ArtPage on Caricature

caricature - A representation in which the subject's distinctive features or peculiarities are deliberately exaggerated to produce a comic or grotesque effect. Also, the art of making such representations.

Caricature is most common in drawings and editorial cartoons, but Honoré Daumier (French, 1808-1879) made several sculptural examples.

(pr. ca"ri-kuh-chuhr')

Examples:

William Hogarth (English, 1697-1794), Over 100 faces, illustrating the infinite variety of expression, 1743, etching on paper, height 24 cm. See expression.

Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (Spanish, 1746-1828), It's Your Saint's Day (Es el Dia de su Santo), 1796, brush and gray wash, 0.235 x 0.146 m, Louvre.

James Gillray (English, 1756-1815).

Léopold Boilly (French, 1761-1845), Grimacing Man (Self-Portrait), c. 1822-23, conté crayons on paper, collection of Karen B. Cohen. See expression, French art., Neoclassicism, and self-portrait.

Charles Philipon (French, 1800-1862), La Métamorphose du roi Louis-Philippe en poire (The Metamorphosis of King Louis-Philippe into a Pear), c. 1831, pen and bister-ink drawing, Bibliotheque Nationale de France, Paris.

See these sketches as they were redrawn for publication in Charivari in 1834.

The set of four stages of a metamorphosis begins with an accurate portrait of King Louis-Philippe (1830-1848) whose face Philipon gradually transformed into a pear. The pear immediately was taken as a symbol of the soft, overweight king. Louis-Philippe, the so-called "Citizen King" was a favorite target of republican caricaturists, including Honoré Daumier, until censorship was reinstated in September 1835.

Honoré Daumier (French, 1808-1879), François-Pierre-Guillaume Guizot, 1831, terra cruda (unfired clay) bust painted with oil, 22 x 17 cm, Musée d'Orsay, Paris.

Compare Daumier's caricature to a photo of Guizot.

Honoré Daumier, Charles Philipon (1800-1861), Journalist and Director of the Magazines Caricature and Charivari, c.1833, terra cruda (unfired clay) bust painted with oil, Musée d'Orsay, Paris, France. See many more of Daumier's clay caricatures at ABC Gallery.

Harry Furniss (English), Gladstone (1809-1898), the British political leader who served as prime minister four times between 1868 and 1894.

Thomas Nast (American , 1840-1902)

Sir Max Beerbohm (English, 1872-1956), from "Rossetti and his Friends", Ford Madox Brown being Patronized by Holman Hunt, 1916, pencil and watercolor on paper, 32.6 x 39.7 cm, Tate Gallery, London. Ford and Brown were painters associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood.

Sir Max Beerbohm, from "Rossetti and his Friends", The Name of Dante Gabriel Rossetti is Heard for the First Time in the Western States of America, 1916, pencil and watercolor on paper, 40.0 x 36.8 cm, Tate Gallery, London. Oscar Wilde is portrayed holding a lily as he speaks to an audience in the American West. See aestheticism and fin de siècle.

Samuel Klemke (American, 1957-), Crunchy Water Festival, a catastrophic road tale, parts 1 [164 k], 2 [108 k], 3 [108 k], 4 [344 k], 1998, pencil?, collection of the artist. Sam Klemke is one of the great nomadic caricaturists -- an artist who sets up his easel amidst a display of his work at one festival or fair after another. Crunchy Water Festival is in autobiographical narrative about a bad day on the job. See Klemke's site.

Samuel Klemke, Gil, parts 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 1998, pencil?, collection of the artist. Gil is a fond remembrance of an old friend and fellow caricaturist. These two works by Sam Klemke appear here exclusively.

The National Caricaturist Network (NCN) is an international non-profit organization. The NCN promotes the art of caricature, educates the public and its members about the art form and profession, and helps its members to network with one another. It also produces a newsletter for members, and an annual convention for social, educational, and competitive activities. Among the organization's 300+ members are Mad Magazine artists Sergio Aragonés, Jack Davis, and Mort Drucker.
Make Your Own Caricatures. Use Goo and other software to distort photos of George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, the Democratic Party's Donkey, and the Republican Party's Elephant.

Also see expression and expressionism.