
Unpacking Art: Portraiture – GI 25 182
20 February 2026 @ 2:00 pm - 4:00 pm GMT
Tutor: Chris Holley BA (Hons) Fine Art
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Exploring two extremes in portraiture. On one side, John Singer Sargent a 19th/20th century darling portraitist to the rich and famous in all their finery, on the other Frank Auerbach a 20th/21st century obsessive recluse who executed portraits of the same few sitters over decades. What influenced these painters and how did they influence the next generation of artists?
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Madame X (Madame Pierre Gautreau), John Singer Sargent, 1884
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About the Speaker
Chris Holley
https://www.chrisholleyart.com/
Coming from a dance/choreographic background and with music in her DNA, Chris is an abstract/figurative painter working mainly from memory and imagination. She exhibits regularly in London and south England, her art also adorning walls in collections in the USA and Spain. Her specialist subject is the impact of Diaghilev's Ballets Russes on visual art. Her writings on this absorbing subject now residing in the V&A's National Library of Art, and with major arts bodies in the UK and overseas.
Chris has lectured both in person and online. Her inspirational illustrated art talks aim to share great art in a non-didactic style. They are informative, fun and topical, usually in delivered in parallel with current UK exhibitions, to encourage audiences to attend. She has delivered children's art workshops, all for Berkshire Libraries.
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