The extraordinary artist Paula Rego was often described as a storyteller. Discussing her use of novels, poems, plays and history books as an inspiration and starting point for her printmaking and painting, she said ‘like you put on a coat, and then to stand the cold’. Join a panel of writers, artists and academics to explore the immense importance of literature in Rego’s life and work, and the impact of her work on generations of writers.
Our speakers include RSL Fellow Anthony Rudolf, who was Rego’s companion and principal male model for twenty six years until she died in 2022, poet Helen Quah, and Julie Held and Susan Wilson from the faculty of the Royal Drawing School – our partners for this event.
Join us at the Royal Drawing School for an evening in memory, and celebration, of a remarkable artist.
Please select one of the buttons below to either attend this event in person or watch online, either as an RSL Member/Fellow or to purchase public tickets.
Paula is represented by Victoria Miro Gallery (paintings) and Cristea Roberts (prints).
Paula photograph credit Anthony Rudolf
Anthony Rudolf is an autobiographer, poet, literary critic, editor and translator. He has also written fiction and art criticism. His memoirs include Silent Conversations: a reader’s life (Seagull Books/Chicago University Press, 2013) and The Arithmetic of Memory (Bellew, 1999). His books of poems/short fiction include Zigzag (Carcanet/ Northern House, 2010) and European Hours: Collected Poems (Carcanet 2017). He has translated works of fiction, drama, art criticism and poetry. His other books include pioneering anthologies of contemporary French poetry and 20th-century Jewish poets from all languages.
Anthony founded Menard Press and ran it for 40 years. He is Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres and Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and the English Association.
Susan Wilson was born in Dunedin in the mountain foothills of New Zealand’s South Island. Susan studied at Camberwell School of Art and the Royal Academy Schools and was a Fellow of Painting Cheltenham & Gloucester College of Art & Technology. Susan taught at Chelsea School of Art and Wolverhampton University in the 1990s. Her exhibitions include Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, Lynn Painter-Stainers (Prizewinner 2007), National Portrait Gallery Portrait Award (Prizewinner 1987). Collections include Royal Academy Archives (Richard Ford Award Sketchbooks) Usher Gallery, Lincoln, Oxford Brookes portrait of Baroness Helena Kennedy, Oriel College Oxford, Murray Edwards College Cambridge, Auckland Art Gallery NZ and Auckland Museum NZ.
Julie Held studied at Camberwell and the Royal Academy Schools. She has exhibited in group exhibitions at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition London, The London Group Annual Exhibition, London, the Jerwood Drawing Prize at Flowers Central, London and the Barbican, London, the Threadneedle Prize, and the BP Portrait Award 2013, as well as internationally with solo shows in Hamburg and Leipzig and at The Frank Kafka Gallery, Prague. Her work is held by a number of public collections including Nuffield College, Oxford University, Ben Uri Art Society Collection, London and New Hall, Cambridge. Julie is an elected member at the RWS, The London Group and the NEAC, winning the Doreen Macintosh Prize in 2011.
Helen Quah is a British poet and doctor whose work has appeared in such journals as The Rialto, PROTOTYPE and The Poetry Review. Her debut pamphlet ‘Dog Woman’ was published in June 2022 with Out-Spoken Press and considers the work of Paula Rego as a backdrop to exploring themes of womanhood and ornamentalism. For this book she received a 2023 Eric Gregory Award from the Society of Authors. Her latest writing will be featured in a collection of conversations with writers of East and South East Asian heritage in the up-coming book ‘State of Play‘ (Out-Spoken Press) due to be published October 2023. She currently lives and works as a doctor in London.
