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Tate Britain Exhibition

Rude Britannia: British Comic Art

9 June – 5 September 2010
Rude Britannia exhibition banner
96333929001

Rude Britannia: Gerald Scarfe

Gasp, cringe, or have a sly chuckle: Rude Britannia will certainly cause a reaction. See politicians brought down to size and the great and the good exposed; blush at the saucy postcards and laugh out loud at the slapstick fun - but watch out for that banana skin!

Put together with some the country's best-known cartoonists and comedy writers, this exhibition explores British comic art from the 1600s to the present day. Bringing together a wide array of paintings, sculptures, film and photography, as well as graphic art and comic books, the exhibition celebrates a rich history of cartooning and visual jokes.

86031817001

Rude Britannia: Spitting Image

The room on the Absurd is curated by comedian Harry Hill, and includes such diverse materials as Alice in Wonderland illustrations, David Shrigley's sculpture, and films by Edwina Ashton and Oliver Michaels . Within the Bawdy, Donald McGill's smutty seaside postcards can be seen with works by artists as different as Aubrey Beardsley, Sarah Lucas, and Grayson Perry. The rooms exploring Politics, Social Satire and Cruikshank's Victorian masterpiece The Worship of Bacchus, have been put together with Gerald Scarfe, Steve Bell, and the cartoonists from Viz. These show the power of comic art as a form of social and political commentary throughout history, from satires of Georgian society by Rowlandson and Gillray to Spitting Image's damning Thatcher puppet.

Looking at comedy that is both timeless and of-its-time, Rude Britannia contrasts contemporary artists such as Angus Fairhurst with key historical pieces, and covers everything from Hogarth to the YBAs.

90382499001

TateShots: An Afternoon with Viz

A nourishing picnic of fun ****
The Times

A grand celebration of Britain's taste for the 'naughty but nice'
BBC

Images: Angus Fairhurst The Problem with Banana Skins Divided / Inverted 1998 © the Estate of Angus Fairhurst, Courtesy Sadie Coles HQ, London

Thomas Rowlandson A French Dentist Shewing a Specimen of his Artificial Teeth and False Palates (detail) 1811 Courtesy Andrew Edmunds, London

Donald McGill A Stick of Rock, Cock? (undated) Courtesy The British Cartoon Archive, University of Kent © Donald McGill Archive www.donaldmcgill.info

Tate Britain

Millbank
London SW1P 4RG
Plan your visit

Dates

9 June – 5 September 2010

Find out more

  • William Hogarth

    William Hogarth: past Tate Britain exhibition

  • James Gillray A Sphere, projecting against a Plane

    James Gillray: The Art of Caricature

    James Gillray: The Art of Caricature past exhibition at Tate Britain

  • Sarah Lucas

    Sarah Lucas past exhibition at Tate Liverpool 2005 - 2006

  • Harry Hill Parker Bowles-Windsor Birthday

    Occupational therapy

    Harry Hill

    Harry Hill on his paintings, Tate Etc issue 19, Summer 2010

  • John Bull passes wind at a poster of King George III

    Who farted?

    Cedar Lewisohn, Brian Griffiths, Paul Gravett and Simon Thorp

    Rude Britannia: British Comic Art:, Tate Britain’s forthcoming exhibition exploring the riotous history of humour in British visual culture over the past three centuries, from Gillray to David Shrigley, is being organised with a team of comic writers and cartoonists, including Harry Hill and Steve Bell. Tate Etc. brings together one of the curators, the co-editor of Viz, an artist and a comic historian to celebrate the genre.

  • Artist

    George Cruikshank

    1792–1878
  • Artist

    William Hogarth

    1697–1764
  • Artist

    James Gillray

    1757–1815
  • Artist

    David Shrigley OBE

    born 1968
  • Artist

    Angus Fairhurst

    1966–2008
  • Artist

    Sarah Lucas

    born 1962
  • Artist

    Aubrey Beardsley

    1872–1898
  • Artist

    Sir Grayson Perry CBE RA

    born 1960
  • Artist

    Gerald Scarfe CBE

    born 1936
Artwork
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