ART HISTORY FESTIVAL 2023 – East of England

Colour 2 explores the use of colour within painting, sculpture and sound.

The power of colour has fascinated psychologists, philosophers, chemists and artists for hundreds of years, with certain colours long being associated with class, status and authority within many cultures.

The emotion colour can evoke within us has encouraged many artists to consider the way they are using colour and why. Utilising the Beecroft Art Gallery collection in conjunction with loans from Essex University and Essex Collection of Art from Latin America ESCALA, this exhibition aims to explore the way colour has been used, the narrative of particular colours, and the power colour holds.

The exhibition is also free to visit and open Wednesday – Sunday, 11:00 – 17:00.

Join us for a special screening of Ian Giles’ film Edward / Maurice followed by a conversation with author Diarmuid Hester about E.M Forster and queering history.

The yellow of evening primroses, red-hot pokers and a retreat into the green wood: Edward / Maurice draws upon works by two of Cambridge’s most acclaimed alumni: Christopher Marlowe’s play Edward II and E.M Forster’s novel Maurice. Both texts feature fully realised complex gay protagonists within historic settings. A 13th century king is murdered with a red-hot poker and a 1900s love triangle between Cambridge students and a gamekeeper flourishes in light of the green wood.

Giles’ 30 min film is set on the final day of a summer drama camp; we join a young LGBTQI+ group as they embody these texts to explore how history, power and class have shaped same sex relationships across the centuries.

During his time as artist in residence at Cambridge School of Art, Ian Giles has engaged with staff and students at Anglia Ruskin University and Downing College Cambridge as he has developed and produced his new film.

The Fitz Listening Salons are a chance to take a deep dive into the themes of the Fitzwilliam’s flagship exhibition examining the impacts of the colonialism and enslavement, Black Atlantic: Power, People, Resistance. The Listening Salons invite us to collectively explore Britain’s relationship to the legacies of enslavement through the context of the Black Atlantic – a rich conceptual space for limitless imagination, transmission and exchange. Co-facilitated by series convenor Ruquayya Bryce and guest Adiva Lawrence, Project Curator at the International Slavery Museum, Liverpool.

This event is best suited for visitors who’ve already seen the exhibition.

Sir Alfred Munnings had a lifelong passion for seeing colour and light and an innate ability to capture these elements in his painting. Naturally gifted as a child, he honed his skills and gained the experience which made him one of the country’s foremost plein air painters.The exhibition showcases Munnings’s preoccupation with painting colour and light, and offers a very personal insight into his love of painting.

Exhibition is open Wednesday 20 September- Sunday 24 September during festival week.