Joan Jonas's 'The Shape, The Scent, The Feel Of Things' And William Hogarth's 'A Harlot's Progress' At Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive
"One of the most ancient and revered of Hopi traditions is the snake dance, an intense and magical ritual performed at the close of a sixteen-day community celebration. During the rite, priests dance with snakes in their teeth, after which the snakes are released back into nature as messengers of Hopi harmony with the spiritual and natural worlds. In the 1960s, the young New York–based artist Joan Jonas was deeply influenced by the snake dance and other Hopi rituals she saw during a journey to Arizona. In her mesmerizing multimedia installation The Shape, the Scent, the Feel of Things, Jonas revisits these deeply embedded memories of the American Southwest through yet another influence—an essay she had recently read by the German art historian Aby Warburg (1866–1929), whose own nineteenth-century visit to the American Southwest shaped his influential view of Western art.
Warburg was a brilliant young art historian, trained in Renaissance art, when he made an extended journey to Arizona in 1895 and 1896. There he observed and photographed Hopi and Navaho culture. Long after returning to Europe, he was hospitalized for treatment of schizophrenia; one of the demonstrations of his regained health was a lecture he gave to his doctors on the Native American serpent ritual. Thirty years had passed since his experience in the Southwest. “Although he did see certain dances and rituals, Warburg never saw the Hopi snake dance, but I was struck by his descriptions of it and by the depth of his concern with the culture,” Jonas has said." ...
Joan Jonas: The Shape, the Scent, the Feel of Things
October 13, 2007 - July 20, 2008
William Hogarth
A Harlot's Progress, plate 1, April 1733
Etching with engraving on paper
320 x 380 mm
Courtesy Andrew Edmunds, London, United Kingdom via Tate British Museum Website.
[Click on image for enlargement.]
A recently acquired full series of the masterpiece is on display at the Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive.
Hogarth's Modern Moral Series: A Harlot's Progress
"A Harlot’s Progress burst onto the London scene just after an official crackdown on prostitution had begun, focussed specifically on Covent Garden. The most prominent figure in this initiative was Justice John Gonson, whose missionary zeal in ‘cleaning up’ the streets was regularly reported in the London press. Prostitutes working in brothels and on the streets tended to be characterised as vain, artful temptresses who were directly responsible for moral corruption and the spread of disease. By the 1730s the emphasis on blame and revulsion was partially tempered by a journalistic convention that presented the prostitute as an innocent country girl who arrives in the city, alone and vulnerable, and is tricked into prostitution by a devious brothel keeper.
Hogarth incorporated these inconsistent representations into A Harlot’s Progress, giving them greater resonance and topicality by folding into the storyline references to real-life characters, including Gonson himself, who appears in Scene . In Scene 1 Moll is met by Elizabeth ‘Mother’ Needham, a notorious brothel keeper who died in 1730 after being brutally assaulted by the London crowd as she stood in a pillory. In the background stands Colonel Francis Charteris, an infamous Scottish rake nicknamed ‘The Rape-Master General of Britain’. In March 1730 he was convicted for the rape of a maidservant in his employ.
Plate 1
Moll Hackabout has arrived at the Bell Inn in Cheapside, fresh from the countryside, seeking employment as a seamstress or domestic servant. She stands, innocent and modestly attired, in front of Mother Needham, the brothel keeper, who is examining her youth and beauty. Needham may be acting on behalf of Colonel Charteris, who stands in the doorway to the right, fondling himself while ogling the new arrival. On the left, the churchman’s horse has upset a stack of pots, portending Moll’s imminent ‘fall’.
Plate 2
Moll is now the kept mistress of a wealthy London Jew and lives in a well-appointed town house. He has arrived unexpectedly, interrupting Moll and her aristocratic lover in bed. In order to create a diversion, while her lover sneaks out, Moll is kicking over the small table and clicking her fingers dismissively. Although Moll is clearly beautiful and desirable, her keeper’s look of disbelief suggests that she is misjudging the security of her position.
Plate 3
Having insulted and betrayed her wealthy keeper, Moll has been cast out and ‘demoted’ to the position of a common prostitute. As indicated by the tankard in the lower right corner, the dingy garret she now occupies is situated around Covent Garden, which was renowned for its brothels. Moll looks alluringly towards the viewer, unaware of the arrival of Justice Gonson to arrest her. The bottles of medicine around the room suggest that the small black spots on her face are more than just fashionable face patches and are in fact hiding the tell-tale signs of syphilis.
Plate 4
Moll is in Bridewell Prison, the house of correction for prostitutes, wayward apprentices and petty criminals. She is seen beating hemp. The marked change in her circumstances are emphasised by the incongruity of her fine clothes within the cheerless prison. Her appearance clearly amuses some of the female inmates - one mockingly touches the lace and silk of Moll’s clothing, while directing a wink and wry grin at the viewer.
Plate 5
Moll has returned to the garret. After the humiliation of prison confinement she is now dying from venereal disease, indicated by the shroud-like ‘sweating’ blankets that swathe her body. The servant who tends her turns angrily on two doctors quarrelling over the efficacy of their respective cures, while ignoring the evident distress of their patient. In any case, they are both quacks. Moll’s illegitimate son sits by the open fire. The innocent victim of this series, we are left to wonder if he too will enter the world of vice and crime.
Plate 6
The indifference shown towards Moll in Plate 5 is mirrored by the final scene, where ‘mourners’, most of whom are fellow prostitutes, gather round the coffin. That the cautionary lesson of Moll’s short life remains unheeded by many in the room is underlined by some prostitutes taking the opportunity to ply their trade. On the left a parson, staring into space, delves beneath the skirt of the young and beautiful prostitute next to him. She looks out towards the viewer with half-closed eyes and a faint smile on her lips, reminiscent of Moll’s alluring expression in Plate 3. Clearly the cycle of innocence corrupted, sex, decay and death will continue unabated."
Photo and text credit: (c) Tate Britain Museum. All rights reserved. With thanks.
*
Private classical playlists recent (Nielsen, Myaskovsky, Stravinsky, MacMillan) and upcoming (Birtwistle, Sciarinno, Ferneyhough, Anne LeBaron).
Warburg was a brilliant young art historian, trained in Renaissance art, when he made an extended journey to Arizona in 1895 and 1896. There he observed and photographed Hopi and Navaho culture. Long after returning to Europe, he was hospitalized for treatment of schizophrenia; one of the demonstrations of his regained health was a lecture he gave to his doctors on the Native American serpent ritual. Thirty years had passed since his experience in the Southwest. “Although he did see certain dances and rituals, Warburg never saw the Hopi snake dance, but I was struck by his descriptions of it and by the depth of his concern with the culture,” Jonas has said." ...
Joan Jonas: The Shape, the Scent, the Feel of Things
October 13, 2007 - July 20, 2008
William Hogarth
A Harlot's Progress, plate 1, April 1733
Etching with engraving on paper
320 x 380 mm
Courtesy Andrew Edmunds, London, United Kingdom via Tate British Museum Website.
[Click on image for enlargement.]
A recently acquired full series of the masterpiece is on display at the Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive.
Hogarth's Modern Moral Series: A Harlot's Progress
"A Harlot’s Progress burst onto the London scene just after an official crackdown on prostitution had begun, focussed specifically on Covent Garden. The most prominent figure in this initiative was Justice John Gonson, whose missionary zeal in ‘cleaning up’ the streets was regularly reported in the London press. Prostitutes working in brothels and on the streets tended to be characterised as vain, artful temptresses who were directly responsible for moral corruption and the spread of disease. By the 1730s the emphasis on blame and revulsion was partially tempered by a journalistic convention that presented the prostitute as an innocent country girl who arrives in the city, alone and vulnerable, and is tricked into prostitution by a devious brothel keeper.
Hogarth incorporated these inconsistent representations into A Harlot’s Progress, giving them greater resonance and topicality by folding into the storyline references to real-life characters, including Gonson himself, who appears in Scene . In Scene 1 Moll is met by Elizabeth ‘Mother’ Needham, a notorious brothel keeper who died in 1730 after being brutally assaulted by the London crowd as she stood in a pillory. In the background stands Colonel Francis Charteris, an infamous Scottish rake nicknamed ‘The Rape-Master General of Britain’. In March 1730 he was convicted for the rape of a maidservant in his employ.
Plate 1
Moll Hackabout has arrived at the Bell Inn in Cheapside, fresh from the countryside, seeking employment as a seamstress or domestic servant. She stands, innocent and modestly attired, in front of Mother Needham, the brothel keeper, who is examining her youth and beauty. Needham may be acting on behalf of Colonel Charteris, who stands in the doorway to the right, fondling himself while ogling the new arrival. On the left, the churchman’s horse has upset a stack of pots, portending Moll’s imminent ‘fall’.
Plate 2
Moll is now the kept mistress of a wealthy London Jew and lives in a well-appointed town house. He has arrived unexpectedly, interrupting Moll and her aristocratic lover in bed. In order to create a diversion, while her lover sneaks out, Moll is kicking over the small table and clicking her fingers dismissively. Although Moll is clearly beautiful and desirable, her keeper’s look of disbelief suggests that she is misjudging the security of her position.
Plate 3
Having insulted and betrayed her wealthy keeper, Moll has been cast out and ‘demoted’ to the position of a common prostitute. As indicated by the tankard in the lower right corner, the dingy garret she now occupies is situated around Covent Garden, which was renowned for its brothels. Moll looks alluringly towards the viewer, unaware of the arrival of Justice Gonson to arrest her. The bottles of medicine around the room suggest that the small black spots on her face are more than just fashionable face patches and are in fact hiding the tell-tale signs of syphilis.
Plate 4
Moll is in Bridewell Prison, the house of correction for prostitutes, wayward apprentices and petty criminals. She is seen beating hemp. The marked change in her circumstances are emphasised by the incongruity of her fine clothes within the cheerless prison. Her appearance clearly amuses some of the female inmates - one mockingly touches the lace and silk of Moll’s clothing, while directing a wink and wry grin at the viewer.
Plate 5
Moll has returned to the garret. After the humiliation of prison confinement she is now dying from venereal disease, indicated by the shroud-like ‘sweating’ blankets that swathe her body. The servant who tends her turns angrily on two doctors quarrelling over the efficacy of their respective cures, while ignoring the evident distress of their patient. In any case, they are both quacks. Moll’s illegitimate son sits by the open fire. The innocent victim of this series, we are left to wonder if he too will enter the world of vice and crime.
Plate 6
The indifference shown towards Moll in Plate 5 is mirrored by the final scene, where ‘mourners’, most of whom are fellow prostitutes, gather round the coffin. That the cautionary lesson of Moll’s short life remains unheeded by many in the room is underlined by some prostitutes taking the opportunity to ply their trade. On the left a parson, staring into space, delves beneath the skirt of the young and beautiful prostitute next to him. She looks out towards the viewer with half-closed eyes and a faint smile on her lips, reminiscent of Moll’s alluring expression in Plate 3. Clearly the cycle of innocence corrupted, sex, decay and death will continue unabated."
Photo and text credit: (c) Tate Britain Museum. All rights reserved. With thanks.
*
Private classical playlists recent (Nielsen, Myaskovsky, Stravinsky, MacMillan) and upcoming (Birtwistle, Sciarinno, Ferneyhough, Anne LeBaron).
posted by Garth Trinkl at 8:00 AM
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