'Art and Architecture in the Third Reich'
2007 Caldwell Lecture No 1
Buzzard Lecture Theatre, Trinity College
Wednesday 8 August, 2007
Professor Richard J Evans
In the first of the three Caldwell Lectures for 2007, Professor Richard J Evans, Professor of Modern History at the University of Cambridge, Miegunyah Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the University of Melbourne and Visiting Scholar at Trinity College, argued that Hitler's youthful ambition as an artist prompted him to take a closer interest in the visual arts than did any other 20th century dictator.
Hitler was personally responsible for the onslaught on 'degenerate art' that culminated in the notorious exhibition of that name held in Munich in 1937, and he also encouraged representational and monumental styles of art in the 'Great German Art Exhibition' opened at the same time.
Many modernist artists emigrated, unable to continue working, but some adapted their styles to the new regime's requirements, and younger artists continued to work where possible in a modernist idiom. Professor Evans suggested that both Nazi art and architecture were versions of modernism rather than contradictions of it, and that the Nazi period deserves to be included in any history of modern German art.
About the Caldwell Lectureship
Awarded every five years, the Caldwell Lectures are given in memory of – and are also very much the vision of – Colin Hicks Caldwell, who entered Trinity College as a resident law student in 1931.
A gifted student, and subsequently a lawyer, Colin Caldwell developed a passion for books, paintings, and porcelain. Fortunately, a combination of comfortable personal circumstances and propitious choice of employment enabled him to spend a good deal of his adult life pursuing these interests.
For a long time, Caldwell worked as a feature writer and reviewer for Art in Australia, and The Age. A very private man, his was nevertheless a life of conspicuous giving, whether that be through his work for the National Trust, or his support of country art galleries, or his gift to Trinity.
Caldwell’s bequest to the College at his death in 1989 was, at that time, the largest single gift in its history, and was given, appropriately, for a trinity of purposes: to support the purchase of books and manuscripts for the Library; for the general purposes of the College; and this endowed lectureship, which very much reflects Caldwell’s own interests as the lectures must be in art, art history, law or literature.
Caldwell Lecture No 3
'The Portrait and National Identity'
Wednesday 29 August at 7.30pm
to be given by Dr David Starkey CBE,
eminent historian, broadcaster and commentator on public affairs in the
UK. An honorary Fellow of Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge, Dr Starkey is
familiar to many in Australia through his television series, Elizabeth I, The Six Wives of Henry VIII, and Monarchy. A regular contributor to newspapers including The Sunday Times and The Spectator,
he was awarded a CBE in the 2007 Queens' Birthday Honours list. While
at Trinity, Dr Starkey will be participating in The Melbourne Writers'
Festival.
Public Lecture Theatre, Old Arts, University of Melbourne
Free admission but please RSVP
Email: events@trinity.unimelb.edu.au
Tel: +61 3 9348 7476