Caricature of a Man Wearing a Monocle Seen in Profile 1880 - 1900

Curator: I must say, there’s something delightfully wicked about this caricature. The single line describing the monocle... almost cruel! Editor: Yes! Wicked in a knowing way, perhaps. We're looking at "Caricature of a Man Wearing a Monocle Seen in Profile," an ink drawing from between 1880 and 1900 currently residing here at The Met. The artist, regrettably, remains anonymous. Curator: The anonymity feels right somehow. As if the commentary comes from everywhere and nowhere, simultaneously. What does a monocle signify in that era, beyond wealth and perhaps a certain detachment? It distorts vision, offers a focused, curated reality. Editor: Precisely. Think of the rising middle class mimicking aristocratic affectations. A monocle becomes shorthand for aspiration and social posturing, but the artist seems to deflate that entirely, reducing the figure to almost pure contour. The stark lines suggest judgment. Curator: Look at how the nose and brow protrude! It amplifies a perceived self-importance and hints at something…intellectual pretension? Do you think there's a commentary on the increasing emphasis of 'expertise' and specialized knowledge around that time? Editor: Definitely a skewering of intellectual elitism, perhaps in reaction to professional guilds asserting social power in the late 19th century. A 'look at me and my advanced degree' rendered completely absurd. A drawing of the kind you might find circulating in pamphlets or biting journals in fin-de-siecle Paris or Vienna. Curator: It is visually immediate and incisive! It bypasses any sympathetic reading entirely. So, in a single, flowing stroke the artist subverts authority. It makes one wonder... who might this man represent to that society? Editor: Possibly someone of considerable power, vulnerable to such ridicule precisely because they were emblematic of wider socio-political dynamics. I like how this drawing functions. It reminds me of Honoré Daumier and his savage commentaries about class pretension and moral failings during France's July Monarchy. Curator: Thank you for situating it for us. To me, the symbolism within is about power, access to education, seeing and being seen in a certain light - all vulnerable to swift iconoclastic critique. Editor: Indeed. A pointed jab at the inflated egos of the era, skillfully rendered. We invite our visitors to reflect: who would *they* caricature and *why* today? Curator: Indeed. Something to chew on as they consider other figures and their representations around these galleries!