[Lincoln and Wilson]
Presidents--United States
Ink drawing with linen covering Yiddish text published in Der Groyser Kundes. This cartoon contrasts Wilson’s imprisonment of Socialist leader Eugene Debs for anti-war activity with Lincoln’s freeing of the slaves. Woodrow Wilson had a series of strokes that left him incapacitated in late 1919 and his wife, Edith, controlled which issues came to his attention. Attorney General Palmer recommended to Wilson that Debs be pardoned on Lincoln’s Birthday. The answer passed on by Edith Wilson was “Never.” Whether this was his answer or Edith’s we may never know. Although she denied making decisions herself, many have called her the first female president. Soon after taking office, Republican president Warren Harding pardoned Debs.
Young, Art, 1866-1943
From the collection of Anthony J. Mourek
Loyola University Chicago Archives & Special Collections
1921 February 11
jpg
Yiddish
English
Political cartoon
2010.00282
[Taft as Abandoned Woman]
Elections--United States--1912
Presidents--United States
Ink drawing. Sitting President Theodore Roosevelt refused to run for reelection in 1909, instead selecting William Howard Taft as his successor for the Republican nomination. Taft served as president from 1908 to 1912, but his presidency was marred by impressions that he was indecisive and weak-willed. Unhappy with Taft’s administration, Roosevelt tried to obtain the Republican nomination in 1912. This created a deep rift in the Republican Party, and ultimately Roosevelt started the “Bull Moose Party” and ran for president as a Progressive, drawing many of the more progressive Republicans with him and allowing Woodrow Wilson to win the election. To illustrate the split, Young depicts Taft as an abandoned woman. Taft is surrounded by photographs of the people who once supported him, including Roosevelt, and holds notes from radical Republicans who have deserted him for being too conservative and conservative Republicans who have deserted him for being too radical. Young plays into gender stereotypes of the time by depicting Taft as a woman in order to show Taft’s indecisiveness and passivity.
Young, Art, 1866-1943
From the collection of Anthony J. Mourek
Loyola University Chicago Archives & Special Collections
c. 1912
jpg
English
Political cartoon
2010.01615
[Two-Faced Woodrow Wilson]
Presidents--United States
Ink drawing published in Good Morning (New York). Today, President Woodrow Wilson is largely remembered as an advocate for peace. In this cartoon, however, Young shows another side of Wilson. While the left side depicts the peace-loving, progressive Wilson, the right side shows him as a tyrannical ruler. Young refers to several pieces of unpopular legislation passed under Wilson, including the Selective Service Act of 1917, the Espionage Act of 1917, and the Sedition Act of 1918. Young also comments on Wilson’s foreign policy in Latin America.
Young, Art, 1866-1943
From the collection of Anthony J. Mourek
Loyola University Chicago Archives & Special Collections
c. 1919
jpg
English
Political cartoon
2010.01616
1942
Cartoonists--United States
New Year
Print. In this card celebrating the New Year, Young, entering the penultimate year of his life, shows himself as a smiling old man, forging his way through “this whirld of woe” to bring his annual message of “faith, hope, and cheerity.”
Young, Art, 1866-1943
From the collection of Anthony J. Mourek
Loyola University Chicago Archives & Special Collections
1942
jpg
English
Political cartoon
2010.01750
A Speech in the Woods
Cartoonists--United States
Ink & non-repo pencil drawing published in On My Way: Being the Book of Art Young in Text and Picture. New York: Horace Liveright, 1928, p. 14. This is an illustration from Young’s first autobiography. It depicts an afternoon during which Young and his neighbor Martin went for a walk in the woods. At Martin’s prompting, Young performed a speech in the style of a Southern congressman, extolling the passage of the income tax, the Federal Reserve Act, and the Underwood tariff. Young states that his observation of Washington politicians and his experience as a Socialist party nominee campaigning unsuccessfully for the New York State Senate in 1918 familiarized him with “the platitudes, the postures and the eloquent bunk that are the equipment of our so-called statesmen.”
Young, Art, 1866-1943
From the collection of Anthony J. Mourek
Loyola University Chicago Archives & Special Collections
1925 September 14
jpg
English
Political cartoon
2010.01247
Ambition: In Hell as it is On Earth
Capitalism
Social conflict
Ink drawing. Published in Art Young’s Inferno: A Journey Through Hell Six Hundred Years After Dante. New York, Delphic Studios: 1934, p. 64. This is one of Young’s many cartoons that focus on the conflict between capitalist values and socialist values rather than specific political events. In this case, Young has dramatized the capitalist worldview as a modern version of hell. This cartoon was an illustration in one of his several books inspired by Dante’s Inferno.
Young, Art, 1866-1943
From the collection of Anthony J. Mourek
Loyola University Chicago Archives & Special Collections
c. 1934
jpg
English
Political cartoon
2010.02042
Arab Pogroms
Arab-Israeli conflict
Ink drawing published in Der Groyser Kundes (New York). Young drew this cartoon for Der Groyser Kundes (“Big Stick”), a Jewish humorous weekly edited by Jacob Marinoff. Young supported himself with his work for this publication while he was on trial for sedition, since the editors of most other magazines were reluctant to publish his work during that time. This cartoon may refer to the Conference of London, which began on February 12, 1920. At this conference, the participants discussed the terms of the peace with Turkey and how to divide the territory of the old Ottoman Empire. The standing figure, labeled “Arabia,” holds a scroll reading “Arab pogroms - The colony of Matulla completely destroyed, six Jews murdered, 10 wounded, the rest driven out,” referring to violence in the Jewish settlement of Metula in the region of Palestine. This cartoon probably refers to the movement of the time to create an independent Syrian state with authority over the area of Palestine. Young and Marinoff feared that the creation of such a state would result in similar or worse violence against the Jewish people in its territory.
Young, Art, 1866-1943
From the collection of Anthony J. Mourek
Loyola University Chicago Archives & Special Collections
1920 March 19
jpg
Yiddish
Political cartoon
2010.02076
Art Young’s Cartoon Mat Service
Political cartoons
Offset Lithograph Flyer. In this advertisement, Young touts his cartoon-making services and presents several examples of his work. He offers five cartoons every two weeks for six months for $20. These cartoons were probably pulled from his large collection of prints of his work—Young’s family threw out hundreds of such prints after his death. Most of the examples he includes in this ad reflect Young’s socialist perspective, including the one captioned “Uncle Nick Lenin: ‘Hurry Up, Charlie, If You Want a Ride,’” which features Vladimir Lenin.
Young, Art, 1866-1943
From the collection of Anthony J. Mourek
Loyola University Chicago Archives & Special Collections
1922
jpg
English
2010.00246
Better Jump on Charlie
International trade
Published in Der Groyser Kundes (New York), April 1, 1921, and Good Morning (New York), April 15, 1921. Ink Drawing with English text on linen covering Yiddish. This is the original drawing of one of the cartoons features in “Art Young’s Cartoon Mat Service.” This cartoon, captioned “Uncle Nick Lenin: ‘Hurry Up, Charlie, If You Want a Ride’” in the printed version, depicts the leaders of Germany, Italy, and England jumping on a truck of Russian resources driven by Soviet leader Vladimir Lenin while U.S. Secretary of State Charles Evans Hughes watches, uncertain. At this time, Lenin was instituting the “New Economic Policy” in the Soviet Union and the Soviet Union was reentering international stage; the Anglo-Soviet Trade Agreement had been signed by the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union on March 16, 1921. In addition to trade issues, the parties agreed to refrain from hostile actions or propaganda against one another’s interests and institutions. Here, Young advocates for the U.S. to resume international trade with the Soviet Union with as much enthusiasm as it seemed Britain and the rest of Europe were showing.
Young, Art, 1866-1943
From the collection of Anthony J. Mourek
Loyola University Chicago Archives & Special Collections
April 1921
jpg
English
Political cartoon
2010.02148
Business is Business
Business enterprises
Ink & Crayon Drawing. This is another, more elaborate, example of one of Young’s cartoons criticizing capitalist society by depicting it as a modern version of hell. In this case, “Office of Satan & Co.” forecloses on mortgages and squeezes the supplicating people because “it’s business.”
Young, Art, 1866-1943
From the collection of Anthony J. Mourek
Loyola University Chicago Archives & Special Collections
c. 1892-1934
jpg
English
Political cartoon
2010.00127