Artist Robert S. Greenberg, with editorial direction from Bill Samuels, have created a series of illustrations that bring the Tiger back to life, while transposing Nast’s original illustrations to comment on contemporary politics.
In 2006, Greenberg and Samuels began their collaboration with “The Blue Tiger Loose—What are you going to do about it?” Samuels uses Nast’s classic image of the Tiger in the Coliseum, but now the Tiger is attacking corruption in political campaigns.
Greenberg and Samuel’s illustration from 2006, “The Key to Our FUTURE Is in Our PAST,” uses as a basis Nast’s “‘What Are You Going to Do About It’ If ‘Old Honesty’ Lets Him Loose Again?” The title of the image suggests that we must return to the pose of the powerful, active, engaged Democratic and progressive Tiger.
However, the Tiger being painted in blue with a bucket labeled “Reform” suggests that our Tiger will not be simply a throwback to the corrupt practices of the old Democratic Party. In this way, the image suggests that we are not indulging in mere nostalgia, but we’ll take the best of the past to inform our behavior today.
This is our image of the powerful, independent Tiger. We have brought the Tiger back stronger than ever, but embodying the new spirit of reform.
In 2010, Samuels and Greenberg have continued to create satirical illustrations on the corruption and dysfunction in Albany. Shown below is their recasting of a classic political illustration, “Campaign for Reform.” This image is based on the 1897 Lewis Dalrymple illustration for Puck, “The Campaign of Noise.” The original illustration depicted corruption’s hold over the state capital. This new version depicts the ending of it. This recasting features the Democratic Tiger, cheered on by Bill Samuels and a group of great New York reformers old and new, finally taking over the state capital.
