Lucy Hughes-Hallett To Give Next Arts Society Chiswick Lecture

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Prize-winning author to talk on 'Cleopatra – images of a dream women'

'Gorgeously voluptuous' depictions of Cleopatra offer insights into changing concepts of beauty

The next meeting of the Arts Society Chiswick will be a talk entitled ‘Cleopatra - images of a dream woman’ which will be given by Lucy Hughes-Hallett

It is for members of the society only and will take place at the The Polish Social and Cultural Association, 238-246 King Street, Hammersmith on Thursday 14 October at 8pm.

Lucy Hughes-Hallett says, “Cleopatra, the woman for whose love’s sake Antony is imagined to have given up the chance to rule the Roman world, has been inspiring painters, poets and (more recently) film-makers for over two millennia. Their gorgeously voluptuous depictions of her offer insights into changing concepts of beauty, and into the racial and sexual assumptions underlying them. Showing images ranging from Roman portrait busts, through medieval illuminations, the glorious works of Renaissance masters like Michelangelo, the splendour of Tiepolo and the exoticism of Gustave Moreau to 20th century film stars (Theda Bara, Claudette Colbert, Vivien Leigh, Elizabeth Taylor and the Carry On team’s Amanda Barry), I will show how Cleopatra became a screen onto which artists have projected their wildly differing fantasies about exotic danger and erotic bliss.”

She is the author of The Pike: Gabriele d’Annunzio - which won the Samuel Johnson Prize, the Duff Cooper Prize and the Costa Biography Award - and of Cleopatra and Heroes. Her novel, Peculiar Ground was described as 'almost Tolstoyan in its sly wit and descriptive brilliance' by The Guardian and 'full of drama, vivid characters, wit, gorgeous writing and fascinating detail’ by the New York Times.

A Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and of the Historical Association, she has reviewed for all of the UK’s serious newspapers and for Radio 3’s Night Waves, judged five literary prizes, and spoken at numerous literary festivals. She teaches Creative Writing at Arcadia University and at Arvon.

The Arts Society Chiswick (TASCH): brings people together through a shared curiosity for the arts, to create opportunities for everyone to be part of a diverse community in which they can enjoy, learn about, participate in, and preserve the Arts and Cultural Heritage.

To become a member visit the Joining Us page of its website.

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October 3, 2021