Etching & Sketching in Nineteenth-Century England
George Cruikshank (1792-1878) was England’s most prolific caricaturist and illustrator, creating some 10,000 sketches over more than sixty years of productivity. His etchings and engravings appeared in pamphlets and placards, bound books and broadsides, periodicals and prints.
Bent over a copperplate, Cruikshank’s imagination and burin ran wild. His politics also ran the gamut on the page, trafficking in subversive satire and in the worst stereotypes of the age. Controversial, charismatic, tireless and talented, Cruikshank was central to the flourishing of visual culture in nineteenth-century British media.
Curated by students in the Department of English at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) this exhibition features a wide sampling of Cruikshank’s work held in the UMBC Special Collections Library.
Recent Posts
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Dental House of Horrors: The toothache realised by George Cruikshank
Have you ever felt immense pain that no matter what it cannot be fixed? Trust George Cruikshank to take a stab at your pain.
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Collaboration Conflicts: The Drama With Dickens
George Cruikshank and Charles Dickens’ relationship was positive and fruitful for a long time until Dickens got a bee in his bonnet
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Flipping the World on its Head: George Cruikshank’s Illustrations of Satire and Victorian Science
Flipping the world on its head, one Ourang Outang and Bird at a time.
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Female Fashionistas of the Victorian Era
How is fashion from the Victorian era depicted in George Cruikshank’s sketch book?
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Performative Science: George Cruikshank & Phrenology
How did George Cruikshank view doctors who were proponents of pseudoscience?
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Teetotalism: George Cruikshank’s Anti-Alcohol Advertisements
How did George Cruikshank use illustrations to advocate for teetotalism and why did he think it was necessary?
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The Funny and the Serious: George Cruikshank as a Caricaturist and a Naturalist
George Cruikshank drew more than caricatures and cartoons.
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Obesity and Class in George Cruikshank’s Illustrations
Nineteenth-Century caricaturists often drew bodies in different sizes. How did Cruikshank’s sketches link body size with class and gender?
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Fox, Geese, and Snake Oil Salesmen: George Cruikshank’s Critique of Pseudo-Doctors
Through the use of personified animals, George Cruikshank critiques the practices of Snake Oil Salesmen and other Pseudo-Doctors in 19th-century Britain.