Yale Bulletin and Calendar

January 17, 2003|Volume 31, Number 15|Two-Week Issue

"George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron" by Thomas Phillips is one of the works from the National Portrait Gallery on view in a new exhibition at the Yale Center for British Art.

Exhibits recall era of 'Romantics and Revolutionaries'

The turbulent events of the Romantic period -- and the personalities who helped lead those revolutions -- are the focus of two new exhibitions and a symposium at the Yale Center for British Art.

Every sphere of life, from politics to poetry, was transformed by discovery, invention, rebellion and war during the Regency era (1790-1830). At the same time, the Romantic movement brought about a profound shift in literature and art celebrating passion and emotion.

The artists, scientists and statesmen who helped bring about these changes are celebrated in the exhibitions "Romantics & Revolutionaries: Regency Portraits from the National Portrait Gallery, London" and "The Romantic Print in the Age of Revolutions: Heroes, Hero-Worship, and the Heroic in History," which both open on Thursday, Jan. 23. In conjunction with these two shows, the British Art Center will host a symposium titled "'The Age of Personality': Biography and Celebrity in the Romantic Period" on Friday-Saturday, Jan. 24-25.

"Romantics and Revolutionaries"

Lord Byron, William Wordsworth, Jane Austen and King George IV are just a few of the larger-than-life personalities featured in "Romantics & Revolutionaries: Regency Portraits from the National Portrait Gallery, London," which continues through March 30.

The exhibition includes over 70 portraits of some of the best-known images of men and women from what poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge once described as "The Age of Personalities."

"Romantics & Revolutionaries" includes portraits of artists such as John Constable, J.M.W. Turner and William Blake, who emphasized the importance of nature and freedom in their work, and writers such as Percy Bysshe Shelley, John Keats and Coleridge, who helped usher in an era of imaginative literature. In addition, the exhibition features authors such as William Goodwin and Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, whose writings offered innovative theories regarding gender, science and religion, as well as prominent politicians such as Benjamin Franklin and Edmund Burke, whose ideas helped spark reform. Also included are some of the military geniuses of the time, such as George Washington, Emperor Napoléon Bonaparte and Admiral Lord Nelson, who waged the wars and rebellions that defined the era.

The paintings are drawn entirely from the permanent collection of the National Portrait Gallery (NPG), which was established in 1856 with the mission to collect and display the likeness of individuals who played a significant role in British history and culture. The collection, the most comprehensive of its kind in the world, is normally displayed on the NPG's top floor; it has been made available for a tour in the United States while the museum's Regency galleries undergo refurbishment. ArtReach International organized the U.S. tour.

Related rare books have been selected from Yale collections and will be on view as part of the display. A fully illustrated catalogue will accompany the show.

In conjunction with the opening, there will be a talk by NPG biographer and trustee Flora Fraser at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 22, at the British Art Center. (See Visiting on Campus.)

"The Romantic Print in the Age of Revolutions"

Many of the changes of the cultural, political and social landscape of Europe during the late 18th and early 19th centuries are illustrated in works featured in "The Romantic Print in the Age of Revolutions: Heroes, Hero-Worship, and the Heroic in History," on view through June 1.

Designed as a complement to "Romantics & Revolutionaries," this exhibition of works by British printmakers is drawn from the British Art Center's permanent collection. Gillian Forrester, associate curator of prints and drawings at the center, is the show's curator.

Printmaking thrived in Britain during the Romantic period. Many painters turned to graphic artists to capture the spirit and events of the time. "The Romantic Print in the Age of Revolution" explores the Romantic artists' obsession with such events as the French and American Revolutions, the Napoleonic Wars and the Greek War of Independence, and shows how the engravers of the time captured these events in prints that functioned much as photographs or television do today. Other works on display explore artists' fascination with the natural world and reveal the close relationship between literature and the visual arts.

Like "Romantics & Revolutionaries," this exhibition also showcases a wide range of engraved portraits and demonstrates how prints played a crucial role in the creation of the celebrity status of their subjects.

Among the artists represented are George Stubbs, Henry Fuseli, William Blake and John Martin. The works in the exhibit represent a wide range of printmaking techniques -- from aquatint to etching, mezzotint, line-engraving, lithography, relief etching and stipple. Rare progress proofs, printmaking tools and plates will also be on display.

Symposium: "The Age of Personality"

The ways in which the luminaries of the Romantic period were portrayed and the way they presented themselves to the public will be explored in the symposium "'The Age of Personality': Biography and Celebrity in the Romantic Period," to be held Friday-Saturday, Jan. 24-25.

The event will explore many of the themes presented in the shows "Romantics & Revolutionaries" and "The Romantic Print in the Age of Revolution." Scott Wilcox, curator of prints and drawings at the British Art Center, will moderate the symposium, which will be preceded by a complementary graduate school symposium.

"The Age of Personalities" will open at 5:30 p.m. on Friday with a keynote lecture titled "Framing Genius." The featured speaker will be Richard Holmes, biographer and professor of biographic studies at the University of East Anglia, who wrote the introduction to the catalogue for the "Romantics & Revolutionaries" exhibit.

Saturday's program will feature presentations by six scholars 9:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Topics will include: "Romantic Bluestockings: From Muses to Matrons," "The Sublime in Science and the Modern Prometheus: Romantic Views of Benjamin Thompson," "Caspar David Friedrich and the Concealed Self-Portrait," "'Enshrined in mystery, and the object of profound speculation': The Double Life of J.M.W. Turner," "From Celebrity to Crack-up: The Case of John Clare" and "Pre-Raphaelites: Romantics or Anti-Romantics?"

In conjunction with the "Age of Personalities," there will be a graduate student symposium titled "Fashioning the Self: Identity in the Romantic Period," to be held 1-4 p.m. on Friday at the British Art Center. The event was organized by Eva Bowerman and Rachel Oberter, graduate students in Yale's Department of the History of Art.

Both symposia are free and open to the public. Pre-registration is not necessary, but seating is limited to 200. For further information, call (203) 432-2857.

The Yale Center for British Art, located at 1080 Chapel St., is open to the public free of charge 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday and noon-5 p.m. Sunday. The museum is accessible to individuals using wheelchairs. For further information, call the center at (203) 432-2800 or visit the center's website at www.yale.edu/ycba.

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