caricature
Quick Summary
Caricature, in graphic arts, is a comically distorted drawing or likeness intended to satirize or ridicule its subject. The term originates from the Italian verb caricare, meaning "to load" or "to surcharge" with exaggerated detail. This art form often exaggerates a prominent feature of a person or substitutes animal features for human ones, with the face being a common departure point.12
While satirical deformations in sculpture and drama are ancient, graphic caricature as a distinct practice emerged during the Renaissance and Reformation, emphasizing the individual. Artists like Gian Lorenzo Bernini were skilled caricaturists, and the practice spread from Italy to Great Britain in the 18th century. Today, cartoons, which evolved from caricature, are primarily used for political commentary in newspapers and for social comedy in magazines.231
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Jacques Callot…also had a genius for caricature and the grotesque. His series of plates of single or dual figures—for example, the Balli di Sfessania (“Dance of Sfessania”), the Caprices of Various Figures, and the Hunchbacks—are witty and picturesque and show a rare eye for factual detail.
Read More…also had a genius for caricature and the grotesque. His series of plates of single or dual figures—for example, the Balli di Sfessania (“Dance of Sfessania”), the Caprices of Various Figures, and the Hunchbacks—are witty and picturesque and show a rare eye for factual detail.
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Honoré DaumierSatirical lithographs…a detail that made them caricatures, they constitute an unforgettable gallery of the politicians of the July monarchy. The complete series has not been preserved: it included a Louis-Philippe, which Daumier hid, and other pieces that were broken in moving. A few copies of the busts were cast in bronze…
Read More…a detail that made them caricatures, they constitute an unforgettable gallery of the politicians of the July monarchy. The complete series has not been preserved: it included a Louis-Philippe, which Daumier hid, and other pieces that were broken in moving. A few copies of the busts were cast in bronze…
Read More- Pier Leone Ghezzi
…and probably the first professional caricaturist.
Read More…and probably the first professional caricaturist.
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humorAggression and tensionA glance at the caricatures of the 18th-century English artists William Hogarth or Thomas Rowlandson, showing the brutal merriment of people in a tavern, makes one realize at once that they are working off their surplus of adrenalin by contracting their face muscles into grimaces, slapping their thighs, and…
Read MoreA glance at the caricatures of the 18th-century English artists William Hogarth or Thomas Rowlandson, showing the brutal merriment of people in a tavern, makes one realize at once that they are working off their surplus of adrenalin by contracting their face muscles into grimaces, slapping their thighs, and…
Read More- humorSituational humor
…mirror distorts mechanically while the caricaturist does so selectively, employing the same method as the satirist—exaggerating characteristic features and simplifying the rest. Like the satirist, the caricaturist reveals the absurd in the familiar; and, like the satirist, he must overshoot his mark. His malice is rendered harmless by the knowledge…
Read More…mirror distorts mechanically while the caricaturist does so selectively, employing the same method as the satirist—exaggerating characteristic features and simplifying the rest. Like the satirist, the caricaturist reveals the absurd in the familiar; and, like the satirist, he must overshoot his mark. His malice is rendered harmless by the knowledge…
Read More - satireVisual arts
In caricature and cartoons (and, specifically, the political cartoon), artists since the Renaissance have left a wealth of startlingly vivid commentary on the people and events of their time. These artists include: in England, William Hogarth, Thomas Rowlandson, Sir John Tenniel, and Sir Max Beerbohm;
Read MoreIn caricature and cartoons (and, specifically, the political cartoon), artists since the Renaissance have left a wealth of startlingly vivid commentary on the people and events of their time. These artists include: in England, William Hogarth, Thomas Rowlandson, Sir John Tenniel, and Sir Max Beerbohm;
Read More