Drawn

Elections have been a topic for caricaturists and illustrators for at least 250 years. See, for instance, William Hogarth’s engraving “An Election Entertainment”, 1755. Remember, at the time this was an election affecting the USA too. In it, Art of the Print writers point out,

Standing in opposition to the policies of King George III, someone from this party has slashed his portrait which hangs prominently on the back wall. Two Whig candidates sit at the head of the table, to the left, under the flag that reads, “Liberty and Loyalty”. The first appears quite effeminate and, according to the petition being given him is named, ‘Sir Commodity Taxem’. He is patiently enduring a kiss from a rotund, toothless woman…

In the 19th century, Thomas Nast was one of the most wicked of satirical artists.Graphic Witness writes,

Nast is best remembered for the powerful Tammany Hall series that ran in Harper’s Weekly between 1869 and 1871; the series exposed and ridiculed the corruption in New York City and State Democratic Party-controlled politics; …His images skewered the offenders by exposing their criminal greed, and roused public anger at the situation….After 1871, Nast finds less and less to differentiate between the political ends and means of Republicans and Democrats….

Today, DB Dowd (previously) is covering the election, 19th century visual reporter style. He writes,

I will be covering the election as an illustrator-correspondent for the St. Louis Beacon….Today’s drawings will be uploaded here as they are ready. I would guess that today’s first drawings will appear on the site around 10:00 CST, and then continue to roll in during the day and night. Today promises to be a historic day, no matter what happens. We’ll be doing our best to provide a slice of social history in this locale. Stay tuned.