About
For centuries, artists have deliberately reduced their colour palette, electing to paint in black, white and shades of grey using a technique often referred to as 'grisaille.' This talk, expanding on research from Sliwka’s National Gallery exhibition on the subject in 2017-18, will explore the key reasons why artists have used this technique historically and why they continue to do so to this day. Tracing the history of monochrome painting in the West from the earliest known examples in the twelfth century all the way to the present, this talk will demonstrate how in liberating themselves from the complexities of working in colour, artists often feel freer to experiment with form, texture, mark making, and symbolic meaning. Fascinatingly, artists across time have also used this technique as a clever way of attracting the viewer’s attention and encouraging them to focus on a particular subject, concept or technique.

Artists Explored 

Biography
Dr Jennifer Sliwka is Keeper of Western Art at the Ashmolean Museum and Garlick Professorial Fellow at Balliol College both at the University of Oxford. In November, she will become the new Director of the Gemäldegalerie (Picture Gallery) of the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna. Before joining the Ashmolean she worked at the National Gallery, the Victoria and Albert Museum and the British Museum. A specialist in Italian Renaissance and Baroque art, she is also known for her transhistorical exhibitions and work with contemporary artists, notably Monochrome: Painting in Black and White (The National Gallery; Kunstpalast Düsseldorf, 2017/18) and Reframed: The Woman at the Window (Dulwich Picture Gallery, 2022). 

Further Information
Booking is required due to limited capacity. 

The Brown Collection is fully accessible. Please let us know if you have specific requirements when booking. 

Light refreshments will be served. 

Any queries please email: [email protected]