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Catalan Cartoons

A Cultural and Political History

University of Wales Press

The Golden Age of Catalan Political Cartoons (1898–1931)

The Pre-Twentieth-Century Catalan Satirical Tradition

The birth of modern Catalan satirical publications can be dated as far back as 1865 with the arrival of Un Tros de Paper, the first humorous weekly produced exclusively in the language, lasting over a year with sixty-nine numbers. Previous attempts at satirical publications such as Lo Pare Arcàngel (1841) had been made during the nineteenth-century revivalist movement of the Renaixença, but these failed to survive the early stages of production. While Spain's first satirical publication was El Duende Crítico de Madrid (1735–6), the tradition for including graphic humour was not established in the capital until the publication of Gil Blas in 1884, less than a year before the arrival of Un Tros de Paper in Barcelona.

These early years of production were strongly influenced by frequent governmental change, which caused press legislation to fluctuate dramatically throughout the nineteenth century. In 1834 a national press law was passed subjecting all articles to censorship prior to publication and outlawing any attacks on the government, the state, Catholicism or foreign leaders. Censors were rewarded with salaries that were significantly larger than their journalist counterparts, but would be punished with equal measure for proscribed material that slipped through the net. The concept of the responsible editor was introduced, with the effect that, along with the writer, an editor would now be held to account for all material published. As we will see in Chapter 3, this approach was reinstated during the Franco period as part of the 1938 press law.

The new constitution of 1837 formally recognised the freedom of the press and removed the need for prior censorial checks. However, a law passed in 1839 soon curtailed this freedom by requiring all material to be submitted for approval two hours in advance of publication. Following a military coup in 1843, which resulted in further restriction on press freedom, a major piece of legislation was passed in 1852, which caused a resurgence in fines and custodial sentences for press offences. Most notably, smaller, cheaper publications were forced to pay significantly larger deposits since the authorities claimed that these were directed at the lower classes with the intent of spreading subversive messages and promoting political struggle. The respite offered by the progressive government that came to power after a revolution in 1854 was short-lived, and another coup in 1856 led to a succession of restrictive press laws that remained in place for the next twelve years.

It was in this tumultuous context that Albert Llanas – considered the founder of Catalan satire – and the well-known figure in the Catalan press, Innocenci López, launched Un Tros de Paper in 1865. The magazine met with a positive public reception that saw it consistently sell out of its weekly 4,000 copies. This surprised even its contributors, who had feared that the mix of different Catalan spellings, since the language had not yet been standardised, might be confusing and unpopular. Un Tros de Paper's short existence was a common fate of the publications that it later spawned. Its demise was the result of two factors. First, internal disagreements over content between Llanas and the cartoonist Tomàs Padró resulted in the latter – along with Conrad Roure – leaving to found another publication, Lo Noy de la Mare (1866–7). This publication was unable to rival Un Tros de Paper's cutting edge, but survived on account of Padró's high-quality drawings and Roure's childlike humour. Second, Un Tros de Paper published a caricature of Barcelona's deputy mayor, Vedruna, which led him to demand that the paper be shut down. In spite of its short print life, the success of Un Tros de Paper sparked the production of a plethora of satirical publications in Catalan and thus the beginning of a rich tradition. The popularity of these, and the number of subsequent satirical magazines, demonstrated the Catalan public's enthusiasm for publications in the language, something that was also reflected in the rise of Catalan daily newspapers beginning with Diari Català in 1879. This momentum spurred López to create Catalonia's most iconic periodicals, La Campana de Gràcia (1870–1934) and L'Esquella de la Torratxa (1872–1939).

These two publications not only became synonymous with one another, but in fact with the genre of Catalan satire as a whole. Each was published for over sixty years and to this day they remain the longest-standing Catalan satirical publications of all time. La Campana de Gràcia first went to print on 8 May 1870. Influenced by a combination of journalism and theatre, the magazine had notably republican and federalist leanings. Despite the fact that the 1869 Constitution had reinstated the freedom of the press, the publication's outspoken style left it prone to government backlash, and throughout its history it suffered countless fines and suspensions. It should be noted that in 1883 perhaps the most liberal press law of the period was passed, granting fuller freedom of expression to the rapidly growing press industry. This legislation transferred control of the press from the executive to the judicial branch of government, a move that Charnon-Deutsch considers to be fundamental in establishing a liberal press. Nevertheless, the law still required publications to be registered and declared editors responsible for all content, including graphics, which were now also subject to control. The decision to subject pictures to the same censorial control as written text points to an acknowledgement by those in power of the potential impact of cartoon satire, since it is likely that these images, rather than photographs, were the law's primary focus. Indeed, it is this acknowledgement of cartoons as a legally identified vehicle of expression that makes them a worthy subject of study in their own right, and this is one of the primary drivers behind the present study of the Catalan cartooning tradition.

It was during one of its many suspensions that La Campana's editor created L'Esquella de la Torratxa, as a stand-in publication on 5 May 1872. In spite of its initial temporary purpose and the fact that its first two periods saw only four numbers each, L'Esquella soon carved its own place in the Catalan market and eventually outlived La Campana to become the longest-running magazine of its kind. During these initial years, the publication would sell between 8,000 and 10,000 copies in Barcelona in the first four hours, while the remainder were transported to the rest of Catalonia, where both magazines enjoyed an avid fan-base due to their anticlericalism and republicanism. While La Campana concentrated on national and international politics, L'Esquella was predominantly concerned with gossip and the derision of Barcelona's principal political figures. This different focus led to a slight class distinction in readership; La Campana's more popular politics were accessible to all, while L'Esquella's higher-brow levels of humour were aimed at the cultured and artisan sectors of society.

In spite of La Campana's popularity, political events in October 1934, the death of its editor, Antoni López (1861–31), and a lack of direction since the installation of the Republic in 1931 all contributed to its permanent closure in 1934. L'Esquella's eventual fate was somewhat different. Although it experienced many of the same problems during the 1930s as La Campana, when it was taken over by the Unión General de Trabajadores (General Workers' Union, UGT) during the Spanish Civil War and later produced by the Sindicat de Dibuixants Professionals (Professional Drawing Syndicate, SDP), this led to an impressive turnaround in both content and circulation. This reversal of fortunes, along with the decline of La Campana, will be examined more closely in Chapter 2.

The Legacy of 1898 and the fets de Cu-Cut!

The year popularly described as the 'disaster of '98' saw the collapse of Spain's empire following the humiliating defeat in the Spanish–American War, which resulted in the surrender of the colonies of Cuba, Costa Rica, the Philippines and Guam. At home, the impact on the national psyche was considerable and the subsequent sense of disillusionment spawned a growing opposition to the political situation. Intellectuals engaged in an objective and scientific quest for answers to Spain's failings as part of the Regenerationist movement, while a more artistic and subjective process of national soul-searching came to define the cultural output of the time as part of the so-called Generation of '98. When the government attempted to offset the economic impact of the loss of the territories with an income tax levied on industrial contributions in 1899, the Catalan bourgeoisie revolted in a taxpayers' strike. Madrid reacted strongly, imposing martial law and imprisoning the movement's leaders. This situation added to a growing sense that political organisation was needed to protect Catalan interests.

The results of the 1901 general election marked the beginning of a shift in Barcelona's political landscape as the first Catalanist political party, Lliga Regionalista de Catalunya (the Catalan Regionalist League), led by Francesc Cambó achieved modest success in the Catalan capital. This paved the way for a new political rivalry between Regionalists and Republicans to replace the established Liberal and Conservative paradigm. In principle, the Catalan bourgeoisie were attracted to the Lliga's monarchist and conservative leanings while the growing support enjoyed by the Republicans in Barcelona at the turn of the century owed much to the political engagement of manual workers as part of a politically unsettled climate characterised by further strikes. In particular, the general strike in Barcelona in February 1902, which evolved out of a tram strike the previous May, brought the city's industry to a standstill and saw the Lliga respond by offering resounding support for employers. When the strike ended three months later, it was seen to have achieved nothing despite offering a convincing display of worker solidarity. The resulting repression of Barcelona's unions by the authorities opened up the way for Alejandro Lerroux (1864–1949), one of Catalonia's most infamous political figures of the early twentieth century – who will be discussed in more detail later in this chapter – to stake his claim as the representative of working-class interests.

The psychological effects of 1898 continued to inform political satire into the early twentieth century. At that time, the press was subject to the 1883 print law, which, as mentioned, significantly now included control of graphics. Of particular importance to the turn-of-the-century satirical genre was the arrival of Cu-Cut! (1902–12), which offered the first substantial competition to López's empire. The first number appeared in Barcelona on 2 January 1902 with the subtitle 'a merry weekly with cartoons'. The positive public reception of Cu-Cut! is evidenced by its circulation: exceeding all previous figures for Catalonia, it sold around 20,000 copies of the first number alone and grew to sustain an average of 30,000 to 40,000, with some editions reaching 60,000. As Solà points out, these figures were more remarkable still at a time when Barcelona's population was not even half a million. However, Cu-Cut! made several enemies due to its staunch and uncompromising anti-centralism, and despite the relatively liberal press laws in place, the magazine's outspoken nature saw it subjected to numerous fines and suspensions, culminating in a military assault on the publication's offices, which will be discussed in more detail later in this chapter.

Cu-Cut! was edited by Josep Bagunyà (1870–1942), with Joan Junceda (1881–1948) and Joan Llaverias (1865–1938) as principal collaborators. Junceda was one of Catalonia's most prestigious and renowned cartoonists of the early twentieth century. Although the majority of his work was published in Cu-Cut!, he also produced material for the magazines La Tralla, L'Estevet and the children's publication En Patufet. Llaverias was renowned for his depiction of animals, and he gained fame as the artist of the controversial front page of the magazine's final number. Both men worked under the artistic direction of Gaietà Cornet, an industrial engineer from Barcelona. Cornet began his career at L'Esquella in 1898, producing distorted caricatures of members of high society, but had cut ties with the publication, claiming that the editorial outlook was at odds with the Catalan cause. Cu-Cut!'s popular mascot – a happy and mischievous puppet-like peasant – was Cornet's personal interpretation of the magazine's style and appeared in a wide range of products and advertising, in a precursor to modern-day merchandising. Cu-Cut! was a faithful exponent of the Lliga's principles, and alternated between conservative Catalanism and uncompromising anti-centralism, acting as a counterpoint to the republicanism of La Campana and L'Esquella. It competed directly with L'Esquella for readers, offering a more biting, acrimonious outlook.

As outlined in the introduction to this book, in order to discuss the Catalan cartooning tradition, examples have been selected throughout to show the way in which cartoon humour in Catalonia can add to current pictures of cultural history in that it both reflected and affected its socio-political environment. To this end, three cartoon examples have been chosen here to discuss the Catalan satirical approach to the colonial losses. The first (Figure 1.1) entitled 'La Pau' ('Peace') is by Manuel Moliné and appeared on La Campana de Gràcia's front page on 20 August 1898. It pictures the Spanish Prime Minister Práxedes Sagasta dressed as a Navy admiral pouring liquid onto a cannon as 'Uncle Sam' looks over his shoulder. The water used by Sagasta comes from buckets labelled 'pax' (peace) and the horizon is starred with the names of the lost territories of Cuba, Puerto Rico and Manila. The image is accompanied by the caption 'Everything's ready, pour the water on and let's go.'

The humour in Figure 1.1 hinges on the role-reversal between superiors and subordinates, by depicting the domination of Sagasta, the most powerful man in Spain at the time. The grinning Sam holds a gun in one hand and political deeds in the other, seemingly taking pleasure in watching Sagasta's submissive and elderly frame destroying his own ship's artillery. The humour of the piece is in fact created by Sagasta's inferiority, highlighted by his hunched stance when contrasted with the upright Sam. In other words, there is more enjoyment from seeing Sagasta dominated than from seeing Sam overpowering him.

The cartoon was published only a week after the Protocol of Peace was signed and since the magazine had consistently satirised the issue throughout 1898, the references in the image would have been both clear and familiar to La Campana's readers. Sagasta represents both himself and Spain as a whole, while Uncle Sam as America is an example of what Mumby and Spitzack refer to as 'metaphoric entrapment' whereby '[t]he way in which a concept is understood becomes so tied up with a particular metaphoric structure that alternative ways of viewing that concept are obscured, or else appear to make less sense'. The verbal caption is not integral to communicate of the cartoon message: rather its inclusion focuses the reader's eye on the exchange taking place, to the exclusion of other peripheral elements. The depiction of Sagasta pouring water on a cannon rather than firing it introduces humour through incongruity. The position of the weapons produces a phallic image, which in turn creates a tone of sexual dominance: Sagasta, forced to inflict his own 'impotence', is bent over his weapon, the neutral angle of which is directly in line with his crotch, while the dominant Sam has his gun held erect and looks on with satisfaction. Moreover, the use of imperative forms further reinforces the representative roles of dominator and dominated.

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Excerpted from Catalan Cartoons by Rhiannon McGlade. Copyright © 2016 Rhiannon McGlade. Excerpted by permission of University of Wales Press.
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