The Confessions of a Caricaturist, Vol. 2

The Confessions of a Caricaturist, Vol. 2 by Harry Furniss plunges listeners into the witty, candid world of a Victorian cartoonist whose sketches shaped public satire. Part memoir, part travelogue and art history, Furniss recounts the birth of his signature artistic jokes, his battles with establishment figures at the Royal Academy, and the behind-the-scenes life at Punch and other illustrated papers. Chapters brim with lively anecdotes—from transatlantic voyages and a bustling Washington and Chicago to the spectacle of Niagara and adventures in Australia—each episode revealing how social satire, publishing pressures, and the art market shaped a working caricaturist’s craft. Woven through are reflections on technique, the economics of illustration, and the eccentric personalities Furniss met: editors, rivals, patrons and stagey critics. The book sits at the intersection of biography and art, offering historical color on late-19th-century print culture and the everyday hustle of a professional artist. For listeners who love art history, Victorian social satire, or lively memoirs, this illustrated artist’s confessional delivers humor, insight, and a vivid portrait of an era. Ideal for fans of biography, illustration, and anyone curious about how caricature captured and skewered the public life of an age.