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All And Everything => General Discussion => Topic started by: slingsla on March 15, 2010, 04:55:22 PM

Title: Pre-Golden Age Comics / Cartoons
Post by: slingsla on March 15, 2010, 04:55:22 PM
Anyone here also a fan of political and satirical cartoons of the 1800s/early 1900s?  I'm thinking James Gillray, William Hogarth, etc.
Title: Re: Pre-Golden Age Comics / Cartoons
Post by: Astaldo711 on March 15, 2010, 04:59:42 PM
I love history and all aspects of it so while it's not my forte' it's something I could get into.
Title: Re: Pre-Golden Age Comics / Cartoons
Post by: slingsla on March 15, 2010, 10:47:48 PM
You would probably really like them.  Just go to wikipedia commons or do a google search for James Gillray, probably the most prolific of them.  It's a great way to get a perspective on the pulse of the time period.
Title: Re: Pre-Golden Age Comics / Cartoons
Post by: Jedifish on March 16, 2010, 12:39:43 PM
I was googling Percy Crosby after reading his strips "Always Belittlin'" and "Skippy" in Popular Comics. Now he's got a pretty interesting history. From what I read, the Skippy peanut butter name and logo was taken from his strip and he didn't have the resources to fight it for various reasons. Interesting conspiracy.
Title: Re: Pre-Golden Age Comics / Cartoons
Post by: Astaldo711 on March 16, 2010, 02:43:58 PM
Most of the cartoons I've seen were from studying the Civil War. Not sure who did them. I found that if I just read the cartoon, I wouldn't understand it but taken in context they're usually pretty witty.
Title: Re: Pre-Golden Age Comics / Cartoons
Post by: slingsla on March 16, 2010, 03:56:15 PM
Yea, it's interesting how some you just don't understand at all unless you think about the context.  But then for others, well, some themes are just universal. 

Also, I can't remember who, maybe it was Hogarth, who had just the filthiest and most perverted cartoons.   
Title: Re: Pre-Golden Age Comics / Cartoons
Post by: Marconero on March 18, 2010, 04:46:49 PM
I have an amazing coffee-table sized book of political cartoons from the New York Times (1880s-1920s if I remember correctly). The detail was amazing in some of them, and others are great just for the outlandish caracatures and inside jokes no one remembers anymore.
Title: Re: Pre-Golden Age Comics / Cartoons
Post by: JVJ on March 18, 2010, 04:58:48 PM
In March 2008, I saw a fantastic exhibition at the old Biblioth
Title: Re: Pre-Golden Age Comics / Cartoons
Post by: Marconero on March 18, 2010, 05:27:14 PM
That reminds me of The exposition I saw in Sao Paulo in 2000 (BNL) which had all the art from Alvim Corr
Title: Re: Pre-Golden Age Comics / Cartoons
Post by: JVJ on March 18, 2010, 08:21:36 PM
I saw the same illustration in a Paris book show in 2008, Marconero,
Here's my report with another Corr
Title: Re: Pre-Golden Age Comics / Cartoons
Post by: Astaldo711 on March 18, 2010, 08:39:45 PM
Wow, Jim that's a neat little story! Thank you for sharing it with us. I just skimmed through it but I'll go back and read it in detail later. Looks like a beautiful place. My brother-in-law went to Paris for his honeymoon and loved it. He said the image of rude French people is way off. He said they couldn't have been more friendly.
Title: Re: Pre-Golden Age Comics / Cartoons
Post by: JVJ on March 18, 2010, 09:16:15 PM

... the image of rude French people is way off. He said they couldn't have been more friendly.


I agree with your brother-in-law, Astaldo. In seven trips in 3
Title: Re: Pre-Golden Age Comics / Cartoons
Post by: Marconero on March 19, 2010, 07:20:11 AM
That book fair must have been amazing, seeing the originals really makes the whole thing more profound, so happy to read your report (thanks for the link to the Correa images there too).
Title: Re: Pre-Golden Age Comics / Cartoons
Post by: paw broon on March 31, 2010, 03:07:45 PM
So good to see such positive attitudes to France and the French.  My wife and I have been holidaying and visiting France(for Angouleme, comics and work etc.) since we were married, not a kick in the bahookie off 40 years ago.  Some people in Scotland have a very bad opinion of France, fuelled by certain parts of the British media.  Strange, as Scotland had a good relationship with France (trade and culture) for many years ( the Auld Alliance) before our lords and masters sold us to England 300 years ago. Funny how it still rankles.
Anyone considering visiting, I suggest you visit Menton, on the border with Italy.  Lovely little town, on the coast with TGV connection to Paris and only a short train journey to Nice.  In Paris one of my favourite galleries is Musee Mormottan for the most wonderful Monets.
JVJ, excellent diary.  Only skimmed it - more to be enjoyed later.
Title: Re: Pre-Golden Age Comics / Cartoons
Post by: arghhh on March 31, 2010, 04:59:20 PM
Haven't really read pre-golden age cartoons, but I really love Little Nemo comic strips.Winsor McCay's art and imagination mesmerize me.
Title: Re: Pre-Golden Age Comics / Cartoons
Post by: JVJ on March 31, 2010, 05:22:03 PM

Haven't really read pre-golden age cartoons, but I really love Little Nemo comic strips.Winsor McCay's art and imagination mesmerize me.


I absolutely agree, arghhh, but don't you puzzle over the indifferent quality of his lettering? It just doesn't jibe with the control he shows in his art...

(|:{>
Title: Re: Pre-Golden Age Comics / Cartoons
Post by: arghhh on March 31, 2010, 05:57:40 PM

I absolutely agree, arghhh, but don't you puzzle over the indifferent quality of his lettering? It just doesn't jibe with the control he shows in his art...


I'm not really an expert by any stretch, so it doesn't really jump at me; also, I get caught up in the psychedelic landscapes and the grand scale of his drawing that I mostly just glance the letters.  :)

The way he did the, errr, story blocks, annoys me - it, how to put it, it breaks the flow of scenes and makes it harder to experience the depth of his landscapes.

Title: Re: Pre-Golden Age Comics / Cartoons
Post by: slingsla on April 09, 2010, 12:12:49 AM
I totally agree, I just read some of the little nemo series for the first time and was amazed at the art, especially given the era
Title: Re: Pre-Golden Age Comics / Cartoons
Post by: paw broon on April 12, 2010, 04:22:54 PM
This is really old and revealing of the times in which it was done.  I have more illos from this period incl. a 1 pager with word balloons but have no idea how to post them here, despite having been told how to do so previously.  If anyone wants them I know how to attach to an email.:-

http://special.lib.gla.ac.uk/exhibns/month/june2005.html

I fell in love with the Little Nemo strip from the first time it was shown to me, heaven knows how many years ago.
Title: Re: Pre-Golden Age Comics / Cartoons
Post by: boox909 on April 12, 2010, 09:15:39 PM
 :o There is a lot here for us History nerds to linger over. The following illos get my immediate attention:

Essay on Modern Medical Education, No. 9
Practical Results: At Home
From Vol. 1, no. 8: Northern Looking Glass
17th September 1825

and

Essay on Modern Medical Education, No. 1
The Alarm, or the Kirk Yard in Danger
From Vol. 1, no. 6: Northern Looking Glass
18th August 1825

Thanks for posting the link! :D

B.
Title: Re: Pre-Golden Age Comics / Cartoons
Post by: slingsla on April 13, 2010, 09:34:41 PM
Very cool, enjoyed looking through it!
Title: Re: Pre-Golden Age Comics / Cartoons
Post by: BobS on May 27, 2010, 02:50:51 AM

Anyone here also a fan of political and satirical cartoons of the 1800s/early 1900s?  I'm thinking James Gillray, William Hogarth, etc.


How about Thomas Nast and his famous "Let us prey" Boss Tweed political cartoon?

See
http://bugpowder.com/andy/index.html
for lotsa 1800s comics including Wilhelm Busch and Frederick Burr Opper.

Opper's Happy Hooligan is one of my favorite early comic strips.

Bob
Title: Re: Pre-Golden Age Comics / Cartoons
Post by: paw broon on June 21, 2010, 01:32:06 PM
Here's an article from The Guardian that should be of interest:-

http://arts.guardian.co.uk/flash/page/0,,1989203,00.html
Title: Re: Pre-Golden Age Comics / Cartoons
Post by: scuttle on October 19, 2010, 11:41:32 PM

Haven't really read pre-golden age cartoons, but I really love Little Nemo comic strips.Winsor McCay's art and imagination mesmerize me.


And lets not forget the minimalist surrealism of Krazy Kat!
Title: Re: Pre-Golden Age Comics / Cartoons
Post by: paw broon on October 25, 2010, 11:37:41 AM
Timely reference, scuttle, as I'm currently reading Tiger Tea in a lovely little hardback by Craig Yoe.
Title: Re: Pre-Golden Age Comics / Cartoons
Post by: josemas on October 25, 2010, 01:33:31 PM

Timely reference, scuttle, as I'm currently reading Tiger Tea in a lovely little hardback by Craig Yoe.


Paw,  I read that one myself a couple of months back.  Yoe's been coming out with some nice collections this past year or so.  I just picked up his Dick Briefer/Frankenstein volume last week.

The Tiger Tea collections makes me wish that someone would tackle a reprinting of the complete Krazy Kat Dailies.  Maybe Fantagraphics will do it now that they've finished up the Sundays.

Best

Joe
Title: Re: Pre-Golden Age Comics / Cartoons
Post by: paw broon on October 25, 2010, 02:50:06 PM
Yes, please.
Title: Re: Pre-Golden Age Comics / Cartoons
Post by: Crocodilian on January 12, 2011, 07:22:05 AM

Anyone here also a fan of political and satirical cartoons of the 1800s/early 1900s?  I'm thinking James Gillray, William Hogarth, etc.


Yes, I'm a big fan (and collector) of Gillray and Cruikshank. I posted a little thread about Joseph Keppler, who was really terrific (Austrian immigrant to the US, he founded "Puck", great stuff from the 1880s)

Another great American name is Winsor McCay (best known for "Little Nemo", he was good at everything, and did plenty of political cartoons for the Hearst papers)

Gillray's influence is still felt very strongly in editorial cartooning. If you look at, say, Barry Blitt's cartoon of the Obama's from 2008, you can see that its a very direct reference to Gillray . . . looks like Gillray, and is set up like a Gillray.
Title: Re: Pre-Golden Age Comics / Cartoons
Post by: paw broon on January 15, 2011, 03:56:54 PM
I've been reading Happy Hooligan by Frederick Burr Opper in a nice landscape h/b book from NBM.  Great fun and a good laugh.  This was a new one to me so any further suggestions welcome.
Title: Re: Pre-Golden Age Comics / Cartoons
Post by: josemas on January 16, 2011, 02:16:05 PM
Paw,  NBM also has a Mutt and Jeff book that features a number of early strips reprinted in a nice large size and a Bringing Up Father book which collects the first couple years of the strip from 1913-1914.

Best

Joe
Title: Re: Pre-Golden Age Comics / Cartoons
Post by: Geo (R.I.P.) on January 17, 2011, 05:18:00 AM
I have "Rex, King of the Deep" a 1941 comic strip coming. Art was done by Al McWilliams, it's his early art but it shows the style we've all grown to know from him. I have to post up some scans after I get it.

Geo
Title: Re: Pre-Golden Age Comics / Cartoons
Post by: paw broon on February 20, 2011, 04:11:04 PM
I'm sure many of you will have stumbled upon this site but for those who haven't, it's rather good
http://bugpowder.com/andy/earlycomics.html