Despite its longevity as a tradition stretching back to at least the eighteenth century, the Grotesque has only recently become a non-pejorative term in art and academia. "The Grotesque Factor" takes a close look at the evolution of the Grotesque, examining early caricature (Hogarth, Goya), abject, scatological and black humor, nineteenth-century French art and literature (Grandville, Baudelaire, Jarry), Jame Ensor, the grotesque in early film and the grotesque turn in recent British art. It includes 175 extraordinary works by more than 76 artists, including Francis Bacon, Louise Bourgeois, Otto Dix, James Ensor, Max Ernst, Jose Gutierrez Solana, Victor Hugo, Paul Klee, Willem de Kooning, Roy Lichtenstein, Rene Magritte, Man Ray, Franz Xavier Messerschmidt, Juan Munoz, Meret Oppenheim, Pablo Picasso, Richard Prince, Juan Sanchez Cotan, Antonio Saura, Thomas Schutte, Cindy Sherman, Leonardo da Vinci, Bill Viola and Franz West, among others.