Sit Down & Get Out! The trouble with ‘polite society’

About

The most frequent question from first-time Portico Library visitors is “what is polite literature”? The meaning of this phrase, painted in nineteenth-century gold lettering above the library’s largest bookshelf, is unclear to today’s readers, and evokes an era in which the concept of ‘politeness’ was central to culture and society.

In recent years, politeness in public, online, and among political leaders has become a topic of intense debate. While respect and care for others' feelings have been attacked under claims of “freedom of speech”, politeness and diplomacy have also been used as a cover for defending positions of privilege.

Fifteen artists including Gang of Five collective and young people from mental health charity 42nd Street have considered notions of civility, etiquette and politeness today and at the time of the Portico’s establishment in 1806—how these ideas were bound with oppressive ideologies and how they impact our wellbeing today. Their artworks and research will be shown alongside 18th-century prints by satirist William Hogarth and books from the Library’s historic collection. From the 1792 Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue to Twitter storms and Billie Eilish, this exhibition looks beneath the surface of ‘polite society’, then and now.