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Thomas Nast: His Period and His Pictures
Details the life of the nineteenth century political cartoonist who popularized the Republican elephant, the Democratic donkey, and the current image of Santa Claus
583 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1904
24 people want to read
About the author
Albert Bigelow Paine
587 books20 followersAlbert Bigelow Paine was an American author and biographer best known for his work with Mark Twain. Paine was a member of the Pulitzer Prize Committee and wrote in several genres, including fiction, humour, and verse.
(Source: en.wikipedia.org)
(Source: en.wikipedia.org)
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
December 8, 2023
I read the Pyne Press 1974 facsimile edition of this 1904 biography of the greatest American political cartoonist of the 19th century. It is a voluminously illustrated volume with hundreds of Nast's black and white cartoons reprinted clearly. It is a handsome edition which shows up in used bookstores.
Nast was born in Germany and came to America at age six in 1846. He grew up in New York City. He developed a passion for drawing as a child. He took a few art lessons and at the age of sixteen he went to work drawing illustrations for newspapers. This was in the days before photographs in newspapers, so he illustrated fires, celebrities, and the news. He picked up work doing illustrations for books. He quickly graduated to magazines and began to develop as a political cartoonist. He covered the battles of the Italian General Garibaldi and prize fights in England.
In 1862 he returned to America and began his long relationship with "Harper's Weekly". He was famous for his Christmas double page drawings which fixed the look of Santa Clause in America. He was staunch Civil War era Republican and he drew some vicious cartoons of the Democrats as tyrants and wanna be kings and emperors.
In the 1870s Nast drew his famous work attacking The Tweed Ring. The ring was a group of wildly corrupt New York politicians connected to the Tammany Hall political club. They ruled New York City. They seemed to be above the law as they looted millions of dollars from the city. One of Nast's most powerful cartoons is titled "the Tammany Tiger Loose". It shows the Roman Coliseum filled with a crowd of cheering Tammany hacks. The savage looking Tammany tiger is attacking a beautiful woman who is labeled "Rule of Law". The caption is "What Are You Going To Do About It?"
Tweed hated and feared Nast. He said, "I don't care so much what the papers write about me--my constituents can't read, but damn it, they can see pictures." Nast was threatened and offered huge bribes but he continued with his "damn drawings". The Ring was eventually busted. The major players went to jail. Tweed skipped bail and fled to Spain. He was arrested and returned when he was recognized from one of Nast's cartoons.
Nast continued drawing political cartoons for thirty years after the Tweed Ring was ended. He was well known and influential, but he never hit the level of his Tweed cartoons. He was a partisan Republican who usually drew Democrats as crooks, demons, nitwits, vultures etc.
This is an authorized biography. Paine is huge fan. The last half of the book drags as Nast gets deeply into the arcane political fights of the 1880s and 90s. He did a lot of cartoons on tariffs, and gold vs. silver currency and the Russo-Turkish war. I found it tough to follow the symbolism in many of the political cartoons from this period.
Paine lightly touches on the fact that Nast was rabidly anti-Irish and anti-Catholic. His standard drawing of an Irishman is a baboon in a shabby suit and a top hat. He draws the Catholic Bishops attacking the innocent youths of America as alligators with the bishop's hats as mouths getting ready to maul the children. His drawings are filled with these tropes.
The book itself is a pretty straight forward telling of the life. The reason to get this book is the illustrations.
Nast was born in Germany and came to America at age six in 1846. He grew up in New York City. He developed a passion for drawing as a child. He took a few art lessons and at the age of sixteen he went to work drawing illustrations for newspapers. This was in the days before photographs in newspapers, so he illustrated fires, celebrities, and the news. He picked up work doing illustrations for books. He quickly graduated to magazines and began to develop as a political cartoonist. He covered the battles of the Italian General Garibaldi and prize fights in England.
In 1862 he returned to America and began his long relationship with "Harper's Weekly". He was famous for his Christmas double page drawings which fixed the look of Santa Clause in America. He was staunch Civil War era Republican and he drew some vicious cartoons of the Democrats as tyrants and wanna be kings and emperors.
In the 1870s Nast drew his famous work attacking The Tweed Ring. The ring was a group of wildly corrupt New York politicians connected to the Tammany Hall political club. They ruled New York City. They seemed to be above the law as they looted millions of dollars from the city. One of Nast's most powerful cartoons is titled "the Tammany Tiger Loose". It shows the Roman Coliseum filled with a crowd of cheering Tammany hacks. The savage looking Tammany tiger is attacking a beautiful woman who is labeled "Rule of Law". The caption is "What Are You Going To Do About It?"
Tweed hated and feared Nast. He said, "I don't care so much what the papers write about me--my constituents can't read, but damn it, they can see pictures." Nast was threatened and offered huge bribes but he continued with his "damn drawings". The Ring was eventually busted. The major players went to jail. Tweed skipped bail and fled to Spain. He was arrested and returned when he was recognized from one of Nast's cartoons.
Nast continued drawing political cartoons for thirty years after the Tweed Ring was ended. He was well known and influential, but he never hit the level of his Tweed cartoons. He was a partisan Republican who usually drew Democrats as crooks, demons, nitwits, vultures etc.
This is an authorized biography. Paine is huge fan. The last half of the book drags as Nast gets deeply into the arcane political fights of the 1880s and 90s. He did a lot of cartoons on tariffs, and gold vs. silver currency and the Russo-Turkish war. I found it tough to follow the symbolism in many of the political cartoons from this period.
Paine lightly touches on the fact that Nast was rabidly anti-Irish and anti-Catholic. His standard drawing of an Irishman is a baboon in a shabby suit and a top hat. He draws the Catholic Bishops attacking the innocent youths of America as alligators with the bishop's hats as mouths getting ready to maul the children. His drawings are filled with these tropes.
The book itself is a pretty straight forward telling of the life. The reason to get this book is the illustrations.
January 16, 2008
Imagine how dull John Stewart would seem to someone living one hundred and fifty years from now. Political humor rarely lasts.
Somehow Thomas Nast has survived. The images are clear, powerful, and iconic. He created much of the visual language in use today. There were artists before him. But he had such an impact on the profession that most just call him the father of political cartooning.
Paine writes in a dry academic style. It has the feel of a graduate thesis expanded into a book. And as artists are usually bores, pages spent telling the details of their lives waste space that could be better spent with more illustrations. But I guess there was some necessity. There are politicians solely remember because Nast made fun of them. Much of the book is spent explaining the tammany hall scandals behind each joke. I came away knowing far more about the democratic machine corruption in the 1880s than I wanted.
This is the definitive book on Nast's work. And could be used as a way of learning about an obscure and forgotten, and quite important part of american history.
Somehow Thomas Nast has survived. The images are clear, powerful, and iconic. He created much of the visual language in use today. There were artists before him. But he had such an impact on the profession that most just call him the father of political cartooning.
Paine writes in a dry academic style. It has the feel of a graduate thesis expanded into a book. And as artists are usually bores, pages spent telling the details of their lives waste space that could be better spent with more illustrations. But I guess there was some necessity. There are politicians solely remember because Nast made fun of them. Much of the book is spent explaining the tammany hall scandals behind each joke. I came away knowing far more about the democratic machine corruption in the 1880s than I wanted.
This is the definitive book on Nast's work. And could be used as a way of learning about an obscure and forgotten, and quite important part of american history.
January 31, 2016
This is a pretty standard biography close to Nast's own period, but the B&W illustrations make the book. If I can reread the book, I'd look with new eyes. Got to love that cartoonist, Thaomas Nast!
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews