A caricature can refer to a portrait that exaggerates or distorts the essence of a person or thing to create an easily identifiable visual likeness. In literature, a caricature is a description of a person using exaggeration of some characteristics and oversimplification of others.

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History of Caricatures

Some of the earliest caricatures are found in the works of Leonardo da Vinci, who actively sought people with deformities to use as models.[citation needed]

The point was to offer an impression of the original which was more striking than a portrait. Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598-1680), one of the great early practitioners, was favored by the members of the papal court for his ability to depict the essence of a person in ‘three or four strokes.’[citation needed] In fact, the word "caricature" comes from the Italian caricare, "to load", thus the caricaturist’s aim is to invest his image with as much meaning as possible.

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

James Gillray’s The Plumb-pudding in danger (1805), which caricatured Pitt and Napoleon, was voted the most famous of all UK political cartoons.

The first book on caricature drawing to be published in England was Mary Darly’s A Book of Caricaturas (c. 1762). The two greatest practitioners of the art of caricature in 18th-century Britain were Thomas Rowlandson (1756–1827) and James Gillray (1757–1815). Rowlandson was more of an artist and his work took its inspiration mostly from the public at large. Gillray was more concerned with the vicious visual satirisation of political life. They were, however, great friends and caroused together in the pubs of London. See the Tate Gallery’s exhibit James Gillray: The Art of Caricature

Nowadays, caricature artists are popular attractions at many places frequented by tourists, especially oceanfrontboardwalks, where vacationers can have a humorous caricature sketched in a few minutes for a small fee. Caricature artists can be a great interactive form of entertainment for parties, where they will draw caricatures of the guests for their entertainment.

List of Caricaturists

• William Auerbach-Levy (1889-1964)
• Henry Bateman (1887-1970)
• Max Beerbohm (1872-1956)
• Oscar Berger (1901-1997)
• Sam Berman (b. 1906)
• Donald Bevan (b. 1920)
• George Bickham the Younger (c. 1706 – 1771)
• Steve Brodner (b. 1954)
• Philip Burke
• Kate Carew (1869 – 1961)
• Emilio Coia (1911-1997)
• Émile Cohl (1857–1938)
• Isaac Cruikshank (1786-1856)
• George Cruikshank (1792-1880)
• Dan Dunn (b. 1957)
• Honoré Daumier (1808–1879)
• John Doyle (1797-1868)
• Mort Drucker (b. 1929)
• Ken Fallin (b. 1948)
• Alex Gard (1900 – 1948)
• Andre Gill (1840—1885)
• James Gillray (1756-1815)
• Robert Grossman (b. 1940)
• Al Hirschfeld (1903–2003)
• William Hogarth (1697-1764)
• Raoul Hunter (b. 1926)
• Andrew J. Law (b. 1982)
• Jack Davis (b. 1924)
• Jim McDermott (b. 1960)
• John Kay (1742-1826)
• John Leech (1817-1864)
• Kerry G. Johnson (b. 1966)
• Kap (b. 1974)
• Raed Khalil (b. 1973)
• Cem Kiziltug (b. 1974)
• Sebastian Krüger (b. 1963)
• Pier Leone Ghezzi (1674-1755)
• David Levine (b. 1926)
• Sir David Low (1891-1963)
• Lluís Bagaria (1882-1940)
• Malky McCormick (b. 1943)
• Shawn McManus (b. 1958)
• Karl Meersman (b. 1961)
• Hermann Mejia (b. 1973)
• George Moutard Woodward (c. 1760-1809)
• Thomas Nast (1840–1902)
• Richard Nixon (c1750-1818)
• Sam Norkin (b. 1917)
• Oguz Aral (1936-2004)
• Yigit Ozgur (b. 1977)
• Carlo Pellegrini (1839-1889)
• Bill Plympton (b. 1946)
• Richard Newton (1777-1798)
• Robert Risko (b. 1956)
• Thomas Rowlandson (1856-1827)
• Alexander Saroukhan (1898-1977)
• James Sayers (1748-1825)
• Gerald Scarfe (b. 1936)
• Ronald Searle (b. 1920)
• Bob Staake (b. 1957)
• Bruce Stark (b. 1933)
• Ralph Steadman (b. 1936)
• Steve Bell (b. 1951)
• Sam Viviano (b. 1953)
• George Wachsteter (1911-2004)
• Henry Wigstead (d. 1800)
• William Austin (1721-1820)
• Henry Bunbury (1750-1811)
• Charles Williams (1798-1830)

Some Great Example of Caricatures

Charles Chaplin

William Butler Yeats

Alfred Hitchcock

Karl MARX

Albert EINSTEIN

Ernest HEMINGWAY

Sigmund FREUD

Kurt GODEL

PICASSO

Igor STRAVINSKY

Notable caricaturists

George Cruikshank (1792-1878, British) created 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.”[citation needed] He went on to create social caricatures of British life for popular publications such as The Comic Almanack (1835-1853) and Omnibus (1842). He also earned fame as a book illustrator for Charles Dickens and many other authors.

Honoré Daumier (1808-1879, French) is considered by some to be the father of caricature.[citation needed] During his life, he created over 4,000 lithographs, most of them caricatures on political, social and everyday themes. They were published in the daily French newspapers (Le Charivari, La Caricature etc.)

Thomas Nast (1840-1902, American) was a famous caricaturist and editorial cartoonist in the 19th century and is considered by some to be the father of American political cartooning.[citation needed] He is often credited with creating the definitive caricatures of the Democratic Donkey, the Republican Elephant and Santa Claus.[citation needed]

Sir Max Beerbohm (1872-1956, British), created and published caricatures of the famous men of his own time and earlier. His style of single-figure caricatures in formalized groupings was established by 1896 and flourished until about 1930. His published works include Caricatures of Twenty-five Gentlemen (1896), The Poets’ Corner (1904) and Rossetti and His Circle (1922). He published widely in fashionable magazines of the time, and his works were exhibited regularly in London at the Carfax Gallery (1901-8) and Leicester Galleries (1911-57).

Alex Gard (1900-1948, Russian) created more than 700 caricatures of show business celebrities and other notables for the walls of Sardi’s Restaurant in the theater district of New York City: the first artist to do so. Today the images are part of the Billy Rose Theatre Collection of The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. [3]

Al Hirschfeld (1903–2003, American) was best known for his simple black and white renditions of celebrities and Broadway stars which utilized flowing contour lines over heavy rendering. He was also known for depicting a variety of other famous people, from politicians musicians, singers and even television stars like the cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation. He has was even commissioned by the United States Postal Service to provide art for U.S. stamps. Permanent collections of Hirschfeld’s work appear at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and he boasts a star on the St. Louis Walk of Fame.

Mort Drucker (1929, American) Drucker joined Mad magazine in 1957 and has become well known (and revered by some) for his parodies of moviesand television shows. He manages to combine a comic strip style with consistent photographic likenesses of film and TV stars panel after panel. He has also contributed covers to Time magazine. He has been recognized for his work with the National Cartoonist Society Special Features Award for 1985, 1986, 1987, and 1988, and their Reuben Award for 1987.

Robert Risko (1946, American) is known for his retro airbrush style. His work has appeared in Rolling Stone, Playboy, Vanity Fair, Esquire, andInterview.

David Levine (1926, American) is noted for his caricatures in the The New York Review of Books and Playboy magazine. His first cartoons appeared in 1963. Since then he has drawn hundreds of pen-and-ink caricatures of famous writers and politicians for the newspaper.

Sam Viviano (1953, American) has done much work for corporations and in advertising, having contributed to Rolling Stone, Family Weekly,Reader’s Digest, Consumer Reports, and Mad, of which he is currently the art director. Viviano’s caricatures are known for their wide jaws, which Viviano has explained is a result of his incorporation of side views as well as front views into his distortions of the human face. He has also developed a reputation for his ability to do crowd scenes. Explaining his twice-yearly covers for Institutional Investor magazine, Viviano has said that his upper limit is sixty caricatures in nine days.

Sebastian Krüger (1963, German) is known for his grotesque, yet hyper-realistic distortions of the facial features of celebrities, which he renders primarily in acrylic paint, and for which he has won praise from The Times. He is well known for his lifelike depictions of The Rolling Stones, in particular, Keith Richards. Krüger has published three collections of his works, and has a yearly art calendar from Morpheus International. Krüger’s art can be seen frequently in Playboy magazine and has also been featured in the likes of Stern, L’Espresso, Penthouse, and Der Spiegel and USA Today. He has recently been working on select motion picture projects.

Hermann Mejia (Venezuelan) is known for his frequent work for MAD Magazine. Mejia uses multiple techniques for his work, sometimes rendering his illustrations in black & white ink and copious amounts of cross-hatching, sometimes using watercolor, and sometimes combinations of both.

More Examples of Caricatures

Le CORBUSIER

Florence & John

Jason Seiler

Alan Shearer

Kevin Keegan

Mike Ashley

Genesis

Tony

Riddick Bowe

Dawn French

Ozzy & Sharon Osborne

Victoria & David Beckham

Uncle

Terence

Willo

Mick & Moira

Steve Austin

Steve Bates

Tony G

Mike Ashley

Bernie

Ian

Caricature powerhouse, Jason Seiler

Darren Foreman, better known as Beardyman – UK beatbox champion

Michael Cera

Larry King

Salvador DALI

Paris Hilton

Marilyn Manson

Kanye West

Manny Pacquiao

Robert Pattinson

Cate Blanchett as Elizabeth

Juan Gatmaitan

Ferdinand Marcos

Arnold SCHWARZENEGGER

Marilyn MANSON

Adrien BRODY

Michael Clurke DUNCAN

Gerard DEPARDIEY

Dexter

Batman

Frodo from LOTR

JD from Scrubs

Bruce Lee

John Locke from LOST