Extraordinary Women Symposium (an all day event)

This all-day symposium is part of our Extraordinary Women series (three talks plus this symposium). For details of the whole series, please see our News item here.

Update Thursday 7 March: The symposium is now SOLD OUT at Queen Square, but Watch Online tickets are still available.

10am: welcome and introduction by Anna McNay, writer, editor and curator

10.15am: Artemisia Gentileschi – the greatest female artist of the Baroque Age – Jonathan Jones, Art Critic, The Guardian

One of the first women to have a professional career in art in a workd that expected only men to make their mark. She painted unforgettable scenes from a strongly female point of view, turning traditional religious imagery into visceral autobiography that cuts with a sword from her age to our own.

11.30am: Mary Wollstonecraft – what’s not to like about Wollstonecraft? – Dr Sylvana Tomaselli, University of Cambridge, Countess of St Andrews

Mary Wollstonecraft had various labels such as liberal, republican, utopian and feminist. Her life was not easy but one with risk, challenges and painful experiences. This talk will give a sense of what she liked, disliked and hoped for, plus it will focus on her views of women and their role in the world.

Break for lunch (not provided)

1.30pm: Simone de Beauvoir – philosopher for the twenty-first century – Professor Christina Howells, University of Oxford

Simone de Beauvoir was undoubtedly the most significant French female philosopher and feminist writer of the twentieth century. In the twenty-first century the question “What is a woman?” is, once again, a hot topic. Beauvoir’s reply was: “One is not born but rather becomes a woman”. This talk explores the implications of this deceptively simple comment.

2.30pm: Paula Rego – Secrets and Stories (film) – introduced by Anna McNay

This documentary, directed by Paula Rego’s son, the filmmaker Nick Willing, provides a glimpse into an intimate world of personal tragedy, perverse fantasies and awkward truths.

3.30 – 4pm: tea, thank yous and goodbyes