Laocoön 1924

Clifford Berryman made this ink drawing, Laocoön, on a sheet sometime between 1869 and 1949. I’m imagining him hunched over this very piece of paper, his pen digging into the surface, hatching furious lines to make these writhing figures. It’s a political cartoon, so it’s not trying to be subtle or nuanced. It's all about the drama! Look at Uncle Sam, the donkey, and the elephant—each caught in the coils of these menacing snakes, labeled “Oil Lease Scandal.” I bet Berryman wanted to capture the feeling of being tangled in something inescapable. It reminds me of Goya's etchings. There’s a similar dark humor and a sense of unease about the human condition. You know, the way we get ourselves into these messes. It's like he’s saying, "Here we go again," painting, drawing, or making political cartoons – it’s all about trying to make sense of the world, one line, one mark at a time.