Matt Morgan

Matthew Somerville Morgan (27 April 1837 – 2 June 1890) was an English-American artist primarily known for his political cartoons in various publications. He also created theater posters for major American acts in both the United States and Great Britain.

Biography

Early life Morgan was born in London. His father was an actor and music teacher; his mother, Mary Somerville, an actress and singer. Matt studied scene painting and followed his profession at London's Princess's Theatre, but became artist and correspondent for the Illustrated London News. In 1859, Morgan worked in northern Italy covering the bloody Franco-Austrian War. He came to the United States in 1870 under an engagement with Frank Leslie, and, after working as caricaturist on Leslie's publications, acted as manager of several New York theatres. His greatest fame came during the 1872 presidential campaign, when Morgan drew cartoons on behalf of the Liberal Republicans against President Ulysses S. Grant. Hired as a rival to the Republican cartoonist Thomas Nast at Harper's Weekly, Morgan showed much the same caustic satire, but lacked the humor and wit that Nast employed. His caricatures of politicians he approved of were more like portraiture. By 1874, 'Leslie's Illustrated Weekly' was using Morgan's cartoons only sporadically, and relying more on those of Joseph Keppler, but Morgan continued to do illustrations of events and American scenes. He went in 1880 to Cincinnati, Ohio, where he was manager of the Strobridge Lithographing Company until 1885, and did much to improve the character of theatrical lithography. He also founded the Matt Morgan Art Pottery Company there in 1883, and the Cincinnati Art Students' League. Reportedly he also helped design sets for Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show.

He returned to New York City in 1887. Morgan contributed to the exhibitions of the American Watercolor Society, and painted a series of large panoramic pictures, representing battles of the Civil War, which were exhibited in Cincinnati in 1886 and elsewhere.

Morgan died of pericarditis and pleurisy in New York City on 2 June 1890.

Scully, Richard. Eminent Victorian Cartoonists, Volume II: The Rivals of Mr Punch. London: Political Cartoon Society, 2018