Master Class: Chantal Joffe in conversation with Gemma Blackshaw

Chantal Joffe will discuss her emotive and humorous approach to portraiture with writer and academic Dr Gemma Blackshaw, Professor of Art History at Plymouth University.

Joffe's large-scale portraits, mostly of women and children, express a strong psychological and emotional force and connection with a humorous touch. Using rough and dynamic brush-strokes Joffe brings the images to life, whilst often leaving the paint to dry and drip down the canvas.

Recent solo exhibitions have appeared at Galerie Forsblom, Helsinki and Victoria Miro, London, both 2016; Cheim & Read, New York, Jewish Museum, New York, and Jerwood Gallery, Hastings, all 2015.

Dr Gemma Blackshaw is Senior Tutor (Research) in Critical & Historical Studies; Liaison for School of Arts & Humanities at the Royal College of Art. She was previously professor of Art History at Plymouth University. She specialises in Austrian art from the 19^th and early 20^th centuries, with a particular focus on that produced in Vienna around 1900.
Blackshaw has worked as a guest curator on a number of exhibitions including The Nakeds at Drawing Room London, 2014, Facing the Modern: The Portrait in Vienna 1900 at the National Gallery London, 2013, and Madness and Modernity: Mental Illness and the Visual Arts at the Wellcome Collection London and Wien Museum Vienna, 2009-10.

Testing Ground: Master Class invites leading international artists to share their expertise with a small group of emerging UK-based artists over a week-long intensive at Zabludowicz Collection, London. Each artist gives a public lecture as part of the programme. The project is part of Testing Ground for Art and Education, an annual season focussed on opportunities for the creative and professional development of emerging artists and curators.

With thanks to: Doug Fishbone

Videographer: Static Image