George Cruikshank

thumb|250px|right|"Portrait of George Cruikshank">
Wood engraving published in Harper's Weekly newspaper
March 16, 1878George Cruikshank (September 27, 1792—February 1, 1878) was an English caricaturist and book illustrator, praised as the "modern Hogarth" during his life. Born in London, he was a member of the Cruikshank family of caricaturists and artists, the son of Scottish painter and caricaturist Isaac Cruikshank.

ocial caricatures and illustrations

and many other authors reached an international audience.

He created folios of prints with moralistic themes inspired by the temperance movement. The best known of these are "The Bottle", 8 plates (1847), with its sequel, "The Drunkard's Children", 8 plates (1848), with the ambitious work, "The Worship of Bacchus", published by subscription after the artist's oil painting, now in the National Gallery, London.

For Charles Dickens, Cruikshank illustrated "Sketches by Boz" (1836) and "Oliver Twist" (1838). On December 30, 1871 Cruikshank published a letter in "The Times" which claimed credit for much of the plot of "Oliver Twist". The letter launched a fierce controversy around who created the work. While Dickens was the author, Cruikshank developed many ideas like those that appeared in the book and it is difficult -- if not impossible -- to distinguish his concepts from those of Dickens, which were developed at the same time.

Political caricatures

thumb|250px|right|"December - A Swallow at Christmas (Rara avis in terris).">
Copperplate engraving published in "The Comic Almanack for 1841"Cruikshank’s 60-year career began with political prints that attacked the royal family and leading politicians (in 1820 he received a royal bribe of £100 for a pledge "not to caricature His Majesty" (George III of the United Kingdom) "in any immoral situation"). His work included a personification of England named John Bull who was developed from about 1790 in conjunction with other British satirical artists such as James Gillray, and Thomas Rowlandson.

Cruikshank replaced one of his major influences, James Gillray, as England's most popular satirist. For a generation he delineated Tories, Whigs and Radicals impartially. Satirical material came to him from every public event—wars abroad, the enemies of Britain (he was highly patriotic), the frolic, among other qualities, such as the weird and terrible, in which he excelled. His hostility to enemies of Britain and a crude racism is evident in his illustrations commissioned to accompany William Maxwell's "History of the Irish rebellion in 1798" (1845) where his lurid depictions of incidents in the rebellion were characterised by the simian-like portrayal of Irish rebels.

Among the other racially engaged works of Cruikshank there were caricatures about the "legal barbarities" of the Chinese, the subject given by Cruikshank's friend, Dr.W.Gourley, a participant in the ideological buttle around the Arrow War, 1856-60.

Further reading

* Cruikshank, George. (1980). "Graphic Works of George Cruikshank". Dover Publications. ISBN 0-486-23438-X
* "Catalogue of Political and Personal Satires Preserved in the Department of Prints and Drawings in the British Museum", Mary Dorothy George. Vol VI 1938, Vol VII, 1942 VOL VIII 1947, VOL IX 1949
* "Dictionary of British Cartoonists and caricaturists 1730-1980" Bryant and Heneage, Scolar Press 1994
* "The Book Illustrations of George Cruikshank" Buchanan-Brown, John. Charles Tuttle 1980
* "George Cruikshank" A Catalogue Raisonne of the work executed surign the years 1896-1977" Cohn, Albert M . Bookmans Journal, London 1924
* JK Rowling, the creator of the popular of the Harry Potter series used his second name to inspire the cat belonging to Hermione Granger, who is called "Crookshanks."

External links

* [http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/illustrations/illustrators/cruikshank.html SurLaLune Fairy Tale Pages: Fairy Tale Illustrations of George Cruikshank]
* [http://www.lambiek.net/cruikshank_george.htm George Cruikshank] at [http://www.lambiek.net Lambiek.net]
* [http://www.speel.demon.co.uk/artists2/cruik.htm Biographical information]
* [http://members.tripod.com/~DickensFellowshipCD/dickensillustrators.htm Dickens Illustrators]
* [http://www.cartoonstock.com/vintage/vintage_search.asp?x=a&keyword=&Category=Not+Selected&Boolean=Or&Artist=Cruikshank%2C+George&submit=Search George Cruikshank cartoons at CartoonStock] (Commercial site)
* [http://www.cruikshankart.com/georgecruikshank/ Online Gallery of Illustrations by George Cruikshank]
* [http://www.uflib.ufl.edu/UFDC/?c=punch&b=UF00078634 "The Comic Almanack"] fully and openly available through the [http://www.uflib.ufl.edu/UFDC/ University of Florida Digital Collections]

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