Making Sense in Eighteenth-century Prints

February 18, 2011 - June 19, 2011

Actors dressing in barn

Making Sense in Eighteenth-century Prints explores the ways in which artists of the period engaged with their contemporaries’ thinking about the senses, and in so doing it suggests ways for Museum visitors to make sense of the images. The installation presents six etchings and engravings by William Hogarth, Jean-Michel Moreau, and others. All of the prints suggest the eighteenth century’s great interest in the senses — their role in the arts, their place in scientific and philosophical study, and their implications for social and moral behavior.

The Ackland’s Contrapposto gallery exhibitions and early modern studies at the Ackland are supported by a generous grant from the Samuel H. Kress Foundation.

Image Credit: William Hogarth, British, 1697 – 1764. Strolling Actresses Dressing in a Barn, 1738, etching and engraving, The William A. Whitaker Foundation Art Fund. 2010.50.1.