IN-PERSON London Heritages. Section B

Abstract

William Hogarth was one of the foremost chroniclers of Georgian life and manners. Interpretations of his images often privilege semiotic approaches, as details of individual objects and characters within his work are parsed to reproduce the artist’s meaning. Such readings are integral to the heritagization of Hogarth and his work- Hogarth, through his depictions of eighteenth-century vice paradoxically occupies a virtuous position as father of a tradition of visual satire. This process echoes David Lowenthal’s claim that ‘Heritage aims to convert historical residues into witnesses that attest our own ancestral virtues’(Lowenthal, 1998). This panel presents a collaborative project between St Mary’s University and Hogarth’s House in Chiswick which draws on embodied histories and phenomenology to re-interpret Hogarth’s work. We use Hogarth’s art as a starting point ask- what makes a smell, a taste, a noise, a feeling? How did the sensory and emotional experiences of people in the past differ from our own? (Boddice, 2018). The project involves an exhibition and a series of public and school engagement events. By using Hogarth’s images to explore the historically specific nature of sensory and emotional experience we intend to raise fundamental questions about the nature of human experience. We consider key issues in heritage, particularly the construction of the ‘felt’ past through phenomenological research drawing on Hogarthian images (Macdonald, 2013). The panel will explore intersections between felt heritage and history, asking whether the re-interpretation of Hogarth’s images within a heritage site can facilitate an encounter with the fundamental differentness of the past. Works Cited: Boddice, Rob The History of Emotions (Manchester, 2018); Lowenthal, David The Heritage Crusade and the Spoils of History (Cambridge, 1998); Macdonald, Sharron Memorylands: Heritage and Identity in Europe Today (London, 2013)