History of Caricature in Colombia

Dear reader, in these three beautiful volumes—printed on magnificent paper and covered in a uniquely textured fabric—you are faced with one of the most interesting books that Villegas Editores has developed and edited. The History of Caricature in Colombia is not the official one of this surprising and at the same time tormented country, it is the parallel example of how Colombian cartoonists - with art, intelligence and lucidity - have found in humor not only a flashlight that points out injustices but a form of denunciation and unmasking of the sins that, as a society, we have committed since we were a nation.

But it is also the discovery of hundreds of authors who have expressed their original thoughts in images and images like these—in a thousand and one techniques that range from drawing, engraving, oil painting to television programs, tweets, or standup comedy—many times highlight the same crime or social or political vice that has been repeated for 200 years. This wonderful box is the product of a monumental investigation that began in 1985 for Beatriz González, perhaps the most recognized and respected contemporary Colombian artist, when a happy coincidence “led her to combine studies of 19th century art in the country and the history of caricature, a topic so despised by traditional historians.” Here it is also accompanied by some texts by other authors made especially for the work.

The three books therefore cover our vicissitudes, misfortunes and humor with sensational and many unknown images from the earliest times to the beginning of the 19th century; the dawn of the 20th century until the last sparks, via meme, in this peculiar 2020.