Each lecture will depart from a close reading of one work of art or one iconic image to explore a major aspect of human world picturing as it has been understood and transformed by the visual thinking, emotional intelligence and conceptual analysis of a particular artist or group of artists. The historical trajectory will range from Indigenous Dreaming imagery (including that of Australian Aboriginal artists Yirawala, Narritjin Maymuru, Johnny Warangkula Tjupurrula and Emily Kam Kngwarreye) and Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, through Piero della Francesca’s portrait of Saint Augustine, Giorgione’s meditation on philosophy, and key works by (among others) Edgar Degas, Paul Cézanne, Pablo Picasso, Frida Kahlo, and Willem de Kooning, to installations, actions and projects by several contemporary artists and art collectives, locating them within current image economies, or iconomies.
All lectures will be held at the Bateman Auditorium at Gonville and Caius College. Lectures are free to attend and open to all members of the University and the public; no pre-registration is required.
For further information on the lecture series, including dates and lecture titles, visit: https://www.hoart.cam.ac.uk/seminars/slade-lectures-fine-art.