The premises for the forthcoming of political cartoon were set in the 16th century religious controversy between the Protestants and the Catholic Church. Calomnious images regarding each one of the party were circulated especially among the illiterate population, but they were addressed also to the the educated people. The spreading of such visual indictments became costumary and military conflicts resorted from now on also to this symbolic weaponry which had the purpose to disparage the image of the opponents.
However, one can discuss of fully developed political cartoons only from the 18th century on. The apparition of this specy is linked to the name of the Williams Hogarth and his succesors, Gillray Cruickshank and Rowlandson. Imputing the corrupt society and its rulers, by means of satirical drawings, became now a regular public act.
19th century was the moment for the wide-spread development of satirical publications. In France, in 1832, a new journal was edited, Charivari, which in time proved to be a model to be followed or even imitated in the rest of Europe. Charivary became prestigious also due to Honorė Daumier’s contribution, a famous artist which worked for the journal for a long time. In England, a famous replica of the parisian journal was Punch or the London Charivari, which appeared in 1843, but many other newspapers, looking up to their french predecessor, started to be published all over the continent. By the start of the new century, magazines such as L’Assiette au Beurre or the German Simplicissimus were known Europe-wide.
The art of editorial cartooning was however not mare european, by 19th century it became global. Political cartooning came to grow popular also in the USA, where a famous caricaturist of the time was Thomas Nast.
In the Romanian regions, the start of political cartooning was given on the eve of 1848 Revolution. However, a real breaktrough became visible after the union of the provinces in 1859, that same year marking the moment when the first satirical newspapers appeared. The most important and longevive proved to be Nikipercea and Ghimpele, but in the last decades of the century, satirical newspapers became more numerous. Tantal,
Modern romanian caricature was born under the influnce of both french and german press caricature. Young artists studied in western countries and acquinted themselves with the european satirical art. A well-known figure of the time was Ary Murnu, who worked for Furnica, and Iosif Iser, who was renoumned for his biting graphic works pointing at the flaws of the monarchy. Satirical art became so influential that famous artists such as Sirato, Ressu, Tonitza came to work also in the domain of editorial caricature.
Between the two world wars, Aurel Jiquidi, the son of Constantin Jiquidi, and Ion Anestin were well-known for their inspired cartoons which depicted the blameworthy society and politics. After the instalation of the comunists, cartoonists were determined to work in the favour of the party and of the state. In the fifties artist such as Perahim or Gil attacked the capitalist society and its liders. But as the international situation detensioned, so did the press loose interest for the political cartoons. It could no longer ridiculize the authority of the state so political caricature came back into style only after 1989.
