Speaker: Natailia Murray
5 July 2022

One of the finest collections of Impressionism anywhere in the world was assembled by the English industrialist and philanthropist Samuel Courtauld (1876-1947). During the 1920s, he acquired seminal works by all of the major Impressionists, at a time when Impressionism still struggled to gain acceptance among English public institutions. After a decade of collecting, Courtauld gave the majority of these remarkable works to establish The Courtauld Institute of Art and Gallery in London. This lecture will explore Courtauld’s collection and his role in promoting Impressionism in the United Kingdom.

Profile
Natalia was born in St Petersburg where she gained BA and MA degrees in Art History at the Academy of Fine Arts before taking the PhD course at the Hermitage Museum (conducting research on 17th century Dutch paintings and British reproductive mezzotint engravings of XVII-XIX centuries, and their connection with the development of artistic tastes in Britain). In 2015 she has been awarded PhD at the Courtauld Institute of Art.

At present she is a visiting lecturer at the Courtauld Institute of Art and a senior freelance curator. Over the last five years she has taught at the Courtauld Institute of Art Summer and Spring School, conducted an evening lecture course Showcasing Art History, and presented study days and public lectures at the National Gallery, Royal Academy of Arts, V&A, Art Fund and Chelsea Art Club.