{"id":991,"date":"2022-10-10T05:28:24","date_gmt":"2022-10-10T05:28:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/library-dev.umbc.edu\/wp\/specialcollections\/cruikshank\/?p=991"},"modified":"2023-10-23T20:09:32","modified_gmt":"2023-10-23T20:09:32","slug":"grotesque-noses-in-george-cruikshanks-caricatures","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/library.umbc.edu\/cruikshank\/grotesque-noses-in-george-cruikshanks-caricatures\/","title":{"rendered":"Grotesque Noses in George Cruikshank\u2019s Caricatures"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Faezeh Pasandi <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Distorted<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

You\u2019ve probably seen many caricatures during your life and most definitely you\u2018ve said, \u201cthis is hilarious!\u201d But how did this visual form enter the popular culture of Britain? It was in the 16th century that Annibale Carracci in Italy started making mock portraits. Later on, in the 18th century William Hogarth created very appealing satiristic portraits. In the 19th century James Gillray, Thomas Rowlandson, and George Cruikshank\u2019s graphic satire became popular.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 The word \u201ccaricature\u201d derives from the Italian \u201ccaricare\u201d which means \u201csurcharge\u201d or \u201coverload.\u201d Caricatures are created for humor to make a point about politics or human behavior. George Cruikshank, the well-known 19th century illustrator created many caricatures for making people aware of politics or criticizing human behavior as well as impressing people with his art. Here, we will see a specific example of nose surcharge in George Cruikshank caricature. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Body Features in Caricature<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The science of analyzing a human personality, feeling, mind by interpreting physical appearances is called \u201cphysiognomics.\u201d Many physiognomists took gesture and face expression into account. William Hogarth (1697-1726) was one of the pioneers of this style and had a great influence on later caricaturists.George Cruikshank was no exception. Hogarth organized and honed the aesthetic of physiognomy in his graphic works. Instead of just mocking his subjects, Hogarth tried to expose their true nature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 George Cruikshank also shows the feeling and mind of his characters\/his own feelings toward the characters especially through their facial features. He emphasizes the noses as the main element of his characters. In the illustration \u201cFagin in the condemned cell\u201d (1839) in Oliver Twist <\/em>by Charles Dicken, Fagin has a huge nose, matted hair, and an odd appearance. Another example of a large nose in illustration by George Cruikshank is \u201cThe Long-nosed Stranger at Strasburg\u201d<\/em> for Laurence Sterne\u2019s Tristram Shandy (1766).<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still today, it is common to see caricatures, where characters have distorted, exaggerated noses. The nose can be an obnoxious feature of the body as it sits in the center of the face, a vertical feature in the face in comparison with eyes and mouth. Maybe these natural features of the nose were an obvious area for George Cruikshank to focus on; another assumption is that George Cruikshank wanted to have his own distinct style. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The chapter of Noses<\/em><\/strong> an Etching by George Cruikshank<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

To know more about what noses represent in George Cruikshank\u2019s art I have chosen an etching<\/a> <\/strong>from \u201cMy Sketchbook\u201d(1834-36) from the George Cruikshank collection at UMBC\u2019s Albin O. Kuhn Library<\/a>. In this sketch there are seven portraits and a text under them that gives us some information about the context. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"George<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The text says \u201cmost approved method of pulling a fellows nose\u201d and talks about Mr Kidd, who seems to be a friend of George Cruikshank\u2019s mentioned in the text. In the center of the etching we see that George Cruikshank<\/a> is pulling Kidd\u2019s nose with tongs. Here, George Cruikshank is giant and Kidd is small. George Cruikshank is irritated by Kidd and is punishing him. The story behind it is that Kidd publishes wood engravings from George Cruikshank with only the name \u201cCruikshank.\u201d So George Cruikshank uses his caricature as a weapon to ridicule him. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"George<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"St.Dustan<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Different<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

On top of the picture, there are several persons with different types of noses showing the artist’s ability in drawing different characters. Other portraits are mostly representing the artist\u2019s fantasy of punishment by noses. In the right corner, St. Dunstan is pulling a monster\/evil nose and fighting him. In the left corner, the two portraits picture a man that has a large pointed down nose and a dog is biting it while the man is trying to hit him. The other character is pulled by a hand from his nose. It is very interesting to see how humans could fight or punish each other only by their nose. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"George<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Two different portraits do not display any punishment. One of these is behind George Cruikshank\u2019s self portrait. The character is just touching his nose while blinking at us. The blinking and the placement of the index finger show his complicity with the viewer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The portrait of noses is not only about making fun of others. Sometimes, it shows physical desire. The other portrait shows a male and a female dwarf. The man has a giant long nose while the woman has a smaller, more elegant nose. The man and the woman are giving each other flowers and the woman says, \u201cTake this rosegay gentle youth\u201d; the man says, \u201cAnd you sweet maid, take mine.\u201d This representation of nose shows some sexual desires here. The man has a bigger one so it means the man\u2019s sexual desires are higher than the woman’s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Overall, the caricature is a way to show an artist’s creative fantasies in their mind. If you would  like to see more of George Cruickshank\u2019s creative mind and artistic hand, visit the UMBC library<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What does the nose know? Cruikshank’s visual taxonomy of noses explores the grotesque and the whimsical.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":1498,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[19,34,49,57,90],"class_list":["post-991","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cruikshank-blog","tag-caricature-nose","tag-etching","tag-ilustration1834","tag-mock-portrait","tag-william-hogarth"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/library.umbc.edu\/cruikshank\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/991","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/library.umbc.edu\/cruikshank\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/library.umbc.edu\/cruikshank\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/library.umbc.edu\/cruikshank\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/library.umbc.edu\/cruikshank\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=991"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/library.umbc.edu\/cruikshank\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/991\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3447,"href":"https:\/\/library.umbc.edu\/cruikshank\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/991\/revisions\/3447"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/library.umbc.edu\/cruikshank\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1498"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/library.umbc.edu\/cruikshank\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=991"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/library.umbc.edu\/cruikshank\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=991"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/library.umbc.edu\/cruikshank\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=991"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}