Friday 3 July 2015

THE INDEPENDENCE OF ALICE

Tomorrow's the day...

In addition to celebrating American Independence, some of us will be remembering a highly independent young lady named Alice who had some curious experiences in a topsy-turvy realm called Wonderland...    

Along with Will Brooker and Franziska Kohlt from the Lewis Carroll Society (did I mention I'm its President?) I will be speaking at The Old Fire Station, 40 George St, Oxford, OX1 2AQ, in an event entitled Pictures and Conversations.

My talk, 'Alice in Cartoonland', will tell something of the fascinating story of 150 years of cartoons and caricatures inspired by the denizens of Wonderland and Looking-Glass World.

It's all part of Oxford's 'Alice's Day 2015', marking the sesquicentennial of the first publication of Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

In addition, it is something along the lines of a 'teaser trailer' for the forthcoming exhibition – also entitled 'Alice in Cartoonland', which I am curating for The Cartoon Museum in London and which opens on 15 July.

The cartoons – in both the talk and the exhibition – begin in the pages of Punch magazine in 1899 with John Tenniel spoofing one his own iconic  illustrations to Carroll's text, but with the minor change of having Conservative politician, Arthur Balfour standing in for Alice...


...and, in doing so, he established what would become a century-and-a-half long tradition of using Wonderland as a means of making fun of Prime Ministers...



...and Presidents...



...as well as jokes and gags featuring White Rabbits –– here from the pens of Messrs Searle and ffolkes...





...and the occasional unexpected Mad Tea-Party...



So, maybe see you in Oxford on Alice's Day... 

And, if you can't make it there, then why not drop by the Cartoon Museum in a couple of weeks' time...



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