History, Art History and Culture

Day 1. The Royal Academy Summer Exhibitions 1870-90. Ten prominent works and their themes.

Day 2. The social realism of Herkomer and Fildes, the relationship between the graphic arts and painting in Victorian England.

Day 3. "Mere coloured photographs of vulgar society” (Fors Clavigera by John Ruskin). The leisured middle class and painting as a mirror of high society, 1870-80.

Day 4. The beauty and the beast. Victorian art and the Classical inheritance. Frederic Lord Leighton and G.F. Watts.

Day 5. Approaching the end of the nineteenth century: how contemporary artists and their work reflected the changing values, beliefs, anxieties of the period.

Martin Beek

BA Hons

About Martin

 Martin has worked as an artist both here in U.K. and also for many years in U.S.A. He has taught digital and iPad art at The Ashmolean and other educational settings in Oxfordshire. Whilst his own work spans a wide range of media, he is passionate about exploring the possibilities of technology in personal creativity. Martin frequently exhibits his own work as well as organising group exhibitions and networking with others. Martin's work is widely available to view on social media. He also lectures on nineteenth century art history. He is currently based in Oxford.