Tag: Puck (page 1 of 2)

Student Profile of Cartoonist Udo J. Keppler

Found in the Collection: Udo J. Keppler

by Emily Glassmeyer, BICLM student employee

“Memories,” created by Udo J. Keppler in 1910. This piece can be found in the Draper and Sarah Hill Collection at BICLM

One of the greatest pleasures of being a historian who works at BICLM is the access to 19th and 20th century periodicals like Puck and Harper’s Weekly. These volumes give us a glimpse into the lives and perceptions of those of the past – though, their views often did not age well. These periodicals were largely run and read by a white, middle-class, male demographic. As a result, their handling of topics regarding people of color and women are often reliant on distasteful stereotypes and oversimplifications of identities prevalent during the time. However, these tropes were fortunately not ubiquitous across the board.

Joseph Keppler, Sr. founded the American iteration of Puck Magazine following his move to New York in 1872. He passed his love of cartooning and political engagement to his son, Udo J. Keppler, who worked at the magazine with him. While in New York, Udo became richly engrossed in the cultures and practices of the local Seneca tribe of Iroquois. When he took the reins of the magazine in 1894, he merged his advocacy for nationwide women’s suffrage movements with his knowledge of Iroquois culture, best exemplified in the following:

“Savagery to ‘Civilization’,” by Udo. J Keppler. Created in the early 1900s. This piece can be found in the Draper and Sarah Hill Collection at BICLM.

When I first discovered this piece, I was critical of it. Based on what I knew from previous coursework, I was displeased at the implication that these were “rights” of the Iroquois women. On the contrary, they weren’t so much “rights” but inherent facets of their matriarchal culture. To be a woman within Iroquois tribes meant that they were an important trading partner, they played a vital role in medicinal practices, they chose which men would speak in the council and depose those who did not fit their interests, and ultimately, they were the ones responsible for the future of the tribe. It is not that progressive Native American men gave up some of their patriarchal power, but instead that that power was not the focus of their systems, and that the rights of women were inherent to their cultures and traditions. Keppler knew this, and used a simplified image of Iroquois culture to showcase how radically different their treatment of women was from the rhetoric and legislation of the American government

I soon found out that Keppler was embraced by the Seneca people, that he was an honorary chief and a key Native American rights activist. I came to realize that it was not so much that he failed to acknowledge the complexities of Native culture, but instead he knew that in order to make his point digestible to the American public, he had to simplify the realities of Native life and use the prolific rhetoric of the time to push his message– to make it appealing to mainstream white America, who often conceived of Native Americans as backwards. His simplification of Iroquois gender relations was political –all in the hope of encouraging the readership to advocate for change. If these “savages” could do it, why couldn’t they?

Joseph J. Keppler Jr. (Udo J. Keppler) receiving the Seneca Silver Star on September 23, 1937 from Jesse Cornplanter. Image from Cornell University’s Library Native American Collection.

Not only was he fully aware of Iroquois culture, but he had befriended Chief Ed Cornplanter, whose ancestors had been directly involved in the American Revolution. When the Chief died, Keppler fostered an enduring friendship with his son Jesse Cornplanter, who took over his father’s place as chief after returning from WWI. Not only was Jesse the new chief, but he was also a well-regarded artist, performer, informant to scholars and anthropologists, and played a vital role in documenting the histories, mythology, religion and ceremonies of the Iroquois people. Through his advocacy and relationship with Cornplanter, Keppler was well respected within the Seneca Iroquois community. His activist work in cartoons within Puck and elsewhere were of immense importance to their community.

“The Great Spirit,” created by Udo J. Keppler in 1920. This piece can be found in the Draper and Sarah Hill Collection at BICLM.

“The Great Spirit,” created by Udo J. Keppler in 1920. This piece can be found in the Draper and Sarah Hill Collection at BICLM.

Sources & Further Research:

For more information about Udo Keppler & Puck at BICLM, see:

For more work by Udo Keppler at BICLM, see:

Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum Art Database

For more information on representations of Native American women within the suffrage movement, I recommend The “Other” as Political Symbol: Images of Indians in the Woman Suffrage Movement” by Gail H. Landsman (1992).

History of American Women: http://www.womenhistoryblog.com/2008/05/iroquois-women.html

For more information on Udo Keppler and Jesse Cornplanter’s friendship, see:

http://nac.library.cornell.edu/exhibition/northeast/northeast_6.html

https://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/c8vd70zm/entire_text/

New Exhibits! SEEING THE GREAT WAR and THE STORY OF PUCK

OhioStateLogoContact: Caitlin McGurk
The Ohio State University
Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum
1813 N High St.
Columbus OH 43210-1393
614-292-0538
cartoons@osu.edu

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 24, 2015

Upcoming Exhibitions at The Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum

SEEING THE GREAT WAR

&

WHAT FOOLS THESE MORTALS BE! THE STORY OF PUCK

July  25, 2015 – January 24, 2016

World War I and America’s first humor magazine are the subjects of two new exhibits opening in July at the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum.

SEEING THE GREAT WAR: This exhibit explores the power of images generated during wartime, through the work of James Montgomery Flagg, Bud Fisher, Billy Ireland, Percy Crosby, Nell Brinkley, Frederick Burr Opper, Louis Raemaekers, and others. It will also feature Charles Schulz’ reinterpretation of the Great War’s legacy as shown through Snoopy as the Flying Ace. World War I represented a watershed in the history of warfare, both on the battlefield and in communication. The importance of the media to the American war effort was affirmed when President Woodrow Wilson signed Executive Order 2594 to form the Committee on Public Information (CPI). The CPI enforced voluntary press censorship with compliance dependent “entirely upon honor and patriotism.” Its Bureau of Cartoons published a weekly bulletin of tips and ideas that was distributed to more than 750 cartoonists nationwide. Original costumes from WWI will be displayed, as well as original art, film lobby cards, sheet music, and posters. Curated by Professor Emerita Lucy Shelton Caswell.

WHAT FOOLS THESE MORTALS BE! THE STORY OF PUCK: Discover the history and highlights of Puck, America’s first and most influential humor magazine of color political cartoons. This show presents some of Puck‘s greatest cartoons featuring politicians, personalities, and issues that dominated its forty years of publication. Puck was a training ground and showcase for some of the country’s most talented cartoonists. This exhibit will include chromolithographs by Joseph Keppler, Rose O’Neill, Frederick Opper, F.M. Howarth, Rolf Armstrong, Bernhard Gillam, J.S. Pughe, and more. As David Sloane has said in American Humor Magazine and Comic Periodicals, Puck “created a genre and established a tradition,” spawning dozens of imitators. It also led the way for that great American institution, the comics. Curated by Richard Samuel West and Michael Alexander Kahn . Their recent book, “What Fools These Mortals Be! The Story of Puck,” was published by IDW Publishing (October 2014).

 

About the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum:  The BICLM is one of The Ohio State University Libraries’ special collections. Its primary mission is to develop a comprehensive research collection of materials documenting American printed cartoon art (editorial cartoons, comic strips, comic books, graphic novels, sports cartoons, and magazine cartoons) and to provide access to the collections.  The BICLM recently moved into its newly-renovated 30,000 sq. ft. facility that includes a museum with three exhibition galleries, a reading room for researchers and a state-of-the-art collections storage space.   The library reading room is open Monday-Friday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday 1 – 5 p.m. The museum is open Tuesday-Sunday from 1 – 5 p.m.  See http://cartoons.osu.edu/ for further information.

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