Madly Inspired: The life and Work of Richard Dadd

One of the most promising artists of his generation, Richard Dadd was forgotten to the world for the last 40 years of his life. In 1843, at the age of 26, he stabbed his father to death, convinced that he was the Devil incarnate. Convicted as a “criminal lunatic”, Dadd spent his remaining years secluded in Bethlem Hospital and Broadmoor, where he continued to draw and paint, exploring over and again images from the world he had left behind but above all developing the fantasy and fairy pictures with which he is now so associated and were to influence later creations from Arthur Rackham to Freddie Mercury!

Images

Fish Market public domain

CREDIT LINE Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection

Richard Dadd's sister public domain

CREDIT LINE: Yale Center for British Art

How to book this event:

please email Info@theartssocietygravesend.org.uk to book a place. Visitor fee £10.00

THE ARTS SOCIETY ACCREDITED LECTURER

Ms Nicole Mezey

Nicole studied Art History at the Universities of Sussex, York and Paris. She was Senior Lecturer at Queen’s University, Belfast until 2009, working primarily with adults, managing and teaching on both the Part-Time degree and Extra-Mural programmes and conducting annual, international study-tours. She also established and was first Director of the Department of Art History, the first in the north of Ireland. Nicole now lives in central London and is a freelance lecturer, working for organisations including the National Museums, universities, the National Trust and private companies. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and of the Higher Education Academy and her publications focus on adult education and the arts.

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