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 historians.
Illustration by Bernard Partridge. Size: 8 x 10 1/2 including borders, image shown slightly cropped. Source: British PUNCH humor/satire magazine, from May 25, 1927. Condition: very good -- minor age toning, o/w clean, paper lays flat for easy framing; backside is blank.
UNDER TWO FLAGS: Empire Day as it May be in South Africa
--It is so decided by referendum, the proposed National Flag of the Union of South Africa--as above--will be for everyday use, and the Union Jack will be officially flown on three or four days only in the year.
Over 3,500 Punch cartoons listed for sale (under store category “PUNCH CARTOONS), combine orders and save shipping charges. Questions are always welcome.
WHAT IS PUNCH?
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. Punch was the world's most celebrated magazine of wit and satire. From its early years as a campaigner for social justice to its transformation into national icon, Punch played a central role in the formation of British identity -- and how the rest of the world saw the British nation. In its formative years Punch combined humors, illustration and political debate with a fresh and radical audacity. During its heyday in the late 1800s, it reflected the conservative views of the growing middle-classes and copies of it could be found in the libraries of diplomats, cabinet ministers and even royalty. In the Western world, Punch played a significant role in the development of satire. In the world of illustration, it practically revolutionized it. Over the decades as it charted the interests, concerns and frustrations of the country and today it stands as an invaluable source of cartoon art, satire, but as primary source material for historians.
”WHO IS THE ARTIST?
Sir John Bernard Partridge (11 October 1861 – 9 August 1945) was an English illustrator. Born in London, for some years he was well known as an actor under the name of Bernard Gould. But he was most renowned for his association with Punch magazine. He joined the Punch staff in 1891 and became chief cartoonist in 1910, a position he held until his death in 1945. His cartoons usually featured one or two stately figures centre stage; as Price, Punch’s biographer, pointed out Partridge’s cartoons were ‘theatrical’ rather than ‘dramatic’. He was a master cartoon propagandist, amply shown in his many war-time cartoons published in Punch.
Knighted in 1925, Sir Bernard Partridge was simply one of the finest political cartoonists ever to grace the pages of Punch, and therefore the world. His style was a simplifying of Sir John Tenniel's fine cross hatching, with thicker but no less detailed expression into dramatic and epic statements. This successful progression of tone in Punch was in no small part due to Partridge having been a theatre actor of renown who knew and painted many portraits of Henry Irving, one of England's greatest stage actors.
His bold and rousing images span a career of over 50 years and his WW1 political cartoons are not only the best of propaganda from that time, but also often chillingly and brutally observed, which nearly a hundred years on are still fresh and hard hitting. If one were to pick just two definitive examples from Punch magazine, it would surely be a Tenniel cartoon from the Victorian era and a Partridge cartoon from the Twentieth Century.