The terms of “caricature” and “portrait caricature” in their historical development (evidence from Russian encyclopedias of the late 19th to early 21st century)

Abstract

This article addresses a pressing issue in contemporary humanities scholarship: the terminological ambiguity surrounding the concepts of “caricature” and “'portrait caricature”' in their historical development. Despite the widespread use of these terms in both academia and society, their interpretations remain controversial. The aim of this study is to trace the evolution of definitions of these concepts, identify key stages in the development of their scholarly understanding, and analyse the strengths and weaknesses of existing approaches. The study is based on Russian encyclopaedic publications from the late 19th to the early 21st century.

The study revealed that the term “caricature” only acquired a relatively precise definition in the Russian encyclopaedic tradition in the 21st century. However, it is difficult to identify a single article that comprehensively describes this concept: the process of scholarly research has been accompanied by both discoveries and omissions. In contrast, the general understanding of portrait caricature as a specific type had already taken shape by the early 20th century. However, at that time, it was characterised by contradictions and a lack of precise definitions. By the mid-20th century, a scientific understanding of caricature had formed, and it has remained virtually unchanged since then. In relation to the term “caricature” in the Soviet period, the key methodological principle is contextual analysis: a comparison of articles from three Great Soviet Encyclopedia editions in their historical and ideological dynamics allows us to identify how external political factors incorporated ideological dogmas into the definition of the concept. The particular difficulty of studying these concepts stems from their complex nature, which requires researchers to employ an interdisciplinary approach that integrates the insights of several humanities disciplines. The article demonstrates that the changing understanding of caricature in Soviet encyclopedias occurred against the backdrop of broader processes: the genre's transformation from a “distortion of nature” into a powerful propaganda tool during the world wars, and its subsequent conceptualisation as a complex semiotic code during the communications boom of the 1950s–1980s. This perspective avoids oversimplification and integrates contextual analysis into the overall picture of the genre's evolution.