Caricature as a challenge for propaganda

The visual component is important in the design of print media. A well-chosen caricature can be an especially expressive element of the text, extending its limits and supplementing it or emphasizing some point. Den/The Day has been active in this genre from the beginning of our existence, as shown, for instance, by this publication’s co-operation with prominent caricaturist Anatolii Kazansky. We are now co-operating with talented Russian caricaturist Viktor Bogorad, whose works our readers get to see quite often. During a Skype conversation with Summer School students, the artist shared his experience in the field. He spoke of his personal creative development, the rise and decline of caricature in Russia, relations within the International Society of Caricature Artists, and work on the project Je suis dog, je suis cat (I am a dog, I am a cat).

“IF CARICATURIST DOES NOT RISE ABOVE THE SITUATION, THEY BECOME A PROPAGANDIST”

Maria CHADIUK, National University of Kyiv Mohyla Academy: “You are a famous caricaturist. What caused you to enter this field? Who was your teacher?”

Viktor BOGORAD:

“I graduated from the LETI, Ulyanov-Lenin State Electrotechnical University in St. Petersburg. I made drawings during lectures there. A friend of mine took a few drawings from my course notes and went to a newspaper, which accepted them for publication. For me it was a surprise, and it all started with that first publication in 1973. Information is a very important issue for a caricaturist. Most Soviet caricaturists participated in international competitions and received catalogs from which they learned how people drew and how diverse the global caricature art was. It is clear that most of them, including members of the Leningrad Club, focused not on the Soviet magazine Krokodil, but rather on the Polish Szpilki. At the time, it was the only way one could learn about new foreign works, because only two foreign artists were published in the USSR: Jean Effel (France) and Herluf Bidstrup from Denmark, who worked for a small communist newspaper. He created many drawings without captions, so as to be completely understood by everyone. Moreover, the Leningrad Caricaturists’ Competition held an All-Union Exhibition in 1984. It featured 417 works. The exhibition was officially considered free, but the administration did everything to block people from exhibiting. There were extraordinary works from all Soviet republics there. So, the funniest part was that Bidstrup visited the event and praised it, and no one told us anything.”

M.Ch.: “You say that the caricaturist should be a philosopher and rise above the situation. This quality is a requirement for the journalist as well. Is it possible to somehow teach it, and if so, how is one to do it?”

V.B.: “If the caricaturist does not rise above the situation, they become a propagandist. They then express the ideas demanded, say, by a newspaper’s editors. Once the caricaturist makes up their own opinion, they rise above the situation. I do not know if you can teach it. People just have to think independently.”

“EDITORS HAVE BECOME WARY OF CARICATURES”

Khrystyna SOLTYS, Ivan Franko National University of Lviv: “You worked for various publications. How often have you come across censorship? Is it an obstacle for the caricaturist’s creative development?”

V.B.: “The caricaturist always faces censorship. This may be censorship in a totalitarian state. The artist then knows that their drawings will never be published. The person is aware that it is an incredible picture, but it will see no public release. It works that way in a non-totalitarian state as well. The team has its own vision, so it still imposes certain restrictions. In addition, we have another hard rule: if a caricature contains any advertising logo, such as that of Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, etc., the legal department of newspaper marks it as a promotional material and blocks publication. This can be called censorship, if you will. It all depends on the country in which it occurs.”

Kh.S.: “Have you noticed public interest to your work in Russia?”

V.B.: “It looks like that. Last year, France hosted a festival of editorial caricaturists. Works of 35 caricaturists from 17 countries went on display there. They were caricaturists from all over the world who work daily for major newspapers. You know what I found interesting? After the tragic events at Charlie Hebdo, almost all of them started thinking that the caricaturist profession faced certain difficulties. Editors understand now that the consequences of caricatures may involve not only criticism or trouble with the authorities, but also deadly incidents. Editors have become wary of caricatures.”

Oksana VOITKO, Ivan Franko National University of Lviv: “You are an anti-propagandist caricaturist working in Russia. Who of your colleagues in the CIS, in your opinion, exhibits the same level of professionalism and firm civic position? Who do you maintain friendship and professional relationship with?”

V.B.: “I have over 4,000 followers on Facebook. Most of them are caricaturists from different countries. Of course, we keep talking to each other. Moreover, when leaving the last year’s festival in France, we established the United Sketches society. It is a union of sketch artists, an international organization that aims to protect caricaturists around the world who are being persecuted in their countries, including being jailed or forced to emigrate. The Ukrainian side is represented by Volodymyr Kazanevsky, while I represent Russia. The founder of the organization was Iranian caricaturist Kianoush Ramezani, who had been forced to emigrate from Iran.”

“THERE IS ALMOST NO PLACE LEFT FOR THE POLITICAL CARICATURE IN TODAY’S RUSSIA”

O.V.: “How do you see the future of caricaturists? Will your art become a new trend in the online space?”

V.B.: “Caricature’s heyday was in 1991, well before Vladimir Putin’s ascent to power. Newspapers had staff caricaturists, like Kommersant’s Andrei Bilzho or Moskovskiy Komsomolets’s Alexey Merinov who, fortunately, continues to work on a daily basis. I worked for Smena newspaper, and also was a trademark of sorts, since my drawings always got onto the front page. St. Petersburg had Chas Pik newspaper then, which also published caricatures on the front page, created by Alexander Sergeyev and Nikolai Vorontsov. I would say there is almost no place left for the political caricature in today’s Russia. Otherwise, caricature is still there, of course.

“What will our future be? I do not know. For example, I visited Switzerland (what I will say now applies to a lesser extent to Germany as well). This is a country where caricature is admired and appreciated. When I was in Switzerland, I once passed by the window of a gallery. There were two works on display: a painting by Marc Chagall and a drawing by Hans Georg Rauch. But Chagall’s work was worth 2,000 dollars, while that by Rauch, a very famous German caricaturist, was worth 3,000 dollars. And that was despite Chagall being already dead, while Rauch, thank God, was then still alive. This approach to caricature exists. In general, the future of caricature depends on the public’s attitude to humor.”

Anna HOLISHEVSKA, Ivan Franko National University of Lviv: “It has become fashionable to paint in the styles of abstract expressionism, abstract art, or Bauhaus. We are witnessing a crisis of your genre compared to the 1990s, when the caricature market experienced a real boom in Russia. Why is this happening?”

V.B.: “The Russian society treats the caricature art as something minor. That is, caricatures are seen not as works of art, but mere pictures, although caricature absorbed many art styles, from early Hieronymus Bosch to surrealism (but it is Rene Magritte rather than Salvador Dali who has influenced us). It went on to absorb very hard German expressionism. That is, caricature always responded to the emergence of new trends and took from them precisely what was needed for the visual text translation. So, caricature is actually very closely related to contemporary art. So far, society is wary of caricature due to the content it can carry. Because it has multiple meaning, and there are fears of misunderstandings.”

“PUBLISHERS ARE WARY OF RELEASING CARICATURE ALBUMS”

Maryna SNIZHYNSKA, National University of Kyiv Mohyla Academy: “How is your project Je suis dog, je suis cat developing?” [Let us recall that The Day covered it in No. 36 on June 7, 2016. – Ed.]

V.B.: “Thank you for the question. We have a few days left. We have raised 72 percent of the funds needed. In fact, the project is already secure. I hope that the book will appear by the end of September.

“This project will test many publishers because collections of caricatures are virtually non-existing in Russia. Publishers are wary of releasing caricature albums because they believe that they will not sell. Meanwhile, our experience with this project shows that the readership is there, as is demand. Some publisher just has to dare do it.”

“I STOPPED DRAWING DAILY PAST YEAR”

Oksana KOVAL, Ivan Franko National University of Lviv: “Usually caricaturists realize themselves by working for newspapers, diluting or supplementing texts. There were many specialized magazines in the history of caricature. What do you find more interesting – working in a narrow circle of experts, satisfying, perhaps, one’s selfish desires, or going out to a wide audience, showing a kind of altruism?”

V.B.: “Any artist is selfish, one could be altruistic, and it still can be a selfish choice. They care about interest, response. Because caricature is not a thing in itself. It does not exist without readers. Do you know why? Why would I draw a picture to laugh at it myself? I do not know what work is better. I really enjoyed working daily with The Moscow Times. Initially there were no conditions, they gave me a carte blanche, and I drew everything I wanted. Then times changed, and they gave me a text so that I come up with a caricature illustrating it. To create a picture every day, and then to see it published is a mighty pleasure. Unfortunately, that newspaper left the caricature business past year because our parliament passed a law banning foreign ownership of newspapers and magazines. They sold all their assets to local businesspeople. The local who bought the newspaper in Moscow said: ‘We will no longer publish caricatures.’ Thus, I stopped drawing daily past year. I like to design books as well. I recently designed a book entitled Metrology Can Be Fun. It was a challenge for me, but it felt nice to have coped with it.”

“MOST CARICATURISTS OPPOSE THIS WAR”

Dmytro BAIDA, National University of Ostroh Academy: “You said that Ukrainian and Russian caricaturists had established contacts earlier. How does it work now? Who do you keep in touch with?”

V.B.: “Director of the festival in France serves as head of the French Memorial Society. When I was saying goodbye, he told me: ‘I was very wary about inviting caricaturists from Russia and Ukraine. I thought you would come to blows. But you hugged each other instead.’ He was very surprised. I keep in touch with some Ukrainian caricaturists, including via letters. The ongoing war has split caricaturists. But we must give credit where credit is due: a majority of caricaturists from St. Petersburg and more than half of those in Moscow oppose this war. Yes, there are caricaturists who are engaged in propaganda, but it seems to me that conscientious caricaturists keep away from them. I said before that there are things which no caricaturist should do. They should not add fuel to the fire.”

O.K.: “How do you think, is it appropriate to use one’s talent for counter-propaganda?”

V.B.: “If a person is not a propagandist, all their work is counter-propaganda by definition. It is important to understand which country the caricaturist is working in: one suffering aggression or one carrying out aggression. And it is very important to understand on whose side one is, given not only the demands of the nation, but also those of morality.”

Hanna SHEREMET: “What would you wish for our Summer School students?”

V.B.: “Of course, I wish success to all journalists: publish more, become better-known. And one essential thing to add: do not forget that caricature exists. People may just read through a text, but if it is accompanied by a suitable caricature, the reader will remember not only the drawing itself, but also your thoughts that were expressed in that article. Remember this. It is my selfish request.”

It will be recalled that Den’s Summer School of Journalism is held this year with support of the NATO Information and Documentation Center.