Caricature (Italian: caricatura from caricare to load, load; to blame whom), deliberately distorting reality by emphasizing the characteristic features of persons, events or phenomena, etc. with the intention of giving the impression of being ridiculous, intimate; by shape it can be grotesque, and in content → satire. The purpose of the caricature is to act critically in the social, moral and political sense by emphasizing the character traits, vices, weaknesses or shortcomings of the individual, society, certain cultural-historical periods and political currents.
The caricature retains a partial resemblance to the object and allows for recognition. The main artistic expression of caricature is achieved in drawing and graphics in a wide range from sketches and sketches to more technically complex works, it is less common in sculpture and painting. For the development of caricature, it is important to establish humorous magazines where painters find the possibility of constant and direct contact with the public. First published in France La Caricature, 1831, Le Charivari, 1832; England Punch, 1841; In Germany Simplicissimus, 1896, and in Croatia the Podravina hedgehog in Varaždin in 1861. The earliest examples of caricatures of a human figure appear during prehistory. Caricature sometimes appears in Greek and Roman art (characters of actors in tiny plastic).
During the Middle Ages, caricatures of people and animals, demons and fairy-tale figures with human heads appeared on capitals, portals, choir benches, illuminations, etc. In the Renaissance, caricature was rarely used (with the exception of G. Arcimboldo and his witty portraits of fruits and vegetables. , books, etc., and Leonard's studies of skewed characters). The most important cartoonist is the satirist XVII. century French graphic artist J. Callot. There is a strong development of caricature in the XVIII. century, in England these are mainly moral and political satires of W. Hogarth, Th. Rowlandson et al., And the most significant works in France were painted by H. Daumier and P. Gavarni.
With the advent of satirical magazines and professional cartoonists, the interest of painters is declining; they are sometimes painted by H. Toulouse-Lautrec, A. Böcklin and P. Puvis de Chavannes, and during World War I E. Barlach and G. Grosz stood out with their sharp social and political caricatures. In Croatia, the most prominent cartoonists are: B. Petrović, P. Križanić, O. Reisinger, I. Voljevica, N. Dragić, M. Bašić, J. Marušić, M. Mihatov, S. Puntarić-Felix and many others; pren Distorted or distorted image of what, mockery, nakarada.
