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The political cartoonist distills complicated worldly events into a serious –
or sometimes humorous – panel drawing which in one brief glance helps a reader
better understand the situation. Political cartoons can be so potent, in fact, that
a century-plus ago the powerful political boss of New York City (Boss Tweed) ordered
his cronies to “stop them damn pictures!” He knew the immigrant population
could not read well, but they could easily figure out what was going on from seeing
cartoons.
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The political cartoonist involved was Thomas Nast whose artwork in “Harper’s
Weekly” satirized society and pompous politicians for a generation. (The relentlessness
of Nast’s cartoon campaign ultimately sent Tweed to prison.) From the first
political cartoon to appear in a colonial newspaper drawn by Benjamin Franklin in
1754 (a severed serpent – the nation – needing to “Join, or Die”)
to contemporary cartoons by Pat Oliphant, Jim Borgman, and Herblock, editorial cartoonists
still offer an insight to readers that continually reinforces the maxim “a
picture is worth a thousand words” day after day.
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Symbolism is the shorthand in the political cartoonist’s arsenal. The Republican
elephant and Democratic donkey (both attributed to Nast), Uncle Sam and the Bald
Eagle, John Q. Public, Mr. Atom (bomb), among others, are the language used by the
cartoonist on his storyboard. Contemporary cartoons tend to hit their mark more
often than not using humor rather than the traditional jugular approach, but nonetheless,
both kinds of cartoons have a common – and often successful – effect.
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Original political cartoons are more rare than comic cartoons. Many editorial cartoonists
reserve a career’s output of originals for a museum or university (the entire
collection of Hugh Haynie – “Louisville Courier-Journal” – rests
at his alma mater, The College of William and Mary here in Williamsburg). However,
some originals of most cartoonists do find their way to public ownership. The Art-cade
offers a unique selection of original political cartoons, each capturing a moment
of history while being a work of art.
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