Victor Hugo @ Royal Academy of Arts
My knowledge about Victor Hugo (1802-1885) is incredibly limited. I’ve seen Les Mis on stage but never read any of his novels and was completely unaware his creative skills extended beyond the written word. When I heard the RA was showing his drawings I scoffed, assuming it would be yet another token exhibit of mediocre hobby art being displayed only because Hugo’s fame as an author and playwright would lure crowds willing to pay the entry fee.
You know what happens when you assume, right?
Hugo made more than 4,000 drawings in his lifetime, most of which were highly personal compositions that he specifically made for, and gave to, close friends and family. The 70 in this show spotlight his skills at caricature, architectural renderings — some are so precise and detailed that he could have been a draughtsman — and whimsical scenes. Those latter two categories blend in his creation of storybook cityscapes. Hugo apparently had a lifelong obsession with castles and there’s a whole room dedicated to works that were often based on real vistas that Hugo decided to make even more exotic and atmospheric than they appeared through his own eyes.
Hugo also had quite a tumultuous political journey in his lifetime. The show only briefly touches upon that aspect of his life, but one particular presentation piqued my interest in learning more. A work of Hugo’s was converted into an etching to be used in stories about the hanging of American abolitionist John Brown in 1859. The etching is presented alongside Hugo’s original and the letter he wrote authorising it’s use.
Something that I also found compelling is that Hugo’s primary visual medium was exactly the same as that which he used to draft his novels and plays: pen and ink. The flourishes weren’t descriptive text but augmentations made with watercolour, gouache and other experimental techniques such as soaking lace in ink and then using it to stamp patterns onto the paper. He used stencils. He would drag a cloth across wet ink to imitate rain, and he frequently created taches (marks or stains that sometimes resembled mirrored ink blots like you see in a Rorschach test) as the basis for his scenes.
Hugo liked to incorporate drawings into his journals and private letters. It must have been quite the surprise for recipients of his correspondence to see he took the time not just to write, but to draw for them as well. Many of the letters that appear in this show have been translated, and a few of his sketchbooks are present, left open to pages with exploratory ideas and unfinished concepts. They’re a joy to see, but it’s the finished works that you will want to closely study.
In one of his larger pieces the skyline of a small town is visible in the distance. You’ll barely notice it because a giant mushroom fills most of the page. It’s unclear if this is a collage of two concepts or an attempt at forced perspective. A close examination reveals a face hidden in the mushroom stem. Hugo drew this in 1850 but it’s practically impossible for modern eyes to see anything other than nuclear apocalypse.
That work, like many you will see, is hard to pass without imagining what story it might be trying to tell. Though not explicitly illustrative there’s clearly effort to convey setting and mood, and knowing these were drawn by a writer gives them a nuance of intentionality. If a landscape painter depicts a seaside town you might consider the time and place in which it sits. When a writer does it you immediately wonder about the ships and the pirates that sail them. Or of sea monsters, which Hugo has also drawn and you will see in this show.
Thanks to clear and informative wall text, about both the works and the artist, I know a lot more about Hugo than I did before seeing this exhibition. And while it hasn’t inspired me to read his work, it has filled my head with fantastical visions and excited me in the same way that only creative storytelling can. That a lauded writer was also expert at visually conveying his inner visions is extraordinary.
Plan your visit
‘Astonishing Things’ runs until 29 June.
Tickets from £17 adult / £11 students & concessions / children under 16 free
Visit royalacademy.org.uk and follow @royalacademyarts on Instagram for more info about the venue.
Visit the Victor Hugo Wikipedia page for more info about the artist.
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