St. John Hall Room 306
Date
March 22,
2012
Time
5:00pm
Location
St. John Hall Room 306
Allison
Stagg
This lecture will consider key events from the War of
1812 by exploring satirical visual imagery. Political cartoons were
printed with immediacy, to capitalize on sensational events and to
mock prominent politicians and figures, while extolling pride in
the American cause. Caricatures of this period, although printed in
haste, expose how people in America felt and how they responded to
the War of 1812.
Political caricatures from this period were printed in New York,
Philadelphia, and small towns in New England. Rarely are such
prints considered in the American history dialogue, yet such images
are vital documents that provide the modern viewer with the
opinions of the every-day citizen in the early 1800s. In focusing
on the caricatures produced during this period, this lecture
considers the “peoples story” of the War of 1812 through a series
of visually humorous images.
ALLISON STAGG received a Ph.D. in art history from University College
London. Dr. Stagg’s research on early American caricature has been
supported by numerous grants, including awards from the New-York
Historical Society, New York Public Library, and the Gilder Lehrman
Institute of American History. Dr. Stagg is a recipient of the Jane
and Morgan Whitney Fellowship at the Metropolitan Museum of Art for
2011-2012 to edit her Ph.D. dissertation, “The Art of Wit:
Political Caricature in the United States, 1780-1830” for
publication.