Hogarth's Lost Annotations
Mon 11/16 • 4PM - 5:30PM PST
William Andrews Clark Memorial Library
Hogarth' "Lost" Annotations, presented by Dr. Zirwat Chowdhury, Assistant Professor of 18th- and 19th-Century European Art, Department of Art History (UCLA), focuses on an annotated copy of The Investigator No. CCCXXII, one of a series of essays published by the 18th-century Scottish painter, Allan Ramsay. The annotations are those of Ramsay’s contemporary, the English painter and printmaker, William Hogarth. A prized document for its contribution to the artists’ important debates on art theory and aesthetic philosophy, the annotated volume has been understood by Hogarth scholars to have been long lost, even though it has been part of the Clark collections since it was acquired by William Andrews Clark Jr. in 1929. This talk will discuss how the annotated volume might expand our understanding of Hogarth’s theory of art, foundational to the history of 18th-century British art and controversially espoused by the artist in 1753 in his treatise on art and aesthetics, The Analysis of Beauty.