Lot 228: "THE DEAD BEAT" ANTIQUE 1871 Thomas Nast Image Signed Harper's Weekly Cartoon Lampooning The Democratic Party Corruption Of Boss Tweed

Antique 1871 Thomas Nast Woodblock Art. It is suitable for framing. Signed in image. Thomas Nast Full Page Woodblock Political Cartoon From December 23, 1871 Issue of Harper's Weekly. Interior Page woodblock cartoon, of that Harper's Weekly issue.

Image Titled: "THE DEAD BEAT" Image measures approximately 13 1/2 inches high wide X 9 inches wide plus borders. Edges show light general handling wear from age, light edge chipping with small loss, & removal marks from the Harper's volume, all of which will be covered by the mat when framed. Paper is age toned but not brittle. Signed in image: "TH. NAST." Overall the piece is Good Condition. Nast in this cartoon is satirizing & savaging the Tammany Hall Democratic Machine & William M "Boss" Tweed. At this time the New York Times & Nast's Harper's Weekly were beginning to have success in exposing the corruption of Tweed. Tweed's corruption began being revealed in The New York Times and Harper's Weekly, in no small part due to Nast's efforts like the one here. Regarding Nast's cartoons, Tweed reportedly said, "Stop them damned pictures. I don't care so much what the papers say about me. My constituents don't know how to read, but they can't help seeing them damned pictures!" The notorious William Marcy "Boss" Tweed boss of NYC's Democratic machine (Tammany Hall) had finally gone a bribe too far & would fall after a trial in November 1873 resulted in convictions on 204 of 220 counts.

Thomas Nast (1840-1902) was a German-born American caricaturist and editorial cartoonist considered to be the "Father of the American Cartoon". He was the scourge of Democratic Representative "Boss" Tweed and the Tammany Hall Democratic party political machine & of the Democratic Party in general whom he considered pro-South traitors. He was also strongly anti-Irish & anti-Catholic Church, since in the 19th century the Irish strongly supported the Democratic Party & were predominately Catholic. Nast considered the Catholic Church as a threat to American values. According to his biographer, Fiona Deans Halloran, Nast was "intensely opposed to the encroachment of Catholic ideas into public education". Among his notable works were the creation of the modern version of Santa Claus----based on the traditional German figures of Sankt Nikolaus and Weihnachtsmann----and the political symbol of the elephant for the Republican Party. Contrary to popular belief, Nast did not create Uncle Sam----the male personification of the American people----or Columbia----the female personification of American values----or the Democratic donkey, though he did popularize these symbols through his artwork. Nast was associated with the magazine Harper's Weekly from 1859 to 1860 and from 1862 until 1886. It has been argued by eminent historians that as a political cartoonist, Thomas Nast wielded more influence than any other artist of the 19th century. He not only enthralled a vast audience with boldness and wit, but swayed it time and again to his personal position on the strength of his visual imagination. President Lincoln called Nast "our best recruiting sergeant" for one of his most celebrated cartoons "Compromise with the South", which was directed against those in the North who opposed the prosecution of the American Civil War, as well as, for drawing battlefields in border and southern states. President Grant attributed his victory in 1868 to "the sword of Sheridan and the pencil of Thomas Nast." In the 1872 presidential campaign, Nast's ridicule of Horace Greeley's candidacy was especially merciless. After Grant's victory in 1872, Mark Twain wrote the artist a letter saying: "Nast, you more than any other man have won a prodigious victory for Grant----I mean, rather, for Civilization and Progress." As a crusading civil reformer he helped destroy the corrupt "Boss" Tweed Ring that swindled NYC of millions of dollars. His impact on American public life was formidable enough to profoundly affect the outcome of every presidential election during the period 1864 to 1884. ALL ITEMS ARE GUARANTEED TO BE ACCURATELY DESCRIBED, NOT DEFECTIVE, & GENUINE.

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Good Condition