Politics Books & the Arts January 18, 2012 The Wicked Art of Caricature Five centuries of political pans by a lot of old masters and a few new ones, on exhibit at the Met.

Tokuyama Gyokuran (Japanese, 1727/8–1784), Old Plum, one of a pair of six-panel screens; ink and light color on paper, 53 5/16 x 105 5/8 in. each, Collection of Mary and Cheney Cowles.

One of the highlights of the exhibit is Boilly’s Les Amateurs De Tableaux (The Art Connoisseurs). It portrays a bunch of bulbous-faced, ornery old dudes regarding a piece of art we can’t see.