POLITICAL CARTOONS OF CANADIAN PRIME MINISTERS THROUGH THE AGES Julian Peters The beginnings of Canada as a nation coincide quite closely with the emergence in this country of political cartooning as a professional activity. The first Canadian journal to publish political cartoons on a regular basis was Punch in Canada, founded in 1849. It was soon followed by a whole slew of illustrated political and literary journals, both in English and in French, in which politically themed cartoons and caricatures featured prominently. The foundations had been laid for what would become a rich tradition of Canadian political cartooning. The parliamentary nature of the Canadian political system and the strong influence of regional politics on federal affairs have meant that, during any given era in our country’s history, the Canadian political scene has presented a wide array of human targets for the cartoonist’s pen. Not surprisingly, however, sitting Prime Ministers have constituted the primary focus of political caricature, and in some sense have even tended to provide the yardstick by which a cartoonist’s satirical abilities are measured. Naturally, there have historically been Prime Ministers whose personality and physical appearance have lent themselves more or less readily to caricature, and it may even be possible to trace alternations between periods of great brilliance in political cartooning and other seemingly less inspired eras to corresponding variations in the satirical potential of our national leaders.
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POLITICAL CARTOONS OF CANADIAN PRIME MINISTERS
THROUGH THE AGES Julian Peters
The beginnings of Canada as a nation coincide quite closely with the emergence in this country
of political cartooning as a professional activity. The first Canadian journal to publish political
cartoons on a regular basis was Punch in Canada, founded in 1849. It was soon followed by a
whole slew of illustrated political and literary journals, both in English and in French, in which
politically themed cartoons and caricatures featured prominently. The foundations had been laid
for what would become a rich tradition of Canadian political cartooning.
The parliamentary nature of the Canadian political system and the strong influence of regional
politics on federal affairs have meant that, during any given era in our country’s history, the
Canadian political scene has presented a wide array of human targets for the cartoonist’s pen.
Not surprisingly, however, sitting Prime Ministers have constituted the primary focus of political
caricature, and in some sense have even tended to provide the yardstick by which a cartoonist’s
satirical abilities are measured. Naturally, there have historically been Prime Ministers whose
personality and physical appearance have lent themselves more or less readily to caricature, and
it may even be possible to trace alternations between periods of great brilliance in political
cartooning and other seemingly less inspired eras to corresponding variations in the satirical
potential of our national leaders.
In this virtual tour, I will present five political cartoons, each drawn by a different cartoonist, and
each depicting a different Prime Minister, with the object of providing some insight into the
evolution of illustrated political satire throughout the first century of this country’s history.
Phrenological Chart of the Head of the Country, Grip, 1887.
Giambattista Della Porta was a Neapolitan polymath and playwright. His treatise on
physiognomy influenced the Swiss pastor Johann Kaspar Lavater (1741-1801), who
popularized the pseudoscience of physiognomy in the late eighteenth century.
NOTES
1 Library and Archives Canada, John Bengough <http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/confederation/023001-6000-e.html>. 2 Carman Cumming, Sketches from a Young Country: The Images of Grip Magazine (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1997) 23. 3 Cumming, 14. 4 E. H. Gombrich, Meditations on a Hobby Horse, and Other Theories on the History of Art (London: Phaidon, 1963) 133. 5 Edward J. Lordan, Politics Ink: How America’s Cartoonists Skewer Politicians, From King George III to George Dubya (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2006) 30. 6 Peter Desbarats and Terry Mosher, The Hecklers: A History of Canadian Political Cartooning and a Cartoonist’s History of Canada (Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1979) 149. 7 Desbarats and Mosher, 152. 8 Desbarats and Mosher, 147. 9 Gombrich, 134.
BIBLIOGRAPHY Cumming, Carman. Sketches from a Young Country: The Images of Grip Magazine. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1997. Desbarats, Peters and Terry Mosher. The Hecklers: a History of Canadian Cartooning and a Cartoonist’s History of Canada. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1979. Gombrich, E. H. Meditations on a Hobby Horse, and Other Theories on the History of Art London: Phaidon, 1963. Hou, Charles and Cynthia Hou. Great Canadian Political Cartoons 1820-1914. Vancouver: Moody’s Lookout Press, 1997. Library and Archives Canada. John Bengough. <http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/confederation/023001-6000-e.html>. Lordan, Edward J. Politics, Ink: How America’s Cartoonists Skewer Politicians, From King George III To George Dubya. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2006. McCord Museum. <http://www.mccordmuseum.qc.ca/scripts/explore.php?Lang=1&tableid=11& tablename=theme&elementi>.
Political Cartoons of Canadian Prime Ministers Through the Ages Lesson Plan
Background Information for Teachers: Cartoon caricature has played an important role in
Canadian political discourse since the country’s inception. In any given era, the Prime Minister
has naturally constituted the primary target for the cartoonist’s pen. Although the drawing styles
and senses of humour on display in these cartoons has varied greatly throughout the century and
a half since Confederation, the basic principles of visual caricature—the exaggeration of
prominent physical features and the codification of emblematic visual signifiers—has not. This
lesson will provide both an introduction to the history of caricature in this country and an
opportunity for students to try their hand at creating political caricatures themselves.
Target Grade Level: 7-11 in Canadian history or visual arts classes.
Objectives: After completing the lesson, students will be able to:
-Visually identify several historically significant Canadian Prime Ministers
-Analyze the process of creating a caricatural image
- Create their own caricatures of historical Canadian Prime Ministers, or of
Present-day politicians
Lesson Procedures:
-Present a sampling of political caricatures of John A. MacDonald, Alexander
Mackenzie, Wilfrid Laurier, John Diefenbaker and Pierre Elliott Trudeau. It might be a good
idea to preface each set of drawings with a photographic portrait of the Prime Ministers being
caricatured.
-Ask students to try to identify the recurring emblematic physical characteristics or other
visual elements by which these Prime Ministers are identified in caricature: e.g. Laurier’s high