Art Lecture at University of Melbourne.

I went to see this public lecture this morning at Kathleen Fitzpatrick Theatre in the Carlton campus. 

Entitled as "Two Titans of Australian Portraiture: Roberts and Lambert", it was delivered by a well-known scholar Anne Gray. Her name was already familiar to me. She wrote a great piece on Tom Roberts for a catalogue of his exhibition earlier this year at NGA in Canberra. 

It was a very informative talk, particularly because I know very little about George Lambert and his work. She explained very well about the different styles these two artists used. Roberts; more intimate, delicate and tactile, we can almost touch and feel flesh or fabrics. Lambert; more structured and solid, we can see inner presence of the sitters. 

Understandably for artists who stayed in Europe around that time, both were heavily influenced by Velazquez, Manet and Whistler. However, Roberts had a somehow negative view on Sargent. That was very curious to me, and I took an opportunity to ask her about it during Q&A session. 

I thoroughly enjoyed it.