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Simon Schama – the charismatic historian, polymath and now adviser to David Cameron – delivered an intriguing and original lecture entitled ‘Beasts and Beastliness in Contemporary Art’ as a special FT VIP event for Frieze. In it, he explored the idea of animals in art, starting with Damien Hirst’s iconic ‘Away from the flock’ lamb in formaldehyde and taking his audience on a whirlwind tour through the history of art to explore why animals have long been a central subject, and why they remain such a potent one in contemporary art.
Click here here for an edited version of the lecture from today’s FT.
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All comments on this post - (1 comment)
Schama's comments on George Stubbs are inaccurate and constitute something of a libel on this great artist. He says: 'Subjects would be brought to his attic studio where he would hang them in a complicated harness-contraption from the ceiling and then methodically and slowly bleed them to death.' I wonder if Schama has ever tried to get a live horse into an attic? Where did this come from? The best information we have is that his studio at this time was a barn in the village of Horkstow in Lincolnshire. Then, how would you get a live and probably frightened horse into that harness? And then, why would Stubbs 'slowly' bleed the horse to death? He almost certainly killed the horse first, by the traditional method of stunning and then cutting the throat which results in massive blood loss and near instant brain death. On the basis of inadequate research, Schama seems to have allowed his imagination to run away with him to the detriment of the reputation of a great artist whose work demonstrates a deep love of horses. (Information from Judy Egerton's definitive catalogue raisonne of Stubbs's work)
Posted on: February 10, 2011 9:26 PM by Simon Wilson