THE RAKE'S PROGRESS - WILLIAM HOGARTH AND DAVID HOCKNEY

An exhibition demonstrating the use of the same theme by two artists more tan two centuries apart, Hogarth’s eight engravings were published in 1734 and have enjoyed wide success at the time and since, inspiring other treatments including the Auden/Stravinsky opera whose production at Glynebourne was set by David Hockney. The 16 Hockney etchings in this exhibition are an example of his interest in the theme of the Rake’s Progress, interpreting it in contemporary and autobiographical terms. The plates were executed after the artist’s first visit to the United States and published in 1963. They were shown at the Museum of Modern Art in New York the following year and have since become a classic of contemporary graphics.

The exhibition originated in 1966 and was disbanded in 1993. It was accompanied by a leaflet with an essay by Edward Lucie-Smith and brief biographical notes. During 1972 the exhibition toured in Greece: Athens, Volos and Thessaloniki,; in 1973 in Mexico, Belize and Trinidad; in 1976 in Brazil to Sao Paulo, Brasilia, Recife and Rio de Janeiro; Peru and Argentina; 1977/8 in Canada; 1980 Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Romania; in the early 1990s to Belgium, the Netherlands, Malta, and Egypt. Previously it had been shown in France, Germany, Ghana, Hong Kong, India, Italy, Singapore, Trinidad, Thailand, Indonesia, Jordan, Kuwait and Oman.