The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-11-15

The Clever Men Who Illustrate the Daily and
Weekly Papers.

|
The Clever Men Who illustrate the Daily and
| Weekly Papers.
| Newsletter and Statoner.
| The carcaturists of the illustrated papers
| have become quite power in the course of the
| past twenty years. Before the Rebellion they
| were very few and ill-paid. Probably they were
paid all they deserved. however, for their work
| was not very fine. They managed to exc out
| living, although there was little taste at that
| time for pictorial fun, and the engravers art
| was only in its infancy The ante bellum funny
| papers were the Picayune and Pick, the latter a
| rival and an imitator.
| After the Rebellion Harper's Weekly began to
| present Nasts ill-drawn but apropos cartoons,
| with great care in the engraving. The scheme
made a stir, and Frank Leslie followed suit by
importing Matt Morgan to furnish carcatures
| for his illustrated paper. Mast, being better
| quanted with the spirit of our institutions, had
| a great advantage over the newcomer, although
| Morgan was by far the better artist Since that
| time there has been constant increase in the
number of these funny sketchers and many of
| them have made. regulations that are worth
| much money to them
| The cartoonist of to-day is the means Of apply
ing the scourge to public offenders. Nast's hits"
| were many when he had the field all to himself,
| but how that he has rivals he is not doing so
| we'll
Mr.. Conkling is known by the single curl on
| his forehead. This given him by Matt Nor
| gan, VINO was also the first to make him pouter
pigeon. This maligned curl is made to express
| all shades of exalted egotism and proud hate.
| It's language is never mistaken. 1t has thnned
! and Strengthened somewhat with the years, and
| is now represented in way to exaggerate the en-
| croachments of time. Keppler first sent Mr..
| Conkling forth as peacock a form he is still
| compelled to use occasionally.
Hamilton. OF the Judge, attached the horse
| shoe to Cleveland. 1t tells its own eloquent
| story of luck
Frank Beard, of Puck, put the corsets on Mr.
| Curtis, of Harpers-corsets which he invariably
| wears over his coat. The impish idea came from
| the prevalent belief that he was goody -goodish,
| and also from the humiliating assumption that
| he was the fashion editor of the Bazaar. Quite
| frequently they embellish his clothes with ruff
| fees, give him snug feminine CATERS with high
| heels, and put lace and gilt braid on his coat.
| The caricaturists even changed his Christian
name in their zeal to make him fill the role they
assigned him. They christened him Nancy"
| The first time he appeared corseted in public
| was in the Judge, in the cartoon entitled IAN
Independent Movement"
James Gordon Bennett is never permitted to
| appear without his decorated with court
| plaster. This mark of individuality was given
him by Puck, and dates back to the alteration
| between Mr.. Bennett and Mr.. May, several years
| ago. BY this ingenious stroke of humorous art,
| neither the public nor Mr. Bennett isSpermitted
| to forget that Mr.. Bennett once came in contact
| with horsewhp in full fury.
The geniuses of the pencil sometimes avenge
| the politicians by caricaturing each other. For
| instance, Hamilton drew Mast as the monkey
that accompanied Curtis's hand-organ and con
tinued it through the late campaign. Hamilton
| is the artist who represented the Democratic
| ticket as kangaroo-all tail and no head Bis
| bee, formerly of Puck now of The Judge has
made many hit in his profession. Beard, Ham
| ilton and McCarty are all on the Judge
| Gillian. of Puck, first brought out Blaine as a
| tattooed man in a cartoon representing a dime
museum. with all the Republican candidates on
| exhibition Somebody afterward asked him how
such an ingenious idea came to him. He laugh
| ingly declared it was an accident Yet acct
| dents may be inspirations; indeed, they some
| times prove So 1t will be remembered by the
| admirers of comic art that Mast made a great
hit during the Greeley campaign by attaching
| small tag to Greeleys long gray coat, and label
accident. but an inspired one The
nominations had been announced,
the cartoon drawn, ali but the
| face and figure of Gratz Brown No photograph
| Weekly must go to press. Mast overcame the
| difficulty at the last moment by attaching the
| tag to Greeleys coat 1t made hit" and
stuck all through the campaign. So delighted
were the people with Mr. Brown in this form
| that they wanted him in no other So the tag
represented him all through the contest.
| Rogers of Life, is responsible for converting
| Whteaw Reid into small. but very assertive
| dog with woolly collar and tail. Mast has
probably made more of these hits" in caricature
| than any other artist. One was making Grant a
| lion. Turning men into animals and preserving
the likeness is by so difficult of accom-
| pishment as it looks, the artists say. Every
| human being suggests some animal, and it is but
| the work of a moment TO exaggerate the sug
| gestion. and with the exaggeration to carry the
likeness. Nearly every prominent politician has
| the role Of some animal assigned him in carl
| cature occasionally and always with diabolical
| appropriateness Disraeli as race horse, Butler
| rs a frog, are wellknown figures
| A. b. Frost. who makes such charming charac
| ter sketches in Harper's Weekly and Bazaar was
the first to represent Boston as the old woman of
| Beacon Hill.
Peculiarities of public mans face, person or
dress receive small consideration at the hands of
| the cartoon builders.
| Some points of personality lend themselves so
readily to caricature that the artists can't resist
the temptation to play upon them. They have
| no malice in it. They are never actuated by
| spite or hatred. They are merely giving express
sion to the humor that is in them. Ben Butler
| is one of their best pet figures. He seems to
| have been made for carie,ture. He is funny,
| aud yet like himself in any shape they put him,
and SO easy TO draw that he is constant temp
| taton to them. He can be worked up as a frog
| clown. n widow and blubbering boy, with
| equal effect. He doesn't mind ii, either. He is
| perhaps. the only living human being who can
! laugh at caricature of himself.