Art vs. Satire

1. Art vs. Satire Johannes Wohlfart – “Blindenzug”

2. William Hogarth (1697-1764)A famous painter and printmaker Had a reputation for being nasty, but extremely detailed Much of his work, though at times vicious, poked fun at contemporary politics and customs Hogarth Self-Portrait

4. 2. Gin Lane

5. “A Rake’s Progress” is a series of paintings that show the decline and fall of Tom Rakewell, the son and heir of a miserly merchant who comes to London, wastes all his money on luxurious living, whores, and gambling and ends up first in prison and then in an insane asylum (Bedlam). 3. “A Rake’s Progress” “Rake” = lecherous, immoral fellows who waste their money

6. 1. In the first painting, Tom has come into his fortune on the death of his father. While the servants mourn, he is being measured for new clothes. He is also rejecting the hand of his pregnant maid, Sarah Young, whom he had promised to marry (she is holding his ring). A Rake’s Progress

7. 2. In the second painting, Tom is attended by musicians and other hangers-on, dressed in expensive costumes. The characters in the picture would easily have been identified by Hogarth's contemporaries as real life London citizens. A Rake’s Progress

8. 3. The Tavern Scene shows the Rake amusing himself in a notorious brothel after an evening of drinking and hooliganism. He has been in a fight: his sword is unsheathed (innuendo?). The picture is full of sordid details: on the far left the contents of a chamberpot are spilled over a dish of roast chicken, one of the prostitutes at the table spits at another one (who is holding a knife), two other prostitutes, who are stealing the Rake's watch, have pockmarks on their face (a sign that they have caught syphilis), while the pills on the floor next to the Rake suggest that he has caught the disease too. A Rake’s Progress

9. 4. Tom narrowly escapes arrest for debt as he travels in a sedan chair. On this occasion he is saved by the intervention of Sarah Young, the girl he had rejected earlier. A Rake’s Progress

10. 5. He attempts to salvage his fortune by marrying a rich but aged and ugly old maid. In the background Sarah arrives holding her child while her indignant mother struggles with a guest. A Rake’s Progress

11. 6. Tom pleads for the assistance of the Almighty in a casino of sorts. Neither he nor the other obsessive gamblers seem to have noticed a fire breaking out behind them. A Rake’s Progress

12. 7. Tom is, by now, incarcerated in the notorious (for the time) Fleet debtor's prison. On his left, Tom’s one-eyed wife is scolding him and on his right, a jailor is demanding 'garnish money' and a boy is demanding money for the beer he's bringing him. On the right we see Sarah Young who has fainted upon seeing her one-time lover in his present condition. A Rake’s Progress

13. 8. Tom finally ends up in Bedlam, London's celebrated mental asylum, with only Sarah Young to comfort him. Notice the fashionably dressed women in the last painting who have paid to come to the asylum as a social outing, to be entertained by the bizarre antics of the inmates. A Rake’s Progress

14. 4. “Los Caprichos: The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters,” 1799---Francisco de Goya

15. The image is accompanied by words inscribed in the front of the desk, "The sleep of reason produces monsters" ("El sueño de la razón produce monstrous"). The phrase has many meanings in the context of late 18th-century Spain and was meant as an indictment of Spanish institutions (the monarchy, the Church, the Inquisition) and society (the aristocracy, relationships between men and women).

16. Modern Examples