The period of British history which connects John Constable to Henry Moore was one which bore witness to immense and epoch-making changes. Britain experienced the collective social upheaval of rapid industrialisation and urbanization, as well as suffering the trauma of mechanised warfare in the First World War, and the looming threat of ‘total war’ during the 1930s. This lecture series will explore the many ways in which this tumultuous and revolutionary period found expression in the visual arts produced in Britain during this time.
The lectures will chart the broad history of painting and sculpture in Britain, from the Industrial Revolution to the 1930s. It will include the work of seminal artists such as Constable, Turner, Millais, Rossetti, Sickert, Wyndham Lewis, John Nash, Barbara Hepworth and Henry Moore. The lectures will feature significant artistic movements such as the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, the Vorticists and the Modernists. Historical themes will include the impact of industrialisation, the rise of the avant-garde, the advent of Modernism, and the threat and eventual experience of industrialised mass warfare.
How did painters and sculptors as diverse as Constable, Turner, Millais, Hepworth and Henry Moore perceive and reflect the immense social, technological and cultural transitions through which they were living, transitions which together paved the way to the world in which we live today?
Register for the whole series or individual lectures
For this lecture series, you can register for the entire series by clicking 'Book Now' on this page or you can register for individual lectures.
Please note: enrolments for the complete series will close at 23:59 UTC on 19 January 2025. Enrolments for each individual lecture will close a couple of days before each lecture.