Art galleries aren't normally the place to go if you fancy a laugh. But an exhibition at Tate Britain is proving an exception. Rude Britannia is a collection of comic art from the 17th century to the present day. From William Hogarth's " Rake’s Progress" to Margaret Thatcher’s "Spitting Image" puppet, to the frankly "Absurd". Tate Britain teamed up with guest curators including Gerald Scarfe, Harry Hill and the editors of Viz to look at how comedy in paintings, postcards and puppets has shaped our society.
"Well, British comic art, I think, is in a great tradition. And you think of "Carry On" films, and you think of thing right back to Hogarth and Gillray how they criticized the people in the elite, the leaders and politicians, and so forth. And I think that's very healthy, really." Artists know there's no better way to encourage people to think than through laughter. Some of the methods they've used are innovative, to say the least. "There is a chamber pot in the early 19th century which gives you the chance to, well, let's say, kind of comment on the tyranny of Napoleon, because Napoleon’s bust features in the bottom of this chamber pot, so if you use it, then you end up, well, defacing, let's say, Napoleon.”
Over the last half century Scarfe has helped politicians to account through his clever, but often brutal cartoons. He famously portrayed Margaret Thatcher as a fang-toothed pterodactyl and is enjoying the fresh meat of the Coalition Government. "I always draw Cameron as sort of, part of the Bullingdon, an Old Etonian the Bullingdon Club. I draw him in the Bullingdon Club outfit always. He's got a kind of high forehead. What a big nose really, and pouch dangle eyes and his jaws, I think, are getting lower and lower and then getting sort of heavier and heavier down here. He's sort of thickening up with the effect of power upon him."As the saying goes, a picture paints a thousand words. |