Claude Marquet

Claude Arthur Marquet (1869–1920) was an Australian political cartoonist, noted for his unique illustrative style and radical political views.

Life

Marquet was born in 1869 in Moonta, South Australia, the son of a French workman painter. The family later moved to the larger town of Wallaroo, South Australia, and the young Marquet attended Taplin's Grammar School there. After school, he initially worked as a miner, before obtaining work as a printer's compositor. In that role he became skilled in process engraving.[1]

Marquet married Ann Donnell at St Mary's Church in Wallaroo in June 1891, by which time he was already an accomplished black-and-white artist. In 1897, he obtained his first work as an artist, employed as cartoonist for Quiz, a weekly magazine published in Adelaide. In the following years, Marquet sold work to a variety of magazines, including The Bulletin, Tocsin, Table Talk, The Australian Worker and Melbourne Punch. With his career taking off, Marquet moved to Melbourne in 1902 and then to Sydney in 1906.[1]

On 17 April 1920, Marquet and a companion were presumed drowned when a sailing boat they were travelling on sank during a sudden squall in Botany Bay.[2] His body was never recovered. Following his death, an anthology of his work in The Worker was published, featuring tributes from contemporaries including Henry Lawson, Mary Gilmore and C. J. Dennis.

Works

"The Blood Vote"

Marquet was a prolific illustrator, at times creating up to four cartoons each week. He worked almost exclusively in the black-and-white medium, using hard lines that showed up well, even given the low production standards of many of the publications of the day. Most of Marquet's work appeared in publications that supported left-wing and radical political positions.

One of Marquet's best-known works is "The Blood Vote", an anti-conscription poster that was printed in great volume during the bitter second conscription campaign in Australia during the First World War. The illustration, showing a worried woman casting a vote on conscription, features a verse by William Winspear.[3]

References

1. Lindesay, Vane. "Marquet, Claude Arthur (1869–1920)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Australian National University. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
2. "Claude Marquet Drowned". The Worker. Brisbane. 22 April 1920. p. 6. Retrieved 11 July 2013 – via National Library of Australia.
3. "Leaflet - 'The Blood Vote', Anti-Conscription Campaign, World War I, Australia, 1917". Museum Victoria. Archived from the original on 22 April 2014. Retrieved 11 April 2020.

Other reading

• Marquet, Charles; Boote, Henry E. (1920). Cartoons by Claude Marquet: A commemorative volume. The Worker Trustees.