Background & Foreground

Looking at the collection in the Wellin Museum, my group and I had a great talk about the use of the background in relation to the foreground in order to convery meaning. In Daumier's Le membre de toutes les académies, the focus is on the man in the center. The background, while well drawn, is not the focus of the comic at all, and instead serves to give an idea of where this man comes from and who he is. Ultimately, however, it is left to the block text at the bottom and the title of the comic that tells us that he is a pompous academic from France. In Cruikshank's At Home in the Nursery, however, the comic is packed, and it takes time to decipher the chaos of the scene. Although there is very little text, the meaning of the comic is portrayed through inspecting the background and its small details. Not only does this mean it takes longer to decipher the meaning of the comic, but also gives the comic multiple meanings. It's very interesting how because Cruikshank's comics were a lot more crowded and provided many distractions, the meaning/satire was not as direct or pinpointed, whereas Daumier's satire was very clear. Perhaps, the more going on in a comic, using both the background and foreground, allows a comic to be more subtle.