Saturday 8th May 2021, 9:30am – 12:30pm

Back by popular demand, Art Historian Justine Hopkins will be on Zoom to lead an informative morning of Art History for adult learners.

Glass is one of the oldest and most extraordinary of man-made materials. The seductive glamour of glass has entranced humankind for millennia, and nowhere more powerfully that in Bristol, with a glassmaking heritage stretching back to the sixteenth century.

In the latter half of the nineteenth century glassmakers began to challenge the limits of their industrial inheritance to place glass at the cutting edge of contemporary art. Today names such as Gallé, Tiffany, Marinot, Lalique are familiar with people beyond the circles of curating and collecting, while some of their masterworks still baffle modern glassworkers. This Art History morning celebrates their achievements along with those of less familiar names, tracing the evolution of techniques and technology, ideas and intentions behind the spectacular glass creations of Art Nouveau and Art Deco. 

The Zoom meeting will take the shape of four short lectures with comfort breaks between them, ending with time for questions. There will be a longer break at the halfway point.

The programme will run as follows

Lecture 1: Stone of the kind that flows: Glass, a few preliminaries.

Lecture 2: Dreams and enchantment: Arts and Crafts, Art Nouveau, Art Deco

Lecture 3: Masters and masterpieces: Gallé, Tiffany, Marinot, Lalique

Lecture 4: Destination X: Glass art - Art glass

'Glass is a marvellous material. Everything about it makes it an incomparable plastic medium in the hands of an ingenious artist, offering his imagination and talent almost limitless scope for discovery.'     [René Lalique]

About the lecturer: Dr Hopkins is a freelance lecturer in Art History. Previously, she has lectured at the Victoria and Albert Museum; Bristol, London, Oxford and Cambridge Universities; the Tate, National and National Portrait Galleries; Sotheby's, Christies' and assorted independent institutions, and is a registered lecturer for NADFAS.

Reserve your place using the 'book now' button above. You will be sent the Zoom link and details at least one day before the event by email. 

 Image: A roundel by Louis Comfort Tiffany (dated 1893-6, in the Metropolitan Museum, New York)