The first solo exhibition of the works of James Gillray, an 18th century caricaturist, opened on Saturday at the Hood Museum of Art and focuses on his political caricatures.
"James Gillray: Prints by the Eighteenth-Century Master of Caricature," was organized by Katherine Hart, curator of academic programming. It is thematically arranged, displaying caricatures about Gillray's relationship to other artists and political and cultural issues in Georgian England.
Hart said she " wanted to touch on a number of areas that would make [the exhibition] more comprehensible" to people trying to understand aspects of 18th century life in England.
Gillray produced many of his strongest attacks on the monarchy during the early 18th century when England strongly censored many writings and works of art.
In a lecture on Gillray's works, David Bindman, a professor of art history at the University College in London, described Gillray's technique as "encapsulating an entire personality into one feature." This technique is displayed in his drawings of Edmund Burke, which focus on Burke's large nose.
Because many of the political issues of the time centered around the French Revolution, Gillray's drawings during that period focus on what he saw as the vulgarity of the French Revolution. For example, one piece depicts the revolutionaries as promiscuous and cannibalistic.
Hart said, "I concentrated on political issues because I find them to be more complex and interesting."
Because Gillray's works are satirical, Hart warned against viewers' assumptions that the exhibition is an objective representation of 18th century English history. "You have to understand that he was often paid [to do his caricatures]," she said.
Much of Gillray's popularity stemmed from his vivid depictions of his views of the French Revolution. "The Eruption of the Mountain" uses tri-colored lava that emerges from a volcano to represent revolution.
The exhibition will continue through the end of Winter term.
