Chad (graffiti) - Your Art History Reference Guide!

ArtHistoryClub Information Site on Chad (graffiti) Art History Art History Search        Art History Browse        Classroom welcome to our free resource site for all art history lovers!
Art History Search        Art History Browse             News        Gallery        Forums        Articles        Weblinks        welcome to our free resource site for all art history lovers!

Chad (graffiti)

Chad was an ubiquitous piece of popular culture graffiti often seen in the United Kingdom during and shortly after World War II.

The graffiti consisted of a cartoon of a small, round head with a long nose poking over the top of a wall, with a complaint about shortages written underneath; the cartoon itself is better known to many as "Kilroy", since it often accompanied the slogan "Kilroy was here".

The origins appear to lie with the cartoonist George Edward Chatterton - or "Chat" - in 1938, although it is unclear how it gained widespread popularity, or how it came to be conflated with Kilroy. It was, however, widely in use by the late part of the war and in the immediate post-war years, with slogans ranging from the simple - "What, no bread?" or "Wot, no char?" - to the plaintive; one sighting, on the side of a British 1st Airborne Division glider in Operation Market Garden, had the complaint "Wot, no engines?"

As the prevalence of rationing died down, so did the joke; whilst the cartoon is occasionally sighted today as "Kilroy", "Chad" - and his complaints - have long fallen from popular use.

Last updated: 08-03-2005 07:07:47
Last updated: 06-05-2009 13:38:31
The contents of this article are licensed from Wikipedia.org under the
GNU Free Documentation License. See original document.

See more unique gifts by PositiveDesigns
Art History Search | Art History Browse | Contact | Legal info