Description:
The Analysis of Beauty, written by Hogarth and published in 1753, sets out the artist's ideas on taste and artistic practice. The text is defensive in tone, written partly in response to criticism of Hogarth's work, and partly anticipating criticism of the text itself. (Artists Joshua Reynolds and Paul Sandby were hostile to the publication.) A key theme is the role of the curved "line of beauty", which Hogarth had introduced into the frontispiece to his engraved works in 1745 as a teaser: "No Egyptian hieroglyphic ever amused more than it did for a time; painters and sculptors came to me to know the meaning of it, being as much puzzled with it as other people." "The Analysis of Beauty. Written with a view of fixing fluctuating Ideas of Taste" by William Hogarth (1697-1764) in a brown "clamshell" case. Hogarth captured the British fascination with fashion and its effect on character through satirical engravings and this book. He believed that the S-curve in particular revealed emotions like anger and adoration, or conditions like age and simplicity, through its exaggeration or relaxation. In Plate I, ostensibly showing John Cheere's statuary yard, full of sculpture, diagrams, and figures. Cheere;s premises near Hyde Park Corner contained lead and plaster versions of sculpture for interior and garden decoration. Hogarth considers the sources and roles of the S-curve in conveying a sense of movement and life in all things: from the human torso, chair leg, corset, to a candlestick. He dissects human perceptions of beauty with only a little satire about the equality imposed by human nature on everyone regardless of status.
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https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+88.003 |
