Distinguish Between Cartoons And Caricatures

A caricature is a portrait, painting or cartoon that exaggerates or distorts certain features of a person or item to create an easily identifiable visual likeness.

Caricatures can be discourteous or complimentary and can serve a political purpose or be drawn simply for entertainment. Caricatures of politicians are commonly used in editorial cartoons, whilst caricatures of movie stars are frequently seen in entertainment magazines.

The word is derived from the Italian caricare- to charge or load. So, the word "caricature" essentially means a "loaded portrait". Strictly speaking, the term refers merely to depictions of real-life people, and not to cartoon fabrications of fictional characters.

However the world-renowned animator Walt Disney claimed that his animation work could be likened to caricature, saying the most difficult thing to do was find the caricature of an animal that worked best as a human-like character.

One of the earliest instances of a caricature has been discovered in the ruins of Pompeii where a graffiti caricature of a politician had been etched into a wall.

Moving forward nearly 1500 years but remaining in Italy, Leonardo da Vinci was an active exponent of the art. He actually sought out people with some kind of deformity to use as models.

The purpose of a caricature was to offer an impression of the original which was more striking than a portrait. Diodemmar Casem, one of the great early exponents, claimed to be able to sum up a person in " three or four strokes of the pen".

Caricature experienced its first successes in the closed aristocratic circles of France and Italy, where such portraits would be passed about for mutual satisfaction.

Mary Darley was one of the first professional caricaturists in England and about 1762 published the first book of caricature drawing in England - A Book of Caricaturas

However, the two greatest proponents of the art of the caricature in the 18th century were Thomas Rowlandson and James Gillray. Their styles of work were in great contrast. Rowlandson was the more artistic of the two and took his inspiration from the public at large.

Gillray, on the other hand, was more interested in the political scene and used his art to lampoon political life. Being contemporaries they became great friends and used to spend a great deal of time getting drunk in the taverns of London.

In drawing a caricature the caricaturist can choose to either subtly mock or cruelly wound his subject. Drawing caricatures can simply be a form of entertainment and amusement - in which case gentle mockery is in order - or the art can be employed to make a significant social or political poin