Talk | How To See Now: The Female Subjects with Katy Hessel - Aphrodite/Venus
6-7pm
£18 (£16.20 For Friends and other concessions)
[ Talk )
Buy Tickets >Book for three of more sessions in one transaction to get 10% off the ticket price (full priced tickets only).
How much do you know about the Virgin Mary? How has her image perpetuated an idealisation for motherhood? Where does the iconography of the witch stem from? Is there more to Aphrodite/ Venus than as just the ancient’s idea of a pin-up?
Join art historian Katy Hessel for a series of lectures dedicated to Biblical and mythological female subjects commonly depicted in western art history, from witches to the Virgin Mary, Medusa, Eve to Aphrodite. Borrowing from the 1972 book and television series, Ways of Seeing, and its author John Berger’s idea “to start a process of questioning”, Hessel will be delving into the evolution of these subjects: looking at their story of origin and how male artists from history ‘perceived’ them (perhaps perpetuating a certain narrative), and how, if we look at them from the perspective of a woman artist, we might just see them anew.
These talks are not to be recorded and are part of a working progress for an upcoming book project.
Each talk will focus on a specific female subject from art history;
Thursday 2nd October 6-7pm – Virgin Mary
Tuesday 7th October 6-7pm – Aphrodite/Venus
Thursday 30th October 6-7pm – Witches
Thursday 12th February 6-7pm – Medusa
Thursday 26th February 6-7pm – Athena
Thursday 5th March 6-7pm – Eve & Lilith
Book for three of more sessions in one transaction to get 10% off the ticket price (full priced tickets only).
Cover image features Fra Angelico, Madonna of Humility (c. 1430–1450); Sandro Botticelli, The Birth of Venus (c. 1485); Salvator Rosa, The Witch (1646); Caravaggio, Medusa (1598); Rembrandt, Pallas Athena (c. 1657); Titian, The Fall of Man (c. 1550).
Katy Hessel
Katy Hessel is a British art historian and author of the internationally bestselling book, The Story of Art Without Men (2022). Upcoming books include How To Live An Artful Life (Nov 2025) and The Story of Art Without Men (ages 9–13, March 2026).
She runs the popular Instagram account, thegreatwomenartists; hosts The Great Women Artists Podcast, where she has interviewed the likes of Tracey Emin and Marina Abramović; and writes a column in The Guardian. In 2024, she launched Museums Without Men, an audioguide highlighting works by women and gender non-conforming artists in museum collections worldwide. She is a Visiting Fellow at Cambridge University and a Trustee of Charleston.
