THE REAL AND THE ROMANTIC

ONSITE AND ONLINE TALK FOR MEMBERS

Tue 18 Apr, 3.30–4.30pm

Online & at the Museum

An Exclusive In-Person and Online Talk for Members of the Ashmolean

Please note the onsite talk is now FULLY BOOKED. You can still join the talk online.

Tea, coffee and cake will be served in the Headley Lecture Theatre from 3pm.

With Frances Spalding, author and art historian

The period between the two world wars was a challenging time for any artist, It cannot have been easy to begin creating art again in the aftermath of a brutal and expensive war. Yet interwar art has a surprising capaciousness.

In this talk, join our speaker, author and art historian Frances Spalding, to revisit this interwar period for artists in England. This was a time where without any single, dominating style or movement, it was possible to explore modern subjects in a range of styles.

Initially, realism became the language of reconstruction, and a means by which stillness, stability and continuity could be restated. But there was also a desire to amuse, entertain, and to revive long-standing traditions in modern terms.

Our speaker will discuss artists including Frances Hodgkins and Leonard Campbell Taylor and reference work in our collections.

Wings over Water (1931) by Frances Hodgkins: A colour drawing of shells on a white cloth with a view over the sea and coastline

Wings over Water, 1930, Frances Hodgkins. Photo © Tate, CC-BY-NC-ND 3.0 (Unported)

Frances Spalding The Read and the Romantic book jacket

The Real and the Romantic by Frances Spalding, 2022, Thames & Hudson

The talk will be available to watch live on Zoom for those not able to attend in person. A recording of the event will be shared with ticketholders on request following the event.