Análisis de la belleza

by William Hogarth, Miguel Cereceda (Translator), Rosa María Criado Talavera (Translator)

El pintor, grabador y teórico inglés William Hogart (1697-1764) fue uno de los dibujantes satíricos más geniales. Poseedor de un formidable talento pictórico, comenzó a trabajar como grabador de armas y planchas para libros. Por su feroz y caústica crítica social, ha sido comparado a los más grandes escritores británicos del siglo XVIII: Swifty y Fielding. En El análisis de la belleza se muestra más preocupado por elaborar una doctrina artística de la belleza, contra las doctrinas dominantes, que de hacer crítica satírica: critica las doctrinas que consideran el problema de la belleza más desde el punto de vista moral que artístico y desacredita las doctrinas que la reducen a rígidas esquemas de composición matemática. El análisis de la belleza debe remitirse al ámbito puramente estético y artístico, separándolo de cuestines morales.

Genres: Art, Nonfiction, Classics, 18th Century

152 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1753

About the author

William Hogarth (10 November 1697 – 26 October 1764) was an English painter, printmaker, pictorial satirist, social critic, and editorial cartoonist who has been credited with pioneering western sequential art.

His work ranged from realistic portraiture to comic strip-like series of pictures called "modern moral subjects". Knowledge of his work is so pervasive that satirical political illustrations in this style are often referred to as "Hogarthian".

Reviews

[Vanessa · Rating 3 out of 5]

This work demands the reader's attention, as most 17th Century literature and criticism does, and as such rewards close reading. Recommendable as an interesting piece that reflects the morays and the cultural framework of the past, but not necessarily recommendable for the casual reader looking for an introduction to art criticism.

I received an EARC from NetGalley and the publisher in return for an honest review.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating book that tries to codify beauty but seems to end up always in the 'je ne sais quoi' region of a definition. Curves vs. straights lines are also highly emphasised.

[Simon Pockley · Rating 3 out of 5]

More interesting (and readable) than expected but largely incomprehensible. Back in 1966, my sister gave me an original print (1753) of the Analysis of Beauty from a large book of Hogarth's etchings. It wasn't until recently, when trying to decide what to throw out, that I thought I'd better find out more about this curious collection of illustrations. The print I have is at the front of this book without the peripheral illustrations that make up most of the illustrations for the book. For Hogarth there is a curvaceous line of beauty that is enhanced (or not) by qualities he identifies as: fitness, variety, uniformity, simplicity, intricacy and quantity. There are moments when the usefulness of this line becomes bizarre. Not least when he offers a remedy for children with lowered heads

..an ugly habit prevented, at a proper age, by fastening a ribbon to a quantity of platted hair, or to the cap as it may be kept fast in its place, and the other end to the back of the coat, as figure 5 plate 31, as such a length as may prevent them drawing their chins into their necks; p.233-234.

Hogarth is not the only person to attempt an understand of what makes us respond so some things as beautiful and others as ugly. My favourite theorist is Christopher Alexander. In his 4 volume epic The Nature of Order: An Essay on the Art of Building and the Nature of the Universe, he proposes 15 fundamental properties that help us identify a living work (as opposed to a dead one). These are as follows:

Levels of scale
Strong centers
Thick boundaries
Alternating repetition
Positive space
Good shape
Local symmetries
Deep interlock and ambiguity
Contrast
Gradients
Roughness
Echoes
The void
Simplicity and inner calm
Not-separateness

While there are parallels with Hogarth's qualities, his illustrated explanations do not necessarily lead to aha moments. In part, this could be my lack of familiarity with his meandering sentences, but although I tried, I could not follow his reasoning.

[Justinian · Rating 2 out of 5]

2020-11 – The Analysis of Beauty. William Hogarth (Author). 1753. 138 Pages

A classic book famous for its advocacy of the serpentine line as the key to visual appeal and beauty. The text is wordy and requires some effort to read. The book delves deep into; architecture, the natural world, painting technique, anatomy, English Country Dancing. There is a section on painting that completely captivated me. The author was describing how to painting human skin … how the technique is different depending where on the body the skin is. He described the knowledge of blood vessel and veins and their color properties below the skin. How the artist needed to replicate that and build up the skin color from below the dermis to the surface in order to achieve life like results. Wow! On the whole I was already familiar with his notion of the serpentine and the oval from my reading other books and my experience with English Country Dancing. In some ways this is a niche book for artists but it also offers fantastic insight into beauty norms of a given era. What they held as beauty and how to achieve that. I am sure I will never look at a piece of art, or structure, or dancing figures in quite the same way again … I will likely be trying to see the serpentine ….

[Mateusz · Rating 2 out of 5]

Its better to grab an essay that also searches for scientific evidence of these theories.

[Celka R · Rating 4 out of 5]

Obviously I like a theory of beauty based around shells.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

I greatly admire Hogarth's paintings and engravings. His writings, while precise and onsightful lack the music of his visual output. The introduction, while helpful, compares his writings to Sterne, but Sterne, for me, is more graceful and less ponderous,

[Susu · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nicht immer einfach - un ob das heute noch als aktuell angesehen würde? Wegen Ecos "Geschichte der Schönheit" kam ich darauf, die Analyse mal wieder rauszukramen.

[James Dempsey · Rating 5 out of 5]

So vary’d he, and of his tortuous train
Curl’d many a wanton wreath, in sight of Eve,
To lure her eye. - Milton