"Mr. O'Wilde, You are not the first one that has grasped at a Shadow" (published in "Harper's Bazar," February 11, 1882)

"Mr. O'Wilde, You are not the first one that has grasped at a Shadow" (published in "Harper's Bazar," February 11, 1882)

Thomas Nast

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Nast caricatured Oscar Wilde repeatedly during the author's 1882 American lecture tour and here transforms him into Narcissus. Stretched along a dock, the famous defender of Aestheticism gazes at his reflection while holding the movement's emblematic sunflower, which is labeled "Notoriety" rather than "Art." Printed text nearby proposes avarice to be the driving force behind the author's exaggerated public personna. A dollar sign within the reflected blossom establishes the pool as a mirror of truth, a surface which transforms Wilde's lanky form into a lion (a punning reference to "lionizing" or celebrity seeking). This electrotype proof omits the title printed below Nast's cartoon in "Harper's Bazar." That text, used here as the title, emphasizes the subject's Irish origins by transforming his name to O'Wilde, then goes on to suggest that he is pursuing shadows.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

"Mr. O'Wilde, You are not the first one that has grasped at a Shadow" (published in "Harper's Bazar," February 11, 1882)"Mr. O'Wilde, You are not the first one that has grasped at a Shadow" (published in "Harper's Bazar," February 11, 1882)"Mr. O'Wilde, You are not the first one that has grasped at a Shadow" (published in "Harper's Bazar," February 11, 1882)"Mr. O'Wilde, You are not the first one that has grasped at a Shadow" (published in "Harper's Bazar," February 11, 1882)"Mr. O'Wilde, You are not the first one that has grasped at a Shadow" (published in "Harper's Bazar," February 11, 1882)

The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.