DOI Heft:
No. 267 (June 1915)
DOI Artikel:The lay figure
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.21213#0094
The Lay Figure
THE LAY FIGURE: ON THE
SPIRIT OF CARICATURE.
“ Ought caricature to be regarded as a
really legitimate form of art ? ” asked the Art
Critic. “ Looking at the bulk of the work that is
being done in this direction I am rather inclined
to the opinion that it is almost outside the sphere
of the artist’s practice.”
“ I fancy you will not find many people to agree
with you there,” exclaimed the Man with the Red
Tie. “ By what subtle and abstruse process of
reasoning have you arrived at that conclusion, may
I inquire ? ”
“ Caricature is a dangerous faculty, because it
stirs up enmities and disturbs lifelong friendships;
and because it brings more trouble than joy to its
possessor,” replied the Critic.
“ Oh, surely that is an exaggeration ! ” cried the
Man with the Red Tie. “Not many people are
so thin-skinned or so easily offended that they take
a legitimate caricature seriously to heart. The
saving sense of humour comes to their assistance
in almost all cases and prevents their feelings being
harrowed.”
“ A sense of humour, you seem to consider, is
like the soft answer that turneth away wrath,”
laughed the Critic. “ Well, there is something in
that. But I believe the personal vanity of the
person caricatured is a much more real shield to his
feelings. If he is amused rather than offended, it
is not at all because he sees the funny side of the
travesty of himself, but because he does not for
an instant imagine that he has any of the quaint
peculiarities which the caricaturist has detected and
insisted upon.”
“That may be; but there are people who are
conscious of their little abnormalities and yet can
bear without rancour having fun poked at them,”
declared the Man with the Red Tie. “ I am sure
it is good for many men to be made to laugh at
themselves sometimes—the caricaturist really does
them a service.”
“ I think I can speak with some authority on the
subject of caricatures,” broke in the Prominent
Politician. “ If I had been at any time so vain as
to believe that I had no physical defects my artist
friends would have knocked any such conceit out
of me long ago. The only feeling I have left now
is one of pure amazement that I should be blessed
—or cursed—with such an extraordinary number
of peculiarities and that I should offer such an in-
exhaustible mine of opportunities to the ingenious
caricaturist.”
“ But do you mind being caricatured ? ” asked the
Man with the Red Tie. “ Do you laugh at the
efforts of the caricaturist to make fun out of your
peculiarities, or do you go about thirsting for his
blood ? ”
“ It all depends,” returned the Prominent Poli-
tician. “ When the drawing is really funny, in idea
and manner of treatment, when it hits off cleverly
and neatly some of my little ways, I can enjoy it
as frankly as any one. But the bitter thing, that is
grossly personal without being legitimately humorous,
or that has an unfair sting in it, that I cannot say I
care about.”
“ Ah, yes, that is just the point,” exclaimed the
Critic. “ The whole matter turns on the spirit in
which the caricature is conceived and produced.
That is why I say that the caricaturist’s faculty is a
dangerous one. If he oversteps ever so little the
boundary of humour and begins to dabble in the
ditch of spitefulness his work becomes an offence ;
and the desire to be smart and incisive is very apt
to lead him astray.”
“ I grant you that,” agreed the Man with the Red
Tie. “ But in the hands of the true humorist, who
has good taste and the right degree of artistic
conscience, the caricature is a perfectly permissible
form of art and one which no sensible person should
resent.”
“No sensible person would resent it if it were
always what you say it ought to be,” said the
Prominent Politician. “ I most certainly would get
a great deal of pleasure out of it and I should
regard it as a quite helpful kind of criticism. So
long as there is no hitting below the belt, these
assaults on one’s vanity are as wholesome as they
are amusing.”
“Yes, and the caricature of that type can be
definitely important as a work of art,” commented
the Critic. “ Its extravagance and exaggeration
are based upon the shrewdest observation and its
humour is essentially intelligent. It has qualities
of design and subtleties of suggestion that make it
aesthetically valuable: and it rises often to the
dignity of a cartoon. But there are, unfortunately,
other types ! ”
“ I know there are,” cried the Man with the Red
Tie; “and that is why I said just now that hardly
any one would be aggrieved by a legitimate carica-
ture—no sensible person would be at any rate.
The art, like all others, is only dangerous when
it is seriously misused, and when its proper spirit
is perceptibly perverted. It must never, on any
account, be put to base uses.”
The Lay Figure.
74
THE LAY FIGURE: ON THE
SPIRIT OF CARICATURE.
“ Ought caricature to be regarded as a
really legitimate form of art ? ” asked the Art
Critic. “ Looking at the bulk of the work that is
being done in this direction I am rather inclined
to the opinion that it is almost outside the sphere
of the artist’s practice.”
“ I fancy you will not find many people to agree
with you there,” exclaimed the Man with the Red
Tie. “ By what subtle and abstruse process of
reasoning have you arrived at that conclusion, may
I inquire ? ”
“ Caricature is a dangerous faculty, because it
stirs up enmities and disturbs lifelong friendships;
and because it brings more trouble than joy to its
possessor,” replied the Critic.
“ Oh, surely that is an exaggeration ! ” cried the
Man with the Red Tie. “Not many people are
so thin-skinned or so easily offended that they take
a legitimate caricature seriously to heart. The
saving sense of humour comes to their assistance
in almost all cases and prevents their feelings being
harrowed.”
“ A sense of humour, you seem to consider, is
like the soft answer that turneth away wrath,”
laughed the Critic. “ Well, there is something in
that. But I believe the personal vanity of the
person caricatured is a much more real shield to his
feelings. If he is amused rather than offended, it
is not at all because he sees the funny side of the
travesty of himself, but because he does not for
an instant imagine that he has any of the quaint
peculiarities which the caricaturist has detected and
insisted upon.”
“That may be; but there are people who are
conscious of their little abnormalities and yet can
bear without rancour having fun poked at them,”
declared the Man with the Red Tie. “ I am sure
it is good for many men to be made to laugh at
themselves sometimes—the caricaturist really does
them a service.”
“ I think I can speak with some authority on the
subject of caricatures,” broke in the Prominent
Politician. “ If I had been at any time so vain as
to believe that I had no physical defects my artist
friends would have knocked any such conceit out
of me long ago. The only feeling I have left now
is one of pure amazement that I should be blessed
—or cursed—with such an extraordinary number
of peculiarities and that I should offer such an in-
exhaustible mine of opportunities to the ingenious
caricaturist.”
“ But do you mind being caricatured ? ” asked the
Man with the Red Tie. “ Do you laugh at the
efforts of the caricaturist to make fun out of your
peculiarities, or do you go about thirsting for his
blood ? ”
“ It all depends,” returned the Prominent Poli-
tician. “ When the drawing is really funny, in idea
and manner of treatment, when it hits off cleverly
and neatly some of my little ways, I can enjoy it
as frankly as any one. But the bitter thing, that is
grossly personal without being legitimately humorous,
or that has an unfair sting in it, that I cannot say I
care about.”
“ Ah, yes, that is just the point,” exclaimed the
Critic. “ The whole matter turns on the spirit in
which the caricature is conceived and produced.
That is why I say that the caricaturist’s faculty is a
dangerous one. If he oversteps ever so little the
boundary of humour and begins to dabble in the
ditch of spitefulness his work becomes an offence ;
and the desire to be smart and incisive is very apt
to lead him astray.”
“ I grant you that,” agreed the Man with the Red
Tie. “ But in the hands of the true humorist, who
has good taste and the right degree of artistic
conscience, the caricature is a perfectly permissible
form of art and one which no sensible person should
resent.”
“No sensible person would resent it if it were
always what you say it ought to be,” said the
Prominent Politician. “ I most certainly would get
a great deal of pleasure out of it and I should
regard it as a quite helpful kind of criticism. So
long as there is no hitting below the belt, these
assaults on one’s vanity are as wholesome as they
are amusing.”
“Yes, and the caricature of that type can be
definitely important as a work of art,” commented
the Critic. “ Its extravagance and exaggeration
are based upon the shrewdest observation and its
humour is essentially intelligent. It has qualities
of design and subtleties of suggestion that make it
aesthetically valuable: and it rises often to the
dignity of a cartoon. But there are, unfortunately,
other types ! ”
“ I know there are,” cried the Man with the Red
Tie; “and that is why I said just now that hardly
any one would be aggrieved by a legitimate carica-
ture—no sensible person would be at any rate.
The art, like all others, is only dangerous when
it is seriously misused, and when its proper spirit
is perceptibly perverted. It must never, on any
account, be put to base uses.”
The Lay Figure.
74