William Hogarth: Progress

Bedlam, David Hockney.

To mark the 250th anniversary of Hogarth’s death, Progress brings together for the first time three great contemporary responses to his eternally modern moral tale, A Rake’s Progress. David Hockney’s A Rake’s Progress, 1961-3, Yinka Shonibare MBE’s Diary of a Victorian Dandy, 1998, and Grayson Perry’s The Vanity of Small Differences, 2012, are shown alongside Hogarth’s original 1735 prints and joined by a newly commissioned work by Jessie Brennan.

Hogarth’s popularity with both artists and the public has endured for over two hundred years, and his work has provided inspiration to successive generations. Hockney, Shonibare and Perry not only update Hogarth’s searing social commentary, they also add their own personal concerns to the creative dialogue. Commissioning an emerging female artist to respond to Hogarth’s work, the Foundling Museum further develops the conversation.

Exploring issues of sexuality, race, class, vice, temptation, youth and urban living this exhibition both highlights Hogarth’s continuing relevance and allows us to consider the idea of ‘progress’.

The Foundling Museum, London. 

And look! Here's Claire going to the star-studded opening bash.

A member of the establishment off to the works do. pic.twitter.com/I0pTR3rH4t
— Alan Measles (@Alan_Measles) June 3, 2014

PS Booze, Whores And High Living, Guardian article on Hogarth and your actual modern art.