Beware!

Artist Matt Morgan

Publisher Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper

Datec 1872

Object number00019630

NameEngraving

MediumInk on paper

DimensionsSheet: 600 x 810 mm
Overall: 395 x 555 mm, 0.4 kg
Image: 505 x 780 mm

ClassificationsArt

Credit LineANMM Collection Purchased with USA Bicentennial Gift funds

Terms

HistoryMatt Morgan He came to the United States in 1870 under an engagement with Frank Leslie, and, after working as caricaturist on Leslie's publications, acted as manager of several New York theatres. His greatest fame came during the 1872 presidential campaign, when Morgan drew cartoons on behalf of the Liberal Republicans against President Ulysses S. Grant. Hired as a rival to the Republican cartoonist Thomas Nast at 'Harper's Weekly,' Morgan showed much the same caustic satire, but lacked the humor and wit that Nast employed. His caricatures of politicians he approved of were more like portraiture. By 1874, 'Leslie's Illustrated Weekly' was using Morgan's cartoons only sporadically, and relying more on those of Joseph Keppler, but Morgan continued to do illustrations of events and American scenes. He went in 1880 to Cincinnati, Ohio, where he was manager of the Strobridge Lithograph Company until 1885, and did much to improve the character of theatrical lithography. He also founded the Matt Morgan Art Pottery Company there in 1883, and the Cincinnati Art Students' League. Reportedly he also helped design sets for Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show. He returned to New York City in 1887. Morgan contributed to the exhibitions of the American Watercolor Society, and painted a series of large panoramic pictures, representing battles of the Civil War, which were exhibited in Cincinnati in 1886 and elsewhere.