Perry Curtis, book review: Drawing Conclusions: A Cartoon History of Anglo-Irish Relations, 1798–1998 by Roy Douglas, et al.
Sir John Tenniel (; 28 February 182025 February 1914) was an English illustrator, graphic humorist and political cartoonist prominent in the second half of the 19th century.
His biographer Rodney Engen wrote that Tenniel's "life and career was that of the supreme gentlemanly outside, living on the edge of respectability." In 1840, Tenniel, while practising fencing, received a serious eye wound from his father's foil, which had accidentally lost its protective tip.
His early companionship with Charles Keene fostered his talent for scholarly caricature. ==Training== Tenniel became a student of the Royal Academy of Arts in 1842 by probation; he was admitted because he had made enough copies of classical sculptures to fill the necessary admission portfolio.
In the mid-1840s he joined the Artist's Society or Clipstone Street Life Academy, and it could be said that Tenniel first emerged there as a satirical draughtsman. ==Early career== Tenniel's first book illustration was for Samuel Carter Hall's The Book of British Ballads, in 1842.
Tenniel planned to enter the 1845 House of Lords competition amongst artists to win the opportunity to design the mural decoration of the new Palace of Westminster.
At Christmas 1850 he was invited by Mark Lemon to fill the position of joint cartoonist (with John Leech) on Punch, having been selected on the strength of recent illustrations to Aesop's Fables.
Though Tenniel's early illustrations in the Nazarene style were not well received, his encounter with the style pointed him in a good direction. ===Eye for detail=== After the 1850s, Tenniel's style was modernised to incorporate more detail in backgrounds and in figures.
Scholars such as Morris trace Tenniel's stylistic change to the late 1850s trend towards realism.
This was entitled "Lord Jack the Giant Killer" and showed Lord John Russell assailing Cardinal Wiseman. Tenniel's first characteristic lion appeared in 1852, as did his first obituary cartoon.
Engraver Orlando Jewitt, who had worked for Carroll in 1859 and reviewed Carroll's drawings for Wonderland, suggested that he employ a professional.
His cartoons of the 1860s popularised a portrait of the Irishman as a sub-human being, wanton in his appetites and resembling an orangutan in facial features and posture.
Gradually he took over altogether the weekly drawing of the political "big cut," which Leech was happy to cede to Tenniel in order to restrict himself to his pictures of life and character. In 1861, Tenniel was offered Leech's position at Punch, as political cartoonist, but Tenniel still maintained a sense of decorum and restraint in the heated social and political issues of the day.
When Leech died in 1864, Tenniel continued their work alone, rarely missing a single week. His task was to follow the wilful choices of his Punch editors, who probably took their cue from The Times and would have felt the suggestions of political tensions from Parliament as well.
Tenniel drew 92 drawings for Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (London: Macmillan, 1865) and Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There (London: Macmillan, 1871). Lewis Carroll originally illustrated Wonderland himself, but his artistic abilities were limited.
Carroll was a regular reader of Punch and therefore familiar with Tenniel, who in 1865 had long talks with Carroll before illustrating the first edition of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. The first print run of 2,000 was sold in the United States, rather than England, because Tenniel objected to the print quality.
A new edition was released in December 1865, carrying an 1866 date, and became an instant best-seller, increasing Tenniel's fame.
Cohen and Edward Wakeling, eds, Lewis Carroll and His Illustrators: Collaborations and Correspondence, 1865–1898.
By 1866 he could "command ten to fifteen guineas for the reworking of a single Punch cartoon as a pencil sketch," alongside his "comfortable" Punch salary "of about £800 a year". ===Alice=== Despite the thousands of political cartoons and hundreds of illustrative works attributed to him, much of Tenniel's fame stems from his illustrations for Alice.
A new edition was released in December 1865, carrying an 1866 date, and became an instant best-seller, increasing Tenniel's fame.
Tenniel drew 92 drawings for Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (London: Macmillan, 1865) and Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There (London: Macmillan, 1871). Lewis Carroll originally illustrated Wonderland himself, but his artistic abilities were limited.
After 1872, when the Carroll projects were finished, Tenniel largely abandoned literary illustration.
He was knighted for artistic achievements in 1893.
White, English Sacred Poetry of the Olden Time (1864) Legends and Lyrics (1865) Martin Farquhar Tupper's Proverbial Philosophy Barry Cornwall's Dramatic Scenes: With other poems (1857) ==Retirement and death== An ultimate tribute came to an elderly Tenniel as he was knighted for public service in 1893 by Queen Victoria.
Smalley referred to John Tenniel in 1914 as "one of the greatest intellectual forces of his time, (who) understood social laws and political energies." Public exhibitions of Sir John Tenniel's work were held in 1895 and 1900.
Spielmann, The History of Punch, London: Cassell, 1895 G.
Smalley referred to John Tenniel in 1914 as "one of the greatest intellectual forces of his time, (who) understood social laws and political energies." Public exhibitions of Sir John Tenniel's work were held in 1895 and 1900.
When he retired in January 1901, Tenniel was honoured with a farewell banquet (on 12 June), at which AJ Balfour, then Leader of the House of Commons, presided, and described Tenniel as "a great artist and a great gentleman". Tenniel died on 25 February 1914, three days before his 94th birthday.
Dalziel and George Dalziel, The Brothers Dalziel: A Record of Fifty Years' Work, London: Methuen, 1901 Eleanor M.
23, p. 406, London: Horace Marshall & Son, 1901 M.
Sir John Tenniel (; 28 February 182025 February 1914) was an English illustrator, graphic humorist and political cartoonist prominent in the second half of the 19th century.
When he retired in January 1901, Tenniel was honoured with a farewell banquet (on 12 June), at which AJ Balfour, then Leader of the House of Commons, presided, and described Tenniel as "a great artist and a great gentleman". Tenniel died on 25 February 1914, three days before his 94th birthday.
Smalley referred to John Tenniel in 1914 as "one of the greatest intellectual forces of his time, (who) understood social laws and political energies." Public exhibitions of Sir John Tenniel's work were held in 1895 and 1900.
New York: Arrow Editions, 1934 Harry Levin, "Wonderland Revisited" The Kenyon Review, Vol.
New York: Bramhall House, 1960 Morton N.
4, Kenyon College, 1965, pp.
Oxford: Oxford UP, 1971 Lewis Carroll, The Annotated Alice: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass.
Cambridge: Harvard College Library/The Stinehour Press, 1978 J.
Stoker, Sir John Tenniel A study of his development as an artist, with particular reference to the Book Illustrations and Political Cartoons, U of London PhD thesis, 1994 Jan Susina, The Place of Lewis Carroll in Children's Literature.
40, Bloomington: Indiana UP, 1996.
Paul Goldman, Victorian Illustrators, Aldershot, UK: Scolar Press, 1996 Marguerite Mespoulet, Creators of Wonderland.
Francis Gladstone and Jo Elwyn-Jones, The Alice Companion Palgrave Macmillan, 1998.
Bloomington: Indiana UP, 2001.
They are not usually on public display, but were exhibited in 2003. The bronze Alice in Wonderland sculpture (1959) in Central Park in Manhattan, New York City, is patterned on his illustrations. ==Style== ===Influence of German Nazarenes=== The style associated with the Nazarene movement of the 19th century influenced many later artists, including Tenniel.
Ithaca: Cornell UP, 2003 L.
London: The British Library and Oak Knoll Press, 2005 Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass.
JSTOR recovered 21 November 2010 L.
JSTOR recovered 21 November 2010 Edward D.
New York: Routledge, 2010 Jan Susina, book review: "Artist of Wonderland: The Life, Political Cartoons and Illustrations of Tenniel", Children's Literature Association Quarterly, Vol.
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