River every morning. He did nothing to kid would do it. Nast went down for days. Every day he would observe the background. What time the whistle blew that everybody got on the ferry and how it looked and decided what he wanted to be in the illustration. Having sketched in the background and decided on the framing, do when one morning and produced a very attractive sketch that he presented to frank leslie, who of course was trapped by his own hubris and head off for the young man a job. From that moment nast work for the rest of his life steadily. Though not always for steady people. You may already know that one of the problems with frank leslie was he often did not pay people who worked for him, which they did not like very much. He works pretty steadily. First for frank leslie in the for the new york illustrated news, harpers weekly. It was at harpers weekly he built his career. That was the thing that catapulted him into fame. And for a while fortune, though that is a sad story. You can ask me about that later. And a place in american art and political history. In his prime he was the most famous cartoonist in america. He was a widely liked and admired, and of course feared and hated person. He could be delightful. He was childlike his entire life. One of the people he worked with at harpers who ran the publishing fortune and harpers weekly itself talked about how he came home to his brownstone in new york monday and was handing his coat and hat is butler. You know how they are tall and skinny. He heard above and what sounded like a herd of elephants running back and forth. What is that infernal noise . The answer was thomas nast came to speak with him and finding him not at home i got to the nursery and was playing chase with all the children all around the house and causing a terrible noise. This is typical of nast. People love him for this kind of persona that embrace all that was fun and entertaining in life. He produced illustrations, cartoons and christmas drawings for harpers until the 1880s. For your of easement of pulled a few the christmas illustrations. People love these christmas illustrations to this day. There are some similarities here, including his own children, backgrounds from his own home. And some similarities in his portrayal of santa. It is pretty consistent over time, particularly with red cheeks and how chubby he is. These are so popular that today, for you inclined to do so, it is not difficult to obtain things like dessert plates and christmas ornaments for yourself that feature nasts christmas designs. For a pop cultural form of illustration two indoor across so much time and beyond the death of its creator. In this case you can see there is no end to the popularity of nasts christmas illustrations. Unfortunately as exciting as nasts career was, it ended not with a bang, but with a whimper. His frantic pace in the early 1870s when he was defending president grant against charges when he was attacking the tweed ring, began to wear on his arm and shoulder. As a result he had to stop sometimes cartooning. His work began to decline in quality. It was less detailed. It was less precise. He lost a little bit of what made him so successful. 1870s, a longe brewing conflict between himself and his editor at harpers weekly exploded into an open fight. Nast began to feel dissatisfied with his position. In the mid1880s, he finally started to depart and separate himself from the newspaper. By the late 1880s had done so for good. He tried to maintain his career by working for other papers, but that failed. The circulation was not able to do it. He tried to build a career as a painter. This is an example. I will let you judge for yourself. That failed. He tried to establish his own paper, nasts weekly. It lasted a whopping seven months. And kind of desperate for employment, he turned to his connections in the year was abouts administration in Theodore Roosevelts administration, winning an unlimited ecuador in july of 19 two. You already know its coming if you read my book. Ber he was dead of yellow fever. His death i do nearly destitute wife, and eldest son who idolized and emulated his father, and worst of all for me, and i realize that a shallow, and author with an unfinished biography. Biographer, Albert Bigelow paine, consoled himself by playing billiards with mark twain. He managed to complete the book, publishing it two years after the cartoonists untimely death. When it appeared in 19 for, 1904, 19 no for, it get attracted criticism. One was a contemporary of nast who disagreed with paine and some of his conclusions. Nast was not this man a particularly original artist. He borrowed his best ideas from other people. He made a habit of plagiarism. He made that up, but lets call it that. Worst of all, he had not really done anything in the civil war. Paine pushed back like you do on a half of the person you wrote a biography. Some are easy, proving nast was significant in general. That was not difficult at all. A little touch year was demonstrating nast had worked in the field during the war the way other illustrators had done. That likely, it seems, nast had worked a little. Only limited contact with the war itself outside of new yorks newspaper buildings, a location not known for big battles. That context matter to him. It changed him. If you were here today, he would be delighted to think of his story is part of a civil war institute. Personal,e warmest amoral and national crucible. It made him. If you are here, he would enthusiastically acknowledge that. What is it that were provided to him . I would say provided three things. The first to appreciate is that on the cusp of the war, nast was quite young. At the end of 1860 he had just turned 20 years old. And he wasnt even in the United States at that point. He had sailed off to england to cover an illegal boxing match this was the kind of stuff he was attracted to age 20. He had not been paid for the work you did. That was frustrating to him. From there he sailed to italy because he was attracted to garibaldis campaign to unify the italian state. Garibaldi had been a hero of his father. He traveled to germany in search of relatives. He helped rich relatives leave him or give him my. This turned out not to work out. And finally back to england, effectively penniless, for he boarded a ship from new york in 1861. Its an interesting time to arrive back in new york city. He returned to this maelstrom of political conflict that the period was characterized by. He had a little black book, which is now on the rutherford b. Hayes president ial center in ohio. Perhaps we can say that three times fast. They have this little black book. For those of you who may be unfamiliar, menus to carry little books in their pockets which contained addresses, contacts of people they knew, and sometimes they had a calendar. You can keep track of your appointments. That is what this was for 1860 to 1861. It is absolutely charming. He keeps track of his money because he had hardly any. It is cute because he would write down, sold illustration, one dollar. It kept track of his courtship with sally edwards. He took her to church and agreed to go again next week. It was pretty cute. In that calendar, on the very last it of it he filled out, he hopes hewrote revealed the cells and sketches about what he called the southern excitement. When you read it in retrospect it is interesting to see how innocent it sounds, how he had no idea what was happening and how important it was. He returned to new york older and more confident that he had been when he left. He was repairing to ask his sweetheart preparing to ask his sweetheart to be his bride. Spoiler alert, she said yes. He was ready, any case you wonder what she looks like, we do not have a ton of clearly attributed images of sally nast. One of the things that was especially adorable was elector he liked to portray his wife in illustrations and paintings. Female figure that is attractive, that is probably selling. If you get a chance to see the very small number of letters that exist from his lifetime, he would have sally write the text and then he would illustrate the letters. He often drew her into the letters. I am almost certain this is sally and their older children. This is someone you would certainly want to marry. Having successfully concluded was readyhip nast in 1861 for bigger challenges than he had ever before tackled. The war was in that context irresistible. The public hunger for news about it as it unfolded help stabilize but having a very strange and kind of volatile illustrated news sector. Nast was able to return to a steady job at harpers weekly, which gave him a chance to use his talent to inform the public. He returned to a future that seemed to him limitless, which perhaps is characteristic of 21yearold, nasts but in case was not a misperception. It is not just that the war affected nast. He knew in that moment it would do so and he welcomed that. He saw this as a moment that would change who he was and what he was able to do. That was one of the things that made them so interesting. He embraced the experiences were offered him. What were those things that were provided . I would say three broad categories. The war really helped to shape his view of good and a bad. Particularly when it came to leadership and patriotism. Second, the war sharpened his focus on issues of identity and citizenship, both for black americans and immigrants, particularly the irish. And third it provided a period when he slowly broadened his reach from illustration toward you and i would recognize more readily as cartooning. We would go through each of those and i will welcome questions. If the servant leadership, were provided nast with a mini pantheon of heroic figures. Like a lot of cartoonists, nast relied on a visual shorthand. Cartoonists exaggerate melanie and heroism. That is part of the way they approach the images they create. Youre familiar with the stephen siegel, in his movies the bag i is never a little bit bad. He is always as bad as possible. He says all the bad words and he kicks a puppy and breaks somebodies car. There is nothing that he doesnt do just encase the audience has somehow missed that this is in fact the backyard. Cartooning is like that, and cartoonists rely on this very clearcut sense of who is on the right side of right in wrong. The war helped nast to see that by providing heroes, cementing a stack of heroes he admired and who we thought were awful. He would rely on them for many years, either in spirit with the individuals. It defined what he thought hero is a and bill and he meant. Villainy mens. Meant. Villainy u. S. Grant occupied a special place. In his work was so successful in part because he channeled anger and excitement and enthusiasm into the drawings he produced. Gratitude andof affection that elevated grant at the end of the war, that swept over nast too. Imagined the general as the savior of the union, and he never changed his mind about that. He honored grand for years and years through various things that grant did. First for his role in the war. There was a famous cartoon at the end of the war in which you see grant on the left, lifting his hand robert e. Lee to. And for his leadership of the Republican Party. And for his work as president , which was a period and which people came not to see grant and anymore. Way you can see here for example that he would draw grant standing straight with his spine erect, very handsome. Often the object of positive attention from a female symbol of the nation, columbia or justice. D. C. This woman is probably drawn from life from sally. Thiss grant appeared is true in the early 1870s, as a rational health with the city or nation vote unpredictable children. Nasts adoration was visible all the time in the cartoons he produced for the rest of grants life and his own career. He had two moments in which it was grounded in real life that are particularly valuable to point out or the capture my fancy because theyre entertaining and characteristic of nast. Helped the868, nast republican synonymy grant for president. The convention that year, nast was invited to paint the backdrop for this stage. He had a curtain in front. Behind that was a backdrop that he painted on canvas. Is shown two it showed two that a stills. One was u. S. Grant and the other was empty because the democrats in a chosen candidate. He painted the challenge match him. The application was it was impossible to match the savior of the union. Than the election was effectively over. As grants nomination and later accepting the parties choice was read aloud, the curtain dramatically dropped and nasts painting was revealed. The crowd went wild. One of the things about this that is entertaining as a side note, it was reproduced this was from harpers weekly. The image on the left is grand. Deviancy what abo you can see when its about the absence he is an attractive, masculine figure. On the right is the figure of seymour, that nast has done every bad things to have regard to his hair. You can see the shadow, as if the hair wasnt diabolical enough, he is a little batman like. Is heally deserve . The hero we deserve . Thats the question. And you can see what seymour looked like more normal so you can see what nast had done to him. The caption of the top was match . The implication was no, not at all. That did not die in 1868. It was recycled in 1968. On the 100th anniversary of that election by another candidate who also used it successfully. The second time nasts regard for grant entered real life and the part that was emotionally important for him occurred in him occurred in 1872 when nast went to washington to observe politics firsthand, which he found thrilling. If you go looking for nast, their letters there are letters written by sally or to sally. You always to the ones by sally because they are beautiful and the spelling is correct. Letters written to sally resemble a Chicken Scratch and are spelled in phonetic german accented english, which sometimes required me in the archives to read a letter out loud to myself to the rotation my neighbors. Irritation of my neighbors. He was so excited. People came up to him and threatened him. He said it was the greatest thing in the world. Nast was correct. Harpers backed him. He received an invitation for lunch with the president which was super exciting for him. That was followed by several further invitations. He and grant got to be kind of friendly. This was important to nast. You like the idea he was somebody who would take himself. He recognized that in grant, as he would in other men. He became friends with mark twain because he recognized the same life story in twain. Homerants visited the nast in moorestown after the presidency. He returned after his world tour. Sally nast asked the grant will with a like to have for dinner. The president replied if they ck he was a going to fancy banquets with little birds, they would give him something substantial. They served the former president corn beef and cabbage. They said he liked it. I think all hostesses are actively the guests enjoyed the dinner they are served, but maybe he did. He have this reallife interaction with grant. He had this emphasis his work on grant a new grant was and what grant meant. The war provided other figures. For example, abraham lincoln, to nast position as an Eternal Father to the nations best impulses. A man who represented a desire for peace in the midst of war, and a result against all odds to ensure victory but also national integrity. All the things that lincoln articulated. Nast a set of those and believed in those accepted those and believed in them and a way. This is ant famous cartoon called emancipation. The red arrow points to the fact that the center piece of this cartoon is characteristic of nast. In the Center Circle nast has drawn an idealized family scene in which dad is enjoying announcing the baby on his knee and maybe the teenage daughter has a suitor in the back, and mom is making tea on a castiron stove. Looking happily over all of this and the mantle is abraham lincoln, which is what the arrow points to. Lincoln was portrayed as a partner of general George Washington as a symbol of national idealism. Later nast asserts a kind of multifaceted, multiethnic, diverse American National identity. He creates this table presided over by uncle sam in which the porches on the wall looked down on the celebrants of the holiday or abraham lincoln, George Washington, and ulysses s. Grant. To get a sense of how these men came to be symbols of what nast believed it meant to be an american, and of the best of american leadership. Not everyone of course i should say nast participated fully. One thing that cemented this position for lincoln was his untimely death. That seems to have been one of the first instances in which nast used or channeled his ,rtistic talents into mourning which you do many times in the year to come. With the lin that he would seek lincoln to relate from grant, a father whose absence made his position even more important, even more powerful. Not everyone is a hero. Someone has to be batman. This was Andrew Johnson among other people. You may recognize the image on the right. Nast delighted in making fun of president johnson as a villainous fool, on trustworthy, powermad, corrupt. It was something nast did not lay at johnsons feet, i would like to know what it is. Perhaps getting haircuts he frequently. Another example of the villains was Nathan Bedford forrest, who served as a symbol of the violence of the war and also the postwar period. Calledkolbe slave the slaveocracy. Forest pops up as the bogeyman and theostwar period changes people are trying to achieve in the United States. The important thing in this category about the war is it helped nast work out his views about what americans had a right to expect from their leaders. Here find those views in the late 1860s and throughout the 1870s and found them challenged by the politics of the 1880s, which were kind of crazy. Thattheless, it is clear this is his first serious political philosophy. It was formed during the war and should find it happened shaped by what happened during the war. Twonast the work produced important questions about who was and who was not american. These were questions he was an immigrant himself. He struggled to learn to speak, read and write in english. It was an imperfect process his whole life. He idealized the American Dream and the american family. He wanted to be somebody. Not just to the common american, that theyricans thought of his iconic and fundamental. It was important to him. The first challenge the work brought to that sense of american identity occurred in the summer of the three. Here we summer of 1863. A story he told that the little muddled, which is very common for him. Tohad been traveling, trying get the gettysburg to observe and report on and draw the battle. Instead ended up semiarrested. It is not entirely clear if he was a