Full Description
George Cruikshank's (1792-1878) etchings and wood-engravings graced the pages of such classics as Grimms' Fairy Tales and Dickens' Oliver Twist, campaigned in the propaganda war against Napoleon, and satirised his times, becoming representative of the age. His life crossed paths with Britain's primary political, social, and cultural leaders, yet he experienced a long struggle for recognition of his imaginative, versatile and incisive images.
In the concluding volume of this comprehensive biography, Patten examines Cruikshank's collaborations with renowned writers such as Harrison Ainsworth, Charles Dickens, and William Makepeace Thackeray. Focussing on his illustrated periodicals, including the long-standing Comic Almanack, as well as his advocacy of Temperance, Patten sketches the context of Cruikshank's art through his subjects, motifs, mediums, treatments, publishers and audiences. Engaging with the contradictory and crisis-filled latter years of Cruikshank's life, Patten reveals the great artist's refashioning in the Victorian Era.
Contents
Illustrations
Preface: To the Reader
Acknowledgements
Chronology
Prologue
Phase 1: "Cradled in Caricature," 1792-1820
1 What's in a Name?
2 All My Relatives Were Scots
3 A Naughty Boy
4 A Picture of Fife
5 What Can You Do, If Your Pelvis is Wrong?
6 George Cruikshank Invenit
7 Too Much Fun of Too Many Things
8 The Pursuit and Torment of "Little Boney"
9 "Twit, Twittle, Twit": The Trials of William Hone
10 The Most Important Design I Ever Made
11 The Dandy of Sixty
12 A Very Tar in Art
Phase 2: "The Finest Things, Next To Rembrandt's," 1820-1835
13 Late Hours, Blue Ruin, and Dollies
14 Epigrams of Design
15 A Thorough-bred Artist
16 A Sketching Dante
17 To Work - "With a Will"
18 A Work Begun in Sadness
19 Indestructible as Punch
20 Thumbnail Designs
21 An "Average-European" Style
22 Drawing in Albums
23 Prince of Humorous Designers
24 The Arch and Able Pencil
Genealogies
Concerning Transcriptions and References
Notes
General Index
Index of Cruikshank's Works
George Cruikshank's Life, Times and Art, Volume II: 1835-1878
Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Chronology
Phase 3: "Immortal George," 1835-1851
25. Middle-Class Characters
26. A Picture of Every-Day London
27. Oliver Twist and the "Apples of Discord"
28. Almost in Love with Roguery
29. The Tower! Is the Word-Forward to the Tower!
30. The "Hoc" Goes Down
31. The Triumph of Cupid
32. Portraits of the Artist
33. Masterpieces Worthy of the Greatest Painter
34. England is not California
35. I am Become a Name
36. Losing by Almost Every Speculation
Phase 4: "George Cruikshank, Artist," 1851-1878
37. Hitting Right and Left
38. Whole Hogism
39. Knock Down Blows
40. Write Me Down an Ass
41. The Volunteers
42. Diagrams of Drunkenness
43. Surely There Never Were Such Times!!!
44. I am Looked Upon as a Fanatic
45. Celtic Strains
46. Disappointment. on Disappointment
47. The Venerable George
48. George the 1st and Last
Epilogue
Genealogy
Emendata
Concerning Transcriptions and References
Notes
Bibliography
General Index
Index of Cruikshank's Works
About the Author
