Laura Bennett, age 12, of Highland, Ind., for her question:
WHEN WAS THE FIRST CARTOON DRAWN?
We enjoy cartooning in our newspapers today. First there's the political cartoon, which is often biting with satire. It is also called the editorial cartoon since it expresses a point of view and makes a strong statement—just as the written editorial does.
And then there's the for fun comic strips and panels that entertain and amuse.
The first cartoon was drawn by some anonymous artist on the wall of a cave in ancient times. He had something to record and did it in the form of a graphic comment.
As long as man has been putting down his thoughts, he has used the art form to help tell his story. The ancient Egyptians produced some excellent cartoonists, and on the walls of the tombs along the Nile is recorded in picture form the life of the time.
Ancient walls of Pompeii revealed drawings as did the churches of the Middle Ages.
As early as the 13th century in Europe, savage cartoons were drawn to attack corruption. Wood engraving was known as early as the 1470s, but the first, of the broadsheet commentators was Samuel Ward of Ipswich who, in 1621, was arrested for his effronteries.
Comment art during the years has been both a result and a cause. It responds to its times and in turn, by its illumination, affects the subsequent course of history.
As the times became less brutal in the 19th century, the satire became milder.
The real growth of the social cartoon came when a magazine called Punch was introduced in England in 1841. The English social scene was illuminated by the greatest artists of the day.
The first great American caricaturist was Ben Franklin.His brother James owne.d a newspaper called the New England Courant and on its pages appeared Ben's pen and pencil drawings of social comment.
After Franklin, cartooning became chiefly political. Even Gilbert Stuart, the great portrait painter, turned to graphic expression in 1811 with drawings in the Boston Centenel. And after the War of 1812 we saw still more cartoons of dissent.
Thomas Nast created some magnificent political cartoons during America's Civil War. And as the times stabilized and people became more prosperous, humor became part of the cartooning scene. It reached maturity in 1925 when a magazine called The New Yorker was born.
Then it wasn't long until Walt Disney's Mickey mouse cartoons circled the world.