As regular readers of my musing certainly know, I have a passion for art, illustrated and photography books and the artists that made these possible. A sub-set of illustrated books could be the works of cartoonists and satirists of which we have many in our personal library. Much of their work, however, is to be found in magazines such as Punch, Esquire, and The New Yorker and these we do not collect, although many build such collections. One of my very good friends, has some 30 feet of bound Punch magazines from the 1800s. Just this week, I acquired a book about a famous and influential cartoonist/satirist that I have never heard of, although I have heard about his periodical Puck magazine.
Satire on Stone: The Political Cartoons of Joseph Keppler; Richard Samuel West,
University of Illinois Press, Urbana and Chicago, 1988.
I must say right now that I am always impressed by the high quality of university presses from around the world. The best known is likely the Oxford University Press, but books produced by presses associated with the University of Toronto, Harvard, Yale, Princeton, UCLA, etc. are of the same high standard. As is this book from Illinois.
Let’s see what Wikipedia has to say about this artist. But first, I want readers of this musing to know that I rely on Wikipedia for information when I research books to a great extent. Therefore, I am a repeat funder of the supporting Wikipedia foundation called Wikimedia Endowment. I am shocked that only 2% of Wikipedia users fund this wonderful organization. That is my little soapbox moment.
Joseph Ferdinand Keppler (1838 – 1894) was an Austrian-born American cartoonist and caricaturist who greatly influenced the growth of satirical cartooning in the United States. He studied art at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna and later contributed comic drawings to the Vienna humor magazine Kikeriki (Cock-a-doodle-do). Unable to make a living from his art in Vienna he joined a theatrical troupe as a scene painter and then as a comedian, traveling with them in the Tyrol and Italy. Meanwhile, his father, who had come to the States to escape the European Revolutions of 1848, had established himself as the proprietor of a general store in a little town in northern Missouri. Hearing glowing accounts from America, young Keppler and his wife decided to emigrate.
After visiting his father, Keppler made his way to St. Louis in 1867 and renewed his career as an actor. In 1869, he helped launch the German-American cartoon weekly, Die Vehme, which lasted for a year. It was followed by Frank und Frei, which lasted six months. In March 1871, he attempted another cartoon weekly, Puck, which lasted until August 1872. In the fall of 1872, he moved with his wife and son to New York City. In September 1876, he and fellow Frank Leslie employee Adolph Schwarzmann resurrected Puck for the New York German-American audience and then introduced an English-language version the following year. Keppler's main delight was in producing cartoons criticizing President Ulysses S. Grant, and the political corruption of his administration. His cartoons were famous for their caustic wit, generating much publicity for Puck and pioneering the use of color lithography for caricature. Much of his success was due to a clever adaptation of classical and historical subjects to his criticisms of modern life.
Keppler'ss opinions and wit endeared him to large sections of the American public. His illustrations cast light on complex politics, making issues clear to the average voter. Puck did not shy away from criticism of the administration and by influencing the perceptions of the voting public, certainly altered the course of American political history.
Here is what the blurb and foreword in the book has to contribute to this story - A major event in publishing, this first biography of Keppler includes more than 170 color and black-and-white cartoons, most of which have not been seen in print since they first appeared. As art director, chief cartoonist, and co-publisher of Puck, America’s first successful humor magazine, Keppler created a new type of American cartoon – satiric and full of caricatures. Keppler opened the curtains of his stage to an audience not yet savvy to the cartoonist’s dramatic devices. And he played that crowd for all it was worth. Color, lighting, costumes! Elephants, presidents, paupers! Apocalypse, redemption, a cast of thousands! His colorful bazaars in the pages of Puck must have hit his readers full-force between the eyes. Never before, nor probably since, has the art of political cartooning enjoyed so luscious and pregnant a moment.
I would think that the great satirists of the 19th century would drool over the opportunities that would be presented to them today. They might actually be overwhelmed.
This book has made its way into our personal library, and likely find a spot on my bedside table.