Caricature, The Visual Foundation for Political Cartoons

Cartoons, to achieve their satirical effect, rely on the exaggeration and distortion of the human figure -- deforming or stretching a normal figure to emphasize its features. This kind of drawing is called caricature. It began during the Renaissance, but the art of ancient Egypt and Greece combined animal and human images through distorted, humorous, and allegorical creations to express their mythical beliefs.

Ben Franklin Check out: The sphinx from Egypt and Greece. They usually represent the head of a man and the body of a lion. In Egypt, these statues frequently symbolized the pharaoh as an incarnation of the sun god RA. Today they may be icons for mysterious persons. Gargoyles, grotesquely carved human or animal figures created to frighten away evil spirits. Originally created in the middle ages as rain spouts, they now can be found as building ornamentation and even garden sculpture.

Renaissance artists in the sixteenth century distorted personal features as a means of reacting to the orderliness and decorum of their lives. The word "caricature" was derived from the Italian verb "caricature" which means to overload, change, or burden. It was very close to the word for character "caraterre."

A "cartone" was a pasteboard and cartoons were originally defined as full-sized patterns for mosaics, tapestries, or paintings. Slowly these words acquired new meaning as caricatures began to represent a new style of artistic expression and commentary. Look at the Leonardo da Vinci site to see drawings by a master artist who exaggerated facial expressions to produce an effect. These drawings are in many ways the basis of what we know as modern cartooning.

Honore Daumier, who lived in France in the nineteenth century, continued the art of the caricaturist. He published his cartoons criticizing the French Government, lawyers, politicians, art dealers, and the middle-class in Parisian Journals. This tradition continues today.

Discuss with your classmates or friends how the artist distorted the human or animal figure in: 1) a statue from ancient Egypt or a gargoyle from the Middle Ages; and 2) a caricature by Daumier. Compare how the statue and the caricature are alike and different.