Tim and I went to The Met to see Infinite Jest: Caricature and Satire from Leonardo to Levine. I loved looking at all the drawings of people with bug bodies. I saw a defecating bottom wearing glasses and learned that is was a symbol of ignorance. Look at this Daumier! And this Hirschfeld and this Rowlandson... reminds me of James Ensor! And check out the show... it's ending March 4th. Tim and I found ourselves in front of Hogarth's Characters and Caricaturas...

The first thing that I thought when I saw Hogarth's hatchy and wobbly but assuredly lithe line was how much he's influenced Crumb. It is as if Hogarth is still breathing through Crumb's drawings. Then Tim looked at the bottom of the print and said, "That guy is right out of the '60's" and it's true, Hogarth does seem to have drawn a belligerent hippie in the bottom right hand corner of the page. I stood there transfixed. Was Hogarth sending a secret message to Crumb in the future? Or maybe Crumb traveled back 200 years and made a cameo in Hogarth's picture? Hmmm....