Charles
Keene was born in Hornsey in 1823. After trying law and architecture
he was apprenticed as a wood engraver. This led to employment on the
Illustrated London News. Keene
was friendly with Henry Silver, one of the writers at Punch
magazine. In 1851 some of Keene's drawings accompanied articles by
Silver. The following year he was employed as a staff artist.
After the death of John Leech in 1864, Keene's
work increased on Punch. He now tended
to draw
the pictures of street life that had previously been the domain of
Leech. He also had a large number of drawings published in the journal,
Once a Week.
Keene described himself as a "hot Tory" and was hostile
to those members of staff who supported the Liberal
Party. In one letter he wrote about the "set of sorry Rads
that lead poor old Punch astray at present." Keene was mainly
the illustrator of other people's ideas so his political opinions
did not always show. This is especially true when the Liberal supporting
Tom Taylor became editor (1874-80).
Keene was criticised for being hostile to women. As
his friend, M.
H. Spielmann pointed out: "In one direction alone did he fail,
or choose to fail - in the portrayal of facial beauty, elegance and
respectability." According to Spielmann, the only time Keene
"did include a pretty woman was to accentuate the ugliness of
all his other women" in the picture. Keene took a particular
interest in the life of working-class people. The artist Frederick
Leighton argued that "among the documents for the study in future
days of middle-class and of humble life, none will be more weighty
than the vivid sketches of the great humourist."
Charles
Keene
died in 1891.
Charles
Keene, Railway Passengers (1881)
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