You will find work by all of the artists in the list above, arranged into (at least) four categories:
--
Road to the White House, 1884-1896 provides a small sample of illustrations by Keppler and other artists from Judge as well as
Puck.
-- Illustrations dealing with scandal and corruption associated with
Tammany Hall and patronage were often the focus of political and presidential campaign news. Here, some of them are grouped separately, including those that demonstrate anti-Irish sentiment and stereotypes that were common at the time.
-- Illustrations dealing with the
labor and the civil rights of workers, immigrants and women form another arbitrary category.
-- Finally, there are two images, one from Puck and one from Judge, to illustrate the growing involvement of the United States in
world affairs.
Where there are four or more images available for any one artist, selecting the artist's name will link to a section of his pages.
The
Related Links will take you to other sites with extensive historic background on the people and events covered in Puck and Judge, as well as more images and an excellent bibliography compiled by Dan Backer at his site about work published in Puck,
Uniting Mugwumps and the Masses.Background Puck's success encouraged emulation; it was a Puck artist,
James Albert Wales, who founded
Judge in 1881. [
Judge continued without Wales when he returned to
Puck in 1885].
Where Puck championed the candidacy of Democrats like Grover Cleveland, and ridiculed Republicans, like
Benjamin Harrison, Judge took the opposite position. What they shared was the reflection of
the prevalent view of women as naturally suited to second class citizenship, and
a contempt for Tammany influences that fostered patronage scandals.
After 1884, as a Republican sponsored journal, Judge could be relied upon to support protective tariffs; it warned in 1896 of the perils President Grover Cleveland faced, riding the Democratic Donkey of
free trade. The Democratic/Populist candidate William Jennings Bryan would lose to William McKinley in the 1896 election.
Judge could give the appearance of favoring labor, as in this
1892 cover by former Puck artist Bernard Gillam, but the labor movement in the 19th Century had few friends in either the popular media or government; even the initially sympathetic support of Puck's
Joseph Keppler grew more tepid as labor became better organized and could mount nationwide boycotts.
