Curator's Talks
£20 - for all 10 talks (includes Friends Membership)
FREE - Watts Gallery Volunteers and Friends
Location:
All talks will be held at the Compton Village Hall.
A series of talks on the extraordinary legacy of the artist G F Watts OM RA (1817-1904) and his wife Mary Seton Watts (1849-1938) in Compton, Surrey. All of the talks will be held in Compton Village Hall.
The talks are free for Watts Gallery volunteers and Friends. Please book your place using the form on the back cover of this leaflet.
If you are not a Friend but wish to attend the talks you can join for £20 which is just £2 per talk as well as
all the other benefits. Click here to join the Friends.
Patrons and High Ambition: Watts’s Portraits
Watts painted portraits for many reasons, as commissions, for friends and for his great scheme, the Hall of Fame. This talk will explore the portrait painting of
G F Watts.
Catherine Hilary,
Curatorial Fellow
Wed 28 April, 6-7.30pm
From Grand Manner to Social Conscience: Watts in the 1840s
In 1843 G F Watts, a rising star of British art, left London to paint in Italy and to see the masterpieces of Italian art. His return to London in 1847 prompted his concern for poverty which marked a radical shift in the direction of his art.
Mark Bills, Curator
Wed 12 May, 6-7.30pm
Icons of Victorian Art: Hope and the Great Allegories
Watts painted some of the most iconic images of the Victorian period. This talk will discuss Watts’s approach to his art through the exploration of his greatest works.
Mark Bills, Curator
Wed 26 May, 6-7.30pm
England’s Michelangelo: G F Watts and Sculpture
Watts believed in Michaelangelo’s dictum that ‘there is but one art’ and although primarily a painter, Watts also excelled as one of the age’s great sculptors.
Catherine Hilary,
Curatorial Fellow
Wed 9 June, 6-7.30pm
An Artist’s Retreat: Limnerslease
The Wattses created Limnerslease as a home, work place and centre of a village-wide Arts and Crafts project. Mark Bills, Curator
Wed 23 June, 6-7.30pm
The Word in the Pattern: Watts Cemetery Chapel
A Grade I listed building and masterpiece of Arts and Crafts Symbolism, the talk will explore the design of the Watts Cemetery Chapel.
Mark Bills, Curator
Wed 7 July, 6-7.30pm
A Wheel within a Wheel: A History of Compton Pottery
The Compton Pottery produced some of the most distinctive ceramics of the Arts and Crafts movements. Integral to the development of Compton the talk will explore the history of
the pottery.
Catherine Hilary,
Curatorial Fellow
Wed 21 July, 6-7.30pm
A National Gallery in the Heart of a Village:
A History of Watts Gallery
Watts Gallery was built to house Watts’s own collection of his paintings and to house the potters of the newly established Compton Pottery. This talk will explore the history of this unique purpose built single-artist collection.
Mark Bills, Curator
Wed 4 August, 6-7.30pm
Victorian Artists Revealed:
The Rob Dickins Collection at Watts Gallery
The Watts Gallery contains a rich archive of Victorian study material including 4,500 photographs of artists and the leading figures of the age.
Desna Greenhow,
Curatorial Volunteer
Wed 18 August, 6-7.30pm