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Thomas Rowlandson <em>Dr. Syntax Taking Possession of his Living</em>
Thomas Rowlandson Dr. Syntax Taking Possession of his Living

More than 50 prints, drawings and illustrated books by the British artist and humorist Thomas Rowlandson (1756 – 1827) will be on display in Hamilton College's Emerson Gallery in an exhibition opening on Friday, Feb. 10. These works are on loan to the Emerson from the extensive collection of Rowlandson's work in the Print Department of the Boston Public Library. The show, titled "Humor & Humanity: Through the Eyes of Thomas Rowlandson," will be open through April 15 and is free and open to the public.

The collection was acquired through a gift of drawings and illustrated books by Rowlandson made to the library by Albert H. Wiggin in 1941 and the subsequent purchases of single sheet prints made during the 1970s. The concept for the exhibition and its development was the work of the students in the Tufts University Museum Studies Program. The student project during the 2005 spring semester was to review and research the library's holdings by Rowlandson, develop a concept for an exhibition, and implement it. The result was "Humor & Humanity: Through the Eyes of Thomas Rowlandson," which was shown in the library's Wiggin Gallery during May 2005, the first time that Rowlandson selections had been exhibited there in 32 years. As seen at Hamilton, the original Boston Public Library exhibition is supplemented by holdings of the Emerson Gallery.

Thomas Rowlandson was a leading social critic of contemporary British society, using his talent to reflect on and poke fun at his times. Professionally trained at the Royal Academy, Rowlandson traveled extensively, especially throughout England, recording the inequalities, foibles and manners of everyday life.

Hamilton student Thomas Booth, a senior studio art and government major who has been the college newspaper's cartoonist for his four years at Hamilton, has been very involved in arrangements for the associated "Political Illustration and Cartooning Symposium." The Symposium will include a series of speakers, from Hamilton and other institutions, tracing the art history of social satire, political illustration and cartooning from Rowlandson and America's Thomas Nast to the present day. It is scheduled for Saturday, April 8, from noon to 5 p.m. and will begin in the Science Center.

Registration for the symposium is requested. For additional information call 315-859-4396 or click on www.Hamilton.edu/college/Emerson_Gallery. The Emerson Gallery is located on the Hamilton College campus in Clinton, New York, in the Christian A. Johnson Hall, directly behind the Chapel. Gallery hours are Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Saturday & Sunday from 1 to 5 p.m.

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