Nice, Nasty Truth
Date1913
Artist
Louis Glackens
(American illustrator and cartoonist, 1866–1933)
Illustration CitationPuck, October 1, 1913
MediumInk and blue pencil on illustration board
Dimensionscomposition: 16 9/16 × 13 in. (42.1 × 33 cm)
sheet: 22 9/16 × 17 1/16 in. (57.3 × 43.3 cm)
sheet: 22 9/16 × 17 1/16 in. (57.3 × 43.3 cm)
Credit LineGift of Helen Farr Sloan, 1979
Object number1979-24
On View
Not on viewClassificationsDRAWING
Label TextIn October 1913, cartoonist Louis Glackens created a comic strip under the heading NICE, NASTY TRUTH for the satirical magazine Puck. This image [cite location] is his pen and ink sketch for a six-panel cartoon that appeared with a caption for each scene. The lead chararacter is Professor Purist, who addresses his wife and daughter condescendingly as "my dears." The professor is a probably a caustic version of Anthony Comstock (1844 – 1915) the rabid self-appointed guardian of public morals who ran an extensive campaign to rid the nation of any materials he considered obscene. Glackens had already satirized him by name in earlier Puck cartoons. Here we see the professor violently inform his wife and daughters - to their horror - that they will see the play The Cesspool which, it turns out, features immoral women who must be hauled off stage by their hair. He enchains both, transports them in a specially designated cab to an equally segregated theater section, and-club in hand-locks them into seats and forces them to watch the play. Glackens imagery mocks the women's acquiescence to Comstockian values as much as the profressor's abusive behavior.
