Lunchtime Lectures: Animals in the V&A Collections

Animals have been a recurring presence throughout the history of art, from the earliest Palaeolithic adornments to the most diverse art forms of our time. Animal shapes, attributes and very bodies imbue a multitude of objects with specific meanings. Whether embodying powerful deities, decorating luxurious interiors, or enlivening everyday routine, an astonishing variety of artefacts in the V&A’s collections is related to animals. Let these (more or less) familiar companions guide us as we follow their tracks across the museum.

Join Dr Claire Lemesle-Joly for this Lunchtime Lecture that will explore the V&A’s rich animal universe, tracing expressions of animal imagery from their most striking and conspicuous manifestations to their most discreet, elusive, and hidden forms.

Dr Claire Lemesle-Joly received her PhD in Art History from the University of St Andrews following an MA in Fine and Decorative Arts from the Sotheby’s Institute of Art in London. She is also a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and was previously a lecturer in Geography, based in Paris. Her current research focuses on 1960s and 1970s France, with an emphasis on animals, camouflage, and politics in art.