“All That Confounded Climate!” from “Fun” (1878)

All That Confounded Climate!

Fun 28 (23 October 1878): 168

Source: Hathi Digital Library Trust web version of a copy in the Princeton University library.

From left to right in the top line the captions read as follows: “We cannot preserve a statue in our climate! Only a year ago we put up a beautiful statue; and we stationed two policemen to keep off boys; And we hired a man to scrape it hard every week with chisels; [second line] And yet that statue’s surface seemed to gradually wear away! Oh, that climate! [third line] So we hired a stronger man to scrape the statue every day, with bigger chisels; But, would you believe it, the surface seemed to actually wear away faster than ever! All that climate! We’ve ordered a patent steam scraper, warranted to scrape away a ton an hour — and if that won’t preserve the statue — well —!”

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Commentary

Several things spring to mind on seeing this cartoon, the first of which is its emphasis upon climate rather than pollution, which has become invisible or naturalized as if it were an intrinsic part of the environment. Second, the notion, which the cartoon parodies, that the way to preserve sculpture (and architecture, one assumes) explains why William Morris’s society for the preservation of buildings became commonly known as “Antiscrape.” Finally, doesn't this 1878 cartoon depict the devolution of the original statue as something very like the work of the great Henry Moore? — George P. Landow

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Last modified 4 September 2017