Our Drawing-room Pets–with 'Kangaroo Jim, the Champion Australian boomerang-thrower', for "Punch"
Du Maurier pokes fun at London society's fascination with the exotic by showing fashionable young women fawning over a burly Australian street performer as their perplexed male companions look on. The celebrity sprawls in a throne-like chair and is fanned by ladies who offer him tea. Text below reveals details of "Kangaroo Jim's" rough early life in Fiji. The image was published in "Punch" on July 2, 1887 and responds to current issues such as Darwinism. The artist had a significant impact on British culture from the 1860s through the 1890s as a talented illustrator, popular cartoonist, and author of the novel "Trilby" (1894).
Artwork Details
- Title: Our Drawing-room Pets–with 'Kangaroo Jim, the Champion Australian boomerang-thrower', for "Punch"
- Artist: George Du Maurier (British, Paris 1834–1896 London)
- Date: July 2, 1887
- Medium: Pen and brown ink
- Dimensions: Image: 8 3/8 in. × 9 in. (21.2 × 22.8 cm)
Sheet: 8 3/4 × 9 1/4 in. (22.2 × 23.5 cm) - Classification: Drawings
- Credit Line: Gift of Roberta J.M. Olson and Alexander B.V. Johnson, 2017
- Object Number: 2017.663.6
- Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints
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George Du Maurier
second half 19th century
George Du Maurier
second half 19th century
George Du Maurier
second half 19th century
George Du Maurier
second half 19th century
George Du Maurier
Bradbury, Agnew, & Co.
[1890–91]
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