The Confessions of a Caricaturist, Vol 2 | Page 9

of Forty-five per cent.
Mr. Furniss can be seen at work with the regularity of a threshing machine and the variety of a kaleidoscope any day from 8 o'c. a.m. to 8 o'c. p.m. on presentation of visiting card.
BANKERS, Close, Gatherum & Co., Lombard Street.
SOLICITORS, Black, White & Co., Tube Court.
SECRETARY, pro tem. Earl M----, Arrystone Grange.
The Subscription List will close on or before Monday, April 1st, 1887.
* * * * *
Messrs. C. White & Greyon Grey invite subscriptions for the undermentioned Share Capital and Debentures of the
HARRY FURNISS PARODY CARTOON COMPANY (Unlimited).
Incorporated under the Joint Stock Companies Acts, 1862 and 1883.
Share Capital ��4,000,000.
Divided as follows:
450,000 Ordinary Shares of ��5 each ��2,250,000 175,000 7 p.c. Cumulative Preference Shares of ��10 each 1,750,000
DIRECTORS.
Chairman: H. V---- W----, Esq., Regent Street, photographer. Sir John S---- V----, Kt., Pine Court, Kent. H---- F----, Esq., Draughtsman and Designer, 45, Drury Lane.
HARRY FURNISS, ESQ., R.R.A., R.R.I., &c., will join the Board as Managing Director on allotment.

A JOKE WITHIN A JOKE.
[Illustration]
A showman, particularly with some attraction of the passing hour, must "boom his show for all it's worth," as the Americans say; so I "boomed" my "Artistic Joke" with an advertising joke, and at the same time parodied another branch of art--the art of advertising the artists, by a special number of a magazine devoted to the work of an Academician. The special numbers, generally published at Christmas, are familiar and interesting to us all. Still, from any point of view they are fair game. They are of course merely non-critical, eulogistic accounts of the artist and his work. So
"How he Did It--The Story of my 'Artistic Joke,'" duly appeared, written by my Lay-figure.
"PREFACE.
[Illustration]
"The fact of my being only an artist's lay-figure will account for any stiffness or angularity in my literary style. Whilst conscious of my deficiencies in this respect, I am comforted by the consideration that a lay-figure attempting literature cannot by any possibility perpetrate greater absurdities than are committed by many a ready writer who indulges in those glowing and gushing descriptions of artists and their work which it is now the fashion to publish, in some such shape as the present, for the delectation (and delusion) of a gossip-loving public."
This, the origin of "The Artistic Joke," is a fair specimen of the absurdity I published as an advertisement, though many bought it and read it as a "true and authentic account" of the confessions of a caricaturist's lay-figure:
[Illustration: MY PORTRAIT. FRONTISPIECE FOR 'HOW HE DID IT.']
"As many would be interested in knowing how this extraordinary idea of an Academy pour rire first occurred to this artist, I hasten to gratify their natural curiosity. It was before little Harry reached the age of seven, and while watching with fellow-feeling the house-painters at work in his father's house. One day, at lunchtime, when the men had left their ladders and paraphernalia near the picture-gallery (a long room containing choice works of all the great masters), he seized his opportunity: with herculean strength and Buffalo-Billish agility, our hero dragged all the ladders, paints and brushes into the gallery, and soon was at work 'touching up' the pictures, to gratify his boyish love of mischief. Truth to tell, his performance was but on a par, artistically, with that usually shown when mischievous boys get hold of brushes and paint and a picture to restore."
[Illustration:
25, Old Bond Street, LONDON, W. Jubilee Day 1887
I have been favoured--if that is the proper word--with a sight of an advance copy of this perpetration.
I feel that the Easy confidence which has hitherto existed between an artist and his Lay Figure is for ever broken and fled. If I had only known that wine was taking advantage of her exceptional opportunities to betray my misplaced confidence in this popular but pestilent fashion, I would have made firewood of her long ago.
It is now too late. The temptation is turn Graphic Gusher and confidential Trotter-out, has proved too much for a wee docile and discreet Lay Figure. I am one more victim at unsuspected hands, to the revolting rage for "Revelations."
I am bound to admit, however, that whilst the taste of the whole "Story" is execrable, the facts upon which it is founded are undisputable.
The Tale is an o'er true one, though it has been compiled without the knowledge, and is published exactly against the desire of
Harry Furniss]
"Before Harry had finished touching-up the valuable family portraits, his father came in, glanced round, and fell onto a couch in roars of laughter. 'It's the best Artistic Joke I've ever seen, my boy, and here's a shilling for you!' A happy thought struck Harry at the moment. He kept it to himself for over twenty-five years; and now, standing high upon an allegorical ladder, he repeats the Joke daily, from nine to seven, admission one shilling."
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