January 3rd 2013

 Oscar Wilde disembarked in New York on this day in 1882, setting off on a twelve-month lecture tour promoting aestheticism and the decorative arts. The Thomas Nast cartoon below, published in September, 1882, is one of many attempts by the American press to roast Wilde for his ideas, costumes or airs. Around the sunflower on the stove is “I can stand it if you can”; the caption reads, “Oscar Wilde On Our Cast Iron Stoves / Another American Institution Sat Down On.”

When you know you are being falsely ridiculed for your ideas, is the time, you know you have officially made it.

- Marco