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Abstract
This paper identifies and examines recent developments (broadly, the 1990s) in the use in political caricature and advertising of imagery derived from French classical templates, including Géricault's ‘Le Radeau de la Méduse’ and, notably, Delacroix's ‘Liberty Leading the People’, perhaps the most emblematic exemplar of the revolutionary ‘Marianne’. Taking its illustrations from contemporary British, French and international sources, it analyses their instrumental, denotative significance in an evolving political context and the extent to which, by reworking a familiar iconographical tradition, they function as vectors of cultural transfer and marketing devices.
Acknowledgements
For permission to reproduce illustrations, I am grateful to Steve Bell ( and ), David Simonds () and Ralph Steadman ().
Notes
[1] Guide des tendances hiver 2001.
[2] See Lelieur & Bachollet (Citation1989, illus 43–46, 53, 96, 116, 130–131, 140).
[3] In 2001, the Alliance française used it in its UK course publicity material, ‘Down with language barriers!’.
[4] Examples of the Manet derivative usually involve fairly obvious sexual connotations and/or tropes of the boring or boastful middle-class male.
[5] ‘High’, The Scotsman, 28 May 1993.
[6] The Scotsman, 29 Nov. 1994.
[7] Quoted in The Scotsman, 26 Oct. 1993.
[8] The Observer, 5 Jan. 1997. The Géricault image lent itself to the vagaries of broadcasting deregulation: an unattributed variation under the flag ‘Live TV’ and incorporating two naked female figures was used to illustrate an article in The Observer supplement, 28 Jan. 1996.
[9] Prince Harry's reported use of the four-letter word and ‘frog’ to a French barman in an English pub suggests that the sentiment may be more pervasive than we care to think, The Sun, 1 Nov. 1990.
[10] Apart from the similar dimensions of these grandes machines, one notes the sculptural quality of the execution, including the line of nude or partially clothed figures along the base line of each, and some of the coloration.
[11] ‘Fish’ by Steve Bell, The Guardian, 30 Mar. 1993.
[12] Steve Bell, The Guardian, 11 July 1995.
[13] Peter Brookes, ‘Lorry drivers leading the people’, The Times, 29 Nov. 1996.
[14] The Scotsman, 15 Apr. 1998.
[15] Over-enthusiastic Scots dismantled the goalposts and took patches of turf as trophies.
[16] I can no longer find the source but can guarantee the authenticity of the bon mot!
[17] I do not wish to underestimate the importance of long-overdue measures such as Scottish and Welsh devolution, the minimum wage, the independence of the Bank of England, and so on. But the Blair regime has proved extremely conservative in other spheres: in its reluctance to change the national electoral system; in its largely self-serving changes to the Upper House; in its failure to expunge the most pernicious aspects of the Westminster cronyism culture. There is corruption a-plenty outre-manche but that's not the issue here.
[18] The Guardian, 11 June 1999.
[19] The Scotsman, 25 Nov. 1994.
[20] Jonathan Ledgard, The Scotsman, 23 May 1998.
[21] Dave Brown, The Independent, 29 June 1999.
[22] The Guardian, 22 June 2004.
[23] Independent on Sunday, 29 Oct. 1996.
[24] The Guardian, 21 Oct. 1999.
[25] A Faizant-type cartoon by Antonelli of ‘Marianne’ on the psychoanalyst's couch was the cover illustration for Le Point's political ‘Psychanalyse de la France’, no. 1070, 20 Mar. 1993.
[26] One rare and un-typical example, a masculinized ‘Liberty’, was used by a cartoonist in France Football (26 April–2 May 1994) ‘to parody the financial and other disasters at Olympique Marseille after 1993’. See Murray (Citation1996, facing p. 87).
[27] ‘De Clovis à Lionel Jospin: Demandez le “Journal de la France”!’, Le Nouvel Observateur, 21–27 June 2001.
[28] See for example the cover photograph on the 20th-anniversary special issue of Paris Match in 1988 (M 2533-2036 H).
[29] ‘Le Caveau de la République’ is perhaps the best known.
[30] Published in December 1995 by Gallimard under the title La Bête est Morte.
[31] The Guardian, 2 May 1998.
[32] The Guardian, 13 Feb. 1997.
[33] Independent on Sunday, 28 Apr. 2002.
[34] See Marr (Citation2004, p. 150) for a recent reassertion of this view. Bearing a large union jack and flanked by Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev, Mrs. Thatcher featured in ‘An Old Revolutionary's Defense of the 80's’ (American Heritage Magazine, New York, 1994) by American artist Paul Bachem, whose assistance I gratefully acknowledge. The painting appeared fleetingly in the recent presentation of ‘Liberty leading the people’ in the television series ‘The Private Life of a Masterpiece’ (BBC 2, 2 April 2005).
[35] ‘When the people dared to dream’, The Independent Review, 11 July 2003, pp. 2–3.
[36] One French example among many: ‘Pourquoi les Anglais aiment la France … mais détestent les Français’ (Lanez, Citation1999).
[37] The Guardian, 22 Nov. 1995.
[38] The Guardian, 22 Aug. 1998.
[39] The Guardian, 15 Oct. 1993.
[40] Sunday Times, 9 Apr. 2000.
[41] It has not proved possible to date these ads precisely, despite enquiries with the fashion house and attempts to contact the original agency.