In his street scenes the artist carefully balanced disturbing images with funny ones
A CAT struggles as a dog tears out its guts. A group of children smirk as they hang two more tabbies by their tails from a post. Other figures scribble graffiti, or torture a dog with a cudgel. The violence in William Hogarth’s sketch, made in 1750, almost feels senseless, even as it is softened with humour . But it did contain a warning: later pictures show one of the boys graduating from abusing dogs to beating horses, before becoming a ruthless murderer.
The series, “Four Stages of Cruelty”, features in a small but pithy new exhibition of Hogarth’s work at the Morgan Library and Museum in New York. “Cruelty and Humour” never loses sight of the art’s brutality, nor its wryness. One early image shows the aftermath of the South Sea Bubble in 1720, a stock scam which ruined many Britons.
Hogarth drew the injustices of his age in order to point his contemporaries towards a better London. The visceral and scatological humour was key, Ms Tonkovich says, as “looking at a picture of virtue is not much fun. On the other hand, looking at a picture of vice can motivate people.” With Henry Fielding, a magistrate, satirist and friend, Hogarth argued that new legislation was needed to tidy up the streets. Thanks in part to their lobbying, Parliament passed the Gin Act in 1751.
All this has useful lessons for today’s activists. Straight moralising is not just unpopular: it may be ineffective. Follow Hogarth in spiking your polemic with humour, however, and views might soften. A recent study found people felt stronger support for Syrian refugees after watching political satire compared to similar stories on CNN. It helped, the researchers added, that being persuaded felt like fun.
Ms Tonkovich thinks the tone of Hannah Gadsby, a Australian comedian, is particularly effective. In her comedy special “Nanette” she offered a darkly funny exploration of growing up gay in Tasmania. “I think most people who watch it would reflect on times that they’ve been cruel or unfair, or harsh or uncharitable,” Ms Tonkovich says. “There is something about having that held up in a naked, obvious way that does make you reflect.” This is true of Hogarth, too.
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