Hogarth’s London

Nice exhibition at the Cartoon Museum looking at how Hogarth depicted London in his prints and etchings.

I liked the way the exhibit was arranged geographically around the city so it almost took you on a walk of Georgian London. It pointed out that this was a time when the city was going through a transformation with a lot of property development and financial speculation.

The commentaries on the pictures were great and really explained them but they were a bit too long and slowed up some people’s viewing.

It was nice to see some of the great sets of prints again and there was a small set looking at cruelty to animals which I had not seen before. In the set a boy goes from kicking a dog, to being a carter who beats his horse, to becoming a highway man to being executed and dissected. The moto is don’t kick dogs! I also liked the Industry and Idleness series which contrasted a good and a bad apprentice. One goes to church the other watches a play in the graveyard.

The exhibition does acknowledge that Hogarth was not a cartoonist as we think of them but that he did comment on society via pictures. With hindsight it is interesting that I went to this the day before the Charlie Hebdo killings. It helped me think of the events in the light of cartoonists and social commentators of the past.

Review
Telegraph

 

 

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