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THE CARTOON

The cartoon is generally defined as “a preparatory design drawing or painting . . . usually commenting on public and political matters.” In essence then, the cartoon is a vehicle of communication -an art form - that has evolved from its simplest beginnings in the Stone Age to the complexities of the present day.

As one examines the culture of early civilizations, it becomes quite evident that cartooning was extensively used. Prehistoric man, with his crude and primitive tools, meticulously designed and drew on the walls of caves in order to communicate his thoughts and ideas. Simple pictography enabled early man to tell his story and preserve it for all time. Cartooning played an integral part in the Egyptian, Greek and Roman cultures. In these societies, entertainment and enjoyment began to be the focus of cartoons and caricatures. The depiction of animals to deride mankind, the ridicule of gods and goddesses through art and the half-animal half-human drawings all provided an early foundation for the evolution of the cartoon as a tool for social commentary.

With the onset of the Middle Ages and the subsequent Reformation and Puritan periods, the cartoon and caricature seemed headed in a somewhat different direction. Although the foibles and follies of society, particularly as they applied to those in authority, continued to be fair game, the focus and parameters associated with cartooning began to expand. The leading institutions of the time - the Government and the Church - fell victim to the cartoonist’s brush. Clearly defined thematic shifts occurred with religion, politics and social concerns, each spending time in the limelight before giving way to the next. From the sixteenth century onward, cartoons and caricatures became more sophisticated. The age of social satire was born.

The cartoon made its first public appearance in America in 1754 with Ben Franklin’s most famous political cartoon “Join or Die” depicting the colonies as “segments” of a large snake requiring “union” to fight against a common foe. This cartoon became a widely distributed handbill and was subsequently often used as a newspaper heading. Early American patriots like Franklin, in the face of British colonial rule, required an appropriate and relevant vehicle to influence public opinion in a society where a majority of the people were uneducated and could not read. The cartoon and caricature became the tool and was used extensively to both shape public opinion and influence public policy. Among many other advancements, nineteenth century America witnessed the growth of newspapers, almanacs and assorted weeklies that provided a stage for this new form of cartooning - the political cartoon - in all of its complexity and detail.

In the late 1890’s, the cartoon as an art form experienced a further evolutionary development. William Randolph Hurst, working with his staff artist Rudolph Dirks, developed a new cartoon - a strip cartoon - that introduced to the American public Hans and Fritz, Momma, der Captain, der Inspector - the Katzenjammer Kids.

The comic strip as we know it had its birth.

Cartoons in whatever form they take appeal to a wide and varied audience simply because they can solicit and play to so many feelings and emotions. They can generate amusement, create empathy with some particular situation or theme, provoke anger, directly inform and instruct, blatantly ridicule. Throughout the centuries the cartoon has been able to achieve success by attacking issues - injustice, tyranny, stupidity - that have been remarkably constant from generation to generation.

Milton Caniff, “terry and the Pirates.” © Chicago Tribune-New York News Syndicate.