Public Fascination with the Art of Caricature

It’s been the basis of many laughs over the years and people are fascinated with the creation of caricatures.

We’ve all been somewhere and stopped to observe the artist creating a masterpiece in the form of caricature. Perhaps, you too, have had the opportunity to have this done over the years.

They say “a picture is worth a thousand words.” Well, a caricature must be worth a heck of a lot more.

These pictures generally will amplify certain characteristics of the subject and exaggerate them in such a way as to create a comical or distorted and unsightly type of effect.

When I think of a caricature, I generally think of an amusement park or walking the boardwalk at some beach, but this past weekend, I attended a wedding and interestingly, this was some of the guest entertainment and certainly proved to be fun.  I did not realize that this has actually become a normal practice at parties as it had been awhile since the last wedding I attended.

Meet my caricature family:

Now, if we can’t laugh at ourselves, then we must not be very happy people. I must say, this was so much fun, not just for us, but for every guest in attendance no matter their age. In about three minutes, your party favor was complete with its own caricature of the bride and groom dated on the back for you to take home as a keepsake.

The use of caricatures has been around since at least the 16^th century and often was used to ridicule public figures and have remained a typical form of poking fun at those in the public domain.

My guess is the reason it has remained such a form of popularity is obvious—who doesn’t enjoy a good laugh?

Now, setting aside the perhaps distasteful versions that inevitably exist over the years and could be potentially hurtful, most of us just like a good laugh and look forward to having a little fun. I mean, after all, if we can’t laugh at ourselves, then perhaps we should learn to relax just a tad and take some time to stop and smell the roses.

May you find laughter and joy within yourself every single day!