Biography:

Joseph Keppler was a cartoonist and founder of Puck.

Keppler was born in Austria on February 1, 1838 and was the son of Johann and Josepha Keppler.  After the Revolution of 1848 in Austria, Keppler’s father was forced to leave the country because of his political beliefs and fled to the United States.  Joseph Keppler remained in Vienna with his mother and three younger siblings and attended the Academy of Fine Arts and the Elementary Drawing and Modeling School.  When he was seventeen years old, he traveled throughout Europe, earning a modest living as a painter.  He joined a traveling theatrical company, designed their sets, performed on stage, and spent the next several years traveling.  In 1864, he married Minna Rubens and sought more stable employment.  He worked for time as a cartoonist for the humor magazine Kikeriki.  In 1867, he immigrated to the United States.  He founded two short-lived magazines including a German language weekly and then moved to New York in 1875 to work as an artist for Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper.   In 1876, he founded Puck, a German language humor magazine, and a year later, began an English version which continued publication until 1918.  Puck stood out from other 19th century American magazines because of its large size and its color lithographs.  Keppler hired talented cartoonists such as Frederick Opper, Bernard Gillam, and James A. Wales.  The magazine covered topics such as immigration, political scandals, and presidential elections and its cartoons were heavily influenced by contemporary and classical art and literature.  Keppler died in New York in 1894.