This lecture series will explore aspects of the rich history of visual satire and caricature in Britain.
We will begin by looking at the bawdy social and moral ‘progresses’ of Hogarth, before progressing to the scabrous and scurrilous political caricatures of the Georgian era – the art of Gillray and Rowlandson. Attention will then turn to the evolution of political cartoons during the Victorian period, from Cruikshank to Tenniel. This will pave the way for an evaluation of 20th-century political cartoons, culminating with first hand recollections of the latex lampoonery of ‘Spitting Image’.
Themes and questions to be addressed will include the issue of the ‘taming’ of political caricature during the Victorian period and the ongoing question of how, and indeed whether political caricature and visual satire can continue to advance today in an era of media fragmentation and growing ideological and religious intolerance.