If expanding your knowledge of art history is on your list of New Year’s resolutions, the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria has your ticket.
The Gallery Associates of the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria are presenting a four-part art lecture series on the birth of modern art, Art, Artists and Ideas that Shaped Modern Art, presented by art historian Dr. Daniel Mato.
The lectures take place over the course of four Sunday afternoons: Feb. 1 and 8, March 1 and 8.
Focusing on a different theme each Sunday, together the lectures form a short history of early modern art starting in 1875 and ending in 1914 with the advent of the First World War.
Each lecture runs from 2 to 2:45 p.m. and is followed with time for discussion and light refreshments.
“We’re thrilled to have Dr. Daniel Mato offer his knowledge about how modern art emerged,” said Angela Buckingham, event co-chair.
“It’s going to be an educational and interesting series, and the funds raised support the mandate of the gallery, which includes the development of education as well as exhibition programming.”
The first lecture, Impressionism-The Quiet Revolution, will look at how Impressionist artists became known as much for their personal histories as for their art. It was a period of prominent personalities that bridged the last decade of the 19th century to the first decade of the 20th, shaping the trends that modern art was to follow.
Post-Impressionism-Different Eyes, the second lecture, examines the early years of the 20th century wherein artists such as Gauguin, Van Gogh and Toulouse-Lautrec sought to depict personal themes symbolically using colour and emotive forms.
The third lecture, Heroic Visions-Makers of Modernism, looks at how without a unifying characteristic, a variety of artists explored innovative means to achieve personal and expressive ends.
Modernism-Fragmenting Reality, the final lecture takes us back to the decade prior to the First World War – a short but intense period during which artists made their way to Paris and questioned the very definition of art as a means of picturing reality. There were a number of main figures with none more prominent than Pablo Picasso.
The presenter, Daniel Mato, is professor emeritus of art history at the University of Calgary, and has held many other notable positions, including gallery and exhibition curator and director of the art gallery at the University of Manitoba.
Mato has a fascinating knowledge of modern art at the turn of the 20th century, which includes findings from his field work in West Africa.
Tickets are $120 for the series, $100 for gallery members/students, available only until Feb. 1. Individual lecture tickets are $35, $30 for Gallery members/students. Tickets include admission to the AGGV and light refreshments. Tickets can be purchased online at aggv.ca and at the AGGV.
For more information, please go online to aggv.ca or call 250-384-4171.