Hogarth: A Life and a World - Hardcover

Uglow, Jenny

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0374171696 ISBN 13: 9780374171698

Publisher: Farrar Straus & Giroux, 1997

Synopsis

[Hogarth, William] Uglow, Jenny. Hogarth - A Life and a World. New York, Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1997. 16cm x 24cm. XVIII, 794 pages. Original Hardcover with original dustjacket in protective Mylar. Excellent, close to new condition. Jenny Uglow uncovers the man, but also the world he sprang from, immersing us in eighteenth-century London and bringing to vibrant life the scenes that became the subjects of his prints and paintings: political follies like the South Sea Bubble, gatherings in bourgeois households and fashionable salons, lurid criminal acts and trials, and wretched institutions like Bedlam or debtors' prison. Ubiquitous in his lifetime - A Harlot's Progress, A Rake's Progress, Marriage A-la-Mode, and many single pieces were engraved and reproduced in such quantity that it seemed one hungover every English hearth - today the artist's work is the visual measure of his age. (Dustjacket Cover)

About this title

Product Description:

Featuring two hundred black-and-white illustrations and fourteen color plates, a richly detailed biography of the eighteenth-century artist recreates the London scene of his time, which dominated his documentary, often satirical paintings and prints.

Review:

Born and raised in Smithfield, between the hospital and the debtor's prison, William Hogarth witnessed greed and cruelty, crime and disease, the "scummy, solid and stinking" Holborn River, the lively spectacle of "waxworks, rope-dancing and music booths" and "obscene, lascivious and scandalous plays, comedies and farces" otherwise known as Bartholomew Fair. He walked past brewers' barrels, fish stalls, ungrateful beggars, and all orders of fops, harlots and chimney sweeps--and, luckily for us, captured his vibrant 18th-century surroundings with a satirical, exacting and often tender eye.

Uglow's detailed attentions to the historical facts of the day enliven and educate this fascinating portrait of the artist. We learn, for instance, that in Hogarth's revision of "The Distressed Poet", a caricature of Alexander Pope was replaced with a relatively innocuous engraving of a poem, thereby lessening his chances of making enemies with an influential figure. With splendidly detailed explanations and asides such as these, Uglow is never plodding, never dry. Particularly amusing is her explanation of the six-plate series titled "Marriage a la Mode", and her insightful unravelling of that by-gone custom known as arranged marriage. For those who prefer to learn their history with a smile, Uglow provides a splendidly entertaining and well-researched volume. --Martha Silano

About this edition

• Publisher: Farrar Straus & Giroux
• Publication date: 1997
• ISBN 10: 0374171696
• ISBN 13: 9780374171698
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 794