Rare British PUNCH Cartoon - INDIAN MUTINY OF 1857 - JUSTICE

Description: It is hard to escape the legacy of the Punch Magazine. From 1841 to 2002, the magazine cast a satirical eye on life in Britain. It charted the interests, concerns and frustrations of the country and today it stands as an invaluable resource not just as cartoon art and satire, but as primary source material for social historiansIllustrator: John Tenniel, from British Punch humor/satire magazine, August 22, 1857, pulled from the magazine, not a modern reproduction. Double-page, size 16 1/2 x 10 1/2 inches. Condition: very good-- still bright paper, no holes to centerfold from threading or staples, shows some discoloration, bit of offsetting otherwise a clean and very nice copy -- impressive imagery. THE BRITISH LION'S VENGEANCE ON THE BENGAL TIGERTenniel’s ‘The British Lion’s Vengeance on the Bengal Tiger’ is the first representation by Punch of women as the victims of the Indian mutiny, and so is an important expression of the prevailing British attitude to the mutiny in its early months. We know from Patrick Leary’s work that the creation of the Large Cut [double-page cartoon] was a process geared towards achieving a topical, easy-to-understand representation of the week’s chosen theme. This one shows a woman holding a child, attacked by a tiger, which in turn is being attacked by the British Lion. With the caption this shows that the message is British vengeance on India for the murder (and potentially rape) of women. But so much is taken for granted about British anxiety over the deaths of women by August 1857 that few studies stop to wonder why Tenniel chose to include the British Lion and the Bengal Tiger to represent the mutiny as a whole, and why this became such a resonant metaphor for the process as the British saw it. To understand that, we need to deconstruct the cartoon and re-build our grasp of why each one of its components was chosen. Of the key visual components, the most obvious trope is the British Lion. Punch used it regularly, alongside Britannia and John Bull, as an embodiment of Britain. Thus, the British Lion was easily recognized by readers of the magazine as a metaphor for Britain. But cartoons also had to be topical, and in the context of contemporary press attitudes to the mutiny this one was, as a result of the appearance of the Lion: its representation mid-leap suggests strength, showing powerful British reaction to the conflict. The Lion looks muscular, healthy, and through its position in the foreground much larger than tiger, or woman and child. It bares its teeth and is mid-leap, mane standing on edge, and we see one of its eyes fixed on the Bengal Tiger. All of this suggests strength, and the gaze also makes it the only active component of the cartoon. The visual element of Bengal Tiger over unconscious or dead woman and child is also taken from contemporary collective discourse, and shows Punch’s participation in it with this cartoon. Mark Lemon, publisher of Punch at the time, called this Cut a ‘fighting’ one; indicating that it appealed to contemporary patriotism. This has a lot to do with the context of this visual component, and its message of violent British action against India – vengeance. The Bengal Tiger appears above its victims, but forced to retreat by the arrival of the British Lion. Its gaze is on the Lion, but its eye is barely visible, and it appears smaller than the Lion, all suggesting its subjugation and defeat. -From an essay by Anna Matei “Women and the Indian Mutiny: Framing the Mutiny in a Punch Cartoon and a Lucknow Diary.”--The Indian Rebellion of 1857 was a major, but ultimately unsuccessful, uprising in India in 1857–58 against the rule of the British East India Company, which functioned as a sovereign power on behalf of the British Crown. The rebellion began on 10 May 1857 in the form of a mutiny of sepoys of the Company's army in the garrison town of Meerut.--The Indian rebellion was fed by resentments born of diverse perceptions, including invasive British-style social reforms, harsh land taxes, summary treatment of some rich landowners and princes, as well as skepticism about the improvements brought about by British rule. Many Indians rose against the British; however, many also fought for the British, and the majority remained seemingly compliant to British rule. Violence, which sometimes betrayed exceptional cruelty, was inflicted on both sides, on British officers, and civilians, including women and children, by the rebels, and on the rebels, and their supporters, including sometimes entire villages, by British reprisals; the cities of Delhi and Lucknow were laid waste in the fighting and the British retaliation. --Its name is contested, and it is variously described as the Sepoy Mutiny, the Indian Mutiny, the Great Rebellion, the Revolt of 1857, the Indian Insurrection, and the First War of Independence.I have other hard-to-find original Punch cartoon illustrations for sale; combine orders with no extra shipping fees.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. QUESTIONS ARE ALWAYS WELCOME.

Price: 29.95 USD

Location: Milton, Vermont

End Time: 2024-12-02T21:12:25.000Z

Shipping Cost: 9.95 USD