New talks

16 August 2022

I’ve added two new talks to my repertoire –

The Textile Heritage of Ukraine – includes fine embroideries made for aristocratic households in the 17^th and 18^th centuries, embroidered and woven towels playing a crucial role at weddings and other rituals, and colourful dress in all its regional variety. People wearing folk dress also provided inspiration for both 19^th-century painters and 20^th-century propagandists, celebrating the abundant land of Ukraine.

A shared Golden Age – Russian and Finnish art before the 1917 Revolution.  Mir Iskusstva (The World of Art) was a group of artists formed in Russia in 1898. Its first project was the Exhibition of Russian and Finnish Artists, held in St Petersburg, including works by Russians Leon Bakst, Mikhail Vrubel, Valentin Serov and Isaac Levitan, and Finns Akseli Gallen-Kallela, Pekka Halonen, Albert Edelfelt and Eero Järnefelt. As a Grand Duchy, Finland was at this time part of the Russian Empire. This talk will look particularly at the Finnish artists, their connection with the art scene in Russia itself, and their part in the fight for Finnish independence, which was finally achieved in the wake of the Revolution.