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British Art in the 19th Century

5 weekly sessions on campus, on Fridays at 11am - 1pm, starting from Friday 9 October.

Overview

The perception of British Art in the 19th Century is seemingly dominated by either the Williams Family’s saccharine images of bucolic, if repetitively dull, landscapes, or those instructive moral allegorical works, by the likes of Frith & Egg. British Victorian painting is therefore often viewed unfavourably when compared to the modern approaches of their great French counterparts. This course looks to challenge this preconception of British 19th Century painting, to consider those often overlooked radical artists who introduced new ideas and approaches, whilst we shall also re-examine and re-appraise those works and artists with whom we are perhaps more familiar with.

This course considers the earliest British schools and movements to offer a comprehensive overview, and it is supplemented by a tour of the Walker Art Gallery’s collection of 19th Century British Art. The aim is to challenge those preconceptions, detailed above, to demonstrate that there’s much more to British 19th Century Art than what you might appreciate.

This course offers a general introduction, hence no specialist knowledge is required, only an interest in the visual arts and a willingness to share your opinions and to discuss the ideas explored in the seminars.

Syllabus

  • Week 1 - The late Georgians, Realists & Romantics.
  • Week 2 - The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, Backwards in Looking Forward.
  • Week 3 - The Great Panic, Moral Instruction & Allegory.
  • Week 4 - All for Beauty, The Aesthetic Movement & Late Victorian Art.
  • Week 5 – A Tour of the Walker’s Collection of 19th Century Art.

Course lecturer

Ed Williams is an Art Historian who studied under Prof. Janina Ramirez at Oxford. He works at TATE Liverpool, he is a regular contributor to on-line publications, writing in the field of art history and art critique. His work involves regularly leading groups through exhibitions and giving public lectures, he previously taught undergraduate and postgraduate students at a number of Universities including the Department of Continuing Education at the University of Liverpool.

Course fee

  • Standard fee: £85
  • Concession fee: £45.