Rhythm and emotion: a history of art and music
Weekend art history course
20 April 2024 10am - 5pm21 April 2024 10am - 5pm
Wolfson British Academy Room | Burlington Gardens
£420. Includes light refreshments and a wine reception at the end of day one.
Friends of the RA book first
Join us for this weekend course to explore the intersection of art and music throughout history.
In Angelica Kauffman’s famous self-portrait, the artist depicts herself hesitating between the arts of music and painting. But we don’t always have to choose – in ancient Greek culture, the word mousike referred not just to music, but to all the various ‘arts of the Muses’.
In this course, we trace the longstanding relationship between visual art and music. We begin with the heavenly choirs of the medieval period and the courtly pageantry of the Renaissance, as well as exploring global traditions - from Indian ragamala paintings, giving a visual form to the raga musical tradition, to the representation of Kabuki theatre and performance in Japanese ukiyo-e woodblock prints.
We explore the birth of Modernism – particularly prevalent in the burgeoning Paris arts scene – where the values of different artistic media are blended. We will consider this new interdisciplinarity through the works of Richard Wagner, Eric Satie, Wassily Kandinsky and Gertrude Stein, and the movements of Cubism, Symbolism, Futurism and Abstract Expressionism.
Later in the 20th century, we look at the experimental works of John Cage and Yoko Ono; trace the relationship between visual art and jazz in the works of Miles Davis, Piet Mondrian and Jean-Michel Basquiat; and explore the links between music and art in the contemporary.
The course will be led by art and music historians, curators and experts on art, music and composition. No prior knowledge is required but debate and discussion are encouraged.
Minimum age 18. If you have any accessibility needs, please contact public.programmes@royalacademy.org.uk.
About the speakers
Andrew Spira studied at the Courtauld Institute and Kings College, London. For several years, he was a curator at the V&A Museum before becoming Programme Director at Christie’s Education. He has written several books: The Avant-Garde Icon, on Russian icons and Russian Avant-Garde art; The Invention of the Self and Simulated Selves - on art and personal identity from the Middle Ages to the present day; and Forshadowed: Malevich’s ‘Black Square’ and its Precursors. He is currently writing a book on the history of music.
Annette Wickham is Curator of Works on Paper for the Royal Academy Collection and co-curator of the current Angelica Kauffman exhibition. She has curated and contributed to numerous displays and exhibitions at the Academy including Daniel Maclise: The Waterloo Cartoon and Constable, Gainsborough and Turner and the Making of Landscape. Annette has published on aspects of the Royal Academy’s history, its Collections and its Schools. She studied History of Art at Manchester University and the Courtauld Institute and was previously an Assistant Curator at the Victoria and Albert Museum.
Dr. Charlotte de Mille is Associate Lecturer at The Courtauld Institute, and curates The Courtauld Gallery’s music programme. With them she co–authored Animating Art History, a joint initiative with Central St. Martin’s and the University for the Creative Arts, which was long–listed for a Clore Award in Museum Learning. She recieved a St Andrews University Public Engagement with Research Award 2018 (group award for ‘Virginia Woolf and Music’ project), and a Touring Exhibition Group Bursary in 2017. She was part of the Museums Association Transformers Influence Career Development Programme 2017. She was Visiting Scholar at Lingnan University, Hong Kong in 2018, and Mid-Career Fellow at the Paul Mellon Centre for British Art 2020. This was followed by a Paul Mellon Centre Research Continuity.
Dr Deborah Pritchard is a synaesthetic composer, performed worldwide by the BBC Symphony Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, London Sinfonietta and the BBC Singers. She received a British Composer Award for her solo violin piece 'Inside Colour’; her violin concerto 'Wall of Water', after paintings by Maggi Hambling, was performed at the National Gallery by violin soloist Harriet Mackenzie in 2015 and her recent work for choir and symphony orchestra 'Kandinsky Songs' was premiered in Beijing, China in February 2024. She also paints music, reviewed in The Times as 'paying visual homage to those wonderful medieval maps of the world.’ Deborah was awarded her DPhil from Worcester College, University of Oxford, is Associate Member of The Faculty of Music, Oxford and Honorary Associate of the Royal Academy of Music. She held the tenure of Visiting Fellow at Keble College, Oxford from 2022-2023. She is joined for her talk by violinist Harriet Mackenzie, who has recently performed as soloist with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, to play live music throughout the session.
Dr. Ryoko Matsuba is a specialist on Edo period print culture. She is currently Lecturer in Japanese Digital Arts and Humanities at the Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures, University of East Anglia. She received her PhD from Ritsumeikan University (2008). She was a curatorial member on two major exhibitions at the British Museum: Hokusai Beyond the Great Wave (2017); and the Citi Exhibition Manga (2019), where she co-authored the exhibition catalogue. She has been coordinating a joint project between the Art Research Center, Ritsumeikan University and the Sainsbury Institute to create a comprehensive digital archive of the collections of Japanese paintings, prints, illustrated books and decorative arts in the UK.
Dr. Richard David Williams is Senior Lecturer in Music and South Asian Studies at SOAS University of London. His research explores how music and sound are discussed in literature, and how colonialism reoriented early modern musical ideas and practices. His first book, The Scattered Court: Hindustani Music in Colonial Bengal (2023), explores the musical connections between north India and Bengal c.1750–1900, and examines how musical societies negotiated the changing politics of a colonial landscape.
Professor Simon Shaw-Miller is an expert on the relationships between art and music. He is Emeritus Chair of Art History at the University of Bristol, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, and an Honorary Associate of the Royal Academy of Music. He has lectured all over the world, most recently he was keynote speaker at the first ‘Synaesthesia & Arts International Symposium’ at the China Academy of Art in Hangzhou. His major publications included the books, Visible Deeds of Music (Yale UP, 2002), Eye hEar The Visual in Music (Routledge, 2013), Improvision: Orphic Art in the Age of Jazz (Bloomsbury, 2023)
Our courses and classes programme
Our varied programme of short courses and classes provides an opportunity to explore subjects ranging from life drawing to the history of exhibitions and arts management, led by expert tutors and practising artists. These courses introduce traditional art-making processes, as well as perspectives on art history, theory and business.
Give this course as a gift
All of our courses can be purchased as a gift for a friend or family member – giving the gift of education and a remarkable experience. To arrange a personalised Gift Voucher, please contact the Academic Programmes Team, by calling 020 7300 5641 or email academic.programmes@royalacademy.org.uk