Next date: Tuesday, 13 May 2025 | 05:00 PM
The Oxford English Dictionary defines portraiture as “a representation…of a person, especially the face…”. However, this simple explanation belies the complexities of reproducing the face. Portraits are distinct from other categories in art in the way they are made, the nature of what they represent and how they work in terms of display. This lecture will explore how portraits range from the symbolic to images where concern with identity opens up character, personality, mood, status, costume, occupation, gender and age, and the relationship between sitter and painter.
Alice Foster has lectured for Oxford University Department of Continuing Education since 1998. She lectures regularly at the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, and at the Oxfordshire Museum in Woodstock. Her busy freelance career includes organising History of Art study days with colleagues, and regular weekly classes in Oxfordshire and Worcestershire. In 2004 Alice joined The Arts Society and has lectured in Britain and in Europe.