Physiological Illustration and a Women’s Fashion Magazine: Vasilii Timm’s Satirical Cartoons in Listok dlia svetskikh liudei, 1843–1844

Abstract

The women’s fashion magazine Listok dlia svetskikh liudei (1839–1845) printed satirical lithographs by the Russo-Baltic artist Vasilii Fedorovich Timm in 1843–1844, providing an important forum for merging the physiological sketch with the fashion press. Listok presented Timm with a serialized format, whereby his satirical cartoons adapted the physiological sketch to a largely female readership, commenting on courtship, relationships, male vices, as well as social ills, urban life, and the state of journalism in the 1840s. Listok offered visual commentary on issues important to female readers as well as broader observations of Petersburg life and Russian society.