Saturday, May 26, 2012

A couple of animal cartoons

Here are two examples of animal cartoons. The first is by T. S. Sullivant (1854-1926). Mrs. Hippo says, "Hurry, Hippy, we're late now." He replies, "I just have to take a quick shave, darling — be right with you in about forty-five minutes." 

Sullivant revels in the big, goofy, rounded forms, contrasting them with the skimpy plumbing, the small bottle, and the little cigar perched on the rim of the bathtub.

This drawing, "The Daw in Peacock's Feathers" is by Valentin Serov (1865-1911). He was better known as a portrait painter, but he drew a number of animal caricatures to illustrate Krylov's Fables. He shows the imposter and the reaction of the peacocks with simple gestures that are true to the actual animals, but say volumes about us humans, too. As with all good caricature, it's not just about the lines and shapes, it's really about the attitude.

1 comment:

Laura G. Young said...

I'd not seen any of Serov's caricature work before. How lovely.