1917: His Best Customer

Cartoon produced in 1917 by Winsor McCay, cartoonist and pioneer animator.
 

1932: The Candidate

 

Searching through my disorganised archive I stumbled upon this political cartoon. I thought I'd lost it years ago. It was published in the April 1932 issue of L'en Dehors (In and Out). For me it is the best political cartoon in existence. It conveys its message clearly through imagery, panels and short dialogue, there's no need to overlabel it.

Sorry to say its cynical point of view has been backed up by world history. As to why so many politicians show two different sides before and after their election, well there's many reasons offered by scholars. The more cynical holds that they're all like Tartempion, shameless liars, other more generous or gullible if you'd like view political power as a form built through compromise, compare a party manifesto to its record in power and you find a string of unfulfilled promises.

However you think of it, remember Tartempion's promise of the Moon, next time you're asked for your vote.

1933: The Free Peoples of Europe!

 

Another art appreciation post. This one took a bit for  me to interpret its meaning. This is The Free Peoples of Europe! Published in January 1933 in the newspaper Der Wahre Jacob (The True Jacob) by Willibald Krain. 

The sketch style caught my attention and I was reasonably sure what the words said, but I had to look into the author and the publication to make sure. I am fairly confident that the intended meaning is a critique of the "Dicatatorship of Capital" concept. The women are the peoples of Europe all of whom are tied to factory chimneys, to me this represents how capitalism dominates people through work even if their nations are politically free.

Here's my reasoning.

The True Jacob was a satirical biweekly publication affiliated with the Social Democratic Party (SPD), and was published from 1879 til February 1933, meaning this appeared in one of the last editions.

January 1933 was when Hitler became Chancellor and it wasn't long before the publications of enemy political organisations were banned.

Willibald Krain was born in 1886 and died in 1945. He spent most of his artistic career as a press cartoonist working for liberal and socialist publications. When the Nazis took control of Germany he found himself under suspicion and banned from working. 

In 1944 he found work again producing antisemitic cartoons for the satirical publication Kladderadatsch which at the time was a far right publication, ironic since it was founded in 1848 by a Jewish merchant family and had been a liberal paper before being sold to an industrialist after the First World War. It ceased publication in 1944 as Germany's deteriorating position throttled the economy.

Willibald Krain again out of work was conscripted into the Volkssturm (People's Storm) a militia made up of old men, young boys and war wounded. Krain did not see combat but was captured by the Soviet Army, during transport he was shot and died from his injury shortly after release.

July 1925, The 1st International Workers Olympiad in Frankfurt am Main

This is an example of the material he produced for the SPD. The Workers Olympiad was a series of left wing alternatives to Olymlpics which was seen as too nationalistic.

People in a hotel, a new novel by Vicki Baum

This is an advertisement for a novel by Vicki Baum. The novel was published in 1929 and released in English under the title Grand Hotel, which was optioned for a film in 1932.

The Company Sign (1930s)

 

I present to you Jacobus Belsen's Das Firmenshild (The Company Sign), documenting Adolph Hitler's actions in Germany while campaigning for support.

The text on the sign is the official name of the Nazi Party Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei National Socialist German Worker's Party. The top reads "For the Proletarians [workers]" and the bottom part reads something like "For the well-to-do circles" who are represented by businessmen.

My German is Schlecht but that's the spirit of the text. Of course the point of the cartoon is the sign Hitler is holding, for each audience different parts of the name are emphasised. Belsen is skewering the Nazis for their opportunistic propaganda and lack of commitment. Jacobus Belsen was born in the Russian Empire, in the aftermath of the First World War he immigrated to Germany where he found work as an illustrator and cartoonist. He wasn't a fan of the Nazi party and left Germany for the United States of America, he died in 1937. 

Yippie Mickey

 

A satirical image produced by the Yippies! Youth International Party, a group on the radical fringes of the US New Left in the 60s-70s. The Yippies most famous member was Abbie Hoffman the author of Steal This Book! The Yippies were an eclectic bunch influenced by Anarchism and other anti-establishment ideas.

This gun toting Mickey Mouse is an example of the messaging and propaganda they circulated, though the Yippies were more well known for their street actions and stunts, including running a porcine called Pigasus for President. The image was used to promote calls for action and disruption of Disneyland in 1970, more details on that event can be found at libcom.org. 

Also, you may find this 1968 film produced by the Yippies informative.

Mormonism in Utah - Cave of Despair (Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, 1882)

 

I saw this while looking through an archive of old newspaper comics. The artist's point, a dim view of Mormonism, is clear, and the detailing makes modern political cartoons look amateurish. Though, it is interesting to see that the practice of over labelling is older than I thought.

Propaganda is a term that has been discredited by its usage in the 20th century by government's around the world, especially dictatorships, so it shouldn't be surprising that talented and experienced artists prefer to work in other less overtly political forms like illustrating character designs for gacha games, and spandex wearing Ubermensch. 

Also, a funny coincidence, the official name of Mormonism is the Latter Day Saint's (LDS) which is also the name of one of the most notorious purveyors of copyfraud (in my opinion) services on YouTube. Upload content on that platform and you'll eventually see them pop up in a e-mail about a restriction on your video.