In-Conversation: Paule Vézelay Curator Simon Grant & Professor Sarah Wilson

£10 General

£7 Concessions (Full time Students, 18 – 25 year olds, Disability PIP/Universal Credit, Pension Credit)

Members

If you hold a membership subscription you are eligible for a 10% discount for this event. Log in and these will be applied to your order automatically.

Join Simon Grant, curator of the Paule Vézelay Living Lines exhibition currently at Towner and Sarah Wilson, Professor of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Courtauld, who met Vézelay and wrote one of her earliest articles on her.

They will share their unique insights into the extraordinary life of Paule Vézelay – a prominent figure within the European avant-garde, working alongside some of the most significant artists of pre-war Paris including Alexander Calder, Sophie Taeuber-Arp, Jean Arp, Marlow Moss, Wassily Kandinsky and André Masson. 

You'll hear behind the scenes stories surrounding Vézelay's remarkable artworks and about their importance to both Surrealism and Abstraction. 

The event will be hosted by Towner’s Curator Karen Taylor.

Simon Grant will also sign copies of the Paule Vézelay Living Lines book, which on the evening will be available to purchase with a 10% discount from the shop.

Simon Grant is a curator, writer and editor. He is curator of the UK touring retrospective of Paule Vézelay: Living Lines. His most recent curatorial projects include Bona de Mandiargues, Alison Jacques Gallery, London (2025), A Vanished Wholeness, Modern Art, Paris (2025) and Albert Tucker: Spirit Worlds and Dreamscapes, Heide Museum of Art, Melbourne (2025). He is also co-founder/editor of Picpus magazine. 

Sarah Wilson is Professor of the History of Modern and Contemporary art at The Courtauld, University of London. Among her earliest articles was a Paule Vézelay review and she has published on over thirty known and unknown women artists.  

She was principal curator of Paris , Capital of the Arts, 1900-1968  (Royal Academy London, Guggenheim Bilbao, 2002-3) and Pierre Klossowski, Whitechapel Art Gallery, 2006, touring to Cologne and Paris. A close relationship with the Centre Georges Pompidou, has extended throughout her career.  Sarah Wilson was appointed Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres awarded by the French government for services to French culture in 1997. In 2015 she was a curator of the 1st Asian Biennale / 5th Guangzhou Triennale at the Guangdong Museum of Art, and was awarded the AICA prize for her distinguished contribution to art criticism. Books include The Visual World of French Theory; Figurations, 2010, French 2018) and Picasso / Marx and socialist realism in France, 2013.

We have a budget available to make this event as accessible as possible – this can include further interpretation services or other access arrangements we can meet to enable you to participate. If you require access arrangements, please email programme@townereastbourne.org.uk two weeks before the event date so that we can book a service if needed.