Thomas Nast | Biography

Thomas Nast's life and work as an illustrator, cartoonist, and painter exemplify two familiar maxims: "A picture is worth a thousand words" and "The pen is mightier than the sword." Regarded as America's greatest caricaturist, Nast's more than three thousand cartoons and illustrations brought freshness and originality as well as political relevance to the American art scene. He created the symbols of the Tammany tiger, the Republican elephant, and the Democratic donkey, and he popularized the images of Santa Claus, Uncle Sam, and Miss Columbia. His journalistic work for illustrated current-affairs magazines placed him in contact with the most important social and political figures of his time. Nast's witty, often scathing political cartoons helped to sway public opinion in presidential campaigns from 1864 through 1884. They were instrumental in exposing corruption, notably the "Boss" Tweed-Tammany Hall scandal, and other social ills of the Gilded Age. However, detractors decried his work...
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