Existing comment:
The School of Media and Public Affairs Presents
"Editorial Cartooning: Politics Through Art"
"Stop them damn pictures!!" raged the infuriated politician, "I don't care what the paper writes about me. My constituents can't read. But, damn it, they can see the pictures!"
So said political operative Boss Tweed, who famously raged about the devastating lampoons launched by Thomas Nast -- a cartoon attack that would eventually bring down Tweed and end his corrupt reign over New York City.
Today "them #!&% pictures" zip across the new digital landscape -- needling, infuriating, engaging and entertaining people on the web, in emails, on smart phones and iPads. From traditional newsprint to the blogosphere, Facebook and the Twitterverse, political cartooning is alive and well.
From the beginning of our country's history up to today, cartoons have played an important role in US political life. Paul Revere and Ben Franklin roused the rabble with cartoons, leading a revolution. Since then, political cartoons have called us to defend the nation from foreign foes and defend our freedoms from domestic forces. They make us stop and think -- and maybe stop and laugh.
As the journalism industry figures out how to survive the shift to the light speed and micro-news cycles of the digital age, one small corner is adapting and even flourishing. Political cartoons, though as old as newspapering itself, are perfect foil to the hyper speeds and truncated attention spans of today's media consumers.
This exhibit, drawn from submissions by members of the American Association of Editorial Cartoonists, represents a selection of the nation's cartoonists and caricaturists who are expressing their views on American politics and issues of national importance. It was co-curated with cartoonist Scott Stantis of the Chicago Tribune. |