In the final part of his series on wit and wisdom (read part one here and part two here) PCOer John Jensen argues that sometimes cartoonists get better results on a smaller canvas

International cartoon exhibitions should be encouraged and they will continue throughout the years. The symbolic stone walls, barbed wire and the dying doves will still be there, awaiting to be transmuted into the pure gold of a beautifully drawn idea.

Continental cartoonists are happy seeking and finding wit. British cartoonists treat wit with suspicion. Fortunately, not all cartoonists are limited to generalising, tut-tutting and philosophising about Life.

Political cartoonists, even though their symbolism is also limited, have an ever-changing world on which to draw. Topicality generates excitement, which is great.

Then there are the niche cartoonists: nerd speaking unto nerd, where words can be used, thus freeing up the ideas, and ideas are more specific. On the downside, many of the ideas, like some wines, would not travel well.

The problem is that broad themes can become boring. Topicality and the occasional use of words can sometimes produce more interesting ideas. Niche stuff, limited though it is, and usually not wanted by Fleet Street, is where the some of the best cartoons are found.

Small may not be beautiful but it is often very, very funny. What’s the problem?

What do you think about John Jensen’s article? Have your say in the comments below.

Bloghorn notices that when political cartoonists pick the same targets, they often pick the same jokes, or at least variations on a similar theme.

This can be seen in the national press today as three heavyweight cartoonists give their take on Lord Goldsmith appearing before the Chilcot Inquiry into the Iraq war.

One: Peter Brookes in The Times suggests he was leant on

Two: Steve Bell in The Guardian thinks pressure was applied

Three: Dave Brown in The Independent on suggests arm-twisting

Of course, all these cartoonists are working at the same time, operating under the same time pressures – there’s no suggestion of copying! – which makes it all the more a fascinating insight into the way cartoonists’ minds work. Thanks to Andy Davey for drawing it to our attention.

The PCO: Great British cartoon talent
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This image of Boris Johnson making a mess of Tory policy on Europe was Peter Brookes’ cartoon for The Times on October 6. You can read a “day in the life” profile of the cartoonist at work, explaining how he came up with the cartoon, at the Times Onine website.

According to the profile, “Brookes’ always irreverent, often scabrous, cartoons have a habit of sending readers spluttering to their writing desks and email accounts”. And the cartoonist likes nothing more than drawing people as animals because it allows him to show base behaviour: “You are able to depict crap and fornication and that sort of thing.”

The profile ties in with the new Peter Brookes exhibition at the Chris Beetles Gallery in London, which we covered on Bloghorn last week.

Link: A day in the scabrous life of political cartoonist Peter Brookes

Update, October 13: The Times has another article about Peter Brookes today, by Matthew Parris: Offend everyone: The secret of success

Cartoonists in this country might be feeling the pinch at the moment, but at least they don’t work under the threat of arrest, assault or even death.

In Honduras recently, cartoonist Allan McDonald (interview) was detained for 24 hours, had his studio ransacked and cartoons and drawing materials destroyed following the publication of several cartoons supporting ousted president Manuel Zelaya.

Similarly, in Mexico cartoonist Mario Robles was recently given the Award for Courage in Editorial Cartooning by the Cartoonists Rights Network International (CRNI) after a cartoon mocking a crackdown on public demonstrations led to death threats and an assualt.

In Iran, cartoonist Behzad Basho is being held in prison following the recent post-election uprising, and fellow Iranian Nik Kowsar is currently living in exile in Canada following arrests and death threats.

These threats and assaults are nothing new – in 1987 Palestinian cartoonist Naji al-Ali (previously in Bloghorn) was murdered outside the London offices of a Kuwaiti newspaper. A collection of his cartoons, A Child in Palestine, has recently been published in the west for the first time.

The potential for the power of the visual image is demonstrated by this recent editorial comic strip in the Washington Post by Maus cartoonist Art Spiegelman. The strip focuses on American editorial cartoonists’ response to the arrival (and subsequent denial of entry) of a shipload of 900 Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi Germany in 1939 (the notorious Voyage of the Damned), but it also manages to encompass commentary on the current crisis for US immigrants and the decline of the modern American editorial cartoonist. This decline in numbers of full time employed artists in the United States tends to mirror the fall in readers of print media.

Image Clipping © Art Spiegelman for The Washington Post

Prudence and Stability, by Dave Brown, after Dignity and Impudence by Edwin Landseer (1839)

The Independent today features a new article by cartoonist Dave Brown, about his exhibition Rogues’ Gallery: More Misused Masterpieces which is currently at the Political Cartoon Gallery in London.

It seems the government is set on printing more money to get us out of
the current economic crisis, so journalists and cartoonists everywhere
are having to learn how to spell quantitative easing.

But when you need funny money in a hurry, who better to call on than a
cartoonist? That’s what Channel 4 News did yesterday, summoning
Bloghorn’s own Matt Buck, aka Hack, into the studio to design Brown’s
new notes. Click the video above to see the C4 report.

Matt said: “It was fun to make visual and verbal work, instead of illustrating written reports.”

Cartoons don’t appear on news and current affairs programmes as much as they used to, though recently other cartoonists, including PCOers Patrick Blower, Martin Rowson and Andy Davey, have all helped illustrate stories on the box. Hopefully editors are remembering that this oldest of visual mediums can work on TV very well.

The reader’s editor at The Guardian news organisation writes in response to critical correspondence about some of cartoonist Steve Bell’s editorial cartoons.

Whoever wins the US election, he is probably unlikely to be as much of a gift to cartoonists as the guy who is currently putting his feet up in the Oval Office.

US editorial cartoonist Mike Luckovich tells us “What I’ll Miss About George W.”

The PCO: Great British cartoon talent

An exhibition called Tory Blues: A Cartoon History of the Conservative Party opens today (October 21) at the Political Cartoon Gallery in London and runs until January 7, 2009.

It features original political cartoons charting the history of the Conservative Party from Benjamin Disraeli, through the likes of Balfour, Baldwin, Churchill, Thatcher and Major, to today’s Party Leader, David Cameron.

Included, for the very first time on display, are original cartoons covering both the Party’s election victories and defeats as well as important events in the history of Britain’s most successful political party.

The exhibition consists of 60 original cartoons by leading cartoonists both past and present including work by Sir John Tenniel, Sir Francis Carruthers Gould, Sidney Strube, Sir David Low, Leslie Illingworth, Trog, JAK, Michael Cummings, Nick Garland, Ronald Searle, Steve Bell, Chris Riddell, Paul Thomas Dave Brown, Peter Schrank, Martin Rowson and Peter Brookes among many others.

The exhibition is to be opened by the former Conservative MP Mathew Parris. A book by Alan Mumford entitled Tory Blues will accompany the show.

The Political Cartoon Gallery, at 32 Store Street, London, is open Monday to Friday 9.30am – 5.30pm and on Saturdays between 11.30am – 5.30pm.

UPDATED: 22nd October 2008.
Telegraph cartoonist Christian Adams has a write-up on the exhibition opening night here

The PCO: Great British cartoon talent