Funny how cartoons still have bite
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Curator Anita O’Brien says that cartoons have been part of “a mass market” for centuries. Even before mass reproduction, pictorial satire - an invention of the 18th-century artist William Hogarth, who first distilled profound social criticism into witty engravings, was a popular form of entertainment. “In the 19th century, print shops would hire cartoons to people for a couple of days, rather like we hire DVDs,” she says. “They were incredibly dense, with references that audiences would enjoy unravelling.”
The social power of cartoons peaked, arguably, during the first half of the 20th century. David Low, the best-known political cartoonist during the Second World War, received a letter from the War Office in 1939, asking his advice on how best to undermine Nazi propaganda. “Ridicule,” was his reply – and his famous representations of Hitler in his distinctive black brushwork earned him a top spot on the Fuhrer’s most-wanted-dead list.
But what space is left for cartoonists in our digitally obsessed culture? “Pictorial satire is so ingrained in our culture that people often don’t realise what a huge part of their lives it is,” says O’Brien, “not just in comics and newspapers, but also animations, games, advertising, greetings cards, even film”.
The social power of cartoons peaked, arguably, during the first half of the 20th century. David Low, the best-known political cartoonist during the Second World War, received a letter from the War Office in 1939, asking his advice on how best to undermine Nazi propaganda. “Ridicule,” was his reply – and his famous representations of Hitler in his distinctive black brushwork earned him a top spot on the Fuhrer’s most-wanted-dead list.
But what space is left for cartoonists in our digitally obsessed culture? “Pictorial satire is so ingrained in our culture that people often don’t realise what a huge part of their lives it is,” says O’Brien, “not just in comics and newspapers, but also animations, games, advertising, greetings cards, even film”.
