Caricature and French Political Culture 1830-1848

Book excerpt: Charles Philipon (1800-1862) was the founder of the satirical illustrated press in France. With the newspapers he owned and directed, La Caricature and Le Charivari, he led an unprecedentedly coherent and vitriolic campaign of disrespect against King Louis-Philippe and his regime. Using a group of young caricaturists (the most talented of whom were Daumier, Grandville, and Travies) and the collaboration of a gifted team of writers (including Balzac) he crafted a new language of opposition. This book is the first full scholarly study of the structure of the illustrated press in the 1830s, its contribution to political debate in France, the dissemination of caricature and its potential as political propaganda, and the links between caricature and other forms of political-cultural discourse under the July Monarchy.