Art history courses at the Whale Theatre with Rosemarie Devereux

ART historian Rosemarie Devereux will lead two fascinating courses at Whale Theatre from next month – ‘ The Visual Story of Ireland’ and ‘ The Story of Europe – Painting History’.

The Story of Ireland will start on Wednesday, October 7 at 7.30 p.m., and take place each Wednesday evening until November 11. The Story of Europe will start on Thursday, October 29 at 10.30 a.m. and take place each Thursday morning until December 3.

The Visual Story of Ireland (1640 - 1940) aims to explore and examine a selection of the paintings in the national collection of art under various themes. Participants will re-engage with the nation’s political and cultural history, understand how Irish art production was compromised by the same historical and political events, and become familiar with some of the nation’s finest artists.

Each week, a different theme will be explored through the examination of different paintings - giving an overview of the artist, the painting’s style and composition, the context of the painting and its role in the visualising of Irish political, cultural and social history.

Topics include the role of politics in art, genre images of the 19th century, land issues in Irish art, and Irish women artists and the arrival of modernism. The course ‘ The Story of Europe’ gives an overview of the main artistic movements that occurred throughout Europe between 1400 and 2000 that not only defined how art was produced but provided the lasting imagery behind Europe’s most influential rulers – royal, religious and republican – as well as the philosophies upon which their rule depended.

These movements also recall the changes in social mores that were necessary for societies to endure and provided the mechanism through which the technological advances of each age were manifested and proclaimed.

Their evolving styles and ever-changing subject matter provided a visual record of each nation’s cultural aspirations ensuring the survival of these images as important social documents in their own right.

Importantly, these movements chart the long and challenging journeys that were undergone by various groups of artists throughout the past 600 years of art history, whereby the cold place generally occupied by anonymous medieval craftsmen was replaced by a hotbed of renowned celebrity artists which ensured their fame and longevity would long outlive them in today’s modern world.

Topics will include the story of the renaissance – magnificence and display in Italy, painting the ordinary and the everyday of the Dutch golden age, modernism – how America finally overcame Europe, and the paintings that rocked the world and changed art.

Rosemarie recently attended UCD as a mature student from where she graduated with a BA Hons in Irish Studies and Art History and a Master’s in ‘Irish Visual Culture 1885-1915’. After graduating she become a volunteer in the NGI and published two articles in the Irish Arts Review. Between 2017 and 2019 she was the facilitator for the Irish Studies in Painting module for 2nd Year Art History students in UCD. Since late 2018 up to March 2020 she ran a series of private Irish art history courses in the National Gallery as well as a course on Irish Art and History in the Whale Theatre.

She has recently been accepted onto the tour guide panel of the National Gallery.

Each course of six classes costs €100, or it’s €20 per class. Places must be booked at least 24 hours in advance.

Go to Whaletheatre.ie for tickets.