Caricature has been a commercial art form since long before advertising existed in its modern sense. Exaggerated faces and comic figures sold newspapers, filled satirical magazines, and promoted everything from bicycle tires to theatrical performances across Europe and the Americas. The tradition peaked in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when publications like France's Le Rire built entire identities around the form. Period originals from this tradition are genuine works of graphic humor, not decorative afterthoughts.