A caricature is a representation of the qualities and peculiarities of an object, but in such a way that beauties are concealed and peculiarities or defects exaggerated, so as to make the person or thing ridiculous, while a general likeness is retained. Though a degenerate, it is one of the oldest forms of art. Egyptian art has numerous specimens of caricature, and it has an important place in Greek and Roman art. It nourished in every European nation during the middle ages, and in the 19th century day was the chief feature in the so-called comic journals. The chief masters of caricature in Britain were Hogarth, Gilray, Rowlandson, Bunbury, John Doyle, Leech, Richard Doyle, Cruickshank, Tenniel, etc. Punch and Vanity Fair traditionally contained the best examples of caricature in British art. Research Caricature
In Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, Vanity Fair is one of the dangerous places through which Christian journeyed on his pilgrimage to Zion; a fair wherein were displayed all the worldly vanities for tempting him from his way. It has been suggested that Bunyan wrote from recollections of the great annual fair at Stourbridge, near Cambridge.
Vanity Fair was a novel written by W. M Thackeray, in 1848. The author's most characteristic work in the more serious satiric vein, it presents a group of selfish people, living, in his own phrase, without God in the world. Social pretence, snobbery, meanness, chicanery are typified, and held up to reprobation in the astounding gallery of firmly drawn characters presented in this novel of English life during the first half of the 19th century.
Vanity Fair was the first society journal. It was founded in 1868 by Thomas Gibson Bowles and illustrated by Grebville Murray. Vanity Fair was popular for its caricatures of the political and social notabilities of the day. Research Vanity Fair
Sir Cecil Walter Beaton was an English photographer and designer. He was born in 1904 at London and died in 1980. Educated at Harrow and Cambridge he became a staff photographer for the magazines 'Vanity Fair' and 'Vogue' and earned a reputation for his society portraits including those of royalty. After the Second World War he designed scenery and costumes for ballets, operas, plays and films including the 1958 'Gigi' and 1964 'My Fair Lady' . Research Cecil Beaton
William Makepeace Thackeray was an English novelist, humorist and essayist. He was born at Calcutta in 1811 and died in 1863. Sent to England in 1817 he was educated at Charterhouse and at Trinity College, Cambridge, which he left without taking a degree. In 1831 he entered the Middle Temple, but abandoned law for journalism. In 1833 he bought 'The National Standard' which he edited for the few months it survived and in 1836 he went to Paris as correspondent for the short-lived 'Constitutional'. In 1836 he married Isabella Shawe. Thackeray was for a long time on the staff of 'Fraser's Magazine' to which he contributed stories, essays and verses, caricatures, art criticism and reviews. Among his principal contributions were 'The Yellowplush Papers', published in 1837 and 1838, which attracted attention and were pirated in the USA. Later Thackeray received widespread attention as a contributor to 'Punch' and 'The Snobs of England'. Among his best known novels is 'Vanity Fair'. Research William Thackeray
Abbreviations
Research Caricature
