Lines of Attack

Catalogue for a recent museum exhibition on caricature and political cartoons, juxtaposing images that lampooned George W Bush with cartoons that critiqued the 19th century French aristocracy

Catalog for a Nasher museum exhibition on caricature and political cartoons, juxtaposing images that lampooned George W. Bush with cartoons that critiqued the 19th century French aristocracy.Lines of Attack raises broad questions about the nature of political caricature by juxtaposing two distinct historical moments in the development of the medium: its emergence in France in the 1830s, as artists including Honoré-Victorin Daumier ridiculed King Louis-Philippe, and its recent history during the presidencies of Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. The contributors assess the state of caricature at a moment when traditional outlets for the political cartoonist’s art—particularly the daily newspaper—face an uncertain economic future, and technological change is radically transforming the media landscape that has sustained journalistic caricature for almost two centuries. Along with the cartoons featured in the book (most of which appear in color), the essays illuminate the development of caricature as a journalistic form, its changing visual languages, and its effectiveness in commenting on politics and instigating debate and dissent. Published in connection with the exhibition of the same name at the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, Lines of Attack features not only the satirical art of Daumier and his contemporaries, but also images by some of the most provocative political cartoonists working in the United States and Great Britain today: artists including Steve Bell, Steve Brodner, Joe Ciardiello, Pat Oliphant, Gerald Scarfe, Edward Sorel, Tom Tomorrow, and Garry Trudeau.

Contributors
Katherine Arpen
Alexis Clark
Alison Hafera Cox
Katherine de Vos Devine
Neil McWilliam

Publication of the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University