Description:

Nast Thomas 1840 - 1902 Thomas Nast "Colorado Silver Teller" published pen and ink political comic illustration
Illustration original art. Pen and Ink on scratchboard, on bristol board, 10.25" x 14.25" . Detail is so incredibly fine that his hair appears three dimensional. Soft soiling/handling marks. Adhered to a backing board. Signed by Thomas Nast lower right "Th Nast", and captioned below on the backing board as "The Silver Teller from Colorado".


Thomas Nast was considered to be the "Father of the American Cartoon". He was the scourge of Democratic Representative "Boss" Tweed and the Tammany Hall Democratic party political machine. While there, Nast quickly made a name for himself as a political cartoonist, focusing on such topics as the Civil War, slavery and corruption. Nast would also become known for the modern representation of Santa Claus as a jolly, rotund man living at the North Pole.

Mostly known as a cartoon crusader against corruption, Nast used his fantastic images to help remove William Magear "Boss" Tweed and his peers from power. Tweed ran the Democratic Party in New York. In September 1871, Nast depicted Tweed, New York Mayor A. Oakey Hall and several others as a group of vultures surrounding a corpse labeled "New York." The cartoon supposedly upset Tweed so much that he offered Nast a bribe of $500,000 (100 times Nast's annual salary at the time) to leave town. Nast refused and continued to draw attention to Tweed's misdeeds.

This spectacular inked political cartoon of Henry Moore Teller has him neatly depicted in a proper suit looking decidedly stern, staunchly holding his arms behind his back. This political cartoon captioned "The Silver Teller from Colorado" was referencing Teller's connection with the 'Free Silver' question doing much in and out of Congress with tongue and pen. He was instrumental in securing a declaration in favor of bimetallism, and he was a conspicuous actor in the prolonged fight in the Senate against its unconditional repeal following the 1892 Republican National Convention. The decision thus made was to indefinitely keep the gold standard intact and, in response, Teller and 24 others marched out of the convention. As a staunch supporter of bimetallism, along with being a prominent figure, he joined the other leading Silver Republicans and became leader of the Silver Republican Party.

However, as bimetallism increasingly fell out of national politics, the party lost much of its influence and many Silver Republicans returned to the Republican Party. Unlike them however, Teller never returned to the Republican Party. Teller returned to the Senate in 1885 and served as Colorado's Democratic senator for the remainder of the time until 1909.

Highly detailed and vibrantly inked. Although unclear which publication this was ultimately included in, Thomas Nast was a regular contributor to Harpers Weekly for over 25 years.

Signed by Nast lower right, this large spectacular piece is in collectible condition and would display beautifully framed.

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