The nineteenth century was the era of change in the art of painting and illustrating the narration. During this period, the foundation of the future large-scale industry was created by such cartoonists whose ideas defined the conditions for further growth of what is now a several billion industries. This paper aims to make a review of the topic early experimentation and evolution of the cartoon industry by the historical cartooons.
The Dawn of Visual Satire
The papers and magazines came into proliferation during the 1800s and served to be the main way of disseminating visuals. Cartoonists became important players and paints the social, political and cultural pulse of the society. The use of humor together with illustration enthralled the readers and provided a new way of engagement.
Thomas Nast: A Pioneer of Political Cartooning
Mainly successful is it on ingloriously acknowledged, it is by many considered Thomas Nast as one of the first political cartoonists. Nast wrote most of the time about political issues of the people by that time in the mid-1800s and created a great influence on the social opinion. His cartoons in Harper’s Weekly ensured that many people understood the key points on a political discourse through the use of drawings.
Nast did much to draw attention to corrupt practices such as the Tammany Hall political organization in New York. In doing so he was remarkable in simplifying political issues into images hence portraying the true meaning of a cartoon.
The Rise of Illustrated Magazines
With such many new published newspapers, people had the opportunity to discover cartoons through the illustrated magazines of the late 19 ^{th} century. It became customary to read magazines that contained rhe humorous satirical cartoon works such as Punch magazine in the UK and The Yellow Kid in the United States of America. These magazines therefore significantly helped in popularizing cartoons as a form of entertainment but containing social themes.
The Birth of the Sunday Funnies
Without a doubt, the most important invention in the field of cartooning was the appearance of the Sunday funnies. Thus, in the 1890s, newspapers began to provide marginalized full-page comic strips at Sunday paper, thus creating a young territory for cartoonists. It also aided in increasing the circulation of newspapers and grounded for a new practice of family entertainment.
The Yellow Kid was created Richard Outcault and is recognized as one of the first newspaper comics that was successful out and out. The success demonstrated the fact that cartoons can be effective in interesting readers and even in bringing money to publishers.
Technological Advancements and Mass Production
The 19th century was marked by a technological advancement that was very useful in the development of cartoons. The development of lithography led to making of plentiful of illustrations hence making cartoons more available for everyone. This particular advancement pertain to the capacity to reach out to more audiences, thus solidifying the position of cartoons to the society.
The Influence of Humor and Satire
Laughing related to both humor and satire became a banner so paramount in the nineteenth century cartoons. The approach that was applied to reason the audience was jest and hyperbolize; the cartoonists educated the readers on various social issues in contemporary society. This procedure was fun and stimulating, which reiterated the main signification of cartoons in society; as a guidance to the public opinion.
The Legacy of 19th Century Cartoonists
This was due to the experiments and innovations of 19th-century cartoonists who made many developments that are considered part of today’s cartooning market. They proved that cartoons could be used to entertain, to inform and even to persuade and thus opened the door for the numerous styles and forms of cartoons today.
Conclusion
It was during the nineteenth century that cartooning became a significant art form in the history of this trade. First cartographers have laid the foundation to depict information through drawing to the series of comics as we know today. Its prime evidence is in the horde of money making cartoon business we have today, thus the importance of art and satire.
When looking at these cartoonists as pioneers, one is privileged to better understand the history of the art and its purpose for society. To this list belongs so many visionary artists who helped us to develop the culture of cartoons’ viewing and enjoying in the 21st century.
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