Harlots, Rakes & Crashing China

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Forthcoming Arts Society Chiswick lecture

Harlots, rakes & crashing china - an accidental introduction to ceramics and Hogarth’s world by Lars Tharp is the forthcoming Arts Society Chiswick on Thursday, 9th May, at the Polish Centre, Hammersmith.

The lecture is starting at 8pm with the bar open from 7pm. Non-members are welcome for a fee of £10 on the door.

Hogarth brings pots, crocks and all manner of chinaware onto his stage as bit-part players in his social dramas. From the Harlot’s dingy garret to milord’s swanky mantelpiece, ceramics teeter, tumble, or merely stand helplessly by, symbolic commentators on the goings-on around them. We delve into the stories, we reveal and even identify particular ceramics and show how Hogarth’s images themselves became sources for the ceramic workshops of Europe and China. A unique and stimulating talk colliding material culture and moral commentary. You will look at Hogarth and ceramics with new eyes.

Lars Tharp is a Ceramics as well as a Hogarth specialist. Most of his current talks focus on the European and the East-West China trade and the material world of the 17th and 18th century. He is a regular lecturer and broadcaster and leads occasional tours to China.

Born in Copenhagen, he read Archaeology at Cambridge, was at Sotheby's for sixteen years, and is today London's Foundling Museum's 'Hogarth Ambassador'. He holds an Honorary Doctorate in Art, is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London and sits on the court of The Company of Weavers, London's oldest guild. He has served twice on the Art Fund's Annual Prize to Museums and Galleries.

May 1, 2019