Future Exhibitions

Spring 2027 Public Figures: Puppets, Politics, and “The Lecture on Heads”

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Spring 2027

Public Figures: Puppetry, Politics, and “The Lecture on Heads”
 
detail of Lecture on Heads print showing man gesturing to the bust of a Native American
Curated by Marlis Schweitzer, Professor and Chair, Theatre, Dance & Performance, York University (Toronto)
 
George Alexander Stevens’ The Lecture on Heads was one of the most popular plays of the mid-eighteenth century. First staged in April 1764 at London’s Little Haymarket Theatre, the Lecture featured a series of sculpted papier mâché heads arranged on tables, which Stevens comically presented to the audience. This simple format allowed the actor-playwright to abide by the rules of the Licensing Act of 1737, which limited the kind of plays that could be staged at the Haymarket Theatre. It also made the Lecture endlessly adaptable, which explains its decades-long popularity as well as its vulnerability to pirates. But the real secrets to the Lecture’s success were Stevens’ heads, which he modeled on recognizable public figures of the 1760s - politicians, lawyers, doctors, courtesans, royalty, religious leaders, and more.
 

Until recently historians have assumed that Stevens’ heads were generic types rather than identifiable public figures. Yet careful study of hundreds of political prints, mezzotints, portraits, and other images produced in the 1760s offers compelling evidence of Stevens’ satirical targets and his deep knowledge of, and possible participation in, one of the era’s most intense culture wars. This conflict pitted the supporters of the Scottish Prime Minister John Stuart, the Third Earl of Bute (among them Wiliam Hogarth and Tobias Smollett) against those who viewed Bute as a corrupt and dangerous influence on King George III. The rapid proliferation of prints, publications, and performances by participants on both sides of the culture war trained the London public to identify the likenesses of its central players. Stevens could reliably trust that those who attended his Lecture would recognize the public figures he had sculpted in papier mâché, even if he refrained from naming them directly for fear of censorship or libel charges.

Public Figures: Puppets, Politics, and “The Lecture on Heads” aims to make what was obvious to eighteenth-century audiences legible to viewers today. Drawing on the extensive print collections of the Lewis Walpole Library, it traces the history and legacy of Stevens’ play, situating it within the entangled histories of satirical puppetry, caricature, print shop windows, political commentary, celebrity culture, and more. Short videos and interactive displays also invite attendees to experience some of the performance genres that would have been familiar to eighteenth century audiences, and which continue to inform our relationship with current public figures.

Fall 2026 exhibition at the Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library around Hogarth, curated by Cynthia Roman
 
Our current exhibition can be seen here. 
 

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