Revisiting Modern British Art

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Ordinary people were fascinated to see an artist at work but, with the French newspapers dominated by discussion of the imminent conflict, Ravilious was treated with suspicion by officials who perhaps took him for a spy. ‘A gendarme questioned me closely,’ he reported on one occasion, ‘but retired beaten by my Pigeon French.’ Within a year Ravilious would be questioned far more aggressively by armed British servicemen as he drew port scenes in his capacity of war artist. Speakers include: Pragya Agarwal, Jody Day, Kerri ní Dochartaigh, Hettie Judah, Holly Slingsby, Lucy Willow and Sophie J Williamson. Please see the speakers' bios for more information. Each book takes as its starting point an innovative illustrated book of shops published in Paris in the 1920s: Boutiques (1925) and Boutiques de la Foire (1926), with colour lithographs by Lucien Boucher, and Boutiques Litteraires, with illustrations by Henri Guilac (1925). Each Mainstone edition features captions by Andrew Stewart and an array of historical photos, archive materials and artworks brought together in typically elegant, witty style by designers Webb & Webb. Literary flaneuse Lauren Elkin wrote an accompanying essay for the Guilac book, while fairground historian Pascal Jacob did the same for Boutiques de la Foire and I wrote on the first Boucher book. Print aficionado Neil Philip provided for each volume a succinct print and production history. Jody Day is the British founder of Gateway Women, the global advocacy & support network for childless women founded 2011, and the author of Living the Life Unexpected: How to Find Hope, Meaning and a Fulfilling Future Without Children (Pan Macmillan). Chosen as UK Digital Woman of the Year in 2021. She is an internationally respected thought leader on female involuntary childlessness, a psychotherapist, a two-times TEDx speaker, a founding and former board member at Ageing Without Children and a former Fellow in Social Innovation at Cambridge Judge Business School. She is also an Ambassador for World Childless Week and an Advisor at the New Legacy Institute. The discussion will take place from 6.00pm to 6.45pm, after which there will be 15 minutes for an audience Q&A.

Sophie J Williamson is a curator based in London and Margate. She is initiator and convenor of Undead Matter, an on-going programme focused on the intimacy of being with dying and its dialogue with the geological. From 2013-2021, she was Exhibitions Curator at Camden Art Centre, and was previously part of the inaugural team at Raven Row, (2009–13). The event will celebrate the new publication Revisiting Modern British Art, edited by Jo Baring with a text by James Russell. The talk coincides with our current exhibitions The Living Collection and Unseen, which include works by Ravilious and Paul Nash – both featured in the publication, along with Eileen Agar, Vanessa Bell, Francis Bacon, Barbara Hepworth, Margaret Mellis, Richard Hamilton and Kim Lim. To celebrate Heritage Open Day’s theme of ‘Creativity Unwrapped’ this year, we are exploring Woking’s musical past. From the Atalanta Ballroom to The Jam, Woking has had a rich and creative musical history. Find out more and visit the display in Woking's Story on our first floor. This book is a celebration of modern British art, which highlights the beauty and range of the works created, whilst also pulling out new threads and asking different questions. Introduced by James Russell, it is comprised of twelve essays from different writers, curators and art historians, each of whom brings a fresh perspective. It seeks to show how an engagement with the contemporary moment can bring about refreshed empathy and insight into the art made on these islands in the previous century.

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Speakers: Anna Liber Lewis (artist), Bianca Chu (researcher, advisor to the Kim Lim Estate), Naomi Polonsky (Associate Curator, The Women’s Art Collection), chaired by Jo Baring (Director, Ingram Collection) Join Alayo Akinkugbe, Simon Martin, Hammad Nasar, James Russell & Tamsin Golding Yee for two panel discussions: Hosted at Tate St Ives in connection with the exhibition Barbara Hepworth: Art & Life the keynote talk on Friday will be given by Aindrea Emelife, independent curator and art historian. Saturday will feature research and discussion with independent writers and curators from key institutions; Harriet Baker, writer and critic, Laura Smith, Director of Collection and Exhibitions at The Hepworth Wakefield, Elena Crippa, Senior Curator Modern and Contemporary British Art at Tate Britain and Jo Baring, curator, writer and Director of The Ingram Collection.

Visitors will have a rare opportunity to view Kossoff’s stunning Nude on a Red Bed, 1972, alongside works such as his powerful Head of Seedo, 1964. A major group of Soutine portraits includes Le Petit Pâtissier, c1927, Young Woman in a White Blouse, c1923 (Courtauld Institute) and Le Valet de Chambre, c1927.As the twenty-first century unfolds, notions of our cultural past and how our history has influenced our present shift almost daily. Within this, accepted artistic trajectories are being questioned and new connections made. Sara Cooper is Head of Collections and Exhibitions at Towner Eastbourne, where she is responsible for the exhibition programme and for the permanent collection, including overseeing acquisitions. Opening at Hastings Contemporary in April 2023, Soutine | Kossoff pairs two major figures of 20th century painting: one a master of the School of Paris, the other a master of the School of London. Soutine | Kossoff is the first museum exhibition to explore the artistic relationship between British artist Leon Kossoff (1926-2019) and Belarus-born painter Chaim Soutine (1893-1943). Undertaken with the full support of the Kossoff estate, it brings together important loans from public and private collections in the UK and overseas, providing a fascinating follow-up to The Barnes Foundation’s 2021 show Soutine / De Kooning. Join Pallant Director Simon Martin, Jo Baring and Dr. Alexandra Harris for a wide ranging panel discussion covering topics such as Neo-Romanticism, Surrealism, gender and sexuality. Join us at Tate St Ives for this exciting seminar showcasing new perspectives on modern British art and artists.

This inclusive, questioning, invigorating book feels like a game-changer. It reframes modern British art and asks us to celebrate a more expansive and exciting idea of Britishness.’ Breakdown of anticipated expenses (travel, accommodation, and any other costs you plan to claim for) Through this careful and original reconsideration, modern British art emerges in an expanded form, more relevant than ever and more urgent in its message.’This inclusive, questioning, invigorating book feels like a game-changer. It reframes modern British art and asks us to celebrate a more expansive and exciting idea of Britishness.’ – Charlotte Mullins, author of A Little History of Art Inspired by the major exhibition and publication Barbara Hepworth: Art and Life this event focuses on under-represented perspectives on motherhood to consider how this might affect the making and understanding of art works. To me, these books are primarily guides for the time-travelling armchair flaneur: books to marvel at and dream in. It's important to note, however, just how little has been written about the supremely talented Boucher before now, in any language. Most of the material I drew on in my essay (with help from my A-level French) was unearthed by Tim Mainstone, who made it is his mission to discover every known fact, story or piece of gossip about this brilliant precursor to Eric Ravilious and Edward Bawden. In fact Tim spent years trawling obscure databases and publications for information not only about Boucher but also about publisher Marcel Seheur and - last, but definitely not least - the brilliant author Pierre Mac Orlan, whose waspish prose poems add a strange, dark mystery to the original book. They are included in the new edition, alongside translations by Shaun Whiteside.