Vanity Fair caricatures

The historic magazine Vanity Fair is best known today for its caricatures, of subjects that included artists, athletes, royalty, statesmen, scientists, authors, actors, soldiers and scholars. More than two thousand of these caricatures appeared, and they are considered the chief cultural legacy of the magazine, forming a pictorial record of the period. They were produced by an international group of artists, including Max Beerbohm, Sir Leslie Ward (who signed his work "Spy"), the Italians Carlo Pellegrini (known initially as "Singe" and then as "Ape") and Libero Prosperi ("Lib"), the French artist James Jacques Tissot, "Quiz", "WH", Walter Sickert and the American Thomas Nast. The first issue of Vanity Fair appeared in London on November 7, 1868. Thomas Gibson Bowles, founder of the magazine, aimed to expose the contemporary vanities of society. A full-page, colour lithograph of a current celebrity or dignitary appeared in each issue, caricatured in the gentle manner which became the hallmark of the magazine. The final issue of Vanity Fair appeared in 1914. Over a period of some forty-five years, Vanity Fair produced a remarkable gallery of caricatures of Victorian and Edwardian personalities.

Artists

Caricatures