Slade 150

Slade Women

The Slade School of Fine Art was established in 1871 to teach fine art within a university setting. Groundbreaking in terms of art education, both male and female students were taught from the beginning with parallel access to the life model.

Initiated by Professor Liz Rideal, this symposium will offer historical perspectives alongside contemporary views through the celebration of the work of those who have identified as women artists who studied at the Slade.

nder Milk Wood, Paula Rego, 1954, oil on canvas

Paula Figueiroa Rego (b.1935), Under Milk Wood, 1954, oil on canvas, 1093 x 1093 mm (UCL Art Museum, LDUCS-5581) © Paula Rego

Curator and author - with expertise in women in Modernism - Alicia Foster, introduces life at the Slade School of Fine Art during the 19th and 20th centuries. A discussion between Royal Academicians, Tess Jaray and Rana Begum follows; both are former Slade students and Begum was taught in Postgraduate Painting by Jaray. Chila Kumari Burman, Lindsay Seers, Sinta Tantra, Anj Smith, Vivien Zhang and Jadé Fadojutimi remember and reconsider seminal moments of their own Slade art school days.

Dame Professor Phyllida Barlow RA will conclude the proceedings. A Slade student, Phyllida later taught in the sculpture department for more than forty years becoming the first female Slade Professor of Fine Art.

DETAILS

Wednesday, 9 February, 2-5pm online
Reserve via Eventbrite

PROGRAMME

14.00 Slade Women - a Celebration: introduction by Professor Liz Rideal

14.10 Life at the Slade during the 19th and 20th centuries: curator and author with expertise in women in Modernism, Alicia Foster

15.15 An Abstract Life: Tess Jaray talks with Rana Begum. Jaray studied at the Slade from 1957, taught from 1968-99 becoming Head of Postgraduate Painting. Begum spent time as Jaray's studio assistant after her MA in Painting 2000-2002, and she has just taken up the role of UG External Examiner at the Slade.

16.00 The Slade Experience: discussion between Chila Kumari Burman, (Slade student 42 years ago), Lindsay Seers (28 years ago), Anj Smith (20 years ago), Sinta Tantra (19 years ago), Vivien Zhang (10 years ago) and Jadé Fadojutimi (7 years ago).

16.45 Dame Professor Phyllida Barlow RA studied at the Slade from 1963-66, and after joining the staff in the late 1980s, taught there until 2009. In 2014 she gave the William Townsend Lecture (https://www.ucl.ac.uk/slade/events/townsend-lecture-phyllida-barlow). Barlow will talk about the art school today, the future of the artist and the traces they leave behind.

17.00 End

Please note: the programme is subject to change.

Watch the video of Slade Women