{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O1657546"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1657546/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2021NB3829/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2021NB3829/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"low","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2021NB3829","copyright":"©Victoria & Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":null},"record":{"systemNumber":"O1657546","accessionNumber":"S.1048-2021","objectType":"Drawing","titles":[{"title":"Policial cartoon by Sidney Strube","type":"generic title"}],"summaryDescription":"Cartoonist Sidney Strube (1892-1956) uses characters from the Gilbert and Sullivan operas <i>Patience</i>, <i>The Sorcerer</i>, <i>The Pirates of Penzance</i>, <i>The Gondoliers</i> and <i>H.M.S. Pinafore</i> to lampoon politicians active in the period 1929-31, when Ramsay MacDonald's second Labour government was dealing with the economic consequences of the Great Depression. Among the figures is J.H. Thomas, Lord Privy Seal with special responsible for employment, who is mocked as the 'unemployment queen' in adapted lyrics from <i>The Gondoliers</i>. Leader of the Liberal Party, David Lloyd George, becomes John Wellington Wells, the 'dealer in magic and spells' from <i>The Sorcerer</i>. Conservative party leader, and previous Prime Minister, Stanley Baldwin is Patience, standing apart and patiently waiting to return to power, while, in a direct quote from the opera, the Labour ministers 'sit sighing night and day'. The fact that Prime Minister Ramsey MacDonald is absent from the cartoon is a comment in itself.\n\nStrube, the son of a German wine merchant, was born in London and studied art at St. Martin's Art School and the John Hassall School of Art. Encouraged by Hassall to take up a career as a cartoonist, Strube had his first cartoons published in 1910 and then worked as a freelance cartoonist, producing work for the <i>Bystander</i> and the <i>Evening Times</i>. He joined the <i>Daily Express</i> as a freelance cartoonist in 1912 with an exclusive contract, and became the newpaper's house cartoonist until his retirement in 1948. Strube's political cartoons caricatured the British government as well as international affairs, and often featured a little bowler-hatted man with pince-nez glasses, bow tie and an umbrella as the typical Englishman, stoical in the face of misfortune. Strube's understated humour made him one of the most popular and highly-paid cartoonists of the day, and even Stanley Baldwin declared: 'Strube is a gentle genius. I don't mind his attacks because he never hits below the belt.' \n\n","physicalDescription":"Pen and ink cartoon, with shading in blue pencil, showing prominent political figures in the period 1929-31, during Ramsay MacDonald's second Labour government. They are represented as characters from the Gilbert and Sullivan operas, <i>The Gondoliers</i>, <i>The Sorcerer</i>, <i>Patience</i>, <i>The Pirates of Penzance</i> and <i>H.M.S. Pinafore</i>, and each is accompanied by an adapted lyric. At centre, J.H. Thomas dressed as the 'unemployment queen' with attendants; at upper left, David Lloyd George as a magician ('our liberal djinn') and, at upper right, Stanley Baldwin as the dairy maid Patience, smoking a pipe. At lower left is Philip Snowden as the Pirate King in <i>The Pirates of Finance</i>. At lower right, a figure dressed as a sailor from <i>H.M.S. Pinafore</i> carries a huge bundle, labelled 'Taxes'.\n","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Strube, Sidney","id":"AUTH317257"},"association":{"text":"artist","id":"AAT25103"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[{"name":{"text":"Daily Express","id":"AUTH322090"},"association":{"text":"publishers","id":"AAT25574"},"note":""}],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"ink","id":"AAT15012"},{"text":"pencil","id":"x30347"},{"text":"paper","id":"x30308"}],"techniques":[{"text":"drawing (image-making)","id":"AAT54196"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Pen and ink and pencil","categories":[{"text":"Caricatures & Cartoons","id":"THES48983"},{"text":"Drawings","id":"THES48966"},{"text":"Politics","id":"THES48908"},{"text":"Opera","id":"THES263971"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"T&P","id":"THES48602"},"images":["2021NB3829"],"imageResolution":"low","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"003","id":"THES356684"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"political cartoons","id":"AAT123224"}],[{"text":"drawings","id":"AAT33973"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"London","id":"x28980"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"ca.1929","earliest":"1924-01-01","latest":"1933-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Bequeathed by Peter Parker","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"30.6","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"52.8","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"'STRUBE'","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"Artist's signature, upper right hand corner."}],"objectHistory":"This drawing was inherited by Peter Parker from his father, Stanley H. Parker (d.1960), who was employed by the Savoy Hotel as a junior clerk in May 1909, straight from school. In 1913, the impresario, Rupert D'Oyly Carte, who owned the hotel and the Savoy Theatre, appointed Parker as deputy to George A. Richardson, who managed the theatre from November 1911 to February 1915. Also in 1913, Stanley H. Parker became Rupert and (later) Bridget D'Oyly Carte's private secretary and secretary of both the Savoy Theatre Ltd. and the Opera Company. He worked for the company for 51 years, until his death in 1960.\n\nPeter Parker bequeathed the drawing to the V&amp;A.","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Political cartoon lampooning Ramsey MacDonald's Labour government and the leaders of the Conservative and Liberal parties, showing politicians dressed in costumes from Gilbert and Sullivan operas. Pen and ink and coloured pencil by Sidney Strube (1892-1956)","bibliographicReferences":[],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["S.1048-2021"],"accessionNumberNum":"1048","accessionNumberPrefix":"S","accessionYear":2021,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2026-03-06","recordCreationDate":"2021-09-06","availableToBook":true}}