The American Dressing Academy: a venue for early American caricature prints

In America at the turn of the nineteenth century, separately published engraved caricature prints were made with surprisingly little regularity. With so few caricature prints made at the beginning of the nineteenth century, a natural assumption might be that this imagery was unimportant, that these...

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Main Author: Allison Stagg
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Forum Kunst und Markt 2018-01-01
Series:Journal for Art Market Studies
Subjects:
Online Access:https://fokum-jams.org/index.php/jams/article/view/24
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author Allison Stagg
author_facet Allison Stagg
author_sort Allison Stagg
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description In America at the turn of the nineteenth century, separately published engraved caricature prints were made with surprisingly little regularity. With so few caricature prints made at the beginning of the nineteenth century, a natural assumption might be that this imagery was unimportant, that these prints were less commonly seen, or that there was a limited audience; however, a number of primary documents have suggested otherwise. Because of the numerous announcements located in newspapers it is known that caricature prints in America were sold primarily in book and print shops; advertisements announced new caricatures on offer and where such prints can be purchased. However, another venue served as a sale point and discussion forum with a captive audience: barbers took to newspapers to announce the many services offered and mentioned the arrival of new forms of entertainment for the waiting gentleman customer. While adverts provide evidence that caricature prints could be seen in barbershops, it is not known to what extent these prints were sold or for how much they were sold for. This was a male-dominated space, but there were female equivalents: an advertisement by the barber John Richard Desborous Huggins refers to two sections, one addressed to the “ladies” for the “School of Fashion” followed by a section meant for male clients at the “Dressing Academy”. The article would like to contribute to the understanding of how caricature prints in America were seen and how barbershops were one of the most important spaces for their circulation.
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spelling doaj.art-20a9afbccfbc47468797b807bc90339f2022-12-22T03:58:38ZengForum Kunst und MarktJournal for Art Market Studies2511-76022018-01-012110.23690/jams.v2i1.2425The American Dressing Academy: a venue for early American caricature printsAllison StaggIn America at the turn of the nineteenth century, separately published engraved caricature prints were made with surprisingly little regularity. With so few caricature prints made at the beginning of the nineteenth century, a natural assumption might be that this imagery was unimportant, that these prints were less commonly seen, or that there was a limited audience; however, a number of primary documents have suggested otherwise. Because of the numerous announcements located in newspapers it is known that caricature prints in America were sold primarily in book and print shops; advertisements announced new caricatures on offer and where such prints can be purchased. However, another venue served as a sale point and discussion forum with a captive audience: barbers took to newspapers to announce the many services offered and mentioned the arrival of new forms of entertainment for the waiting gentleman customer. While adverts provide evidence that caricature prints could be seen in barbershops, it is not known to what extent these prints were sold or for how much they were sold for. This was a male-dominated space, but there were female equivalents: an advertisement by the barber John Richard Desborous Huggins refers to two sections, one addressed to the “ladies” for the “School of Fashion” followed by a section meant for male clients at the “Dressing Academy”. The article would like to contribute to the understanding of how caricature prints in America were seen and how barbershops were one of the most important spaces for their circulation.https://fokum-jams.org/index.php/jams/article/view/24Caricatures
spellingShingle Allison Stagg
The American Dressing Academy: a venue for early American caricature prints
Journal for Art Market Studies
Caricatures
title The American Dressing Academy: a venue for early American caricature prints
title_full The American Dressing Academy: a venue for early American caricature prints
title_fullStr The American Dressing Academy: a venue for early American caricature prints
title_full_unstemmed The American Dressing Academy: a venue for early American caricature prints
title_short The American Dressing Academy: a venue for early American caricature prints
title_sort american dressing academy a venue for early american caricature prints
topic Caricatures
url https://fokum-jams.org/index.php/jams/article/view/24
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