"Campaigns and Cartoons: Depictions of U.S. Presidential Candidates from 1828 to 2016" is on view until December at O'Neill Library.
Satire has often been a salve for Americans annoyed, frustrated or just plain fed up with presidential campaigns. A current University Libraries exhibit offers some historical perspective on one particularly popular form of political parody, the cartoon.
“Campaigns and Cartoons: Depictions of U.S. Presidential Candidates from 1828 to 2016” includes samples of work by artists/commentators such as Thomas Nast, Matt Wuerker, Pat Oliphant, two-time Pulitzer finalist Robert Ariail, and Barry Blitt, whose recent New Yorker covers of Hillary Clinton (“Ready for a Fight”) and Donald Trump (“Donald’s Rainy Days”) are featured.
The exhibit also includes two student-produced comic strips from The Heights – Jim Millerick’s “Confusion Corner” and Jim Lordan’s “Globbit” – that ran a few weeks before the 1980 election.
“Cartoonists test the limits of political discourse and spark controversy with their views and portrayals as they exercise their right to free speech,” reads the exhibit introduction. “They also bring levity and humor to serious discussions about future presidential leadership.”
“Campaigns and Cartoons” is now on display until December in the O’Neill Library Third Floor Reading Room.
—News & Public Affairs