Art

Caricature: An Art that speaks

nasiraijaz August 25, 2025

0 10 8 minutes read

Caricature is a concise art form that does not resemble other arts in terms of elaboration, ornamentation, or embellishment

The caricaturist is an artist in every sense, excelling in bearing burdens, harvesting results, and documenting problems and crises

Souad Khalil | Libya

When we speak of caricature, we are referring to a distinct genre of art where its creators possess a creative and imaginative vision. Caricature is an independent art form that challenges everything. It is a difficult and high art to penetrate, considering it a form of expressive art aimed at the public. This genre is published in newspapers and magazines.

Caricature is a concise art form that does not resemble other arts in terms of elaboration, ornamentation, or embellishment. It has its own concise style and symbols that carry specific meanings. It relies on both drawing and meaning, exposing lies and transcending the rational to highlight the ideas intended to embarrass their subjects.

Initially, we will explore the history of this satirical art through the book “The Art of Caricature” by Dr. Mamdouh Hamada. The author outlines the key historical stages in the evolution of caricature as an independent art, crystallizing around the late 18th and early 19th centuries, primarily in Europe. While caricature, as a complex art combining form and satirical comedy, has roots that trace back to prehistoric artifacts. Many drawings containing comedic and satirical elements have been found on cave walls in France, Italy, Latin America, the Arabian Peninsula, the Algerian desert, Cyprus, and other regions. Dr. Mamdouh Hamada also identifies the characteristics of the discovered rock art, concluding that these drawings do not carry a religious character. To illustrate this point, he cites examples of engravings found on a rocky cliff in the Tajrat Valley of the Algerian desert, emphasizing that it is unlikely that humans would comprehend the true meanings intended by the artists at that time.

kari6 The author discusses the history of caricature in Roman, Greek, and Indian civilizations, moving on to Egyptian civilization, which he considers the richest and most developed in the realm of satirical drawing. Egyptian caricatures draw from life rather than myth, imparting a philosophical tone that goes beyond humor to symbolize other matters. Although Greek civilization produced numerous drawings and sculptures, it did not reach the level of Egyptian drawings in terms of satire. The book also addresses the caricatures of Hittite, Assyrian, and Byzantine civilizations, noting their tendency toward exaggeration and deviation from anatomical norms in drawing. Satire has existed across all ancient civilizations, albeit with varying intensity depending on the development of each civilization in the visual arts.

This is a brief definition of the history of caricature from Dr. Mamdouh Hamada’s book.

In another study of this art form, writer Zuhair Ghanem states that caricature is a simple art that embodies the subject and acts like a comet or a bomb. Therefore, it is essential to examine its technical aspects in detail.

Caricature is not merely about drawing, even though it adopts the form of drawing and the power of ideas. It consists of straight and flat lines, and once a caricature begins, it does not end until the intended purpose is fulfilled. The evolution of caricature has reached a point where artists pay meticulous attention to the details, especially in human faces, utilizing color for expressive and technical purposes.

Line plays an important role; it is the foundation and structure upon which caricature is built. It is not easy to execute or achieve, requiring skill based on prior knowledge of the subject and a prior condition to distill the content so that everything is harmonious, interconnected, interactive, and cohesive, without artifice, excess, or retouching.

The balance required between line and details is not a balance based on two elements or parts that never meet. In essence, caricature is a line that encompasses parts, and parts that contain the line. The artist relies on drawing the inner spirit in its outer form, meaning that the line represents the inner spirit, while the parts or details complete the external shape.

This type of art is an art of ideas that emerges as an expressive force or symbol of expression. Its essence lies in revealing and expressing its connotations, making it a profound art that avoids directness, shunning it.

Some mistakes, or negatives, are committed by contemporary caricaturists, primarily the reliance on directness, which is a malaise that undermines it and cannot be cured. For caricature to be profound, it must rid itself of directness, which quickly contaminates it and turns it into a distorted version of itself, obscuring its existence entirely.

Caricature has successfully ascended the ladder of acquisition, occupying a space alongside photography, becoming its traditional companion, despite changing circumstances. Some caricature experiments have mimicked cheap trends, jokes, and templates. A good caricature confronts the bullets without protective shields, armed with noble ideas, and does not recognize the existence of black, red, or yellow boundaries.

Caricature is a daily means of communication with people, but some become mere faded advertisements while drifting behind loud slogans. It is a linear art form in a world that no longer acknowledges the classical classification of arts. With the tremendous advancement of all arts, in light of the civilizational achievements of human creativity, this art stood with the masses on the front lines.

We must recognize that there is a vast difference between caricature and drawing; they should not be conflated to avoid confusion. Drawing involves detailed, expansive knowledge and academic foundations, relying on practice, experience, and skill, while caricature carries an innate ability or voluntary attraction to the art, infused with the insight of a knowledgeable artist.

A painting is a contemplative image, while caricature is a situational picture aimed at conveying suffering and formulating a stance, seeking to discover a vision without embellishment.

Zuhair Ghanem describes caricature as a fox with a remarkable ability to camouflage, hide, deceive, and seize opportunities, capable of tricking the censor and evading his scissors or red ink.

The caricaturist is an artist in every sense, excelling in bearing burdens, harvesting results, and documenting problems and crises. This aligns with the saying, “The worst of calamities is what makes you laugh.”

Caricature carries the burdens of people and the dreams of the nation, compelled to scream, protest, and personally declare its stance and indignation. It is the one who does not address the “X” mark in its works that will not succeed. Caricature has emerged in journalism; without it, we find something amiss, for problems are part of human life, as are dreams and convictions. Differences in opinion are a form of goodness, as contradiction and conflict are essential elements for developing, managing, and adjusting relationships, regardless of type or theoretical labels. But how can we identify or define successful caricature drawing?

Zuhair Ghanem states that many use caricature as an easy medium for creative breathing, believing that by simply resorting to simple lines and excessive verbal expression, they will become successful caricaturists. These individuals overlook many aspects. A caricaturist is intelligent, perceptive, and deep like the ocean, simple like the expanse of a plain, elevated like a peak, and clear like the horizon. Representing or mirroring the components of nature implies a firm acknowledgment of belonging to one’s society, people, and future.

What distinguishes caricature is its style; every artist has their style, and style is the essence of transcendence. If we may say so, a caricaturist’s style is a fingerprint that cannot be replicated or resemble another’s in any case. Otherwise, their art becomes merely a cliché that can be reproduced endlessly, confined to repetition and redundancy.

Anyone who believes that caricature is merely a shadow or margin of drawing is gravely mistaken. This art possesses its own components and justifications outside the traditional definitions and labels of the function and goal of visual art. While it employs some elements of drawing, it does not reach the extent or measure that would equate it to the application and essence of drawing as an art form with its own characteristics and intrinsic qualities. Thus, the urge to search compels us to examine the issue of technique, as it highlights the specific and defined differences for each caricaturist.

But why technique? And what is its necessity in caricature? Some, particularly those who use color, have made objects appear as if they overflow with spirit and life. The skillful use of color—especially in facial drawings—has imparted a noticeable depth that cannot be ignored or overlooked. Therefore, technique here is the skill in employing elements and means: the academic level, imaginative ability, and uncovering the spiritual depths of the content, the way ideas are presented, and tackling issues within the framework of the idea. It is also about emphasizing criticism, condemnation, or disapproval in an innovative, impactful, and provocative manner, without neglecting the essential elements of caricature, the most important of which is the exaggeration of shapes or distorting them to deepen the critical spirit. This involves the ability to derive symbols and use suggestion and ambiguity in conveying critical content, while ensuring the representation of the image is distinctive in design, composition, and artistic uniqueness, even though the gradation of elements comes according to technical perceptions: design precedes composition, and artistic distinction results from the harmony between design and composition, thus forming the essence of achievement.

Caricature has played a significant role in criticism and highlighting the negatives in policies. Referring back to Dr. Mamdouh Hamada’s book and some historical references to this art of caricature, the final pages highlight the historical role of journalism in the evolution of this art, indicating that the first satirical newspaper emerged in France in 1830, called “Caricature,” founded by Charles Philipon, who also established the newspaper “La Silhouette,” where most French caricaturists, including Daumier and Grandville, worked. In Britain, the “Punch” newspaper was published in 1841, while in Germany, the first satirical magazine, “Fliegende Blätter,” appeared in 1844. In America, the weekly “Harper’s Weekly” was launched in 1857, and the first attempt to publish a satirical magazine in Russia was called “The Caricature” in 1812, published by the Russian artist Finishev, but it was halted by Tsar Alexander I. The Arab world also had its share of satirical newspapers, particularly in Palestine, Egypt, Lebanon, Iraq, and Syria in the early 20th century, such as the Egyptian “Kashkool” and the Syrian “Al-Mudhik Al-Mubki.”

This book contains detailed historical studies beneficial for researchers seeking the roots of this art, from which I have extracted a small portion for this article.

Before starting the execution of caricature, one must engage in deep, deliberate thought about the impact value of each word or element, considering how well it aligns with the subject. Each part plays a specific role in forming the final image, and the artist must plan intelligently, precisely, and cautiously to determine how to benefit from each part.

Successful caricature tends to lean towards symbolism. Symbols represent the essence that deeply conveys meaning; without symbols, caricature becomes merely an ordinary sketch or a flat image that does not rise to even the lowest levels of ordinary description.

Caricature intersects with drawing in using linear perspective, considering that the surface of the image or canvas is the sole area for execution. When determining the size of objects, the artist resorts to visual laws that highlight the use of distance or proximity. However, it is essential to consider shapes and their relationship to space. The essence of the subject is achieved through planning. A caricature with sensitivity and talent seeks to reveal the individuality of the subject, intended for mocking and condemnation, thus exploiting the most unattractive features of their face and amplifying and distorting them. The caricature illustrates its features in a way that incites ridicule, intending to demonstrate the character’s flaws convincingly.

Zuhair Ghanem asserts that caricature primarily represents a description, stance, or scene, or embodies all of these simultaneously. It reflects reality in line with painting, while also being a dialectical reality based on conflict and contradiction. Paintings are more stable and contemplative, while caricature hovers above a heated iron surface that neither cools nor diminishes. The provocation and stimulation inherent in caricature are stronger, while images are deeper, stronger, and more enduring. Caricature is the art of the moment, the art of the current stance, and the immediate treatment.