Join one of the world's most eminent historians, Professor Jay Winter, to hear about war, art and memory in the twentieth century. This special lecture on the visual culture of war offers a historical perspective on the legacies of war that still resonate in our contemporary world.

This is the Inaugural Public Lecture presented by the School of Philosophical, Historical and International Studies, Monash University.

ABSTRACT

This lecture examines the striking preference for horizontality as an axis of spatial memory in commemorative art. From Käthe Kollwitz’s memorial sculpture for her son in Flanders, to anti-monuments after the Holocaust, to museum design at the end of the twentieth century, the observers’ gaze has been drawn downward in contemplation of war and its destructive power. Other axes of visual art are used as well, but in dialogue with the horizontal. This choice is a clear break with earlier forms of celebratory commemorative art and architecture

SPEAKER

Professor Jay M. Winter is Charles J. Stille Professor of History Emeritus at Yale University. His work focusses on World War I and its impact on the 20th century.

BOOKINGS

Click HERE to reserve your place at this important event.