Drawing
ca. 1905 (drawn)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
This is the frontispiece for the first of several albums of caricatures of music hall performers. They were drawn and compiled by the commercial artist George Cooke. Cooke specialised in designing artwork for publicity material for music hall performers. This included leaflets, newspaper advertisements and posters. But these caricatures all seem to have been done purely for his own pleasure. This album covers the years from 1903 to 1905, when Cooke was based at the Grand Theatre of Varieties in Hanley. Most of his subjects were drawn when appearing there.
The Dame figure in a roundel is probably a caricature of Cooke himself. The performers below represent the comedian Edwin Boyde, right, and the mimic Leo Tell, left. They both appeared at the Grand Theatre during the week of 12 December 1904, and their caricatures appear in the first two volumes.
The Dame figure in a roundel is probably a caricature of Cooke himself. The performers below represent the comedian Edwin Boyde, right, and the mimic Leo Tell, left. They both appeared at the Grand Theatre during the week of 12 December 1904, and their caricatures appear in the first two volumes.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Materials and techniques | Pen and ink and watercolour on paper |
| Brief description | Frontispiece of the first album of caricatures of Edwardian music hall performers by George Cooke, featuring images of Leo Tell, Edwin Boyde, and probably George Cooke himself, as a pantomime dame. Probably 1905. |
| Physical description | Pen, ink and wash drawing on beige paper, cut out and pasted as a frontispiece onto the first pink page of the first album of caricatures by George Cooke. Showing two music hall performers (Leo Tell, left, and Edwin Boyde, right) supporting an image of a river valley with mountains, above which is a crown-surmounted roundel, flanked by pairs of blue tulips. Within the roundel is the image of a Pantomime Dame - possibly a caricature of the artist. Over the image of the river valley is written 'George Cooke Caricaturist Designer of Lithographs Memo Heads Etc.' |
| Dimensions |
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| Marks and inscriptions | 1903-4-5. 53. No 2
George Cooke Caricaturist Designer of Lithographs Memo Heads Ets. (Hand written; Pen and ink and watercolour; Cooke, George) |
| Summary | This is the frontispiece for the first of several albums of caricatures of music hall performers. They were drawn and compiled by the commercial artist George Cooke. Cooke specialised in designing artwork for publicity material for music hall performers. This included leaflets, newspaper advertisements and posters. But these caricatures all seem to have been done purely for his own pleasure. This album covers the years from 1903 to 1905, when Cooke was based at the Grand Theatre of Varieties in Hanley. Most of his subjects were drawn when appearing there. The Dame figure in a roundel is probably a caricature of Cooke himself. The performers below represent the comedian Edwin Boyde, right, and the mimic Leo Tell, left. They both appeared at the Grand Theatre during the week of 12 December 1904, and their caricatures appear in the first two volumes. |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | S.392:55-2002 |
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| Record created | November 28, 2003 |
| Record URL |
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