Caricature, a dangerous acquisition

The Muhammad caricatures case thrust an artform that had been slightly forgotten in the age of television and internet back into the spotlight. Born at the end of the sixteenth century, the genre established itself firmly in eighteenth-century England before spreading throughout Europe. Rooted in the art of distortion, caricature has built its success partly on scatological references. It is a codified art that also relies on codes of interpretation of a given society and period. Pushing laughter to the edge of acceptability, it can expose its creator to real danger. Several caricaturists have spent time in prison. As the example of the anti-Nazi caricaturists in Prague shows, caricature has lent itself to denunciation as well as humor; several of them paid with their lives. The criminal law expert Camille Viennot explains that the decision of the French courts to acquit Charlie Hebdo, which had printed the Muhammad caricatures, is in line with a robust legal tradition that is specific to European democracies. The Swiss specialist Philippe Kaenel observes that the internet and globalization have transformed the distribution patterns and so the general perception of caricature.
 Our selection:
Bertrand Tillier, Patrick Rössler, Camille Viennot.
With Pascal Dupuy, Guillaume Doizy.
Carte blanche given to Philippe Kaenel.
“What is it, in a caricature, that makes us laugh or gives rise to laughter?” asks the historian Bertrand Tillier. In an article published in th…