Kaleidoscope: Impresions of Dress in the Crinoline Era

Impressionist artists Monet, Degas and Morisot delighted in painting modern life. Like Manet they responded to Baudelaire’s call ‘are we not heroic in our top hats and patent leather boots?’ In Victorian England William Powell Frith pioneered the painting of everyday life (in modern dress) with popular works Derby Day and Ramsgate Sands. This lecture will use fashion plates and publications such as Punch to shed new light on such famous paintings. New inventions (e.g, the cage crinoline and aniline dyes in the world of fashion, and paint in tubes in the world of art) will be discussed for their role in creating a new aesthetic.

Jacqui Ansell studied History of Art and Theory at the University of Essex, then gained an MA in History of Dress from the Courtauld Institute. As a former Educational Officer at the National Gallery, London, and a writer for the Open University, Jacqui continues to lecture regularly at the National Gallery, Wallace Collection and National Portrait Gallery as well as publish on court dress, Grand Tour portraiture and Welsh costume as a cultural marker. Jacqui is also a Senior Lecturer at Christie’s Education, London.