CARICATURE AND CARICATURISTS. A tendency to burlesque and caricature is a feeling deeply implanted in human nature and it is one of the earliest talents displayed by people in a rude state of society. An appreciation of, and sensitiveness to, ridicule, and a love of that which is humorous, are found even among savages, and enter largely into their relations with their fellow-men. When, before people cultivated either literature or art, the chieftain sat in his rude hall surrounded by his warriors, they amused themselves by turning their enemies and opponents into mockery. They laughed at their weaknesses, joked at their defects, whether physical or mental, and gave them nicknames in accordance therewith, — in fact, caricatured them in words, or by telling stories which were calculated to excite laughter. When the agricultural slaves were indulged with a holiday from their labors, they spent it in unrestrained mirth. And when these same people began to erect permanent buildings, and to ornament them, the favorite subjects of their ornamentation were such as presented ludicrous ideas. The warrior, too, who caricatured his enemy in his speeches over the festive board, soon sought to give a more permanent form
to his ridicule, which he endeavored to do by
rude delineations on the bare rock or on any
other convenient surface which presented itself
to his hand. Thus originated caricature and
the grotesque in art. In fact, art itself, in its
earliest forms, is caricature; for it is only by
that exaggeration of feature which belongs to
caricature that unskilful draughtsmen could
make themselves understood. The field of the
history of comic, satiric literature and art is
very large, and many nations, ancient and modern, Egypt, Greece, Rome, India, pagan and Christian are represented. During the period of transition from antiquity to the Middle Ages, the Roman mimi continued to exist, and the evolution of the religious and secular caricature of the period and of the caricatures preceding the Reformation was associated with the mimi performers who sung songs and told stories, accompanied with dancing and music, an ever-popular form of amusement. In the 4th century Saint Augustine calls these performances nefaria, — detestable things — and says, that they were performed at night. The songs as they are called continued to consist not only of general, but of personal, satire and contained scandalous stories frequently accompanied by rough illustration or caricature, of persons living and well known to those who heard and saw them. The Reformation and Puritan periods furnish many amusing and historically illuminative specimens of caricature, domestic and political, as represented in the Flemish school of Breughel, the Italian school of Salvator Rosa and the French school of Callot of the 16th century. The commanding figure of the 17th century in caricature is William Hogarth, the Englishman, whose new style of design raised him to a degree of fame as an artist few men have ever attained. A little known fact is that Benjamin Franklin, the friend of Hogarth, to whom the dying artist wrote his last letter, also was a capital caricaturist, and used his skill in this way as he did all his other gifts and powers in behalf of his country and his kind. James Gillray was the prominent figure in English caricature in the latter half of the 18th century, Gavarini in France; George Cruikshank and John Leech in England were the noted caricaturists of the early part of the 18th century. The two great cartoonists of recent times have been Sir John Tenniel and Thomas Nast, the former being to all Europe what the latter was to all America, and in connection with these two can be said all that need be said of caricaturists of our time. True, Nast was practically alone in his field, and he did not work as long as did Tenniel, still, to judge him at his best, though the period was comparatively short, he stood high as a picture-maker of that class. Nast was as brave as his subject, Tweed, the New York city boss, was crooked, and the two furnished the best series of caricatures by far that have ever been seen in this, or, it might be said, in any other country. Nast however, was not the draughtsman that Tenniel was, but what he lacked in artistic finish he made up in power and force of expression.
Since the day of Tenniel and Nast, caricaturing seems to have fallen into less virile hands. Tenniel and Nast each drew a caricature once a week, while now caricaturists
