In this talk, I discuss the evolution of the colour blue in the history of art. It begins with early developments of blue paints from natural pigments, moving forward to developments for synthetic blue. The creation of synthetic blues revolutionised the history of art, particularly for the Impressionists and later 19th century painters.

I will touch upon the
the Impressionist obsession with the colour blue, or something J.K. Huysmans called in 1884 'indigomania'. Due to the creation of new synthetic blue pigments in the 1830s to 1860s, colours like Cerulean Blue, French Ultramarine and Cobalt were entering in the painterly consciousness. Impressionist artists were able to pair these colours with new research in optical and atmospheric science, enabling blue to create a virtual 'new way of seeing' for artists late in the 19th century.

I will also discuss this in light of Monet's depiction of something called 'the blue hour' in his Rouen Cathedral and Haystack series, linking the late 19th century's 'indigomania' with modern day discussions on astronomy, ophthalmology, photonics and physics.

In this talk, I examine John Singer Sargent’s early works (1878 - 1886) in light of developments in Impressionist art in both Britain and France in the 1870s and 80s.

Looking to challenge the traditional associations between impression-ism and French-ness, as well as the misconception that Sargent himself was a conservative studio portraitist, I examine the artist’s private correspondence and public critical reception in an effort to argue that Sargent was, in fact, a revolutionary with highly modern tastes.

Taking into account two little discussed letters from John Singer Sargent’s early career - a missive from Sargent to Vernon Lee from July 1881, where he discusses his interest in the works of Walter Pater, and a note from the previous June where Lee writes to her mother that Sargent ‘goes in for art for art’s sake’ - this lecture will look to explore the portraitist’s early Aesthetic and bohemian leanings. By weaving a thread through Sargent’s literary, social and artistic interests in combination with the often eccentric and enigmatic body of works produced in his early career between 1878 and 1886, this exploration will seek to expose a more progressive side to an artist who has often been sidelined as the byproduct of a lost and forgotten Gilded Age.

A general overview about the art created in Britain during WWI - this includes art both witnin and outside of the officially sanctioned body of work funded by the British War Memorials Committee . This talk explores the many ways in which artists used the war as a source of inspiration for the development of their work, and how they may have used war art to respond to issues such as PTSD, propaganda, nationality and remembrance. 

Some artists that I will discuss include modernists and Voriticists such as Jacob Epstein, David Bomberg, Paul Nash and C.R.W. Nevinson. I will also discuss artists who exist outside the Modernist canon, such as Percy Delf Smith, William Orpen, and John Singer Sargent.