The next Birkbeck Forum for Nineteenth-Century Studies will feature Diana Maltz (SOU) presenting on 'Decadence for Kids?: Mabel Dearmer and Children's Book Illustration in the 1890s.' It will be held on Monday 13 May 2013 from 6:00-8:00pm in the Keynes Library.
Abstract:
The writer and artist Mabel Dearmer worked at the heart of the 1890s vanguard, contributing illustrations to The Yellow Book and The Studio and to books published by John Lane at the Bodley Head. She adopted a visual style redolent of Aubrey Beardsley's poster art and characterized by a Japanese-influenced asymmetry, bold colour-blocking, and heavy use of outline. Yet her images were largely used in the service of children's literature. Can an image be formally decadent while remaining morally palatable? This lecture considers Dearmer's artistic production in its social contexts. It particularly highlights her activity in two aesthetic worlds: the High Anglican community of her husband, the Rev. Percy Dearmer, with its ritualism and guild socialism, and the Yellow Book circle.
Please join us for our next session. For those interested, please feel free to come for dinner at Carluccio's with Diana Maltz after her talk.
Future Forum events include:
Martin Myrone (Tate Britain): 'Spectacle and the Sublime: Romantic Visuality and Contemporary Exhibition Culture'
Monday 20 May 2013, 6:00-7:40pm in the Birkbeck Cinema, 43 Gordon Square
'Amy Levy and Controversy': Panel Discussion with Richa Dwor (Leicester), Naomi Hetherington (Birkbeck), Nadia Valman (QMUL), and Ana Parejo Vadillo (Birkbeck)
Monday 20 May 2013, 7:40-9:00pm
Eugenia Gonzalez (Birkbeck): 'Victorian Dolls and Material Play'
Tuesday 21 May 2013, 7:30-9:00pm in Room 124, 43 Gordon Square
'On Cosmopolitanism:' Seminar with Stefano Evangelista (Oxford), Alex Murray (Exeter), and Matthew Potolsky (Utah)
Thursday 30 May 2013, 6:00-8:00pm
Alison Booth (Virginia): 'A Network of Trollopes: Anglo-Italians, Women, and Biographical "Events"'
Monday 10 June 2013, 6:00-8:00pm
Unless otherwise noted, all sessions take place in the Keynes Library (Room 114, School of Arts, 43 Gordon Square, London, UK, WC1H 0PD). All sessions are free and welcome to the public.
For more information, please visit the website at: http://www.bbk.ac.uk/english/our-research/research_cncs/our-events/birkbeck-forum-for-nineteenth-century-studies-summer-term-2013
Please note that the Forum's email address has changed to c19@bbk.ac.uk. All correspondence related to the Forum will be sent through this email address and all inquiries about Forum events should be sent to c19@bbk.ac.uk.