Drawn to Life - Volume 2

31 Caricature

I have been anxious to do a handout on caricature. I realize it is such a broad and nebulous subject that it can hardly be pinned down to a teachable art. So being inadequately prepared, but loving a challenge — here goes!

In the first place, caricature has lost a lot of its meaning by having been identified almost exclusively with the drawing of funny likenesses. I recently went to my local library in Solvang to check out a book on the subject. In it there were no drawings below the neck. Yet actually, caricaturing the face is but one small facet of the art. The word caricature was derived from the Italian or French word, caricatura, meaning satirical picture, literally an overloading; or caricare, to load, exaggerate, i.e., greatly ...