Carlo de Fornaro (sometimes spelled Carlo di Fornaro) (1872–1949) was an artist, caricaturist, writer, humorist, and revolutionary.
His work is in the collection of the US National Gallery of ArtCarlo De Fornaro, National Gallery of Art and Harvard's Fogg Art Museum."bachman", "The Millionaires of America", The Shelf: Preserving Harvard's Library Collections, July 16, 2015 His caricatures have been compared to those of Sem, Leonetto Cappiello,Christian Brinton, "Sem, Cappiello, and Fornaro", The Critic 45:545-556 (December 1904) and Carlo Pellegrini."A Book of Caricatures", New York Times 52:16541, January 10, 1903, p. 25
His 1902 book Millionaires of America contains color caricatures of the captains of American industry.Rebecca Onion, "A Book of Biting Caricatures of the Turn-of-the-Century 1%", Slate July 17, 2015
Life
Fornaro was born in Calcutta to "Swiss-Italian" parents. He was raised in Italy and Switzerland, then studied architecture in Zurich and painting at the Royal Academy of Munich.Purgatory, p. viii He came to the US as a young man and began his career as a newspaper caricaturist, first in Chicago for the Times-Herald, then in New York for the Herald, Morning Telegraph, World, and Evening Sun.
In 1906, he traveled to Mexico with his friend Benjamin De Casseres. They became involved in radical politics, and joined the opposition to Mexico's president Porfirio Díaz. They joined the staff of the newly-formed newspaper El Diario, which opposed Díaz, with de Fornaro becoming the artistic director of its Sunday edition, El Diario Illustrado.Peter Hulme, "Joel’s Revolutionary Table: New York and Mexico City in Turbulent Times", Comparative American Studies An International Journal 15:3-4:117-145 (2017) He returned to New York in 1909, and published his Diaz, Czar of Mexico: an arraignment, which led to a trial for criminal libel against a nonresident by the editor of the Mexican newspaper El Imparcial."Cartoonist Fornaro on Trial for Libel", New York Times 59:18906, Friday, October 29, 1909, p. 7"Carlo de Fornaro, a Caricaturist, 77", New York Times 98:33452, August 26, 1949, p. 20. He was convicted and sentenced to one year in the Blackwell's Island Prison (now Roosevelt Island), where he served 8 months, and upon his release, was fêted by the Vagabonds lunch group of the National Arts Club."Artists welcome Fornaro from Jail", New York Times 60:19246, October 4, 1910, p. 6 He was also invited to a dinner at Joel's Bohemia on October 4, 1910, and in that year drew caricatures for that restaurant's celebrity wall.Jan Whitaker, "Faces on the wall", Restaurant-ing through history, blog, September 11, 2016
He documented his incarceration in the book A modern purgatory and advocated for prison reform. He was a member of the National Arts Club.
He died in 1949 after a year of poor health.
Bibliography Carlo de Fornaro, Chicago's anointed: 16 caricatures, 18?? Carlo de Fornaro (text and illustrations), Gem Legends for Marcus & Co., 11 brochures:Worldcat Krishna's Gift, the legend of the diamond Prince Tissa, the legend of the ruby Amrita, the legend of the sapphire Vanadeva: the legend of the emerald Uttara: the legend of the turquoise Asneha: the legend of the opal Isvara's ring: the legend of the jade The necklace of untold sighs the legend of the coral The tear of Soma: the legend of the pearl The tears of Kusa: the legend of the topaz Shiva: "the Destroyer": the legend of the moonstone White lotus: the legend of the cat's eye Max Cramer de Pourtalès, Carlo de Fornaro, Millionaires of America, New York, 1902 full view Carlo de Fornaro, Diaz, Czar of Mexico: an arraignment, by Carlo de Fornaro with an open letter to Theodore Roosevelt, 1909 full view Carlo de Fornaro, Mortals and Immortals, 1911 full view Carlo de Fornaro, Carranza and Mexico, New York: Mitchell Kennerley, 1915 full text Carlo de Fornaro, What the Catholic Church has done to Mexico, Latin American News Association, 1916 Carlo de Fornaro, A Modern Purgatory, New York, 1917 full view Paul Eldridge, Carlo de Fornaro (cover design), And the Sphinx Spoke, Boston: The Stratford Company, 1921 Giacomo Casanova, Carlo de Fornaro (translator), Memoirs of Jacques Casanova, New York: Lieber & Lewis, 1923 Carlo de Fornaro, John Wenger, New York: Joseph Lawren, 1925 Carlo de Fornaro (translator), A. Zaidenberg (illustrator), The Arabian Droll Stories, New York: The Lotus Society, 1929 Carlo de Fornaro, The Chinese Decameron, New York: The Lotus Society, 1929
References