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HARRISON CADY (1877-1970) "Gulliver Knickerbocker and the Lilliputians." Cartoon published in LIFE magazine, published September 19, 1912. Pen and ink on thin board. 675x560 mm; 26 1/2x22 inches (sheet). Unsigned. Tipped to mount; matted. See condition report.
Literature: Violet and Denis Kitchen, Madness in Crowds, The Teeming Mind of Harrison Cady, Beehive Books, 2019. Page 96.
This cartoon by Cady riffs on Jonathan Swift's famous satirical novel Gulliver's Travels by comparing the influx of Jewish immigrants into New York City to Gulliver and the Lilliputians. Cady drew upon stereotypes to depict the tiny Jewish men, rendered with exaggerated large and curved noses, who appear preoccupied with taking over the economy and turning a profit on everything from Gulliver's curly hair and hat, which they cut with saws and scissors, to the very land they inhabit that has been renamed "New Jerusalem."
Like many illustrators of his day, Cady's work sometimes reflected commonly held prejudices and several of Cady's illustrations leading up to World War I are tinged with the anti-Semitic and anti-immigrant sentiments seen here. It is not known if Cady shared these problematic views, or if he was carrying out the opinions of his publishers and their requirements for assignments.
As with many early Cadys, this sheet is singed at the edges as a result of a devastating fire at his Crown Heights, Brooklyn apartment in 1926 from which most of his artwork was saved, but barely. The Cady works in the Smithsonian Institute show similar fire and water damage in addition to the uneven edge loss where mildew destroyed the paper beyond restoration.
![HARRISON CADY (1877-1970) Gulliver Knickerbocker and the Lilliputians. [ANTI-SEMITIC / CARTOONS / LIFE MAGAZINE]](https://catalogue.swanngalleries.com/full//206\790206.jpg)
