Art Appreciation Lecture Series 2019 Being human: The figure in art Reading Faces and Figures in the Nineteenth Century: From caricature to phrenology Lecturer: Alison Inglis 19-20 June 2019

Lecture summary:

This lecture will examine the visual tradition of portraying the human figure and face in a highly expressive manner. Following a brief historical background, the discussion will focus on the rise of caricature as a popular form of art in eighteenth-century Britain, and its development and popularity during the nineteenth century in Britain and France. The pseudo-sciences of physiognomy and phrenology will also be examined, especially their impact on the way Victorian audiences ‘read’ faces and figures in works of art. The satirical depictions of the Pre-Raphaelite movement by George du Maurier and Max Beerbohm will be considered as one case study. A second will focus on the portrayal of one of Australia’s early colonial governors – Sir John Franklin.

Slide list:

1. Ancient Greek Theatre Mask; and Tragic Comic Masks from Ancient Greek Theatre 2.. 14th Century English Medieval Stone Grotesque Figure Of A Seated Man; and Grotesque face made of gold thread on saddle pad, 1600-1650; and Grotesque from margin of Luttrell Psalter, 1320-40, illuminated MS, f.203.v, British Library 3a. Leonardo da Vinci, Grotesque Heads and Profiles, c.1490s, pen and ink, Royal Collection. 3b. Wenceslaus Holler after Leonardo da Vinci, Twelve Caricature Heads, 1640s, etching, Teylers Museum Haarlem 4. Gian Lorenzo Bernini caricatures, c.1610-80: Caricature of a Cavalier, pen and ink, Morgan Collection; Pope Innocent XI, pen and ink; Caricature of a cardinal, pen and ink; caricature of Two Cardinals, pen and ink. 5. Agostino Carracci (157-1602), Sheet of Caricature Heads, 1594, pen and brown ink on paper, Barber Institute of Fine Arts, Birmingham 6. William Hogarth, Characters and Caricatura, April 1743, etching, The Met Museum of Art 7. James Gillray (1765-1815) Tales of Wonder, 1802, hand-coloured etching and aquatint, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Tony Gilbert Bequest Fund 2012 8. George Cruikshank (1792-1878), Little Boney Gone to Pot, 1814, hand coloured etching, BM 9. Contemporary graphic images showing exhibition of cartoons at Palace of Westminster in 1843 10a. John Leech (1817-1864), Cartoon No. 1, Substance and Shadow, in Punch Magazine, 15 July 1843 10b. Father Thames Introducing his Offspring to the Fair City of London, in Punch Magazine, 3 July 1858, British Library 11. Richard Doyle (1824-1883), Front Cover Punch Magazine, No. 37, 10 September 1859; Time’s Waxworks’, Punch Magazine, 1881 12. Humorous ‘cartoons’ based on proposed frescoes for Parliament House in Melbourne published in Melbourne Punch, 1856 13a-c..Honore Daumier, The Past, the Present, the Future, 1834, lithograph, The Art Gallery of New South Wales, Purchased 1988; Honore Daumier, Masks, 1830, lithograph published in La Caricature; Louis Philippe Turning into a Pear, 1831, lithograph, in La Caricature 14 a-b. Jean -Pierre Dantan, Maquette for bust of Victor Hugo, Plaster and wax, 1832, Victor Hugo Museum; Honore Daumier, Caricature of Victor Hugo, lithograph, in Le Charivari, 1849 15a-b. Pierre-Jean David D’Angers, Portrait medallions of Alfred de Musset, 1831 (left); and General Kleber, 1831, bronze (below), Frick Collection; Jean-Pierre Dantan, Sculpted Bust of Hector Berlioz, 1833

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16 a-b. 32. George du Maurier (1834-1896), A Legend of Camelot, Punch Magazine, 17 March 1866; Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828-1882), Proserpine, 1874, oil on canvas, Tate Britain, Presented by W. Graham Robertson, 1940 17 a-b. George du Maurier, The Six Mark Teapot, Punch Magazine, 30 October, 1880; George du Maurier, An Impartial Statement in Black and White, Aesthetic Lady and Woman of Fashion, in Punch Magazine, 1881. 18 a-b. Edward Burne-Jones, ‘Mr Morris reading poems to Mr Burne-Jones’, From An album of caricatures, 1865-1880, pen and ink, British Museum; Ernest H. Shepard, Pre-Raphaelist Cocktail Party. (A thought that came to one artist after visiting the William Morris Centenary Exhibition.) Punch Magazine, pen and ink. 19 a-c. Max Beerbohm, A Momentary Vision that once Befell Young Millais, 1916, graphite and watercolour on paper, Tate Bequeathed by Sir Hugh Walpole 1941; Max Beerbohm Woolner at Farringford, 1857, 1917 graphite and watercolour on paper, Tate Bequeathed by Sir Hugh Walpole 1941; Max Beerbohn, Topsy and Ned Jones settled on the Settle in Red Lion Square, 1916, graphite and watercolour on paper, Tate Bequeathed by Sir Hugh Walpole 1941 20: Max Beerbohm, A Momentary Vision that once Befell Young Millais, 1916; Holman Hunt, John Millais, 1853, pencil and wash, Tate; John Millais, Ferdinand lured by Ariel,1850, oil, Private Coll.; A. J. Philpott, Portrait of John Millais,1894, photograph, NPG; John Millais, Cherry Ripe, oil, 1879, private collection. 21. William Frith, The Derby Day, 1909, oil on canvas, Tate Britain, Bequeathed by Jacob Bell 1859 22. William Frith, The Railway Station, 1862, oil on canvas, Royal Holloway College, University of London 23 a-b..George Cruikshank, Bumpology, 24 February, 1826, Graphic Arts Collection, Princeton University Library; Honore Daumier, A phrenologist examines two skulls from his collection, 1841, lithograph, The Wellcome Collection. 24a-b. Phrenological Map of the Human Mind; A definition of phrenology with chart from Webster’s Academic Dictionary, c. 1895 25a-b. Thomas Phillips, Sir John Franklin, 1828, Oil on canvas, National Portrait Gallery; David D’Angers, Sir John Franklin, 1829, Bronze medallion, National Portrait Gallery 26. Outlines of Phrenology, New York, Fowler & Wells, 1884; W. Wright, Captain Franklin, engraving; F. C. Lewis, Captn Franklin, 1824, engraving, NPG 27. Thomas Bock, Jane Franklin, 1838, chalk, QVMAG 28a-c. Charles Webster Gilbert, Sir George Reid, 1916, marble on painted stone base, on loan to the National Portrait Gallery, Canberra; Novelty Paperweight/Doorstop, Caricature of former Australian Prime Minister; Sir George Reid, 1917, cast iron, National Museum of Australia 29a-b. Mashman Bros Chatswood (Sydney), 1916-1917 Novelty brown glazed ceramic paperweight caricature of the head of Australian Prime Minister William (Billy) Hughes), National Museum of Australia; Bill Leak, Cartoon on Donald Trump reacting to Australian refugee deal with Australia, The Australian newspaper, Posted on ABC, 10 March 2017 30, Benjamin Atmore, Phrenelogy of Trump, poster, nd.

References:

Mary Cowling, The artist as anthropologist: the representation of type and character in Victorian art, Cambridge University Press, 1989

Art Gallery of Ballarat, In your face: Cartoons about Politics and Society 1760-2010, exh.cat., Ballarat, 2018.

T. Wright and F. W. Fairholt, A history of caricature and grotesque in literature and art, Creative Space, 2014

For access to all past lecture notes visit: https:// www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/members/current-members/member-events/being- human-figure-art/