Political Art + Cartoons = More Than LOLZ

Once upon a time, way back in 1882, Oscar Wilde was on a lecture tour of the the United States. As the tour snaked across the company to much fanfare, Thomas Nast, one of the most influential political cartoonists in history, found a new target for his work.

Over the tour's 11 months, Nast caricatured Oscar Wilde several times in the pages of Harper's Bazar. Including as a dandy Narcissus. And as a mushroom.

Almost 150 years later, artists of all stripes continue the tradition of commenting, in ways big and small, on political issues and personalities. (We especially love the art and stories behind The New Yorker covers.)

While some people are in the Shut Up & Sing art camp, most artists we know agree with The Chicks and the late, great Toni Morrison when she said (to Poet & Writers Magazine in 2008):

“All of that art-for-art’s-sake stuff is BS,” she declares. “What are these people talking about? Are you really telling me that Shakespeare and Aeschylus weren’t writing about kings? All good art is political! There is none that isn’t. And the ones that try hard not to be political are political by saying, ‘We love the status quo.’ We’ve just dirtied the word ‘politics,’ made it sound like it’s unpatriotic or something.” Morrison laughs derisively. “That all started in the period of state art, when you had the communists and fascists running around doing this poster stuff, and the reaction was ‘No, no, no; there’s only aesthetics.’ My point is that it has to be both: beautiful and political at the same time. I’m not interested in art that is not in the world. And it’s not just the narrative, it’s not just the story; it’s the language and the structure and what’s going on behind it. Anybody can make up a story.”

So whatever you're making, know if it's good it's likely political. At least a little.

Below are some related articles, links, and examples of political art.

Thanks for reading and supporting!
Clint

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POLITICAL ART + MORE

• Thomas Nast & the Origin of "Nasty" (The Grammarphobia Blog)

• Cartoons on The Battle for LGBT Rights (The Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

• LGBT & Political Artists (The Art Story)

• Queer Art, Gay Pride, and The Stonewall Riots—50 Years Later (Artsy)

• A Brief History of Protest Art (Format)

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NEWS + VIEWS

• Instagram Censors NYC Art Show About the Nude Body (Hyperallergic)

• Crochet Coral Reef Keeps Spawning, Hyperbolically (The New York Times)

• Seattle Art Museum Presents…Cambodian-American artist (The Seattle Times)

• Pioneering A.I. Art-Making Software Museum Show (artnet)

• Mario Moore recontextualizes Black history through painting (Outlier Media)

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