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William Hogarth: Proceed with Caution

Exhibitions
PAST EXHIBITION

William Hogarth: Proceed with Caution

OPENS
October 06, 2012
CLOSES
January 20, 2013
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About the Exhibit

October 6, 2012 – January 20, 2013

Bernard Baron
The Tête à Tête, from Marriage à la mode, after William Hogarth, 1745
Etching and engraving, Paulson 159, fourth state of five
The Teaching Collection of Marvin Vexler, ’48, 1997.45.2/6

This fall, the Blanton presents a selection of prints by William Hogarth, a celebrated English satirist.William Hogarth: Proceed with Caution, on view October 6, 2012 – January 20, 2013, brings together a selection of the artist’s most important eighteenth-century series including Marriage à la ModeA Rake’s Progress, and Industry and Idleness. In this exceptional display representing the breadth and dynamism of the artist’s oeuvre, the exhibition imparts a broad understanding of Hogarth’s overarching messages.

William Hogarth (1697-1764) stood at the center of a rich tradition of political and social satire in the first half of eighteenth-century England. Inspired by a period of economic turmoil and social unrest, Hogarth’s exquisitely detailed etchings and engravings function as cautionary tales for his fellow Londoners. His multi-layered, visual narratives unravel stories of virtue and vice; they highlight integrity and merit as a means toward tremendous honor and riches, and emphasize corruption as a path leading to dreadful consequences and disgrace. Hogarth’s critique of contemporary society provides a glimpse into the complexities of life in eighteenth-century London – complexities that strangely mirror those in present-day.

“Hogarth’s message is as valid today as it was over 250 years ago. Today’s society strives to instill the same ethical principles that Hogarth examined in his works,” suggests Catherine Zinser, Blanton curatorial associate and curator of the exhibition. “This exhibition presents an extraordinary opportunity to see a selection of the artist’s major series, each intended to evoke several layers of society.”

In a fine example of symbolic storytelling, Marriage à la Mode, Hogarth challenges the notion that the wealthy lead virtuous lives. A six-plate progression allows viewers to witness the disintegration of an arranged marriage as a young couple indulges in numerous vices, from gambling and drinking to extramarital affairs. When the husband catches his wife in the midst of an affair, he tries to defend his honor only to die at the hand of his wife’s lover who later hangs for the crime. In the series’ final scene, the widow poisons herself in a fit of grief. Evidence that disease has passed to the next generation is seen in the blemishes of the couple’s young daughter, now an orphan. For this series, Hogarth hired French engravers to craft the prints modeled after the artist’s painted series of the same name. Similar accounts of woe are illustrated in Hogarth’s The Four Stages of Cruelty and A Rake’s Progress, also on view.

Related Programs

Perspectives Gallery Talk by the Blanton’s Francesca Consagra, Colette Crossman, and Catherine Zinser
Thursday, October 11, 12:30PM

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