HOGARTH'S LEGACY

The legacy of graphic artist William Hogarth (1697-1764) remains so emphatic that even his last name has evolved into a common vernacular term referring to his characteristically scathing form of satire. Featuring rarely seen images and written contributions from leading scholars, this book showcases a collection of the artist's works gathered from the Lewis Walpole Library at Yale University and other repositories. "Cynthia Ellen Roman's edition of collected essays on the legacy of the English engraver, printmaker, and painter William Hogarth (1697-1764) is a timely tribute to one of the most iconic figures of the eighteenth-century visual satire, 250 years after the artist's death... Art historian Douglas Fordham opens the book with an essay on "Hogarth's Act as the Professional Caricaturist" in which he unveils the artist's role in the passing of the Engravers' Act of 1735, also known as Hogarth's Act, which is one of the most enduring legacies of the artist. Proposing that the value of a print lies not in the paper but in the "design," which necessarily goes beyond the simple copy of one's work, the Engraver's Act created opportunities for the emergence of the professional caricaturist in England, outstandingly represented by James Gillray and George Cruikshank. Cynthia Ellen Roman explores the "persistent history" of copying the artist's work as fostering innovations in graphic satire... Such artists include Jean-Baptiste Greuze, or "the French Hogarth," whose work is insightfully analysed in this chapter, as well as Louis-Léopold Boilly, Rodolphe Topffer, Emile Wattier, Victor Adam, Edmé-Jean Pigal, and Edouard Charon, who "corrected" or emulated Hogarth the caricaturist." - Ileana Baird, Zayed University. The eight essays by eminent Hogarth experts help to further contextualize the artist's unique narrative strategies, embedding the work within German philosophical debates and the moral confusion of the Victorian period and emphasising the social and political dimensions that are part and parcel of its profound impact. Endlessly parodied and emulated, Hogarth's distinctive satire persists in its influence throughout the centuries and this publication provides the necessary lens through which to view it. 11 x 9", 272 pages, 108 illustrations.