This talk will look at the theme of ‘vanitas’ (the emptiness of the material world and the presence of death) in the history of art to better understand how past cultures have thought about the impermanence of life and how this type of thinking leads to a greater understanding of a life worth living.
In this session we will look at how artists since the 1960s until present day, have been exploring the changing world around them and specifically embracing or critiquing rising technologies.
We will be exploring how the theme of Love and Loss comes to light in the works by two of the greatest British artists of the 20th century: Lucian Freud and Francis Bacon.
What good is sex? This talk draws on the work of Lauren Berlant, a leading theorist of sexuality, politics, and culture, to think about the place of sex and the erotic in contemporary culture.
Who is the femme fatale and why was ‘she’ so popular in late 19th century Europe? This talk attempts to answer this question by exploring the image and idea of the femme fatale in the art and popular culture fin de siècle Europe.
This talk focuses on two particular case studies that represent a fake on the one hand and a forgery on the other, that were both sold in London a few years ago and are now in two of the leading art collections in the world and remain on display.
Dorothea Lange is one of the most well-known photographers of the Great Depression. Her photographs documented the catastrophe of economic collapse while also emphasising empathy and community. This talk will explore her Depression era photographs, giving them historical context and developing their political content.
During this session, we will focus predominantly on a selection of contemporary artists from ethnic minorities who explore notions of 'identity' in their paintings. Sometimes exploring a clash of cultures and other times drawing on cultural heritage and traditions passed down generations, these artists look at the struggles and benefits of moving countries and exploring new horizons.
We will look at Basquiat’s art and how it records and interprets Black history in the US in all of its complexities from jazz to film, colonization to police brutality.
This talk explores the shifting image of the Virgin Mary, how She became the focus of art and prayer and how the humanity of motherhood set the standard, for better or worse, for women throughout Europe.
