A Streeton, The Centre of the Empire, 1902

On Tuesday 15 November, Dr Simon Sleight gave a public lecture at the Courtauld Gallery, next door to King's.  Serving as a curtain-raiser for the upcoming events associated with the 'Australia's Impressionists' exhibition at the National Gallery, Simon's lecture was titled 'Representing the "Modern" City: Fin-de-siècle Paris and London'.

Simon's lecture explored how artists responded to the shifting conditions of urban living, often mirroring the acceleration of change with an acceleration of technique.  Examining the role of outsiders (such as Australian Arthur Streeton and Italian Giuseppe De Nittis), and insiders (like Gustave Caillebotte), in representing the city, themes of mobility, illumination and ambiguity were explored as turn-of-the-century preoccupations.

75 members of the public, graduate students from the Courtauld and undergraduate students from King's, attended. Simon was pelased to donate his £150 speaker fee to the King's College London History Undergraduate Hardship fund.