December 29, 2009

The end of those "macro-headed, somberly expressive, astringently probing and hardly ever flattering caricatures."

David Levine has died.

This beautifully constructed online gallery of his work has over 2,500 items. Here are all the ones of U.S. Presidents....



Charming!

10 comments:

vbspurs said...

The Nov. '76 Jimmy Carter is too inspired by 70s threathrob, Leif Garrett, whereas the April '77 version looks like an ad for Afrin. I have no idea how to describe the donkey-riding Carter in later '77, except to say that now I understand what Carter meant when he said he had lust in his heart.

RIP Mr. Levine.

Cheers,
Victoria

BJM said...

John Cox ably carries on the tradition.

The Crack Emcee said...

Brilliance. My Ronald Reagan ain't bad but Levine was a master.

Fred4Pres said...

Pretty scathing. I can't imagine him being commissioned by someone. His "Hillary", for example, looks like Chuckie. And I assume those penis noses on Nixon and LBJ are some sort of metaphor for honesty. Or maybe he thinks they were endowed. I am not sure why Bill Clinton gets a W.C. Fields drunk nose, rather than a penis nose too. Then again, perhaps Bill has a small one.

Perhaps I am reading too much into this.

T.K. Tortch said...

They are brutal, but he seems to have especially disliked Carter!!

It would be interesting to see the Carter (and other) caricatures arranged chronologically. Maybe the disliking grew over time.

Wince said...

You can't take it with you, but there must be an added measure of satisfaction to go to your eternal reward with a tangible body of work that you can point to and that you know people will appreciate long after you're gone.

ricpic said...

The depiction of Nixon as evil incarnate! It will fascinate historians fifty years hence, should there still be a free America. For when they come to examine Nixon's actual record they'll find an enactor of big government liberal programs. They'll also find that Nixon was mildly anti-communist. And of course for Levine and his ilk that was the crux of the matter. The image of anyone even mildly opposed to the vanguard of history must be besmirched. Utterly.

Drew W said...

Levine's image of LBJ with a Vietnam-shaped appendix scar is an iconic caricature. Levine clearly ranks among the greatest satirical artists of all time.

From Inwood said...

Hey maybe that Gitmo detainee art therapy will produce a sucessor to
Levine!

g2loq said...

He was good company.
A red diaper baby through and through who never adjusted his views.
He was a "the end justifies the means" type.

Unacceptable for someone of his means, intelligence and the blessed talent he possessed.

R.I.P.