Chris Madden Cartoons

A searchable archive for licensing

  • ALL
  • COVID-19
  • ART
    • Modern art
  • GARDENING
    • Flower Gardening
    • Vegetable and fruit gardening
    • Garden design
    • Spring gardening
    • Summer gardening
    • Autumn gardening
    • Winter gardening
  • ENVIRONMENT
    • Climate Change cartoons
    • Wildlife in danger
    • Pollution cartoons
    • Energy fuel power
    • Transport
    • Trees
      • Deforestation
    • Consumerism
    • Other environment cartoons
  • SCIENCE
    • Evolution
    • Genetics cartoons
      • dna
    • Medical
    • Astronomy
    • Other science cartoons
  • ANIMALS
    • Birds
    • Penguins
    • Cat cartoons
    • Insects – creepy crawlies
    • Animals (wild or pets)
  • MORE
    • Computers, phones
    • Moon cartoons
    • Philosophy Cartoons
    • ECONOMY
      • Euro crisis
      • Business
    • Christmas cartoons
    • Religion/Spirituality
    • Science Fiction
    • Politics
    • DOMESTIC
      • Cooking and kitchens
      • In the home
      • Health
      • Diet
      • DIY
      • Children
    • Sociology
    • Social issues
    • Education
    • Relationships
    • Sport
      • Olympics
  • BOOKS

Munch Scream cartoon and Instagram-friendly art exhibitions

December 30, 2019 by chrismadden

Munch Scream cartoon

Munch cartoon – the Scream

A cartoon featuring the Scream by Edvard Munch.
The cartoon is a comment on the way that art galleries and museums are becoming more accessible to the general public and are moving away from their aura of slightly intimidating elitism.
It is also about the way that art galleries and museums are deliberately targeting themselves at the Instagram generation, often arranging their works so that they are Instagram friendly and encouraging visitors to take photographs (which was very much frowned on in the past).
Here the art gallery has set up an interactive or audience participation display featuring a large-scale version of the Scream with a hole in it so that people can photograph each other as the person in the painting. Obviously the people will all have great fun pulling funny faces, often parodying or mimicking the facial expression in the Scream. Part of the joke in the cartoon is that the person being photographed has been asked the common request by the photographer to smile.

Cartoon drawn: 2019
Cartoon reference number: art080
This cartoon features in my book of cartoons about art.
See the book here.

How to obtain license to use cartoon
How to search for cartoons by subject
cartoon copyright matters

Filed Under: ART, Modern art

An artist on the psychiatrist’s couch – cartoon about artistic temperament

December 29, 2019 by chrismadden

Cartoon about artistic temperament

An artist on a psychiatrist’s couch

A cartoon about artistic temperament and the personality traits of artists.
The cartoon suggests that there’s an assumption that most ‘great’ artists have particular personality traits that set them apart from the general population. These traits or personality types can include neurosis or psychosis, as well as traits such as egotism, self-importance and vanity.

Cartoon drawn: 2019
Cartoon reference number: art079
This cartoon features in my book of cartoons about art.
See the book here.

How to obtain license to use cartoon
How to search for cartoons by subject
cartoon copyright matters

Filed Under: ART

Contemporary art cartoon

December 29, 2019 by chrismadden

Contemporary art cartoon – meaning and quality

Contemporary art – is meaning more important than quality?

A cartoon concerned with judging modern art or contemporary art by its meaning and by its quality.
Because modern and contemporary art often have a cerebral dimension they are often judged by this metric rather than that of aesthetic quality or the quality of execution.

Cartoon drawn: 2019
Cartoon reference number: art078
This cartoon features in my book of cartoons about art.
See the book here.
How to obtain license to use cartoon

Filed Under: ART, Modern art Tagged With: contemporary art

Picasso cartoon

December 29, 2019 by chrismadden

Picasso cartoon

Picasso painting a portrait.

The cartoon shows Picasso at work on an oil painting of a woman.
The painting is in one of Picasso’s most recognisable styles, in which the features of the person are very distorted.
Picasso is saying “This painting will make you so famous that you won’t be able to walk down the street without being recognised.”

First version drawn: 2007
This version: 2019

Cartoon reference number: art071
This cartoon features in my book of cartoons about art.
See the book here.

How to obtain license to use cartoon
How to search for cartoons by subject
cartoon copyright matters

Filed Under: ART, Modern art

Graffiti on a statue – cartoon

December 28, 2019 by chrismadden

Graffiti on a statue cartoon

Graffiti on a statue cartoon.

The cartoon shows a row of classical style statues in a park or garden of a stately home.
The plinth of one of the statues has got some graffiti scrawled on it.
A man observing the graffiti is saying “Look – this one’s signed.”

Original version drawn: 2016
This version: 2019

Cartoon reference number: art077
This cartoon features in my book of cartoons about art.
See the book here.

How to obtain license to use cartoon
How to search for cartoons by subject
cartoon copyright matters

Filed Under: ART

Cartoon of a gathering at an art gallery private view

December 28, 2019 by chrismadden

Art world posers cartoon

A gathering at an art gallery private view.

The cartoon shows a gathering of art world insiders attending the private view of an exhibition in an art gallery.
The people at the private view are all obviously part of a clique, and judging by their ostentatious and pretentious appearance and manner can possibly hold themselves open to the accusation of being posers.

Cartoon drawn: 2019

Cartoon reference number: art076
This cartoon features in my book of cartoons about art.
See the book here.

How to obtain license to use cartoon
How to search for cartoons by subject
cartoon copyright matters

Filed Under: ART

Modern art cartoon – pop-up book of modern sculpture

December 28, 2019 by chrismadden

Modern art cartoon pop-up sculpture

Modern art cartoon – pop-up book of modern sculpture.

The cartoon shows a man in the bookshop of an art gallery opening a book.
The book is a pop-up book of modern sculpture.
The sculpture is unfolding in the manner of a children’s pop-up book.

The cartoon is partly a comment on the gimmicky merchandising of art as found in art gallery gift shops (I quite like some of this merchandise – I have a Mona Lisa tea tray and a bar of chocolate with Munch’s Scream on it amongst others).
It is also a comment on the welcome move away from stuffy elitism that used to make art intimidating and inaccessible to many people.
The sculpture in the cartoon is of the modernist variety that includes constructivism and industrial steel plate sculptures – genres that lend themselves well to the pop-up treatment.

Cartoon drawn: 2019

Cartoon reference number: art075
This cartoon features in my book of cartoons about art.
See the book here.

How to obtain license to use cartoon
How to search for cartoons by subject
cartoon copyright matters

Filed Under: ART, Modern art Tagged With: sculpture

Art gallery sculpture cartoon

December 28, 2019 by chrismadden

Art gallery sculpture cartoon

Sculpture displayed in an art gallery – cartoon.

The cartoon shows a row of busts displayed in an art gallery or museum.
The busts all rest on plinths, as is conventional. However, one of the plinths has feet below it as well as a head above it.

Cartoon drawn: 2019

Cartoon reference number: art074
This cartoon features in my book of cartoons about art.
See the book here.

How to obtain license to use cartoon
How to search for cartoons by subject
cartoon copyright matters

Filed Under: ART, Modern art Tagged With: sculpture

A rehang in an art gallery – cartoon

December 28, 2019 by chrismadden

Rehang in an art gallery cartoon

A rehang in an art gallery.

The cartoon shows workers in an art gallery hanging an exhibition.
There are many masterpieces of art leaning against the gallery walls waiting to be hung.
The workers are having their tea break.
They are using one of the priceless paintings as a table.

Original version drawn: 2011
This version: 2019

Cartoon reference number: art072
This cartoon features in my book of cartoons about art.
See the book here.

How to obtain license to use cartoon
How to search for cartoons by subject
cartoon copyright matters

Filed Under: ART

Rorschach inkblot test – art cartoon

December 28, 2019 by chrismadden

Rorschach inkblot test art cartoon

Contemporary art composed of Rorschach tests.

The cartoon shows three images of the same Rorschach inkblot test image displayed on an art gallery wall. Each image is given a different title based on different possibilities of what the inkblot suggests.

The cartoon is partly about the multiple interpretations that can be made of works of contemporary art.

First version drawn: 2017
This version: 2019

Cartoon reference number: art070
This cartoon features in my book of cartoons about art.
See the book here.

How to obtain license to use cartoon
How to search for cartoons by subject
cartoon copyright matters

Filed Under: ART, Modern art

The self-absorbed artist – cartoon

December 28, 2019 by chrismadden

Contemporary art cartoon

A self-absorbed artist and his long suffering wife or partner.

The conflict between the urge to be a creative artist and domestic duties.

In the cartoon an artist is in his studio creating massive colour field paintings. His wife or partner is complaining that he really ought to get round to painting the kitchen.
Part of the joke is that applying paint to a colour field painting is not dissimilar to applying paint to kitchen walls, yet he chooses to only work on the paintings.
Artists can sometimes be perceived as being very selfish self-absorbed individuals who’s work takes priority over all other things, including domestic chores and household duties.

First version drawn: 2012
This version: 2019

Cartoon reference number: art068
This cartoon features in my book of cartoons about art.
See the book here.

How to obtain license to use cartoon
How to search for cartoons by subject
cartoon copyright matters

Filed Under: ART, Modern art Tagged With: contemporary art

Understanding contemporary art cartoon

December 28, 2019 by chrismadden

Understanding contemporary art cartoon

Understanding contemporary art cartoon

A cartoon showing a piece of contemporary art on an art gallery wall.
It is a text piece, that reads If you think you understand it you don’t understand it.
A man looking at the artwork is saying “Of course I understand it.”

The cartoon is partly about the cliche of the over-confident man who thinks that he knows everything (especially when he’s talking to a woman). It’s also about the related subject of people posturing in their knowledge and understanding about contemporary art.
The artwork on the gallery wall is a form of conundrum or paradox.
Contemporary art often defies easy analysis because it’s beyond the normal parameters of experience. Sometimes it’s accused of deliberate and pretentious obfuscation.

Cartoon drawn: 2019

Cartoon reference number: art067
This cartoon features in my book of cartoons about art.
See the book here.

How to obtain license to use cartoon
How to search for cartoons by subject
cartoon copyright matters

Filed Under: ART, Modern art Tagged With: contemporary art

Art gallery cartoon – mood music

December 28, 2019 by chrismadden

Art gallery cartoon – mood music

Mood music in an art gallery.

Visitors to an art gallery commenting on the installation of speakers that provide mood music for a painting.

Cartoon drawn: 2019
Cartoon reference number: art065
This cartoon features in my book of cartoons about art.
See the book here.

How to obtain license to use cartoon
How to search for cartoons by subject
cartoon copyright matters

Filed Under: ART

Art gallery merchandise cartoon – Kazimir Malevich black square

December 28, 2019 by chrismadden

Malovich black square cartoon

Kazimir Malevich cartoon – black square jigsaw puzzle.

A cartoon about art merchandising – the sort of novelty item you can purchase in art gallery and museum gift shops.
Art galleries and museums generate quite a lot of much needed income through merchandising and gift shops (and cafés).
Here the merchandise is a jigsaw puzzle.
It is a jigsaw of Kazimir Malevich’s seminal work of modern art Black Square.
The joke is, of course, that a black square would make for an extremely difficult jigsaw puzzle – it’s bad enough doing the skies in relatively easy ones. So the jigsaw puzzle is in some ways a work of art in its own right.

This version: 2019
Cartoon reference number: art064
This cartoon features in my book of cartoons about art.
See the book here.

How to obtain license to use cartoon
How to search for cartoons by subject
cartoon copyright matters

Filed Under: ART, Modern art

Artist’s muse cartoon

December 28, 2019 by chrismadden

Artist's muse cartoon

An artist and his muse.

A cartoon showing an artist taking a break from his creative process.
While he’s relaxing a small figure representing his muse wafts in from his studio. He tries to ignore it.

This is a cartoon about the way that the urge to create and the impulse to work can be a bit of a curse for people of a highly creative personality type. Their thought processes just never give the a break.
A cartoon about creativit and inspiration.

Cartoon first drawn: 2007
This version: 2019

Cartoon reference number: art066
This cartoon features in my book of cartoons about art.
See the book here.

How to obtain license to use cartoon
How to search for cartoons by subject
cartoon copyright matters

Filed Under: ART, Modern art

Looking at contemporary art cartoon – an optician’s eye test chart

December 28, 2019 by chrismadden

Eye test chart as art cartoon

A contemporary artwork composed of an ophthalmologist’s eye test chart.

The cartoon shows visitors to an art gallery looking at a piece of contemporary artwork that takes the form of an optician’s eye test.
They are looking intensely at the artwork in order to try to ‘read’ it in an attempt to understand its meaning. The man is saying that he understands it up to a certain point, that point being where the letters on the eye chart become too small for him to read.
The cartoon is about how to look at art. The artwork could be titled Ways of Seeing.

This version: 2019
Cartoon reference number: art062
This cartoon features in my book of cartoons about art.
See the book here.

How to obtain license to use cartoon
How to search for cartoons by subject
cartoon copyright matters

Filed Under: ART, Modern art

Surrealism cartoon

December 27, 2019 by chrismadden

Surrealism cartoon. Man Ray iron with nails (cadeau)

Modern art disrupting classical art – Man Ray’s Cadeau.

A cartoon illustrating the effect of modern art movements such as surrealism on traditional and classical art.
A man (possibly Man Ray) is slashing a traditional landscape oil painting using Man Ray’s surrealist sculpture Cadeau, a flat iron with a row of nails attached to it.

Original cartoon: 2007
This version: 2019
Cartoon reference number: art061
This cartoon features in my book of cartoons about art.
See the book here.
How to obtain license to use cartoon

Filed Under: ART, Modern art Tagged With: surrealism

Rene Magritte cartoon

December 27, 2019 by chrismadden

Rene Magritte cartoon

Magritte cartoon – pastiche of Golconde.

A cartoon based on the Rene Magritte surrealist painting Golconde in which Magritte is painting a surreal image of raining men. The image seems to be imaginary, however in the cartoon Magritte can be seen to be painting the reality that is in front of him.
A cartoon about surrealism, realism, reality, imagination.

Concept: 2007
Drawn: 2019
Cartoon reference number: art060
This cartoon features in my book of cartoons about art.
See the book here.

How to obtain license to use cartoon
How to search for cartoons by subject
cartoon copyright matters

Filed Under: ART, Modern art Tagged With: Magritte, surrealism

Vermeer cartoon

December 26, 2019 by chrismadden

Vermeer cartoon

Vermeer cartoon.

The cartoon shows Vermeer painting The Wine Glass.
He is painstakingly painting the tiles on the floor, and is thinking “I must get some plain Lino.”

Original version drawn: 2005
This version: 2019
Cartoon reference number: art053
This cartoon features in my book of cartoons about art.
See the book here.

How to obtain license to use cartoon
How to search for cartoons by subject
cartoon copyright matters

Filed Under: ART Tagged With: Vermeer

Art galleries for the Instagram generation – cartoon

December 26, 2019 by chrismadden

Celebrity culture in art cartoon

An art gallery removing classical portraits to replace them with contemporary celebrity selfies.

This cartoon is about contemporary celebrity culture, and its possible impact on art galleries and museums.
In the cartoon the portraits of historically important figures are being removed in order to make way for selfies of social media celebrities of the Instagram generation.
Part of the concept behind the cartoon is the potential debasement of culture due to commercial pressures in order to attract a new audience, on the basis that larger audiences attract more funding or income for art establishments.

Drawn: 2019
Cartoon reference number: art059
This cartoon features in my book of cartoons about art.
See the book here.

How to obtain license to use cartoon
How to search for cartoons by subject
cartoon copyright matters

Filed Under: ART, Modern art

Contemporary art – the primacy of the concept

December 26, 2019 by chrismadden

Contemporary art cartoon – the primacy of the concept

Contemporary art cartoon – the primacy of concept over aesthetics and execution.

This cartoon is about the way that the contemporary art world sometimes regards the intellectual concept behind a work of art as being in some ways more important than the physical quality and aesthetics of the artwork. The work can sometimes only be appreciated if the concepts behind the work are understood.

Drawn: 2019
Cartoon reference number: art058
This cartoon features in my book of cartoons about art.
See the book here.

How to obtain license to use cartoon
How to search for cartoons by subject
cartoon copyright matters

Filed Under: ART, Modern art

Jeff Koons cartoon – Balloon Dog

December 26, 2019 by chrismadden

Jeff Koons cartoon

Jeff Koons cartoon.

The cartoon shows a Jeff Koons’ Balloon Dog artwork.
The balloon dog has defecated on the art gallery floor, in the form of a balloon.
I first used this idea in a cartoon set in a surreal world of balloon people and balloon animals in 2009, later transferring the concept to the Jeff Koons sculpture.

Drawn: 2019
Cartoon reference number: art057
This cartoon features in my book of cartoons about art.
See the book here.

How to obtain license to use cartoon
How to search for cartoons by subject
cartoon copyright matters

Filed Under: ART, Modern art Tagged With: Jeff Koons

Contemporary art cartoon – market value

December 26, 2019 by chrismadden

Contemporary art market cartoon

Accessing the market value of contemporary art.

The cartoon shows a contemporary art dealer assessing the value of an artwork.
He is saying that if it is priced too low it may reflect badly on the work, while a high price would make the work seem like a more desirable purchase for an art collector.

Drawn: 2019
Cartoon reference number: art054
This cartoon features in my book of cartoons about art.
See the book here.

How to obtain license to use cartoon
How to search for cartoons by subject
cartoon copyright matters

Filed Under: ART, Modern art

Medieval religious art cartoon

December 24, 2019 by chrismadden

medieval art cartoon

Medieval art in an art gallery.

The cartoon shows a visitor to an art gallery looking at an example of medieval religious art.
In the medieval era very few people were literate, resulting in images being very important for communicating religious doctrine.
The gallery visitor is feeling uneasy about the idea of appreciating art that was aimed at an audience of illiterates.
It is a cartoon about intellectual snobbery in the art world.

Cartoon drawn: 2019
Cartoon reference number: art052
This cartoon features in my book of cartoons about art.
See the book here.

How to obtain license to use cartoon
How to search for cartoons by subject
cartoon copyright matters

Filed Under: ART, Religion/Spirituality

Contemporary art humour – pretension and snobbery in the world of art

December 24, 2019 by chrismadden

modern art humor

Pretension in the art world.

The cartoon shows a visitor to an art gallery giving the reasons why he likes a particular piece of contemporary artwork.
The main reason he likes it is because liking it makes him feel superior to people who don’t like it.
The artwork in the cartoon is a typical trope of a challenging piece of contemporary sculpture, in that it appears to be craftless, ugly and a bit revolting.
A cartoon about pretension, snobbery and elitism in the art world.

Cartoon drawn: 2019
Cartoon reference number: art051
This cartoon features in my book of cartoons about art.
See the book here.

How to obtain license to use cartoon
How to search for cartoons by subject
cartoon copyright matters

Filed Under: ART, Modern art

Contemporary sculpture cartoon

December 23, 2019 by chrismadden

modern sculpture cartoon

Flat pack art.

The cartoon shows a person constructing a piece of sculptural artwork from a flat-pack kit.
The sculpture is in the flatpack form of furniture and fittings available in stores such as Ikea.
The sculpture is labelled as an Ikea Skulptr, in homage to the unusual spelling (to English speakers at least) of Ikea products.

Part of the joke in the cartoon is the contrast between what is often seen as the elitist and high-brow (and expensive) world of contemporary art and the mass market (and cheap) consumerism of shops such as Ikea.
Cartoon drawn: 2019
Cartoon reference number: art050
This cartoon features in my book of cartoons about art.
See the book here.

How to obtain license to use cartoon
How to search for cartoons by subject
cartoon copyright matters

Filed Under: ART, In the home, Modern art

Banksy cartoon – Monet waterlilies

December 22, 2019 by chrismadden

Banksy cartoon Monet

Banksy cartoon – Show me the Monet.

A cartoon about the sale of a Banksy parody of Monet’s waterlily pond and bridge at Givency with rubbish dumped in the pond.

The work was sold at Sotherby’s for £7.5million.
Drawn: 22nd October 2020
Cartoon reference number: a858

How to obtain license to use cartoon

Filed Under: ART Tagged With: Banksy

High art and low art cartoon

December 22, 2019 by chrismadden

high art low art cartoon

The difference between high art and low art.

Art is often categorised as being high art or low art. Different art forms move in and out of the two categories, and it’s sometimes difficult to tell which is which, or why.
Contemporary art is particularly difficult to categorise, some art forms are described as craft, which is usually a low form but not always. Cartoons are usually thought of as a relatively low artwork, if they’re thought of as art at all (which of course they are!).
The cartoon features the Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci (high art) and the Green Lady by Vladimir Tretchikoff (low art).
There’s a lot of elitism and snobbery in the art world.

Cartoon drawn: 2019
Cartoon reference number: art049
This cartoon features in my book of cartoons about art.
See the book here.

How to obtain license to use cartoon
How to search for cartoons by subject
cartoon copyright matters

Filed Under: ART

Taking photos in art galleries

December 22, 2019 by chrismadden

Photography in art galleries cartoon

Cartoon about taking photos in art galleries

A cartoon showing the visitors to an art gallery all taking photographs of the art with their phones.

Original version drawn: 2018
This version drawn: 2019

Cartoon reference number: art003
This cartoon features in my book of cartoons about art.
See the book here.

How to obtain license to use cartoon
How to search for cartoons by subject
cartoon copyright matters

Filed Under: ART

Bridget Riley

December 21, 2019 by chrismadden

Bridget Riley chess art cartoon

A cartoon showing two chess pieces admiring a Bridget Riley painting.

The Bridget Riley painting resembles a chess board, hence the chess pieces identify with it.

The painting is in the black and white op art style that Riley employed in the 1960s when pop art was a major genre in the contemporary art world. I believe that Riley didn’t like being labelled a pop artist, so she probably didn’t like being labelled an op artist either.

Original cartoon drawn: 2012
This version: 2019

Cartoon reference number: art028
This cartoon features in my book of cartoons about art.
See the book here.

How to obtain license to use cartoon
How to search for cartoons by subject
cartoon copyright matters

Filed Under: ART, Modern art Tagged With: chess

« Previous Page
Next Page »

Follow via email

Please enter your email address if you would like to receive notifications of new cartoons by email.

Copyright © 2022 · Enterprise Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

  • ALL
  • COVID-19
  • ART
    ▼
    • Modern art
  • GARDENING
    ▼
    • Flower Gardening
    • Vegetable and fruit gardening
    • Garden design
    • Spring gardening
    • Summer gardening
    • Autumn gardening
    • Winter gardening
  • ENVIRONMENT
    ▼
    • Climate Change cartoons
    • Wildlife in danger
    • Pollution cartoons
    • Energy fuel power
    • Transport
    • Trees
      ▼
      • Deforestation
    • Consumerism
    • Other environment cartoons
  • SCIENCE
    ▼
    • Evolution
    • Genetics cartoons
      ▼
      • dna
    • Medical
    • Astronomy
    • Other science cartoons
  • ANIMALS
    ▼
    • Birds
    • Penguins
    • Cat cartoons
    • Insects – creepy crawlies
    • Animals (wild or pets)
  • MORE
    ▼
    • Computers, phones
    • Moon cartoons
    • Philosophy Cartoons
    • ECONOMY
      ▼
      • Euro crisis
      • Business
    • Christmas cartoons
    • Religion/Spirituality
    • Science Fiction
    • Politics
    • DOMESTIC
      ▼
      • Cooking and kitchens
      • In the home
      • Health
      • Diet
      • DIY
      • Children
    • Sociology
    • Social issues
    • Education
    • Relationships
    • Sport
      ▼
      • Olympics
  • BOOKS