A Wayback When Weekend Post – Everywhere Around the World
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Sidney Strube
Before the great Carl Giles was employed to entertain and delight readers with his cartoons in the Daily Express, his predecessor at the paper had been just as prodigious in the years preceding him. Sidney Strube first joined the Express in 1912 and would remain one of its superstars for more than 35 years. He became so popular that, in 1931, he would become the highest paid journalist in Fleet Street on a salary of £10,000 a year. When the First World War broke out, Strube’s cartoons highlighted the alleged atrocities to women and children by the invading German army in Belgium. German barbarism was symbolised by the figure of Kaiser Wilhelm II.
British cartoon historian Tim Benson profiles Sidney Strube, who spent the better part of World War I in the trenches, for The Daily Express.
Mario Armengol
Eighty years ago during World War Two, a Spanish artist found himself with an unlikely job, being paid by the British government to draw satirical cartoons of the enemy, from a quiet Nottinghamshire village.
Lindah Kiddey said villagers in Laneham were initially suspicious of their resident artist Mario Armengol, with some believing “he must be a spy”.
In fact, he was working to support the government’s propaganda effort, creating cartoons which poked fun at Hitler and his army.
Mr Armengol’s story is to be the subject of a new documentary which is currently being developed by Spanish journalists.
But how did an artist from Catalonia come to be in Nottinghamshire during World War Two?
Simon Ward and Lindah Kiddey tell the story of Mario Armengol for the BBC.
Glasgow Looking Glass
This month’s choice is a caricature magazine that satirised the political and social life of Scotland in the 1820s. Conceived and illustrated by William Heath, the Glasgow Looking Glass ran for only 19 instalments. Featured here is a de-luxe hand coloured set of the first series of 17 issues.
The first issue of the magazine appeared on 11 June, 1825. Produced fortnightly, it was printed by John Watson, one of Glasgow’s early lithographic printers. After five issues, its name changed to the Northern Looking Glass, to reflect a more national coverage of events in Scotland. The final issue of this series appeared on 3 April, 1826. A further two issues of a ‘new series’ were produced by Richard Griffin and Co., but publication ceased altogether in June 1826.
The magazine is an early example of topical graphic journalism, a genre that became increasingly popular throughout the nineteenth century.
For its Book of the Month selection the Glasgow University Library Special Collections Department pulls out a few issues of the Glasgow Looking Glass comic journal from 1825 for inspection with historical background.
The ‘prospectus’ on the first page of the first issue encompasses its wide range of targets. The confused medley of figures includes the legs and posterior of George IV (projecting from behind the chest at the top), and the aristocratic sovereigns of Europe (the King of Prussia sits upon shackles, with the Emperor of Austria looking over his shoulder; besides him is Charles X of France in coronation robes; Alexander looks to the right, his arm linked with that of the King of Spain, who is depicted with the head of a mule), with Britannia beneath threatening them with her spear; she, in turn, is held up by a fat John Bull, a ragged Irish peasant and a Scot in Highland dress. Cats escape from a bag at the base.
José Guadalupe Posada and the History of Mexican cartoonists
The political cartoon has left an indelible mark on the political satire of Mexico. Beginning in the 1820s, it became a powerful tool for political critique and social commentary. Deeply rooted in Mexico’s freedom of expression, by 1877, political cartoons had become an important part of Mexican politics and culture. Caricaturists used finely honed weapons — their drawing instruments and their talent — to provoke ridicule and induce laughter.
Sherryl Losser for Mexico News Daily gives us A Short History of Mexican Political Satire.
In 1908, the working-class-oriented paper El Diablito Rojo appeared to take El Hijo del Ahuizote’s place, featuring anti-Díaz cartoons by cartoonist José Guadalupe Posada. Posada, known as the pioneer of printmaking and the artist who created La Calavera Catrina, was a prolific illustrator and printmaker. La Catrina became symbolic of Mexican culture and the Day of the Dead. His satirical and politically charged illustrations were very recognizable due to the unmistakable signature cadavers that Posada used to satirize and criticize the politicians and public figures of the time.
Carl Giles
Legendary Daily Express cartoonist Carl Giles refined his craft during the biggest conflict in modern history, the Second World War. His wartime experiences were rendered into his daily cartoons, helping to raise a chuckle or two both at home and among those fighting overseas. As the comedian Spike Milligan recalled: “During the war, Giles’s cartoons played no little part in boosting my morale.” He mocked the Nazis as a bunch of harmless fools, whilst undermining Hitler by portraying him as a comic devil, rather than as a wicked or frightening monster. This proved so effective that Giles was later told that his name had been put on a Nazi hit list, for those to be rounded up by the Gestapo and shot after a successful German invasion of Britain.
Back to Tim Benson and The Daily Express as they profile Strube’s successor the famed Carl Giles.
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