Date/Time
Date(s) - 07/11/2015
3:00 pm - 4:30 pm
Location
The Wallace Collection
Categories
Event Details
About the painting
Antoine Watteau’s Fête Galante in a Wooded Landscape, c. 1719-21 can be found on the Ground Floor of the Wallace Collection in the Billiard Room (painting ref P391).
This painting is a major example of Watteau’s Fêtes Galantes, seemingly harmless idealised depictions of outdoor gatherings, a genre seen by contemporaries as a Utopian image of love and sociability, depicting an unattainable ideal. The relationships between the protagonists are intentionally left open, identifiable couples are avoided, sexual desire is latently present and ironically commented on. The work was painted without a commission for an open market leaving a larger role to the artist’s own personality. Nothing is known from contemporary sources about Watteau’s love life, except his extreme shyness.
Dr Vogtherr and Prof Schaverien will introduce Antoine Watteau and describe its significance for culture and emotional development. They will use this particular painting, which will be projected in the auditorium, as a springboard for discussion; audience questions, responses and ideas are welcomed to help navigate the challenges of the work.
Attendees are free to go and view the painting on the Gallery wall either before or after the talk.
There is no expectation of previous study or work with the painting, or in the academic tradition.
Dr Christoph Vogtherr, Director of the Wallace Collection since 2011, is a specialist in French 18th century paintings. He was previously Paintings Curator at the Foundation of Prussian Palaces and Gardens, Potsdam and Research Assistant at the Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Künste where he led a research project on the collection of Frederick II of Prussia. In 2010 he published an authoritative work, the catalogue raisonné of paintings by Jean-Antoine Watteau, Jean-Baptiste Pater and Nicolas Lancret in Berlin and Potsdam. He curated the exhibition From Watteau to Fragonard . . . les fêtes galantes at the Musée Jacquemart-André, Paris, in 2014.
Prof Joy Schaverien, PhD, studied fine art at the Slade before becoming a Jungian analyst. A training analyst for the SAP she has a private analytic and supervisory practice in the East Midlands and is Visiting Professor for the Northern Programme for Art Psychotherapy. She writes and lectures internationally on topics including the links between art and psychoanalysis, gender in psychotherapy and the psychological effects of boarding school. Her many books include The Revealing Image (1999) and her new book Boarding School Syndrome (2015).
This session will be chaired and supported by Basil Lawrence
SAP Public Programme Jung & Art Series Convenor: Jay Barlow
External Co-Convenor: Basil Lawrence
To Book
Bookings are closed for this event.
