We all love pictures and when those pictures tell a story, what is there to not love? From Disney comic strips, to the philosphical ponderings of Snoopy in the Peanuts cartoon, to the questions posed in newspaper strips - they all get us thinking about the message behind the picture.
The first political cartoons appeared in the mid 18th Century. Artists such as Hogarth in the UK sketched pictures of inner city hardship as a criticism of government policies at the time. His famous series the Rake's Progress is a documentary of social inequality.
Three centuries later, our love of call things visual has boomed. Images cross cultural and linguistic boundaries and are easily accessible to all. This will be explored further in our annual Brillantmont Reading Week, starting next week, which celebrates the cartoon.
In anticipation, our Advanced French classes have been studying cartoons exhibited by the organisation Cartooning for Peace which has a remarkable collection of press illustrations, offering a plurality of perspectives on international current events. They reach out to multiple audiences and challenge us to think about the world around us.
As you can see below, the cartoons exhibited clearly resonated with our students who explored issues including the environment, immigration, gender equality, data protection and gender and were moved by the images they saw.
We're looking forward to delving deeper into other cartoons and questioning the world around us with our Reading Week celebrations.
Brillantmont International School
Founded in 1882, Brillantmont International School is one of the oldest boarding schools in Switzerland and is still owned and run by the founding family. The school welcomes boarding and day students, aged 13-18 (Grades 8-12) from over 30 nationalities. Students follow stimulating courses leading to internationally recognised examinations (British IGCSE, A Level ; American High School Diploma with SAT and IELTS). Why not become part of our BM family? Find out more by calling +41 21 310 0400 or by email admissions@brillantmont.ch. We’d love to tell you more!
