Art History in Focus March 2022

Running from 8 to 18 March 2022, the fourth instalment of Art History in Focus presents London Art Week's interim series of online talks, themed editorials and live exhibition tours taking place over the course of a week.

Read the full programme below.

All AHIF 2022 recordings are now available on our YouTube channel.

Online Talk
17.00 - 18.00 (GMT)
Tuesday 8 March 2022

Why did so many female artists in pre-modern times focus on still-lifes?

Ahead of the fascinating new exhibition: Forbidden Fruit: Female Still Life, opening at Colnaghi in London (12 April-24 June 2022), Chloe Stead (Senior Global Director, Colnaghi) discusses with Calvine Harvey (Vice President, Old Master Paintings Specialist, Sotheby's) and Dr Yuriko Jackall (Head of the Curatorial Department and Curator of French Paintings, The Wallace Collection) the importance of female artists as still-life painters.

Under the spotlight, Fede Galizia's work - that contributed in a decisive way to the development of this genre in Lombardy and beyond - but also works by other female artists from the 16th-18th century, including the renowned Dutch painter Rachel Ruysch.

Discover with our experts how still-life painting flourished as an independent genre in the early 17th century and played a central role in the life of some of the most trailblazing female artists of all time - often overlooked by art history.

Online Talk
17.00 - 18.00 (GMT)
Wednesday 9 March 2022

Donatello - Celebrating the importance of the Renaissance master in the first major exhibition in nearly 40 years

On the occasion of the historic, once-in-a-lifetime exhibition Donatello, the Renaissance, opening on 19 March 2022 until 31 July 2022, at the Museo Nazionale del Bargello in Florence and the Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi, London Art Week is proud to welcome the exhibition curator Dr Francesco Caglioti (Professor of Medieval and Renaissance Art History, Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa), Paola D'Agostino (Director, Musei del Bargello) and Arturo Galansino (Director General, Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi) who will be in conversation with Katherine Zock (Vice President and Director, Friends of the Bargello).

Online Talk
17.00 - 18.00 (GMT)
Thursday 10 March 2022

The Académie Julian in the late 19th century and its influence on women artists internationally

The talk will start with moderator Will Elliott (Elliott Fine Art) explaining how a painting of the studio filled with female students at the Académie Julian (1867-1968) by Lucie Attinger got him interested in the importance of this French academy that allowed women to draw and paint nude models. From 1880, artists came from all over the world and enrolled at the Académie. While the talk will focus on women artists in Paris, it will also look at other schools female artists had access to and at the long-term impact, the academy had on their works and career.

With the special participation of Vibeke Waallann Hansen (The National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design, Oslo), Anita Viola Sganzerla (Katrin Bellinger Collection) and Tom Edwards (Abbott and Holder).

Online Talk
17.30 - 18.30 (GMT)
Wednesday 16 March 2022

The Grand Tour, the two Horaces and the Court of Florence (1740-1786) at Strawberry Hill

Transporting the viewer into a virtual visit to one of the most beautiful and beguiling cities on earth, Florence, this talk will explore the most recent display In Focus: The Grand Tour on show at Strawberry Hill House & Garden, long-standing partner Museum of London Art Week. A panel discussion with Silvia Davoli (Curator, Strawberry Hill House) and Emanuela Tarizzo (Art Historian).

Online Talk
17.30 - 18.30 (GMT)
Friday 18 March 2022

Grace, sprezzatura and new discoveries: Parmigianino at The Courtauld

In this panel, Dr Ketty Gottardo (Curator, Martin Halusa of Drawings, The Courtauld) and Dr Guido Rebecchini (Reader in Sixteenth-Century Southern European Art, The Courtauld) will present the research project behind The Art of Experiment: Parmigianino at The Courtauld, a display of the rich collection of Parmigianino's works in The Courtauld's collection. Following the death of Raphael, Parmigianino who was famous for his graceful and elegant figures came to be considered as the new Raphael, notably by the artist and biographer Giorgio Vasari.

Introduced and moderated by LAW Chairman Stephen Ongpin (Director, Stephen Ongpin Fine Art) this talk aims to analyse the concept of Grace in Parmigianino's art, and unveil the latest discoveries resulting from this unprecedented research project conducted by the members of The Courtauld Conservation Institute.