Now, this one is clearly WW1 propaganda motivated by the US formal entry into the war. (no idea if it was directed or ‘organic’). It also looks to be a departure from the thumb rule I had observed for all the ‘Days of Real Sport’ which is that they are normally set in the Briggs’ own youth in the 1880s. This one in contrast is contemporaneous (as a poster like that wouldn’t have been seen before 1917 except during the Civil War.) (which had its own distinct well imitable art style)Report
What’s kind of interesting is that while I can’t gleam much from Clare Briggs’s politics, most of his cartoons lean against war and US participation in war. Thought it might have had to do with him being a war correspondent in the Spanish-American War.
This cartoon was right after war was declared, though, so it’s indicative of something. Briggs did appear to have a genuine patriotic streak so this might have been him “falling in line”. It also could have been editorial dictate, though I don’t know the Tribune or the Chicago Herald (he switched at some point during the year, so not sure who he was with) had a slant on the war.Report
Now, this one is clearly WW1 propaganda motivated by the US formal entry into the war. (no idea if it was directed or ‘organic’). It also looks to be a departure from the thumb rule I had observed for all the ‘Days of Real Sport’ which is that they are normally set in the Briggs’ own youth in the 1880s. This one in contrast is contemporaneous (as a poster like that wouldn’t have been seen before 1917 except during the Civil War.) (which had its own distinct well imitable art style)Report
What’s kind of interesting is that while I can’t gleam much from Clare Briggs’s politics, most of his cartoons lean against war and US participation in war. Thought it might have had to do with him being a war correspondent in the Spanish-American War.
This cartoon was right after war was declared, though, so it’s indicative of something. Briggs did appear to have a genuine patriotic streak so this might have been him “falling in line”. It also could have been editorial dictate, though I don’t know the Tribune or the Chicago Herald (he switched at some point during the year, so not sure who he was with) had a slant on the war.Report