Thomas Nast
Thomas Nast (/næst/; German: [nast]; September 26, 1840[1] – December 7, 1902) was a German-born American caricaturist and editorial cartoonist often considered to be the "Father of the American Cartoon".[2]
Thomas Nast
September 26, 1840
He was a sharp critic of "Boss" Tweed and the Tammany Hall Democratic party political machine. He created a modern version of Santa Claus (based on the traditional German figures of Saint Nicholas and Weihnachtsmann) and the political symbol of the elephant for the Republican Party (GOP). Contrary to popular belief, Nast did not create Uncle Sam (the male personification of the United States Federal Government), Columbia (the female personification of American values), or the Democratic donkey,[4] although he did popularize those symbols through his artwork. Nast was associated with the magazine Harper's Weekly from 1859 to 1860 and from 1862 until 1886. Nast's influence was so widespread that Theodore Roosevelt once said, "Thomas Nast was our best teacher."
Early life and education[edit]
Nast was born in military barracks in Landau, Bavaria, Germany (now in Rhineland-Palatinate), as his father was a trombonist in the Bavarian 9th regiment band.[5] Nast was the last child of Appolonia (née Abriss) and Joseph Thomas Nast. He had an older sister Andie; two other siblings had died before he was born. His father held political convictions that put him at odds with the Bavarian government, so in 1846, Joseph Nast left Landau, enlisting first on a French man-of-war and subsequently on an American ship.[6] He sent his wife and children to New York City, where they arrived in June 1846,[7] and at the end of his enlistment in 1850, he joined them there.[8]
Nast attended school in New York City from the age of six to 14. He did poorly at his lessons, but his passion for drawing was apparent from an early age. In 1854, at the age of 14, he was enrolled for about a year of study with Alfred Fredericks and Theodore Kaufmann, and then at the school of the National Academy of Design.[9][10] In 1856, he started working as a draftsman for Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper.[11] His drawings appeared for the first time in Harper's Weekly on March 19, 1859,[12] when he illustrated a report exposing police corruption; Nast was 18 years old at that point.[13]
![September 1868 Nast cartoon "This is a White Man's Government!"[a]](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b5/%22This_is_a_White_Man%27s_Government%21%22_%28September_1868%29%2C_by_Thomas_Nast.jpg/112px-%22This_is_a_White_Man%27s_Government%21%22_%28September_1868%29%2C_by_Thomas_Nast.jpg)
The Usual Irish Way of Doing Things, a Nast cartoon depicting a drunken Irishman lighting a powder keg. Published in Harper's Weekly, September 2, 1871
1871 Nast cartoon: "Move on! Has the Native American no rights that the naturalized American is bound to respect?"[b]
![1871 Nast cartoon: "Move on! Has the Native American no rights that the naturalized American is bound to respect?"[b]](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/77/%22Move_on%21%22_Has_the_Native_American_no_rights_that_the_naturalized_American_is_bound_to_respect%3F_-_-_Th._Nast._LCCN2001696066.tif/lossy-page1-184px-%22Move_on%21%22_Has_the_Native_American_no_rights_that_the_naturalized_American_is_bound_to_respect%3F_-_-_Th._Nast._LCCN2001696066.tif.jpg)
![1879 Nast cartoon: "Red gentleman (Indian) to yellow gentleman (Chinese)[c]](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/91/Every_dog...has_his_day_-_Red_gentleman_%28Indian%29_to_yellow_gentleman_%28Chinese%29_%22Pale_face_%27fraid_you_crowd_him_out%2C_as_he_did_me.%22_-_Th._Nast._LCCN2002706054.jpg/115px-thumbnail.jpg)
![Nast's cartoon "Third Term Panic".[d]](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/27/NastRepublicanElephant.jpg/184px-NastRepublicanElephant.jpg)
October 24, 1874, Nast cartoon "The Union as it was...This is a White Mans Government....the Lost cause...Worse than Slavery"
"Colored Rule in a Reconstructed(?) State (The members call each other thieves, liars, rascals, and cowards)", Harper's Weekly, March 14, 1874.[e]
!["Colored Rule in a Reconstructed(?) State (The members call each other thieves, liars, rascals, and cowards)", Harper's Weekly, March 14, 1874.[e]](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e6/Colored_rule.jpg/128px-Colored_rule.jpg)