Think about how the arts and any kind of visual medium shape memory and opinion in our  democratic society, and how that has clearly been happening for years, especially through Nast,  and how it continues today.

"Catalogue of Thomas Nast's Grand Caricaturama. A Series of Thirty-Three Grand Historical Caricature Paintings (9x12) with a Descriptive Lecture at Dodworth Hall, 806 Broadway" One sheet of paper folded in half to create a 4 page catalog. The inside 2 pages list the 33 paintings that Nast created for the Grand Caricaturama. There is a self portrait of Nast on the cover. The back cover has a stamp of Andrew Johnson next to a red stamp and the words printed in black read "To whom it may concern"

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Macculloch Hall Historical Museum

The Grand Caricaturama Catalog

Did he do it for money, to share/preserve history, to "correct" history, to influence the 1868 presidential election, or all of these things?

The Palace of Tears depicts real historical figures. Nast portrayed President Andrew Johnson, whom he despised, as a statue of a king presiding over the 1866 convention of Democrats, where harmony between the North and the South was stressed in a cynical plan to win votes. The idea horrified Nast and the Republicans, who could not forgive the South for seceding and causing the Civil War, so the artist showed the Democratic delegates shedding crocodile tears of joy in King Andy's palace over the new unity between the North and the South.  In the Grand Caricaturama program, this was 25th and accompanied by the song "The long, long, weary day, was passed in tears away."

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The Palace of Tears

Self caricature of Nast at easel with brushes and palette.
Signed "compliments of the season, Th: Nast"
"Self-portrait for Christmas card"

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