Pablo Picasso, (Image detail from book cover) Guernica, 1937. Museo Reina Sofia, Madrid.
Art critic and writer Charlotte Mullins talks to Simon Morley about his new book Modern Painting: A Concise History in Thames & Hudson’s World of Art series. Together they discuss the issues in framing art history in ways that speak to the present and what key themes they think are significant today.
Why do these general art history books need to be rewritten and what does this tell us about art and history? A controversial area is 'presentism' - the contemporary tendency to judge the past negatively according to the standards and biases of the present. Another is that art history tends to be 'western art history' even when it aims to be inclusively global in reach. As the previous book on modern painting in the World of Art series was first published in 1959, how does this new version differ (and also is similar) to that account.
What do they think painting has to say to us nowadays, as opposed to various other more innovative ways of making art?
Modern Painting: A Concise History by Simon Morley is published by Thames & Hudson (September 2023). Ticket holders will receive a code for 30% off the retail price via their website. UK orders only.
A Little History of Art by Charlotte Mullins is published by Yale University Press. Ticket holders will receive a code for 30% off the retail price via their website. UK orders only, free P&P.
Proceeds from our ticket sales benefit museums, galleries and other arts-based organisations and projects.
This is an online event hosted on Zoom which can be watched live, or on-demand for three weeks afterwards. You will receive your link to access the event in your email confirmation and the on-demand link after the event ends.