First World War Seminar Series
Fine Art Building, Newcastle University
This series of seminars is being held in advance Screaming Steel: Art,
War and Trauma 1914-18, a major exhibition at the Hatton Gallery
opening on 20 September 2014.
The seminars are open to all; staff, students and the public.
Refreshments will be provided.
MONDAY 12 May 2014 at 5.30pm in the Hatton Gallery
Welcome and Introduction – Frances Spalding
'Contra-Blackadder: Reflections on the Image of the 'Tommy' in British
Art and Memorial Sculpture of the First World War.'
Dr Jonathan Black, in conversation with Professor Frances Spalding
Dr. Jonathan Black studied History at Cambridge and gained a PhD in History
of Art from University College, London, with his thesis exploring constructions
of Masculinity and the image of the British soldier or 'Tommy' in the First
World War Art of: C.R.W. Nevinson (1889-1946); Eric Kennington (18881960) and Charles Sargeant Jagger (1885-1934), 1915-25.
Frances Spalding is an art historian, critic and biographer committed to work
that does not compromise scholarship but which is open to all. She is a
specialist in twentieth-century British Art and has written some 15 books,
including British Art since 1900. Frances is Professor of Art History at
Newcastle University.
Break for refreshments
The Long Long Trail: Oh What a Lovely War Fifty Years On
Dr Martin Farr
Dr Martin Farr has been teaching, supervising and researching post-1914
British history at Newcastle University since 2000. He has degrees in both
history and politics and is particularly interested in promoting contemporary
history and its applications. Martin’s research interests include Twentieth
century and contemporary British politics and he is a Senior Lecturer in
Modern and Contemporary British History.
MONDAY 19 May 2014 at 5.30pm in (Venue: tbc)
Introduction by Frances Spalding
War and Beauty: Masking and Unmasking in Pat Barker’s Toby’s Room
and Louisa Young’s My Dear, I Wanted to Tell You
Dr Anne Whitehead
Dr Anne Whitehead researches in the area of modern and contemporary
literature, with particular interests in postwar fiction and war literature. She
works across several fields: trauma studies, memory studies, critical affect
studies and the medical humanities. She is currently preparing her next
monograph, Medicine and Empathy in Contemporary British Fiction. Anne is a
Senior Lecturer in Modern and Contemporary Literature at Newcastle
University.
A short break will be followed by questions time and general discussion.
TUESDSAY20 May 2014 at 5.30pm in (Venue: tbc)
Introduction: Hospitals, Dressing stations and Mustard Gas
Professor Frances Spalding
Medicine and War
Professor Mark Harrison.
Mark Harrison is Professor of the History of Medicine and Director of the
Wellcome Unit for the History of Medicine at Oxford University. He has
written extensively on aspects of war, medicine and imperialism and on the
history of disease. His books include Medicine and Victory: British Military
Medicine in the Second World War (Oxford University Press, 2004) and The
Medical War: British Military Medicine in the First World War (Oxford
University Press, 2010), both of which were awarded the Templer Medical
Book Prize by the Society for Army Historical Research. Professor Harrison is
a Trustee of the Army Medical Services Museum and a member of the
Academic Advisory Board of the National Army Museum.