London : Here are all the upcoming events at London's National Gallery for January 2007:
Exhibitions
Velázquez
For the first time in Britain, a major exhibition will trace the career of one of the very greatest painters - Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez (1599-1660). From his beginnings in Seville, this exhibition follows his move to Madrid and appointment as court painter to Philip IV, his two trips to Italy, to his final days and his knighthood. Throughout his life Velázquez demonstrated an increasingly precocious ability to observe and record reality. He achieved ever greater physical and psychological naturalism using increasingly pronounced and elegant brushstrokes. Velázquez ultimately realised miraculous effects of illusion with an astounding, abbreviated technique that was to inspire future realists as well as the Impressionists. Drawing on the National Gallery's own rich holdings and major loans from the Museo del Prado and other collections, this exhibition will include around a third of the world's surviving works by Velázquez. It will demonstrate his extraordinary development through great examples of his religious and mythological paintings, alongside his portraits.
Manet to Picasso:
There is a unique opportunity to re-examine the outstanding scope of the National Gallery's collection, when its late 19th- and 20th-century paintings are displayed afresh in a new Sainsbury Wing installation. From the Impressionist masterpieces of Monet and Renoir, to iconic paintings by Van Gogh and Cézanne, this display includes familiar favourites alongside important loans. New juxtapositions will challenge audiences to reconsider well-known works, at the same time as exploring the relationships between major movements. The six rooms of the display will be organised chronologically, allowing visitors to trace the dramatic changes that occurred during some of the most exciting years of artistic development. Earlier 19th-century paintings will be displayed on the ground level of the Wilkins Building.
Cézanne in Britain
October 2006 marked the 100th anniversary of the death of Paul Cézanne (1839-1906), acclaimed as one of the most influential and well-loved artists of all time. The National Gallery is celebrating the artist and his work with Cézanne in Britain - a retrospective focusing entirely on his works held in British collections. Reclusive and shy, Cézanne never came to Britain, yet thanks to pioneering collectors and forward-thinking dealers and scholars, Britain now holds one of the world's most outstanding collections of his work. Around forty works from major institutions and private collections have been selected for Cézanne in Britain, which traces the full development of Cézanne's art with paintings, watercolours, drawings and prints, and covers his wide range of subject matter: portraits, still lifes and landscapes. World-renowned paintings such as Bathers (National Gallery, London) and Mont Sainte-Victoire (National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh) will be shown alongside rarely seen works from private collections.
Tim Gardner
Tim Gardner, a young artist (b. 1973) currently living in British Columbia, spent three months in Autumn 2005 exploring the National Gallery collection and using the artist's studio. This exhibition highlights the paintings he made as a result of that experience. Gardner works primarily in watercolour and many of his paintings have been based on photographs, mostly snapshots, of family, friends, athletes and mountain landscapes. They address major issues that have concerned artists for centuries: love, loyalty, bravery, camaraderie, and what it means to be a man. This exhibition is part of an expanded National Gallery commitment to contemporary art, to exhibit younger artists early in their careers, as well as the work of more established figures.
Wednesday Lates and Saturday Lates 6-9pm
Enjoy art in the evening at our weekly Wednesday Lates. Come to the Sainsbury Wing Foyer for live music, talks and bar, and enjoy exhibitions and the collection until 9pm. Velazquez will open late on Saturdays throughout the exhibition.
ArtStart
Supported by American Express Foundation, the National Gallery's touch-screen multimedia facility allows all visitors to explore the Gallery's collection in astonishing detail. ArtStart terminals are situated in a specially designed room and at strategic positions in the Sainsbury Wing, and also in the café area of the newly opened Lower Hall. ArtStart allows visitors to zoom-in on the paintings, explore in-depth features on the 30 collection highlights, find information on artists and their works and print individual tours of the collection.
Belle Shenkman Music Programme
Musicians from the Royal College of Music perform a different programme each week, thanks to generous support from the family of Belle Shenkman. The programme for January includes:
Wednesday 10 - The Shilladay Quartet
Education Events
Meet the Copyist: Ulyana Gumeniuk discusses Velázquez's painting techniques while making her own copy in the 17th-century Spanish gallery
Ulyana will give a short talk and answer questions at 3pm every Friday in January, Room 30
Transcriptions: Screenings
Monday 8 January, 1pm; Tuesday 9 - Thursday 11 January, 3pm, Sainsbury Wing Theatre.
Since March 2006, students from the London Film School have collaborated with the National Gallery to produce short films in response to paintings in the permanent collection. The 3-minute films produced in the first phase of project can be seen - for free - in the Sainsbury Wing Theatre. Screenings last about 20-25 minutes in total.
'Second Sunday Screening' - Anne and Muriel (François Truffaut, 1971) colour, 15, 124 mins
WEDNESDAY EVENING LECTURE: Velázquez and the Hunt Wednesday 3 January, 6.30pm, Sainsbury Wing Theatre.
Beginning in the mid-1630s, Philip lV indulged his two lifelong passions - hunting and paintings - by creating a small, private lodge, the Torre de la Parada, and decorating it on a royal scale. Velázquez's paintings included a series of unusually informal portraits of the royal family fashioned as hunters, and the panoramic Philip lV hunting Wild Boar (La Tela Real), which purports to depict a moment in the life of the court. This talk will explore their significance in the contexts of royal imagery and Velázquez's career.
Wednesday evening lecture - The Paul Mellon Lectures 2007
Giles Waterfield
This lecture series looks at the development of museums in Britain from the early 19th century to 1914, both in the capital and in the regions, with a concentration on art museums. The series explores memories of the art museum; the rise of the regional museum in Victorian Britain (two lectures); beyond the Crystal Palace - museum exhibitions in 19th-century Britain; explaining the museum; and architecture and display.
The lectures are the seventh in a series given biennially by a specialist in British art, supported by the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art. Giles Waterfield is an independent curator and writer, Associate Lecturer at the Courtauld Institute of Art, Director of the Royal Collection Studies, and a former trustee of the Heritage Lottery Fund.
Course - What is Art For? Saturday 13, 20 and 27 January, 2.30-4pm, Sainsbury Wing Conference Room 1.
What does art offer us, and what do we want from it? How can art contribute to life? Perhaps the function of art is to give us pleasure: certainly that sounds appealing, but what sort of pleasure? Does this threaten to make art just one more kind of entertainment? Perhaps art should challenge and disturb us, or make us suffer? Why has this been such a powerful way of thinking about art? Finally we'll consider the most inspiring - but also most elusive - idea that the purpose of art is to elevate life, to turn our attention to higher things. John Armstrong is Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Melbourne, and author of four books about art, culture and philosophy.
COURSE - City Breaks: Journeys through the History of Painting, Part 2 Tour 3: Rome, Madrid, London, Saturday 27 January, 3, 10 February
Course Tutors: Rebecca Lyons (Tour 3); James Heard (Tour 4)
How did the religious and political changes sweeping across Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries affect the art produced in different places? Join us as we go on a series of virtual city breaks, visiting some of the cultural and artistic hotspots of Europe and building up an overview of how painting developed. Each week we focus on a different destination, using that city as a starting point for exploring a particular part of the National Gallery's collection. Part 2 is divided into two different three-week tours of cities that were significant in the 16th and 17th centuries; you can book for one or both of them.
Part 3 (18th and 19th centuries) starts on 28 April. Includes tea/coffee before each session.
Workshop - Framing the Body Wednesday 10 and 17 January, 6.15-8.45pm, Room 8.
Taking advantage of the opportunity to work directly in front of paintings by artists including Michelangelo, Sebastiano del Piombo and Bronzino, this workshop will explore the plasticity of the body, the composition of figures within a frame and the contrast between contemplative and dramatic paintings. We will use the Gallery itself as a compositional space and will move our own bodies, observing how the body can express ideas and emotions. Please come in comfortable clothes and be prepared to move.
Workshop - Talk and... Draw a Self Portrait Saturday 13 January, Free lunchtime talk: 1pm, Room 33 followed by a drawing workshop: 2-4pm, Education Centre Rooms 2 and 3. Workshop leader: Robert Dukes
This event combines a free lunchtime talk in the Gallery (open to the general public) with a practical drawing workshop. Elizabeth Vigée Le Brun made bold statements about herself as a female artist when she painted her Self Portrait in a Straw Hat, as well as using the painting as a showcase for her skills. Where would you begin if you were going to make your own self portrait? After talking about the painting in the gallery, Robert Dukes will lead a self portrait drawing workshop that will kick-start the process. Places at the workshop are limited, so advance booking is recommended. All materials are provided, and the workshop is suitable for all levels of experience.
Workshop - 'A Kind of Revelation': Exploring Self Portraits
Van Gogh wrote that Rembrandt's many self portraits were 'a kind of revelation' about the painter. Artists make self portraits for all sorts of reasons: to practice techniques, to explore themselves and to present a particular image to the outside world. How might you choose to represent yourself? In this workshop, you'll be discussing and drawing from different self portraits in the National Gallery's collection, including works by Murillo, Rembrandt, Rosa, Fabritius and Cézanne, as you work on your own self portrait. Places at the workshop are limited, so advance booking is recommended. All materials are provided, and the workshop is suitable for all levels of experience. Includes sandwich lunch, tea and coffee.
Discussion groups - Talking Books
If you like to read and talk about books and are interested in how they can be a way into exploring the art in the National Gallery, this informal, friendly group discussion is for you.
Vanora Bennett's novel Portrait of an Unknown Woman (HarperCollins, 2006) transports the reader to England in the early 16th century, as Hans Holbein arrives to paint leading figures in the court of Henry VIII. As the artist works on some of his greatest portraits, including 'The Ambassadors' (now in the National Gallery), religious and political tensions increase and a love story begins to unfold. Participants will be sent a 10 per cent discount voucher to buy the focus book in the Sainsbury Wing shop. Includes tea and biscuits (afternoon group) or wine and nibbles (evening group).
Study Day - Exploring Velázquez 2
This study day brings together discussion on Velázquez's technique, his images of children, the 'Spanish Gift' at Apsley House, and his impact on later artists and events, including the notorious episode of the suffragist attack on 'The Rokeby Venus'. The speakers include: Zahira Veliz, conservator; Xanthe Brooke, National Museums Liverpool; Lynda Nead, Birkbeck College; Susan Jenkins, Apsley House; and Colin Wiggins, The National Gallery.
Free Events for Children and Families
During holiday workshop sessions a picnic room is available for all families in the Orange Street Education Centre.
WEEKEND GALLERY TALKS - Majestic Monarchs
Every Saturday and Sunday, 11.30am. Meet in the Education Centre Foyer
Themed children's tours of paintings for families with children aged 5 to 11. Tours last one hour and there is no need to book. All children must be accompanied.
Second Weekend drawing event - You've been framed! Saturday 13 and Sunday 14 January 2007, 11.30am, repeated 2.30pm. Meet in Room 30
Join artist Dillwyn Smith and meet a colourful character who is reaching out of the painting. This gallery-based, family drawing event on the second weekend of each month lasts an hour and includes a lively talk and drawing activity. Each month a different theme is explored. All materials are provided and participants receive a free souvenir pencil. For families with children aged 5 to 11. All children must be accompanied.
Free Events
In addition to the courses, workshops, lectures and other events detailed in this booklet, the National Gallery has free talks and tours every day.
Guided tours - every day at 11.30am and 2.30pm, plus 6pm and 6.30pm on Wednesdays, 12.30pm and 3.30pm on Saturdays.
Lunchtime talks - Tuesday to Saturday each week at 1pm.
Ten-Minute Talks - a quick insight into one painting, Monday to Friday at 4pm.
Picture in Focus - 25-minute talk on one painting, every Wednesday evening at 6pm.
Painting of the Month - a range of free talks at different times on one painting.
Art through Words - session for visitors with a visual impairment, last Saturday of the month, 11.30am.
British Sign Language -interpreted events take place on the first Saturday of every month.
For more information on any of the events listed above visit www.nationalgallery.org.uk
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