In the Nineteenth Century with Lara Nicholls

by Lara Nicholls

'In the nineteenth century’ is a podcast series about the wild, wonderful, brave, eccentric, and at times dastardly, people who characterised this remarkable period. It looks at their inspiring discoveries and reforms, and the sometimes, shameful events and spectacles they created. Some historians have referred to it as ‘the long nineteenth century’ spanning 125 years between the French Revolution in 1789 through to the outbrea ...   ...  Read more
Arts
Education
History

Podcast episodes

  • Season 1

  • Objects of Power and Beauty in the Museum of Islamic Art, Doha, Qatar with Dr Mounia Chekhab Abudaya

    Objects of Power and Beauty in the Museum of Islamic Art, Doha, Qatar with Dr Mounia Chekhab Abudaya

    S01 E07
    40:29

    On Thursday 15 September 2022, on the eve of the grand re-opening of the Museum of Islamic Art in Doha, Qatar, I joined Senior Curator, Dr. Mounia Chekhab Abudaya to talk about the collection of nineteenth-century art and objects at the MIA. In this interview, Dr. Mounia shares her reflections and expertise on a remarkable group of diverse objects and paintings in the MIA which deeply resonate for her. When I received her list of works, I was enthralled by their delicacy and boldness, but also their material qualities. We will look at toolboxes, enamel cup holders, embellished jewelry, and paintings and drawings. I am thrilled to introduce you to Dr. Mounia Chekhab Abudaya today. Dr. Mounia is the senior curator of North Africa and Iberia at the Museum. She was awarded a Ph.D. from the University of Sorbonne in Paris and is an expert on Western Mediterranean manuscripts and pilgrimage-related devotional materials in the Islamic world. Dr. Mounia is also a linguist and holds a degree in Literal Arabic and has studied Persian and Turkish languages. She has curated a long list of extraordinary exhibitions at both the Museum of Islamic Art and for other institutions around the world. I am particularly interested in an exhibition she did at MIA in 2015 called Qajar Women: Images of Women in 19th -century Iran and in this interview, we discuss some of the objects which featured in that show. The music used in this episode is from a 2019 recording in Paris of Hossein Alizadeh playing the Setar and Madjid Khaladj playing the Dayereh at the Masters of the Improvisation: Iran.

  • Sarah Stone and the Holophusicon as a creative space

    Sarah Stone and the Holophusicon as a creative space

    S01 E06
    32:30

    Based on my research to date, this recording explores the practice of British eighteenth-century natural history artist Sarah Stone. It suggests that her patron's eccentric museum located in Leicester Fields, London was a highly creative space for her. I reveal new biographical information about Stone and establish that she was an artist of the Metropole and one of the first women painters to take part in the burgeoning fashionable practice of sketching and painting in museums. Contrary to views that women artists in the eighteenth century practised as amateurs, Stone had at least three patrons and was clearly working as a professional artist. In fact, she may have been one of the first women artists to be given what we would call today a solo exhibition. Today, her work is located in galleries and museums in England, Australia and the USA.

  • Women and the Law (Australia) - Part II

    Women and the Law (Australia) - Part II

    S01 E05
    01:08:07

    In this episode, I am joined by feminist legal scholar, Professor Kim Rubenstein who discusses women citizen activists and their influence on the drafting of the Australian Constitution.

  • Women and the Law (England) - Part I

    Women and the Law (England) - Part I

    S01 E04
    44:44

    This episode examines the laws relating to women in England during the nineteenth century, and the reforms women sought as they advocated for greater equality and justice. We also look at how British law applied in the Australian colonies and how their discriminatory nature fuelled the Suffrage campaigns that characterised the era.

  • Portrait of the Piano

    Portrait of the Piano

    S01 E03
    01:18:04

    In this episode, we are taken on an odyssey through the evolution of the piano and the revolution in new keyboard technology that changed the sound of this instrument and the way that it was played in both the home and on the concert circuit. Recorded at the School of Music at the Australian National University, the Director of the Keyboard Institute, Dr Scott Davie introduces the University's remarkable collection of historic pianos, which is thought to be the largest in the Southern Hemisphere. He plays experts from the nineteenth-century repertoire on these rare and very beautiful instruments as we talk all things piano. Not only is Scott an esteemed soloist, but he is also a specialist in the music of Sergei Rachmaninoff so expect to hear a rare recording of the composer playing as well as Scott playing Rachmaninoff alongside other exquisite excerpts by other composers such as Liszt, Chopin and Debussy. You will also hear new compositions by ANU First Nations composers of the Ngarra Burria Piyanna project playing their work on the 1770 Henri Henrion keyboard, a highlight of the collection - thought to be the oldest piano in Australia. Enjoy the enduring sound of the piano in the nineteenth century.