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Master Impressions from the UAMA Collections - William Hogarth's Marriage a la Mode

Presented by University of Arizona - Museum of Art at University of Arizona - Museum of Art

October 24, 2009-January 24, 2010

In 1731, William Hogarth (British, 1697-1764) created a new form of art, one he called "modern moral subjects." He began telling stories of contemporary life, through a series of "scenes" that could be engraved and sold to the general public. Hogarth's approach was not to preach virtue, but instead to satirize vice and folly. This approach was so effective that it earned him the title of "Comic History Painter" from his friend Henry Fielding. Marriage A-la-Mode or A Variety of Modern Occurrences in High Life was by far Hogarth's most popular and enduring of these "moral" series. Painted mainly in 1743 and published in 1745, it contains all the elements that make Hogarth a master satirist. Not only is the series a keenly observed and savage caricature of the aspirations and foibles of the upper classes, it also contains clever allusions to proverbs and slang of the day, as well as innumerable background details that contribute to the meaning of each scene.