Cathy's Art Diary

Interesting online lecture from the National Gallery looking at Hogarth’s “The Inspection” from his “Marriage-a-al-Mode” series. Matthew Morgan, art historian and innovator, placed the painting within the artist’s career and talked about how he wanted to paint contemporary moral subjects. He emphasised how the works didn’t preach but set out what would happen if you made the wrong choices. This painting looks at venereal disease both the consequences of it and the medicines available at the time. Morgan told us how the doctor in the image was probably based on a famous doctor of the time and talked us through some of the cures. In the Q&A he tried to broaden this out to look at modern medicine and how medicine can both help and enable taking Ozempic as an example. It was an interesting idea but sadly most of the listeners preferred to ask about the details in the painting as we would have done in a more conventional talk.

Fascinating online lecture from the London Art History Society looking in detail at Hogarth’s series of paintings and prints on an 18th century election. Former BBC journalist, Rupert Dickens, took us though the four images taking as a premise Ian Hislop’s premise that each work had one big joke and many little ones. Dickens talked us through those jokes an explained where Hogarth was quoting other paintings from Leonardo to Charles le Brun. He also explained the election which had inspired the series and the process by which Hogarth produced and circulated the images He finished by looking at how these works became a template for political satire even to the present day and how that differs from the approach of the 18th century cartoonist Gilray and Rowlandson who relied more on caricature.

Excellent online lecture from the National Gallery on the life and career of William Hogarth. In the first half of this two hour talk Matthew Morgan, the director of The Turner’s House Museum, took us though the life of this 18th century artist with an emphasis on his portraits, etching series and paintings. He discussed some of the themes in his work such as establishing a British identity and social concerns. In the second half he went through the Marriage a la Mode series of paintings in the National Gallery in detail outlining the details, the symbolism and the moral message behind them. I thought I knew these works well but he pointed out things I had never noticed before such as the fact that the paintings on the wall add another layer of meaning. I will look at them differently in the future.  

Thoughtful exhibition at Cristea Roberts of new work by Lubiana Himid. These were a fascinating blend of painting and screen printing presenting focused images from Hogarth print series. Himid had painted the canvas with a colourful abstract which was then overprinted with etching ink passed through silkscreens to a layered surface.   I loved the way sometimes the print affect used the positive version of a Hogarth print but at others the negative. Also the way she picked very specific deals which made me see things in the image I’d not noticed before such as an auction lot number on a figure a young black boy sorts through in a Marriage a la Mode print. It was an aesthetically pleasing and thoughtful way to comment on the images. Closed 22 April 2023    

Comprehensive exhibition a Tate Britain looking at Hogarth and Britain in the context of Europe in the 18th century. I liked the way this show gave a social and political history of the 18th century through the work of Hogarth but also looked at how he was influenced by work on the continent and similarly how he influenced European art at the time. It was quite a complex but interesting narrative leading me to discover some artists who were new to me and telling me a lot more about the times. The first room looked at the changing role of the artist at the time with less work done to commission and more for the market. It showed how Hogarth had to advertise himself and exploited the growing demand for prints amongst the growing middle classes. There was a good room on Hogarth’s great moral series “A Harlot’s Progress” and “A Rake’s Progress” which highlighted a new kind of story-telling and placing them in the same oeuvre as Dutch genre pictures. Similarly a section on new leisur...

Disappointing online talk from The Times Plus on the current Hogarth and Europe exhibition at Tate Britain. I say disappointing as it as quite short and recorded rather than live. It was nice that it was filmed in the exhibition but it was aimed at people with little knowledge and didn’t really give a full overview. The curators, Alice Insley   and Martin Myrone, picked three pictures to talk about along with their European comparisons in the show, Hogarth’s self-portrait from 1745, Marriage A La Mode and the portrait of Mary Edwards shown here. They talked about how one of the aims of the show was to talk about Hogarth within the European tradition of the time and to show how he was influenced by continental and how they were influenced by him. I have visited the show since so watch out for my review of it coming soon!

Fascinating exhibition at Eames Fine Art of prints by Hogarth. All the usual suspects were here but with an excellent commentary on them in the context of their time plus a history of the engraving plates. The prints shown here came from the last printing off Hogarth’s own repaired plates in 1822 and were lovely, crisp versions. It was nice to be able to get up very close to the prints, yes the glasses were off, and see how they were made up of tiny hatched lines, in an almost Pointillist style. It made you appreciate the workmanship and planning involved. I particularly like the prints of London and theatrical life such as the attached of strolling actresses dressing in a barn, not exactly much privacy but I guess that wasn’t the point! Closes 2 February 2020

Fascinating exhibition at the Foundling Hospital using Hogarth’s “March of the Guards to Finchley” to look at the noises of 18th century London and how he showed the five senses in his work. Although this show was quite text heavy, and there wasn’t a lot of original material, it outlined its narrative really well and was packed full of interesting facts, figures and ideas. With the painting on one wall it took you around aspects of the pictures in detail while listening to a soundscape of the noises in it. It really showed you the detail of the picture and the symbolism of all aspects of it. I’d not come across the idea that a man peeing in a picture can be a reference to syphilis and therefore the problems in society as one symptom is the need to pee and this case this was highlighted by the gentleman in question looking at a poster for a cure. The girl shown here has a copy of the National Anthem in her basket which had been published in the new arrangement shown her...

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. ...

Small exhibition at Tate Britain to mark 250 years since the death of William Hogarth focusing on the relationship the gallery has had with him over the years. It showed how in the early years of the Tate Hogarth was seen as the founding father of British art and works by him were the earliest in the collection. The first major show of Hogarth at the Tate was in 1951 and can you believe the last one, which seems like yesterday, was in 20071 The display showed how the collection of Hogarth’s grew and each label explained when and how it was added. All the pictures which had come from the National Gallery on the Tate’s independence in 1955 were on show. Of course I love the self-portrait with his pug dog but other lovely works included some great paintings of children in which he seems to give them a certain worldly wise wisdom. I also like the scene from the end of the Beggar’s Opera as it is one of the first pictures of a stage performance. The wonderful portrait...

Second in a series of lectures at the National Gallery complimenting the Channel 4 “ Genius of Art ” series. This one was given Gus Casely-Hayford and explored William Hogarth’s revolutionary pioneering of art for the people. In particular he speculated on how his ancestor, a newly arrived freed slave in 18th century London would have related to them. In particularly enjoyed the discussion following the lecture as the questions were are erudite as the answers.