Reframing the muse
Weekend art history course
21 May 2022 10am - 5pm22 May 2022 10am - 5pm
Wolfson British Academy Room, Burlington Gardens, Royal Academy of Arts
£420
Friends of the RA book first
Whistler’s Woman in White: Joanna Hiffernan
Terms and conditions
Join us for a weekend art history course celebrating often overlooked figures in Western art history – those who have been labelled as 'muse’.
In classical antiquity the muses were the embodiment of creativity. In art history, however, the muse has often been reduced to a passive figure, valued predominantly for their inspiration-giving qualities. This course tracks these shifts in perception, thinking critically about the terminology we use when referring to these figures, and working to reframe our view of a number of sitters, artists, friends and lovers, who have been called a muse throughout art history.
Over the weekend, participants explore the many facets of the muse(s), starting with an investigation into their first iterations in the classical world as goddesses of the arts. In the 18th century, female artists, poets and thinkers invoked the muse in a way their male counterparts couldn’t; RA Founding Member, Angelica Kauffman, for example, often painted herself and friends as the literal embodiment of a muse.
The course highlights and celebrates the women of 19th and 20th century art movements such as those involved with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and with the Surrealist movement, as well as shining a light on some of the women who modelled in the Royal Academy’s Life Room. Join us as we consider what ‘muse’ means today, and whether the concept has a place in contemporary society.
Covid-19 update: We are looking forward to welcoming you back in a way that ensures everyone's safety. Numbers will be limited to allow for social distancing, and we will be following the latest government guidelines. In the event of another national lockdown or enforced closure, we reserve the right to move this event online or to a future date. If you have any questions or concerns, or would like to discuss any accessibility needs, please contact academic.programmes@royalacademy.org.uk.
Minimum age 18.
£420
Friends of the RA book first
Whistler’s Woman in White: Joanna Hiffernan
Terms and conditions
About the speakers
Dr Frances Borzello is the author of Seeing Ourselves: Women’s Self-Portraits, reissued by Thames & Hudson in 2016. Other books which relate to her interest in the way art intersects with society include A World of Our Own: women as artists, The Naked Nude, The Artist’s Model and The Domestic Interior in Art.
Dr Penelope Murray read Classics at Newnham College, Cambridge, and held research posts at King’s College, London and St. Anne’s College, Oxford. She was a founder member of the department of Classics at the University of Warwick, where she taught for many years. She works on ancient poetry and poetics and is particularly interested in the ways in which approaches to aesthetics in the Western tradition have been shaped by the classical inheritance. She has written extensively on these subjects, including articles on the Muses and on ancient conceptions of imagination and inspiration. Her books include Genius: the History of an Idea (Blackwell, 1989); Plato on Poetry (Cambridge, 1996); Classical Literary Criticism (Penguin, 2004), and the Blackwell Companion to Ancient Aesthetics (ed. with Pierre Destrée, 2015).
Will Iron is a cultural historian with particular interest in the fashion, art and literature of the eighteenth century. He is Academic Programmes Manager at the Royal Academy of Arts, where he leads the ongoing series of art and cultural history courses, lectures and academic conferences. Previously he worked at the British Fashion Council. He studied at Central Saint Martins and King’s College London.
Dr Jan Marsh is a British writer and curator who is an expert on the Victorian period and particularly the Pre-Raphaelites and William Morris. Jan curated the exhibition Pre-Raphaelite Sisters: Models, Artists, Muses for the National Portrait Gallery (2019). Her books include biographies of Edward Thomas, Christina and Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Jane and May Morris and Elizabeth Siddal; as well as Pre-Raphaelite Sisterhood (Quartet, 1985) and Pre-Raphaelite Sisters (National Portrait Gallery, 2019). In 2003-4 she held a Leverhulme Research Fellowship at the National Portrait Gallery, researching the representation of men and women of African ancestry in the nineteenth century, in preparation for the exhibition Black Victorians (Manchester 2005, Birmingham 2006). She is a trustee of the William Morris Gallery and past president of the William Morris Society.
Annette Wickham is Curator of Works on Paper for the RA Collection and has curated numerous exhibitions and displays. She regularly publishes and gives talks on aspects of the Royal Academy, its Collections and Schools and is a contributor to the Late Constable catalogue.
Dr Margaret F. MacDonald is the Director of the Whistler Paintings Project and the co-curator of the RA’s Whistler’s Woman in White: Joanna Hiffernan. She is the author or co-author of the catalogue raisonnés of Whistler’s oils (Yale 1980), drawings, pastels and watercolours (Yale 1995), and Whistler Etchings (online 2011-12) and Whistler Paintings (online 2014-2020), as well as the Whistler Correspondence edition (online 2003-04). She is also the author, curator and co-author of books and exhibitions including Whistler, Women and Fashion (Frick/Yale 2003) and An American in London: Whistler and the Thames (Dulwich, Addison, Freer, 2013-4).
Dr Adjoa Osei is a Research Fellow at Trinity College, University of Cambridge. She is a cultural historian whose research explores themes that are at the intersection of Performing Arts, Afro-Latin American Studies, and Francophone Studies. She completed a PhD at the University of Liverpool in Latin American Studies. Prior to this, she undertook an MPhil at St Cross College, University of Oxford in Portuguese Studies; and she completed a BA Hons in Portuguese and Brazilian Studies at Kings College London. She is a linguist, working in both Portuguese and French. Her research has also been published in the major refereed journals including Atlantic Studies and Journal of Romance Studies. As a BBC New Generation Thinker, Adjoa has a growing portfolio of public engagement and media work.
Professor Dawn Adès CBE is the Royal Academy’s Professor of the History of Art. She has also been Professor of Art History and Theory at the University of Essex since 1989, a Fellow of the British Academy, a trustee of Tate and was awarded a CBE in 2013 for her services to art history. She has been responsible for some of the most important exhibitions in London and overseas over the past thirty years, including Dada and Surrealism Reviewed, Art in Latin America and Francis Bacon. She organised the highly successful exhibition to celebrate the centenary of Salvador Dali shown in Venice and Philadelphia in 2004.
Naomi Polonsky is Assistant Curator at The Women’s Art Collection, Murray Edwards College, Cambridge. Having graduated from the University of Oxford and the Courtauld Institute of Art, she has worked at a number of museums and galleries including Tate Modern, Kettle’s Yard and Pippy Houldsworth Gallery, London. She has written on modern and contemporary art for publications including The Guardian, the Times Literary Supplement, Hyperallergic and Artsy, and has presented in conferences at Kettle’s Yard, Tate St Ives, Lakeside Arts, Nottingham, and the New Art Gallery, Walsall.
Our courses and classes programme
Our varied programme of short courses and classes provides an opportunity to explore subjects ranging from life drawing to the history of exhibitions and arts management, led by expert tutors and practising artists. These courses introduce traditional art-making processes, as well as perspectives on art history, theory and business.
Give this course as a gift
All of our courses can be purchased as a gift for a friend or family member – giving the gift of education and a remarkable experience. To arrange a personalised Gift Voucher, please contact the Academic Programmes Team, by emailing academic.programmes@royalacademy.org.uk
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