Led by James Malpas, lecturer at Sotheby's Institute and author of Realism (Tate, 1999)

Tuesdays 22 March 2005 – 19 April 2005, 18.30–20.00

This course examines the revolutionary shifts in attitudes to painting that took place in France and Britain during the second half of the nineteenth century. The Pre-Raphaelite doctrine of truth to nature, ‘selecting nothing, rejecting nothing’ was paralleled by the Realist tradition pioneered by Gustave Courbet in France. But for artists of the 1870s and 1880s, this devotion to fact seemed tantamount to slavery and aesthetes like James Abbott McNeill Whistler believed that discerning artists had to improve on nature. Art on both sides of the Channel began to dissociate itself from mere transcription to engage in a more poetic interpretation of the visible world. Stylistic influences from Japan and the Near East provided an aesthetic alternative to conventional, academic work, while Symbolist theories stressed the importance of the artist's autonomy and imagination. Individual sessions explore the ramifications of these changes through the contextual study of Realism, Aestheticism, Impressionism and Symbolism.

James Malpas, Senior Lecturer at Sotheby's Institute, is author of many books on nineteenth-century art including Realism (Tate 1999).

Tate Britain  Auditorium
£55 (£40 concessions), booking recommended
Price includes entry to the exhibition
and refreshments

    

This event is related to the Turner Whistler Monet exhibition