Althouse: Caricature.

June 9, 2006

Caricature.

I have adored David Levine's caricatures for decades, but this one of George Bush just doesn't look a thing like him.

Here are all his Bush caricatures, most of which are great. I'm just wondering what strange perception shift took place in Levine's brain.

21 comments:

Jennifer said...: It looks more like Jeb than W. I guess I can see some of the physical traits he was playing off, but the caricature just doesn't capture the subject like most of Levine's other caricatures do.; 6/9/06, 9:02 PM
Anonymous said...: It's a mistake.

He meant John Updike.; 6/9/06, 9:24 PM
Jennifer said...: He's never tried to make W smile before. Maybe that's what threw him.; 6/9/06, 9:28 PM
Anonymous said...: He was playing off the article, Power Grab, by Elizabeth Drew, that he drew the cartoon for.

He is saying that Bush is like a Fox in the Hen House. (Our hen house). And he played up the fox like characteristics. The nose, the ears, and the teeth.

Since you are the art student, not me, well, I am sorry to have to explain it to you.

What did you think of the underlying charges made in the article?

During the presidency of George W. Bush, the White House has made an unprecedented reach for power. It has systematically attempted to defy, control, or threaten the institutions that could challenge it: Congress, the courts, and the press. It has attempted to upset the balance of power among the three branches of government provided for in the Constitution; but its most aggressive and consistent assaults have been against the legislative branch: Bush has time and again said that he feels free to carry out a law as he sees fit, not as Congress wrote it. Through secrecy and contemptuous treatment of Congress, the Bush White House has made the executive branch less accountable than at any time in modern American history. And because of the complaisance of Congress [And conservative blog diva constitutional law professors], it has largely succeeded in its efforts.; 6/9/06, 9:38 PM
Ann Althouse said...: You can't "explain" the picture into looking like him! I didn't ask why is he holding a fox.; 6/9/06, 9:48 PM
Ann Althouse said...: Is there anyone who doesn't think Jacques and Lurketto are the same person?; 6/9/06, 9:54 PM
Anonymous said...: Ann Althouse said...

Is there anyone who doesn't think Jacques and Lurketto are the same person?

Since that has never been my pattern in the past, why would you accuse me of this now?

But hey, I guess it's reasonable of you to consider that since I have long suspected you were the SloanyBot, IamsPuppyLogic, Plutonium-Q36 and author of your own page at the Wikipedia.; 6/9/06, 10:03 PM
Anonymous said...: Since that has never been my pattern in the past, why would you accuse me of this now?

So Ann, just what did you think of the underlying charges as expressed in Elizabeth Drew's article, Power Grab?; 6/9/06, 10:09 PM
Anonymous said...: Ann,

Lurketto has the distinct signature of a psychopath---Jaques, of a sociopath.
Neither resembles a "person."

Ergo, your site is infected by a mentally ill spambot.

Delete.; 6/9/06, 10:11 PM
Mark Daniels said...: The first one looks like John Lindsay, the one-time mayor of New York City.

Mark; 6/9/06, 10:18 PM
Mark Daniels said...: That is the first caricature, getting back to the original post. (I assume it's okay to do that.)

Mark; 6/9/06, 10:22 PM
Unknown said...: He is saying that Bush is like a Fox in the Hen House. (Our hen house). And he played up the fox like characteristics. The nose, the ears, and the teeth.

Uh, yeah, so? The result is a face that looks absolutely nothing like GWB. Looks more like Merv Griffin than George Bush. And those two are kinda hard to confuse, normally.; 6/9/06, 10:26 PM
Ann Althouse said...: MCG: Thanks! I was wracking my brain trying to place it! Merv Griffin!

And Jennifer detected the problem: he can't do the Bush smile.; 6/9/06, 10:57 PM
Maxine Weiss said...: Call me crazy, but if you squint your eyes, GWB looks like Leo Buscaglia in those drawings.

I bet it's intentional.

Peace, Maxine; 6/10/06, 12:27 AM
Sanjay said...: Professor Althouse --
on a tangent, this is what I meant about weird and wonderful. The same? Not the same? I'll be thinking about it a while. Thanks for leaving it.; 6/10/06, 12:42 AM
Maxine Weiss said...: I'm curious: does he work by hand with pad and ink, or (blah) ....digital drawing ???

Which brings me to another point...

OFF TOPIC: Ann, did you know non-digital photography is making a comeback?

More and more photographers are rejecting digital in favor of going back into the wet darkrooms of yore. It's more hands-on, physical, working with toners, shading etc...

The great photographers, Penn, Hurrell etc...would never have embraced digital photography IMHO IMHO IMHO. The wet darkroom was their palace.

More and more people are rebelling against the digital revolution IMHO IMHO IMHO.

Get on board, Ann!

Back to basics.

Peace, Maxine; 6/10/06, 1:08 AM
Ann Althouse said...: Maxine: Levine's caricatures are very inky -- especially the old ones, like the 1989 archive in the first link.

As for cameras, I'm too used to not paying for prints and to taking a hundred pictures at a time and posting them within minutes. I've never done my own printing anyway. I do have a nice film camera and hate to see it go unused...; 6/10/06, 6:33 AM
Anonymous said...: So Ann, now that you have had time to read the article itself, what do you think of its charges?; 6/10/06, 10:51 AM
archshrk said...: It's the teeth. G.W. isn't know for showing his teeth when he smiles.; 6/10/06, 12:24 PM
Patt said...: Thats my Granny,That is.If you want to see some good caricatures come to http://pattoons.blogspot.com Tony Blair is my favorite to Draw hes a plum.
Patt.; 6/25/06, 6:19 PM
Wong Junti said...: Thanks for this information. See you again. Online Shopping caricature; 12/9/09, 1:44 PM