Ibdaa Art Gallery to host caricature exhibition on May 30

CAIRO – 30 May 2021: On May 30 at 7 p.m., Ibdaa Art Gallery will organize a caricature exhibition titled "Issues with the Eyes of Satirical Art - Caricature".  The exhibition runs until June 10.

It is noteworthy that caricature is a satirical form of art drawing, which creates an image that exaggerates the distortion of the natural features or the characteristics of a person or body, with the aim of ridicule or social, political, artistic or other form of criticism.

The art of caricature has the power to criticize, sometimes beyond articles and press reports.

The ancient Egyptians are considered to be the first to recognize this art. Ancient Egyptians used animals and simple symbols to express true opinions about kings and officials.

In an ancient ostraca, we see a sketch of a conflict between cats and mice. The mouse king spins on a chariot led by two dogs and attacks a fortress guarded by cats, and this was of course not a coincidence.

Caricature has flourished in Italy. Italian artists created many works of art, the most famous of them being Titian (1477-1576), who deliberately distorted some of the famous old pictures, by re-formulating them with funny figures.

The first important cartoons appeared in Europe during the 16th century AD. Most of them were attacking either the Protestants or the Roman Catholics during the religious revolution, which was known as the Religious Reform Movement.

William Hogarth is best known for his cartoons that criticized the various strata of English society. George Cruikshank, James Gillray and Thomas Rowlandson have also created hundreds of critically acclaimed cartoons of politics and the government in England.