Kings Place

Talking Art: Lecture Series by Dr Gail-Nina Anderson

18 January - 12 April 10

Monday 18th January: The Colour White. 
Guest Lecturer: Dr Gail-Nina Anderson
18.30
St. Pancras Room, Level -2, Kings Place

This is the first in a series of talks by Dr Gail-Nina Anderson that focuses not on an artist or a subject, but on the particular qualities of a colour as it has been used in art. The lectures will illustrate the way that colours can come in and out of fashion, play different roles in pictorial composition, display changing cultural and symbolic meanings and become associated with certain painters and artistic movements.

White may seem so basic that we regard it as background rather than colour, but in art it can symbolise purity and represent light. Certain subjects demand it, from fashionably white gowns in Neo-Classical portraiture to dazzling Impressionist snowscapes. It gives us reflective highlights, minimalist abstracts and a wide array of draperies, doves and lilies. The examples discussed will include works by Whistler, Rossetti, Monet, Manet, Malevich and David.

Monday 8th February: The Art of Fearful Imaginings.
Guest Lecturer: Dr Gail-Nina Anderson
18.30
St. Pancras Room, Level -2, Kings Place

The role of art goes far beyond simply delighting or informing the viewer, and this talk explores a particular strand of imagery designed to rouse a darker emotional response.

From Medieval devils to Romantic nightmares, spectral visions to exteriorised neuroses, art has given shape and expression to the things that lurk in those hidden corners we might prefer not to explore.

Painters such as Goya and Fuseli call up images intended to provoke a shudder – is this simply sensationalism or do we need to visit the dark side? Does the visualisation of our imagined horrors give them power or put them in their place, and why do we so often find ourselves laughing at what is meant to be scary?

Monday 8th March: The Colour Black.
Guest Lecturer: Dr Gail-Nina Anderson
18.30
St. Pancras Room, Level -2, Kings Place
 
Black may be the darkest of colours, but in painting it can provide an accent of velvety depth, of sophistication and of elegance. It can enrich the shadows but also sharpen the outlines, a colour for incisive design as well as the symbolically rich signifier of mourning and an ever-recurring fashion statement.

Works with a key-note of black will include images by Velasquez, Sargent, Tissot, Degas and Lowry.  

Monday 12th April: The Miner in Art. 
Guest Lecturer: Dr Gail-Nina Anderson
18.30
St. Pancras Room, Level -2, Kings Place

To accompany the highly distinctive work of Norman Cornish, this talk will look at the imagery of miners, pits and mining communities in the paintings of such artists as Tom McGuinness, the Ashington Group and Van Gogh. It will also consider the less formal representations which have contributed to this history, with French Realist novels and Victorian social reform helping to mould our views alongside contemporary newspaper illustrations and photographs. These images will be put into context alongside other representations of the working classes, and will include that troublesome issue which worried the Victorian establishment – what should a female miner wear.

TO BOOK TICKETS: £6.50 online at www.kingsplace.co.uk
Box Office: £8.50 020 7520 1490

Please contact the gallery if you would like further information: 020 7520 1485