The Art Society Steyning: Man and Animals in 'Art' a Lecture by Susie Harries
Monday 10th February - 10:00 - 12:00The Steyning Centre, Fletchers Croft, Steyning
Man and Animals in 'Art' a Lecture by Susie Harries
How should we look at animals? – one of the eternal questions intriguing artists. Are they our friends and servants, to be depicted for their beauty, and for the credit they reflect on their owners? Or are they brute beasts, represented to remind us of the threat they may pose? Most important, are they really so different from us? From the animal-headed gods of the Egyptians to the sinister hybrids of BritArt, by way of Botticelli’s centaur, Rubens’ tiger hunts, Stubbs’ race-horses, Goya’s bullfights, Turner’s whales, Landseer’s dogs, Seurat’s circus, Picasso’s Minotaur and Hockney's cat Percy, this talk looks at what artists, in portraying animals, have been trying to tell us about ourselves.
Susie is writer, editor and lecturer, specialising in 20th century culture and the arts. She has published eight books on subjects including official war art, opera and the composer Elisabeth Lutyens. The most recent is the biography of Sir Nikolaus Pevsner, published in August 2011. She has lectured to a range of audiences, from the Imperial War Museum and British Museum to the Twentieth Century Society and the RSA, most recently at the Cheltenham and Bridport Literary Festivals and the Victorian Society.
Free to members. £5.00 donation for visitors. More info T: 01903 812752. www.theartsocietysteyning.org.uk