Indian cartoonists always had a strong political voice and even leaders and public figures of international stature were not spared their barbs and vitriol. This came at the cost of inviting the wrath of the rulers, whatever be the regime. Perhaps this is the reason why political cartoons, once a staple, are rarely featured in newspapers these days.

Political cartoonists felt constrained to create strong images that provoked laughter, scorn and derision — at times, tears — and caricature was often the most powerful weapon in their arsenal. This led to the creation of occasionally the most bizarre and risible images that lampooned the likes of Mahatma Gandhi, Subhas Bose, M.A. Jinnah, Jawaharlal Nehru and their contemporaries caught in the most absurd and fantastical situations that amplified their flaws, both moral and physical.

This point was driven home in Gallery Rasa’s recent exhibition of 100 of Abu Abraham’s cartoons titled The World Through Abu’s Eyes: A Centennial Exhibition. The celebrated cartoonist had a flair for drawing since childhood and he took lessons to hone his skills later in life in London and Paris when he moved to the UK in the 1950s. Having contributed to leading publications and newspapers both here and abroad, Abraham was a familiar name and as well-known was the cartoonish sketch of his balding head that accompanied his columns. He was obviously self-deprecatory.

In the same spirit of honesty that encouraged him to call a spade a spade, Abraham had done the profile of an ageing but authoritarian Jyoti Basu, his nostrils flared, his expression stern and unamused (picture). Abraham left behind a gallery of such warts-and-all portraits of politicians of all hues, many of them powerful players of the global theatre — Indira Gandhi hawkish; Golda Meir a mother hen; Nixon reduced to a schnozzle; Mao porcine in his corpulence; Advani fixated on Hindutva.

Abraham’s images hit viewers straight between the eyes. They pack the punch of an epigram, and the economy of his lines — confident and unerring — add to their impact.