Popular Culture
A French Gentleman of The Court of Louis XVI
A sarcastic treatment from England of French manners that contrasts the weakness of the old regime with revolutionary arrogance. The engraver also seems to be pointing toward two entirely different views of masculinity.
A Democrat, or Reason and Philosophy
This cartoon by the popular British caricaturist James Gillray depicts the British politician Charles James Fox as a sans–culotte. Wearing a cockade in his wig and a bandage on his forehead, the unshaven Fox raises his bloody left hand as he lifts his left leg to break wind.
"This is My Dear Son": Napoleon as Child of the Devil
Linking Napoleon with Hell represents a far cry from his own propaganda. German propaganda piece depicting Napoleon as the child of the Devil.
"The Song of the End": The Whole World Now Chases Him
Where Napoleon was once the conqueror, the world now avenges itself. This sense of reversal, felt widely outside of France, characterized a number of the caricatures of Napoleon, and indeed of the entire Revolution.
The Great Man
German cartoonists tried to reduce Napoleon down to size, in this case, the size of mice! Here the mice serve as courtiers.
Chinese Children at the Tjap Go Meh Festival in Makassar
This photograph, dated 1880, shows Chinese children in a procession in the Tjap Go Meh Festival in Makassar, the largest city on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi. Tjap Go Meh is a Chinese festival that takes place 15 days after the Chinese New Year and marks the beginning of spring.
Krishna and the Cremation of Putana
Krishna is known in the stories of the Bhagavata-Purana as the 8th incarnation of the god Vishnu, destined to perform great deeds and remove the evils of the world.
Soccer Ball Assembly Using Child Labor
This photograph of a boy stitching together the parts of a soccer ball was taken in Pakistan in 1998 to document the use of child labor in manufacturing soccer balls and other athletic equipment in South Asia. In the upper right hand corner of the photo, a young girl is also working.
Fire Hair Shaving and Khwan Ceremony, Thailand
The text and photographs above describe a traditional Thai birth ritual that celebrates the child's reaching the milestone of one month old, at which time its survival seems more assured than at birth, and it becomes a full-fledged member of the family.
Loy Krathong Celebration
The young boy in the photograph is placing a krathong, or "leaf cup," into the water to celebrate "Loy Krathong," a festival on the night of the full moon in November, the traditional celebration described in the text as a custom of long standing in Thailand (formerly called Siam).