last year or so illustrating the diversity of styles and subject matter now produced across the humour spectrum.
AND FINALLY.........
not at all funny, nor meant to be; cartoon was the name given to a preparatory stage in the process of creating the final painting of The Virgin and Child with St Anne and St John the Baptist.
WILLIAM HOGARTH (18TH CENTURY)
A pioneer of satire and social commentary; in this work he depicts the appalling consequences of alcoholism amongst the population of London.
('Gin Street' 1751)
JAMES GILLRAY (18-19TH CENTURY)
PUNCH (Edwardian)
JAMES THURBER (AMERICA 1930s, 1940s)
Thurber was a noted member of the Algonquin Club, a salon of literary, artistic, and journalistic wits who met every week at the Algonquin Hotel in New York to argue and amuse each other. He wrote and drew for the New Yorker, and others, producing his elegantly simple cartoons until his sight failed. Another member of the club, Robert Benchley was the person who famously telegraphed the New Yorker from his holiday in Venice with the words "Streets full of water. Please advise." Dorothy Parker was also in the Club, so to speak.
JULES FEIFFER (American Jewish) 1960s - 90s
Feiffer was a cogent social critic known for his 'comic strip' cartoons, frequently published in the Observer. Somewhere in my papers I have a copy of his strip showing the transitions in terminology for black people in America from Black, through Nigger, Negro, Colored, Afro American, and back to Black. Published around 1968 at the time of the American Olympic athletes' Black Power podium salutes, without comment.
Feiffer was a wry and measured social critic - though also corruscating when necessary - focused as much on the neuroses and obsessions of individuals as wider social issues, but his contributions to the campaign against Richard Nixon were very influential in the Watergate affair.
ROBERT CRUMB (1960s - )
R.Crumb (as he was known) was an icon of 60s sexual liberation and radicalism. His cartoons were technically brilliant, often obscene and frequently sexist viewed from now. At the time they were also very funny. Anarchic and irresponsible, he was the Hunter S Thompson of the cartoon world.
THE NEW YORKER
The home of the American cartoon. It is almost impossible to select a representative image from this treasure trove of graphic art and humour, but these two topical items will have to do.
GILES
Giles' cartoons were a beacon of wit and masterly graphic art in the otherwise execrable Daily and Sunday Express, from 1943 to 1991. His cartoons were gentle and observational, and hugely popular beyond the newspapers they graced. As a war correspondent he was present at the liberation of Belsen, interviewed the Commandant and found him, unwillingly, to be likeable and a fan of his catoons. He gave Giles a pistol and some Nazi regalia in exchange for an original cartoon. The deal was never completed because he was hanged. This demonstrates one of the problems with undue optimism.
 |
| Caption reads: "Three months in Northern Ireland, 11 weeks Falklands, now report for crowd control duties outside St. Mary's Hospital" (birth of Prince William) |
STEVE BELL
His cartoons for the Guardian are frequently masterpieces of acid social commentary. He may well go down in history as one of the greatest satirical cartoonists of all.
MISCELLANY
A selection of cartoons from the last year or so illustrating the diversity of styles and subject matter now produced across the humour spectrum.
AND FINALLY.........
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