The 1832 Les Poires caricatures by Charles Philipon were created to mock the then highly ridiculed, bourgeois monarch Louis-Philippe. Les Poires was impressively reproduced to cover walls all around Paris, cleverly navigating censorship law while also signifying a shift in design practice and principle with the advancement of visual literacy and communication.

I was intrigued by the reproduction of Les Poires both as a form of graffiti and as a satirically innocent, but effective method of mockery. I adapted the work to replace Philippe with Trump, and the pear with a peach. Prior to viewing Philipon’s work, I had seen Trump compared to a peach in part due to his appearance, but also as a promotional tactic to impeach him. I chose to modify Les Poires because I am fascinated by the consistency of stylistic design concepts. I created my bookplate to appear stenciled, as if it were graffitied onto a wall with spray paint. The type I utilized is based on the small lettering found beneath Philipon’s caricatures; the lettering appears slightly messy in print execution, so I aimed to recreate that effect with slightly uneven strokes and alignment.