So careless has been the popular use of the words “_cartoonist_” and
“_caricaturist_,” that to many minds they no doubt seem practically
interchangeable. Yet, as a matter of fact, not only do the two titles
imply two different functions of pictorial satiric art, but, although
there is a school of that art for almost every one of the great races
of civilized men, there is but one school that positively demands the
union of these two factors in the work of its pupils. That school is
the German school, and it is Mr. Joseph Keppler who, as an American
cartoonist and caricaturist, has not only imposed its canons and
traditions upon this country, but has, in so doing, placed himself at
its head, both in this country and in Europe, by virtue of a genius
that has made him eminent above the generation of his masters.
The spirit of French comic art turns distinctly--and delightfully--to
caricature. The French “cartoon”--the pictorial lampoon, that is--has
but to exhibit in an exaggerated form the objectionable characteristics
of an individual, to serve its purpose and to touch its public. It is
the revelation of character, of purpose, of intellectual or moral scope
which affects, apparently, the French mind, by nature rather observant
than deductive. The Anglo-Saxon spirit, less quickly perceptive, more
deliberately logical, asks something beyond this of the man who tries
to reason with it in a picture. It must be approached by means of a
fable, a parable, an allegory, something that will stand the test of
argument and comparison. Caricature, or the significant exaggeration of
physical characteristics, may or may not be an incident to this.
Few of the English cartoonists, for instance, have been caricaturists
of any account. The greatest of them all, John Tenniel, is a cartoonist
pure and simple--that is, one who draws allegories or parables. In
his delightful “Alice in Wonderland” work, he shows his power of
caricature; but in his cartoons he is classically faithful to nature,
save for just sufficient accentuation to point his satiric intent. And
in the United States, up to twenty years ago, the prime idea of the
cartoonist was simply to express in drawing a figure of speech--and the
more realistically the better.
If it seems a remarkable thing that the influence of one man should
avail to change the taste of a nation in such a manner, it must be
remembered that the breadth and force of the German school which
Mr. Keppler introduced into this country were peculiarly calculated
to appeal to a receptive people, delighting in vigorous expression.
For the German school carries the art and mystery of cartooning far
beyond any of its rivals. The German conception of the cartoon not only
involves a picture parable, it demands that the actors of the fable
shall be so drawn as to display their characters in their lineaments,
and it asks, moreover, that the allegory shall, if possible, take a
distinctive dramatic form, suggestive, at least, of action, and not
merely of position.
It was not in the American nature to refuse to recognize the pregnant
possibilities of such a school of satiric art. Nor did Mr. Keppler
fail to grasp the vast possibilities opened to him by the freedom of
American laws and American tradition--social and political.
This collection of Mr. Keppler’s cartoons is not by any means intended
to summarize his work during the sixteen years in which he has drawn
for PUCK--or it would be treble its present size. It simply brings
together such examples of his work as may now with propriety be
reprinted. This is no slight volume, yet it contains, comparatively,
but a narrow choice of the hundreds of cartoons Mr. Keppler has drawn
for PUCK. It is surprising to consider that this great output is to
be credited to a man who has only attained the fullness of life; for
Joseph Keppler is but fifty-five years old. He was born in Vienna,
February 1st, 1838. His early life was a struggle with poverty; but it
was a blithesome and cheerful-hearted struggle, almost romantically
full of incident and adventure. He was with equal ease an actor and
an artist; and at one time, with a very natural longing for Italy, he
wandered through Styria and the Tyrol and, again, through Hungary,
making vain attempts, balked by constant misfortune, to enter the land
of art. In 1856 he settled down to serious study at the Académie des
Beaux Arts of Vienna. Although his capacity as an artist was increasing
year by year, he possessed a histrionic talent that made it hard for
him to give up the stage, and as manager and actor he was connected
with the theatre even for several years after his arrival in America in
1868. His first years in America were passed in the West; and in St.
Louis he started two humorous weeklies, _Die Vehme_ and a too-early
PUCK. The gods loved both of these ventures too well. It was in 1877
that Mr. Keppler, in association with Mr. Adolph Schwarzmann, first
introduced to the American public the school of cartooning which has
now become as much ours as Germany’s. This was through the medium of a
German edition of PUCK. The English PUCK was born on March 7th, 1877.
To his colleague of sixteen years’ side-by-side working time, it is a
great pleasure to claim for Joseph Keppler the masterhood in the brave
art whose present form he introduced to America, and which he has used
with enduring courage and growing knowledge to more good ends than need
here be told.
_March 20th, 1893._
_H. C. Bunner._