HOW ARTISTS MADE THEIR MARK

SERIES OF THREE TALKS

Tue 7 May, Tue 14 May & Tue 21 May 2024, 2-3pm

At the Museum and Online

Series of three talks over three weeks on Tuesdays in May 2024

The in-person talks take place in the Headley Lecture Theatre and online via Zoom

Booking required

With Juliet Heslewood, art historian and author

This course of three talks led by Juliet Heslewood will explore three very different mediums through history where artists have made their mark from Classical Greek sculpture to artist sketches and the more modern-day landmark art in the outdoors.

Battle of a Lapith and a Centaur sculpture, Bertoldo di Giovanni (c. 1440-1491) © Ashmolean Museum

Self-portrait drawing by Rembrandt of the artist wearing a cap

Self-portrait in heavy fur Cap: bust, Rembrandt, 1631, etching on laid paper © Ashmolean Museum

Uffington White Horse aerial view in chalk carved into the hillside © Public domain

Talk 1, Tue 7 May 2024 - Relief Sculpture: Marking Stone

In the past, public sculpture was often 'in the round', to be viewed from all sides, or as flat pieces for vertical display, in relief. Blocks of stone were incised using various tools as the sculptor moved from surface design into a deep - or shallow - carving. The talk will look at styles of carving relief, from the Greeks through to the Romanesque and the Renaissance period of Donatello and Michelangelo, and includes a glance at those 'signatures' known as mason's marks.

Talk 2, Tue 14 May 2024 - Preparatory Work: Thinking in Sketches

Few finished works of art were achieved without much preparation. Sometimes a fleeting moment could inspire - marked in a sketchbook. Or a composition required various trial runs before a final decision was made. This talk includes work by Rembrandt, Constable, Rossetti and Seurat among others where preparatory sketches, sometimes highly-worked drawings, reveal the fascinating early stages of major works of art.

Talk 3, Tue 21 May 2024 - Landmarks of Art: The Out of Doors

We often think of art being confined to galleries. Public buildings such as churches could be said to change city or landscape views. Ancient white horses on hillsides are still visible whereas in recent times, the land itself has become a medium for artists. Richard Long marked the land and paths which he trod. Andy Goldsworthy and Robert Smithson explored aspects of nature where the work of art was to disappear entirely.