What caricatures were drawn by the ancient Egyptians, Leonardo da Vinci and what is ridiculed today

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Caricature is a way to make fun of a person or phenomenon by exaggerating, sharpening and generally distorting its certain features and characteristics. At first glance, it is strange to consider caricature as one of the genres of art, given its accessibility and ease of perception by the viewer. Nevertheless, this form of development of graphics and painting accompanied many centuries of the existence of human society, reflecting the very essence of the attitude of contemporaries to reality, while managing to bypass restrictions and prohibitions that are indispensable for cartoonists. This means that a look at the phenomenon of caricature deserves close attention.

Antiquity cartoons

Ridicule, humiliation, debunking of myths are the main goals that have been pursued by cartoonists at all times. The object of ridicule was often the mighty of this world, for example, Ancient Egypt left behind a number of images of officials, which can be considered caricatured. Pharaoh, as a rule, was not laughed at - because of his "divine" nature.

The ancient Greeks, being much more free in their thoughts, used the possibilities of pictures with might and main - when painting amphorae and other types of pottery, artists often depicted in a satirical spirit both politicians and simply eminent townspeople, and the gods of Olympus, taking into account, however, the risk of incurring on themselves their anger.

But under the Roman emperors, ridicule was encouraged only for the enemies of the imperial power - representatives of barbarian tribes, who were depicted as deliberately shaggy, dressed in animal skins. Many ancient caricatures were created with a pronounced erotic overtones, such as the frescoes on the walls of houses in the ruined city of Pompeii.

Renaissance cartoons

The emergence of cartoons of the new era is associated with the name of Leonardo da Vinci. He created "Five Grotesque Heads" - images of human faces with obvious distortions of their characteristic features in the direction of increasing expressiveness.

The revival opened the way for this new genre of graphics - caricature - not only because artists began to more often turn to "human" subjects in the visual arts, but also thanks to new technologies that made it possible to create engravings that were accessible and understandable to most viewers. Pictures began to be made on "boards" from different materials (wood, copper, stone), then to make prints on paper, which became widespread in Europe with the beginning of printing in the 15th century. Among the painters who ridiculed insincere, excessive religiosity on their canvases was, in particular, Annibale Carracci, an artist from Bologna, who, by the way, is credited with creating the very term "caricature".

In the technique of engraving, as well as its varieties - etching, famous master painters, such as Lucas Cranach, Pieter Bruegel Sr., who touched upon acute social topics in their work, also worked. the forerunner of surrealism, however, the interpretation of the plots depicted in his paintings is still controversial.

The heyday of the caricature genre

The Renaissance, followed by the Reformation, opened the way for many creators in the genre of cartoons. Most often, the drawings distributed on "funny sheets" ridiculed government officials and representatives of the religious elite, the mores of society, outdated or, conversely, overly progressive phenomena of social and cultural life.

Politicians knew the power of such propaganda - and therefore very often dictators had to declare a real war on cartoonists. History mentions the extreme dislike of the Emperor Napoleon for the authors of the drawings that made fun of him. It was so strong that General Kutuzov opened a special printing house for the reproduction of cartoons of Bonaparte.

The caricature made it possible to carry out propaganda among ordinary people, even without literacy, it was publicly available and, due to its ironic nature, was extremely popular. Therefore, the genre of caricature was popular among artists from all over Europe, spreading over time to the lands of the New World.

In a series of Italians who glorified caricatures - and Pierre-Leone Ghezzi, who created in the 18th century, was able, despite the strong distortion of the traits of his characters on paper, to convey their resemblance to real prototypes. English politicians and the ruling dynasty were ridiculed by cartoonist James Gilray, who later switched to the image French and social satire in their works.

The 19th century marked the flourishing of caricature in post-revolutionary France. In Paris even appeared the magazine "Caricature", founded by the artist and journalist Charles Philippe. Philippe became famous thanks to the images of the King of France Louis-Philippe, whose face he replaced with a pear - the similarity was noticed so well that the drawing did not require any additional details to direct the viewer to the thought of his majesty. The censorship, of course, nevertheless paid off the cartoonist, imposing heavy fines on him for insulting the king, but Philipon's popularity among the common public was incredibly high.

Philipon's name often appeared under the caricatures of Honore Daumier, who worked for the same magazine and gained a reputation as the greatest master of political satire of his time. To protect himself from the persecution of censorship, Daumier created fictional collective images and used them in his drawings. C. Baudelaire recognized Daumier as those who "made caricature a genre of serious art."

Nevertheless, despite the general tendency towards progressiveness in public life, in some ways the French cartoonists showed themselves as retrogrades. For example, the first exhibition of the Impressionists was accompanied by an avalanche of ridicule and satirical assessments of the activities of innovative artists.

With the twentieth century, caricature entered a new period of its development, and became an instrument of political struggle not only of individuals and their communities, but also of entire states. However, among these examples of fine art, there are talented and already classic works. These are, first of all, the drawings of Herluf Bidstrup, cartoonist who received incredible recognition on the territory of the USSR.