A political cartoon, also known as an editorial cartoon, is a cartoon graphic with caricatures of public figures, expressing the artist's opinion. An artist who writes and draws such images is known as an editorial cartoonist. They typically combine artistic skill, hyperbole and satire in order to either question authority or draw attention to corruption, political violence and other social ills.
Cecil Rhodes, as The Rhodes Colossus, wishes for a railway stretching across Africa from the Cape of Good Hope to Egypt.
A Rake's Progress, Plate 8, 1735, and retouched by William Hogarth in 1763 by adding the Britannia emblem.
James Gillray's The Plumb-pudding in Danger (1805). The world being carved up into spheres of influence between Pitt and Napoleon. According to Martin Rowson, it is "probably the most famous political cartoon of all time—it has been stolen over and over and over again by cartoonists ever since."
U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt introduces Taft as his crown prince: Puck magazine cover, 1906.
A cartoon is a type of visual art that is typically drawn, frequently animated, in an unrealistic or semi-realistic style. The specific meaning has evolved, but the modern usage usually refers to either: an image or series of images intended for satire, caricature, or humor; or a motion picture that relies on a sequence of illustrations for its animation. Someone who creates cartoons in the first sense is called a cartoonist, and in the second sense they are usually called an animator.
Christ's Charge to Peter, one of the Raphael Cartoons, c. 1516, a full-size cartoon design for a tapestry
John Leech, Substance and Shadow (1843), published as Cartoon, No. 1 in Punch, the first use of the word cartoon to refer to a satirical drawing
Nast depicts the Tweed Ring: "Who stole the people's money?" / "'Twas him."
