A DOMESTIC EVENT. "Sixteen, comrade! All boys."
+ Stalin as an obstetrician giving the good news of delivered babies to the Russian Bear at the USSR Devolution Institute.
SOURCE: This is an original cartoon from British Punch magazine, drawn by Bernard Partridge, published February 9, 1944 and pulled from the magazine; original, not a modern reproduction. Full size: 8 x 10 1/2 inches, including borders. Pictured image is slightly cropped. CONDITION: very good indeed: light toning and clean, the page has been humidified and flattened for best appearance and for framing; the backside has unrelated text with some show-through possible on the facing side, as published.
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WHO IS THE ARTIST?
Knighted in 1925, Sir Bernard Partridge was simply one of the finest political cartoonists ever to grace the pages of Punch, and therefore the world. His style was a simplifying of Sir John Tenniel's fine cross hatching, with thicker but no less detailed expression into dramatic and epic statements. This successful progression of tone in Punch was in no small part due to Partridge having been a theatre actor of renown who knew and painted many portraits of Henry Irving, one of England's greatest stage actors.
His bold and rousing images span a career of over 50 years and his WW1 & 2 political cartoons are not only the best of propaganda from that time, but also often chillingly and brutally observed, which nearly a hundred years on are still fresh and hard hitting. If one were to pick just two definitive examples from Punch magazine, it would surely be a Tenniel cartoon from the Victorian era and a Partridge cartoon from the Twentieth Century.
WHAT IS PUNCH?
Punch, a magazine of humor and satire, ran from 1841-2002. A very British institution renowned internationally for its wit and irreverence, it helped to coin the term "cartoon" in its modern sense as a humorous illustration. Punch was the world's most celebrated magazine of wit and satire. From its early years as a campaigner for social justice to its transformation into national icon, Punch played a central role in the formation of British identity -- and how the rest of the world saw the British nation. In its formative years Punch combined humors, illustration and political debate with a fresh and radical audacity. During its heyday in the late 1800s, it reflected the conservative views of the growing middle-classes and copies of it could be found in the libraries of diplomats, cabinet ministers and even royalty. In the Western world, Punch played a significant role in the development of satire. In the world of illustration, it practically revolutionized it. Over the decades as it charted the interests, concerns and frustrations of the country and today it stands as an invaluable source of cartoon art, satire, but as primary source material for historians.