Public Symposium: Sir Michael Sadler (Henry Moore Lecture Theatre, Leeds City Art Gallery)

22 March 2012, 10-5pm

On 22 March 2012, the University of Leeds and Leeds Art Gallery join forces to celebrate visionary art collector and educator Sir Michael Sadler, with a free symposium to honour the centenary of his arrival in Leeds.

The symposium will mark the launch of the re-branded Leeds Art Collections Fund (LACF), one of the UK’s oldest gallery Friends’ organisations, which Sadler was instrumental in establishing in 1912. The University of Leeds celebrates Sadler’s role as its Vice-Chancellor from 1911 until 1923, with a series of exhibitions of artwork and textiles which he donated, at its Stanley & Audrey Burton Gallery and the University of Leeds International Textiles Archive. The Sadler symposium, generously supported by the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, will provide the opportunity to review and extend existing scholarship related to Sadler with a range of papers given by distinguished scholars from across the UK. It will focus especially on Sadler’s legacy to British art history and education in the early 20th century. The day will include special preview of the LACF centenary exhibition at Leeds Art Gallery with Curator Nigel Walsh, and a book signing by Dr. Hilary Diaper of her new publication The Sadler Gift (Leeds: The Stanley & Audrey Burton Gallery, 2012). The event is free, but booking is essential.

Symposium Timetable:

10:00-10:45 - Registration, coffee

10:45-11:00 - Welcome and Introduction: Layla Bloom, Curator, Stanley & Audrey Burton Gallery and Sarah Brown, Exhibitions Curator, Leeds Art Gallery Welcome remarks:

Ben Read, Chairman, Leeds Art Collections Fund (LACF) – Introductory remarks

11:00-11:40 - 'Sir Michael Sadler: a voracious appetite for art,'  Professor Anna Gruetzner Robins, University of Reading

11:45-12:25 - ‘Post-Impressions,' Adrian Glew, Tate Archive

12:25-13:35 - Lunch break and opportunity to visit LACF exhibition

13:40-14:20 -"Michael Sadler and 'Les jeunes'", Dr David Boyd Haycock, historian and author of Crisis of Brilliance

14:25 -15:05 - ‘'We Moderns': Sadler's educational and artistic radicalism,' Dr. Tom Steele, Senior Honorary Research Fellow, University of Glasgow

15:05 -15:25 - Coffee

15:25-16:05 - ‘Michael Sadler and Jacob Kramer: Sadler’s patronage in the Leeds Jewish community,' Rachel Dickson, Head of Curatorial Services, Ben Uri, The London Jewish Museum of Art

16:10-16:40 - Roundtable discussion and questions

16:45-17:00 - Concluding remarks

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18:00:-20:00 - LACF exhibition reception; The Sadler Gift book signing with Dr. Hilary Diaper (University of Leeds)

The Sir Michael Sadler Symposium has been generously supported by the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art.

Image:

Mark Gertler (1891/2-1939), Portrait of Sir Michael Ernest Sadler KCSI, 1915, oil on canvas, Gift of Dr. T.E. Harvey, 1953 © University of Leeds Art Collection/Photo: Norman Taylor, 2011.