The Story of Modern Art from 1850-2000: From Can Can to Soup Cans

Thursday 26 April 2012

Lytham Hall

The ‘Can -Can to Soup Can’ study day contains a lot of art history and sets out artists and their work within their time – and within the lively Paris of the Jazz Age.

Linda Collins lectures regularly for NADFAS, both home and abroad and also for the National Trust, U3A and variuos UK universities. Linda has a special interest in Paris and French Art. Linda is a freelance lecturer at Tate Modern & the National Gallery and an independent lecture organiser.

The day will include three sessions:

The first session will begin in Paris in 1850. The city was  known for its colourful, artistic,  bohemian lifestyle and its exceptionally vibrant society with cabarets at places such as the Moulin Rouge, high kicking can can dancers like the famous Jan Avril , and exotic entertainments captured by painters such as Toulouse Lautrec and Manet. The lecture will explore the development of art from academic paintings through to the Impressionists, the Post Impressionists and beyond, examining how the thread of art moves ever forward crossing boundaries and creating new forms.

At the beginning of the second session, we revisit Paris once more. After World War 1 and the signing of the Treaty of Versailles, there was rejoicing in Paris. In this lecture, Paris of the time is considered – the eccentric personalities, the visiting American jazz musicians and home grown talent such as Stephane Grappelli. Five major artistic movements of the era will be considered.

In the third and final session, we will look at how the course of avant garde art moved from Paris to New York in the years just before World War 2.