Caricatured figure / Leading the German, from the Jokes series (N87) for Duke brand cigarettes 1890

This small lithograph was made by W. Duke and Sons & Co. for their Jokes series of cigarette cards. Here, the oversized figure of a police officer leads a much smaller, caricatured German man by the hand. The act of leading is a potent symbol, recurring throughout history. We see it in religious art with guides leading pilgrims to salvation. This image reverses the expected dynamic. Here, authority, represented by the police officer, dominates and infantilizes the other. The German man becomes a figure of ridicule, his otherness emphasized through caricature. The symbolism of 'leading' shifts again and again, from guiding towards enlightenment to controlling the marginalized. It’s a motif that speaks to our collective anxieties about power, control, and the ever-changing boundaries of identity. The image stirs a potent mix of superiority, discomfort, and a haunting reminder of how easily we categorize and control the ‘other’.