Wednesdays 9, 16, 23 February, 2, 9 March & Thursday 17 March 6.30–8.30pm

The simple act of fixing scraps of printed material onto a canvas has had a profound impact on the development of Modern Art. Picasso and Braque playfully questioned painted reality with inserts of wood grain paper and went on to develop the language of Cubism using the vocabulary of pasted papers. The Surrealists subverted the 19th scrapbook to create an hypnotic imagery of the inner mind, whilst in the form of photomontage, German artists such as Heartfield attacked National Socialism with political collages. A very different type of cut paper was explored by Matisse who brought together the disciplines of drawing and colouring.  The practice of collage continues today, with artists such as John Stezaker using it to explore how visual images structure and embed meaning. This course will refer to sculpture and printmaking where appropriate and there will be opportunities for discussion, simple experiments with collage and visits to relevant exhibitions at the Whitechapel Gallery.

Tutor James Heard is an artist and works at the National Gallery organising lectures, courses and study days. He has an excellent knowledge of the collections at Tate Britain and the National Portrait Gallery where he also worked in the Adult Programmes department and has been Head of Art History at City Lit. He lectures at Christies and has taught in Denver, Phoenix and Washington DC.

Book from 17 November: bishopsgate.org.uk T +44 (0)20 7392 9200

In association with Bishopsgate Institute

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