Thomas Nast

Thomas Nast 1840-1902, American caricaturist, illustrator, and painter, b. Landau, Germany. He was brought to the United States in 1846. He began his career as a draftsman for Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper and Harper's Weekly. He was sent to England by the New York Illustrated News, served (1860) as artist correspondent in Garibaldi's campaign, contributing sketches to English, French, and American papers, and attracted wide attention with his cartoons of the Civil War, published in Harper's Weekly. He is best known for his clever and forceful political and personal cartoons, which were instrumental in breaking the corrupt Tweed Ring in New York City. It was Nast who created the tiger, the elephant, and the donkey as political symbols of Tammany Hall, the Republican party, and the Democratic party. Nast was also an illustrator of note and a painter in oil. He died at Guayaquil, Ecuador, where he was American consul general.

Bibliography: See study by M. Keller (1968).

Nast, Thomas (1840–1902), political caricaturist and illustrator, born in Germany, was brought to the U.S. (1846) and commenced his career as an illustrator at 15. After sketching events of Garibaldi's campaign in Italy for French, English, and American papers, he joined the staff of Harper's Weekly (1862) to draw Civil War cartoons that attacked Northern defeatists, leading Lincoln to call him “our best recruiting sergeant.” He reached the height of his success in the 1870s, with his biting caricatures of the corrupt Tweed Ring. Although his greatest work was completed by 1886, he helped determine public opinion for almost a quarter of a century through his keen, forceful satire. He was the creator of the symbolic Tammany tiger, Republican elephant, and Democratic donkey, and popularized the use of Shakespearean scenes for political cartoons.