Join us for OUTing the Past: International Festival of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Trans History featuring a talk by Aoife Convery on 'Miss Anstruther Thomson’, a charcoal portrait by John Singer Sargent, part of Hugh Lane Gallery’s permanent collection. Clementina Anstruther-Thomson, commonly known as Kit, was a celebrated artist and theorist in the Victorian era. She, along with her long term partner, Violet Paget, also known as Vernon Lee, were part of the aesthetic movement, writing of the psychology of aesthetics, which culminated in their work Beauty and Ugliness. As part of their work, the pair experimented with the experience of art, most particularly the painting by Titian, Sacred and Profane Love. The talk will discuss the portrait by Sergent in which Kit appears in the costume and pose of a figure from the painting, as well as the direct correlation to the work she and her partner dedicated years to, and their lives as artists, writers, and gay women in the late 19th century.

Aoife Convery is a member of the Hugh Lane Gallery Panel of professional artists and guides.