 James Gillray. Large exhibit at Bucknell University of Gillray's (1756-1815) famous caricatures. Fantastic."James Gillray was the most renowned and prolific British caricaturist of his age, the grand master of visual satire. Amidst London's world of gossip and cliques, in a social context made more acute by national crises and economic upheaval, caricatures quickly became the most influential and popular form of political commentary. The caricaturist was at once the journalist, the moralist and entertainer of his time. The printshops of St. James's and Bond Street competed with coffee houses and gaming clubs as the centers of scandal, intrigue, and conversation. It was in these printshops that Gillray engraved, etched and printed his works. After and initial period of trying to make his living as an independent engraver, in 1791 he formed a lifelong relationship with the publisher Mrs. Hannah Humphrey, who from that time forward issued all of his work. He earned more than most of his colleagues: two guineas per print instead of one. The prints cost more if they were handcolored than if sold as black and white images.
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