Mary Cassatt, Woman in Black at the Opera, 1880.
As an art history student in the early 1990’s, critic, writer and broadcaster Charlotte Mullins loved being shown the greats: Van Dyck, Vermeer, Van Gogh. The problem, she realised, was that the art she was seeing was not wholly representative of greatness. There was no art by Artemisia Gentileschi, Rachel Ruysch, Käthe Kollwitz. None by Jacob Lawrence, Amrita Sher-Gil, Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri. There were Pollocks but no Krasners. Kandinskys but no Hilma af Klints. The traditional story of art focussed on white Western male artists and the idea of progressive genius. It overlooked artists based on gender, geography and race to simplify the story. So what happens when we take the blinkers off?
This talk on art for our times, by the author of the new A Little History of Art, offers an updated perspective on art history, one that expands and complicates. It shows that the story of art is in fact a rich and complex narrative formed by many diverse stories.
A Little History of Art by Charlotte Mullins is published (26 April, 2022) by Yale University Press. Ticket holders will receive a code to use online for 15% 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.