When Modern Art Came to Gloucestershire – An Illustrated Talk by Lee Beard, Thursday 19 December, 7.30 pm

Please note: This talk was first given at The George in April of this year and is being repeated by popular demand. Admission is free, but advance booking is advised. Please reserve your seat(s) using the ticket form below.

In May 1938 the exhibition ‘Realism and Surrealism: Several Phases of Contemporary Art’ opened at the Guildhall, Gloucester. Among the 126 paintings and sculptures on display were artworks by some of the century’s most acclaimed modern artists including Salvador Dalí, Paul Klee and René Magritte.

The British artist Paul Nash, who had met Picasso in Paris a decade earlier, was at this time actively involved in the promotion of Surrealist art in Britain. For Nash this was an artistic approach that corresponded with his own distinct renderings of the English landscape as a psychological space. In the late 1930s, Nash became a regular visitor to Gloucestershire, leading to a series of paintings, drawings, and photographs depicting the region. The Forest of Dean in particular provided a rich source of inspiration for him.

In this illustrated talk, art historian Lee Beard reveals how for a brief period an exhibition in Gloucester connected the city to some of the most notable artistic and political events of the time, not least the rise of fascism across Europe. As Herbert Read would explain in the foreword to the Gloucester show, in an age of unrest, it was inevitable that this was to be reflected in the forms of painting and sculpture on display.

Dr Lee Beard is an art historian, writer, teacher and curator. He is a recognised authority on the work of Ben Nicholson (1894-1982) and has published widely on modern art in Britain during the early 20th century.