An Artists' Soirée–A Sketch at the Hogarth Club, from "The Graphic," p. 489

An Artists' Soirée–A Sketch at the Hogarth Club, from "The Graphic," p. 489

William Harcourt Hooper

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Brewtnall, who designed this image, began his career drawing illustrations for "The Graphic," a popular London periodical. This wood-engraving shows members of London’s Hogarth Club, originally founded by former members of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood in 1858–61, then revived in the 1870s as alternate, semi-private exhibition space for those dissatisfied with how their works were hung at the Royal Academy. The club welcomed both artists and art-lovers, and James McNeill Whistler is shown leaning on the piano with Frederick Walker on the instrument's left (both have large mustaches). Since many of the men hold pipes, the occasion must be a "Smoking Concert," a popular type of all-male Victorian social event. Works hung densely on the walls affirm the Club’s function as an exhibition space.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

An Artists' Soirée–A Sketch at the Hogarth Club, from "The Graphic," p. 489An Artists' Soirée–A Sketch at the Hogarth Club, from "The Graphic," p. 489An Artists' Soirée–A Sketch at the Hogarth Club, from "The Graphic," p. 489An Artists' Soirée–A Sketch at the Hogarth Club, from "The Graphic," p. 489An Artists' Soirée–A Sketch at the Hogarth Club, from "The Graphic," p. 489

The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.