Politics and Parody Power MOWA’s Comics Exhibit

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Image via Museum of Wisconsin Art - Facebook

Political cartoon

Cartoon by Paul Noth from MOWA exhibit

It’s no surprise to see political satire everywhere these days, not the least of which are the political cartoons found in many publications and almost all daily newspapers. Many cartoons help vent the public psyche in times of emotional distress and upheaval. Succinct, often striking imagery can make a point more sharply than even the most erudite editorial, all thanks to the talent of an astute, insightful cartoonist.

That’s the point of a current exhibit from the Museum of Wisconsin Arts on display through June 23 at their DTN gallery inside Saint Kate - The Arts Hotel. A collection of 42 cartoons from 18 Wisconsin artists comprise “Pow-litical Comics: From Ripon to the RNC,” a prescient display designed to introduce current and past political humor and link Ripon, Wis., birthplace of the Republican Party, to the upcoming Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum, July 15-18.

Political cartoons have a long and storied history starting in Europe in the 18th century and emerging in the American press by the 19th century. Two cartoons in the 1870s by pioneer cartoonist Thomas Nast helped cement the donkey and the elephant as symbols for the Democratic and Republican parties, respectively, and have been part of the American psyche ever since, according to James Danky, a UW-Madison journalism professor and MOWA’s adjunct curator for comics.

“Nast’s imagery was among the most powerful, and these were his most famous,” says Danky, 76, a former periodicals librarian for the Wisconsin Historical Society and well-known comics authority. “This was the age before photography, so these images were very important. Nothing can interpret the power of a political position or idea better a cartoon.”

Still Important

Despite being an aging art form, political cartoons still play an important role even in the face of competition from late-night television talk shows, according to Paul Noth, a staff cartoonist with The New Yorker magazine and son of noted Milwaukee arts journalist Dominique Paul Noth.

“I am not entirely a political cartoonist, but my political work was what the magazine responded to early on,” says Noth, who has been producing New Yorker cartoons since 2004 and has several works in the MOWA exhibit. “In the beginning I was told I had to submit 10 cartoons a week, even if they were shit. From that I might sell one and some weeks I don’t sell any.”

Noth’s New Yorker political cartoons tend to be more oblique than obvious, which is the way the creator and the publication like them. “Their political cartoons are less direct, not a lot of donkeys and elephants, no labeling of characters or images to represent something else,” he explains. “I like drawing caricatures, but not doing them straight-on. With Trump I usually just show the back of his head.”

Noth also likes creating his own spin on topics of the day, which is part and parcel of the political cartoonist. 

Unique Twists

“I want to do the things people are talking or thinking about without doing the joke that everyone is making,” he explains. “With topical and political stuff there are many other outlets with lots of content. If I can think of a unique twist, then I know it’s worth drawing. It also helps if I feel some passion about the topic.”

Are any subjects off-limits to the cartoonist? “I don’t think so as long as the artists are willing to accept the consequences of what they’re saying,” Noth says.

There may or may not be controversial subjects in the “Pow-litical Comics” exhibition depending on the sensitivity of the viewer. But Danky and Noth agree there is much to see and even more to think about among the 42 cartoon panels and strips. The entries are full of insights thanks to the talents of the artists who created them.

“A political cartoon is just a drawing that you read and more likely to be considered literature rather than fine art.” Noth says. “Could society at large get along without them? I don’t know, but they are very important to me.”

According to Danky, a lifelong comics reader who will take the MOWA exhibit to Ripon College—his alma mater—after its Milwaukee run, their content and style make comics not only social commentary, but also more important than just something to fill up newsprint.

“Comics become art when you put them on the walls of a museum,” he adds.

The Museum of Wisconsin Art’s Pow-litical Comics: From Ripon to the RNC runs through June 23 at MOWA I DTN in Saint Kate – The Arts Hotel, 139 E. Kilbourn, Milwaukee. For more information, visit wisconsinart.org.