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Lectures and Extramural Teaching

Maurice de Sausmarez Rawdon House
An exploration of the artist, writer and art educator Maurice de Sausmarez's time in Leeds, including his tenure as Lecturer and Head of the Department of Fine Art at the University of Leeds.
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Memorandum on prospective developments
Maurice de Sausmarez's relationship with the city of Leeds.
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Isaac Rosenberg catalogue
The Gregory Fellowships in the Creative Arts were established in 1949 and ran until 1980.
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Nudes Composition (cropped)
Maurice de Sausmarez's support for the Gregory Fellows continued in his involvement with and recommendations to the University's Art Collection.
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Parkinson Court exhibition 1
Alongside his contributions to the development of the University’s Fine Art Department and the work of the Gregory Fellows, Maurice de Sausmarez was also heavily involved in cultural activities on campus.
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Makerere College School of Art
In July 1952, while working as Lecturer and Head of Fine Art, de Sausmarez visited the Makerere College School of Art in Uganda. He visited the college, at the request of the Inter-University Council for Higher Education in the Colonies, to advise on the development of the school and a new Diploma course.
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The Visual Arts in England leaflet 1
Alongside of his work at the University, de Sausmarez also lectured and taught extensively throughout the region. He organised and chaired several lecture series both for students and the public, giving many of the lectures himself and helping to broaden interest in the study of art.
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Art in the North (close-up)
Throughout his career, Maurice de Sausmarez gave talks and lectures on art history and the discussion around art education reform through various radio and TV broadcasts.
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Basic Design
'Basic Design', inspired by Bauhaus education principles, played a vital role in revolutionising art school teaching in Britain in the 1950s and 1960s. The two main principles of the movement were a reasoned and objective approach to teaching and the importance of embracing science, technology and the modern world.
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Whitelocks (cropped)
Maurice de Sausmarez completed many paintings and artworks while living and working in Leeds. He was commissioned to paint several portraits including that of Professor of English Literature and co-founder of the University’s Fine Art Department, Bonamy Dobrée, and of Gregory Fellow in Poetry, James Kirkup.
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Alongside of his work at the University, de Sausmarez also lectured and taught extensively throughout the region. He organised and chaired several lecture series both for students and the public, giving many of the lectures himself and helping to broaden interest in the study of art. These included lectures at Graves Art Gallery in Sheffield, a series of public lectures on nineteenth-century French painting at Leeds College of Art and a weekend course on sculpture at Grantley Hall Adult College in Ripon. 

During his time in Leeds de Sausmarez also taught several courses in Scarborough for North Riding Education Committee. These included Looking at Pictures, taught alongside Sir Herbert Read and Carel Weight, Painting for Amateurs and several residential summer schools in Painting and Drawing

In 1951, marking the 100-year anniversary of the Great Exhibition of 1851 and in connection with the Festival of Britain, de Sausmarez taught a course of ten university extension lectures at Leeds. The course consisted of 10 lectures on the visual arts in England and the shifts and influences they had been subject to in the previous 100 years. The course leaflet, seen here, lists the topics covered including the social changes affecting the status of the artist, Victorian documentary paintings, patronage of the arts, art of the interwar period, and the Great Exhibition itself. 

In 1959, after resigning from his post at the University of Leeds the previous year, de Sausmarez gave two lectures at Leeds City Art Gallery to celebrate the friendship and inspiration he had found within the creative community of the city.  One of his lectures, on Georges Seurat, was accompanied by an article on the artist, published in the that year’s Leeds Arts Calendar.   

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