The Image of America traces the development of American history and culture through more than two centuries of caricature and cartoon. Through the acerbic eyes of both American and foreign artists it portrays our history in dramatic tone-building images. With the pathos, humor and the prejudices of his time each artist caricatures the personalities and events that form our culture. Paul Revere, William Charles, and James Gillray satirized the vents of the Revolution and the War of 1812. David Claypool Johnston earned the title of the "American Cruikshank" with his devastating caricatures of "King" Andrew Jackson and his administration, and Southern cartoonists vented their wrath on Abraham Lincoln as the Civil War raged. Artists readily identified or created symbols for each era as cartoons became a widely-distributed art of the people. America was first symbolized as a naïve Indian or the virginal Columbia. The American Eagle was employed to represent the country after it was adopted as the official emblem on the Great Seal. The most famous symbol of the United States, however, is Uncle Sam, best personified by James Montgomery Flagg during World War I. In each decade cartoonists demonstrate their ability to capture the essence of an age in a caricature--Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Louis "Satchmo" Armstrong, et al. The Image of America demonstrates the firm relationship between the events of history and contemporary art forms.--Jacket flap.
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