Tracing Time
EVENTS PROGRAMME
June 26 - July 5, 2025
Timeless Materials: A Conversation on Drawing with Contemporary Artists
27 June | 4pm
In a lively discussion moderated by Annette Wickham, three artists, Joana Galego, Nicholas C Williams and Pippa Young, will discuss their use of traditional drawing materials and techniques. The conversation will focus on how looking to the practices of the past informs how they approach their own work in the studio..
Panellists: Joana Galego, Nicholas C Williams and Pippa Young
Moderator: Annette Wickham, Former Works on Paper Curator, Royal Academy of Arts
This event is in partnership with The Drawing Foundation.
Women Artists in Focus: Curating New Narratives
28 June | 2pm
Organising exhibitions centred on historic women artists presents a distinct set of challenges and opportunities. In 2023, Jennifer Higgie released The Other Side: A Journey into Women, Art & the Spirit World, in 2024 Amy Lim was research curator for Now You See Us: Women Artists in Britain 1520–1920 at Tate Britain, while Rachel Sloan is currently developing an exhibition on British women artists and landscape, opening at The Courtauld Gallery in 2026. In this session, panellists will present their projects before engaging in a lively discussion around the complexities, discoveries, and rewards of charting overlooked art historical territory.
Panellists: Jennifer Higgie, author of The Mirror and the Palette and The Other Side: A Journey into Women, Art & the Spirit World, Amy Lim, Curator of The Faringdon Collection at Buscot Park, Oxfordshire, Rachel Sloan, Associate Curator of Works on Paper, The Courtauld Gallery
Moderator: Euthymia Procopé, Director of Development, Rediscovering Art by Women
The Drawings of John Constable
30 June | 4pm
Drawing was central to John Constable’s working life. Detailed sketches from nature, sometimes on a tiny scale, underpinned his exhibition works; they could provide inspiration for a watercolour of Stonehenge or information about a specific type of plough. And yet his drawings could also have an emotional dimension: Constable’s most private, soul-searching works are not in oils but in ink and graphite. In this talk Susan Owens will explore the wide range of his drawing practice from his early Gainsborough-influenced views of East Bergholt lanes to the visionary ink blots of his later years.
Guest speaker: Dr Susan Owens, former Curator of Paintings at the V&A, is an independent art historian. Her recent book, The Story of Drawing: An Alternative History of Art, won the Apollo Book of the Year award in 2024. She is currently preparing a book on Constable, to be published in 2026.
Piccadilly Jim: The discovery of James Gibbs’s designs for the façade of Burlington House
1 July | 4pm
In the No.9 Cork Street auditorium, located just a few hundred yards from the Royal Academy of Arts at Burlington House, William Aslet delves into his fascinating reassessment of James Gibbs’s unexecuted designs for the façade of Burlington House at the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford.
Guest speaker: William Aslet, Scott Opler Fellow, Worcester College, University of Oxford
This event is in partnership with The Burlington Magazine.
New Ways of Looking at Italian Renaissance Drawings
2 July | 4pm
How can we find fresh perspectives on Italian Renaissance drawings? This panel delves into how traditional connoisseurship and cutting-edge technology can combine to enrich our understanding of Old Master drawings. Rachel Hapoienu and Tom Nevile will present on the innovative research afforded by emerging tools such as the VSC scanner and the Trois Crayons Museum Forum. Following these presentations, Martin Clayton and Catherine Whistler will lead a discussion on recent and ongoing research projects in the field of Italian drawings. The panel will be hosted by Luca Baroni.
Panellists: Martin Clayton, Head of Prints and Drawings, Royal Collection Trust, Rachel Hapoienu, Assistant Curator of Works on Paper, The Courtauld Gallery, Tom Nevile, co-founder, Trois Crayons, Catherine Whistler, Research Keeper, Western Art Department, Ashmolean Museum
Moderator: Luca Baroni, L’IDEA – Testi Fonti Lessico Disegni
This event is in partnership with L’IDEA.
The Intimate Collector: Why Drawings Thrive in the Digital Age
3 July | 4pm
Why are drawings capturing the imagination of a new generation of collectors – especially younger and first-time buyers? This session explores how digital platforms are transforming access to works on paper, reshaping the way collectors discover, connect with, and build trust in galleries online. From social media to virtual viewing rooms, we’ll consider the tools driving this shift – and what it means for the future of the drawings market.
Panellists: Alesa Boyle, Co-founder, Trois Crayons, London and Gallery Director, Stephen Ongpin Fine Art, London, Gregory Rubinstein, Sotheby’s, Senior Director and Head of the Old Master Drawings Department Worldwide, Lorna Tiller, Senior Gallery Partnerships Manager, Artsy
Moderator: Bethany Woolfall, Arcarta Vice President of Customers
This event is in partnership with Arcarta.
BETWEEN DRAWINGS AND CERAMICS
4 July | 4pm
Trois Crayons is delighted to launch a new collaboration with Maak through a lively panel discussion that brings together the worlds of drawings and ceramics. The conversation will explore the parallels and contrasts in how these two mediums are collected, appreciated, and understood.
This event is in partnership with Maak.
The Drawings of Jean-Antoine Watteau
5 July | 2pm
Watteau has been the focus of two major exhibitions this year—at the Château de Chantilly and the British Museum. In this panel, co-curator Axel Moulinier and curator Grant Lewis discuss their distinct approaches to the 18th-century master in conversation with Jennifer Tonkovich.
Panellists: Grant Lewis, The Smirnov Family Curator of Italian & French Prints & Drawings (1400-1880) at the British Museum, and curator of Colour and Line: Watteau Drawings, British Museum, Axel Moulinier, collaborator on A Watteau Abecedario, catalogue raisonné of the paintings by Antoine Watteau, and co-curator of The Worlds of Watteau, Château de Chantilly
Moderator: Jennifer Tonkovich, Associate Editor, Master Drawings, and Eugene and Clare Thaw Curator, Drawings and Prints, Morgan Library & Museum
This event is in partnership with Master Drawings.
Exhibition Visit: Colour and line: Watteau drawings
26 June | 10.30am
@ The british museum
Join us on Thursday, 26 June for an exclusive tour of Colour and line: Watteau drawings, led by curator Grant Lewis at the British Museum. Antoine Watteau (probably 1684–1721) was one of the most influential, prolific artists active in 18th century France and the British Museum houses one of the finest collections of Watteau drawings in the world.
Host: Grant Lewis, The Smirnov Family Curator of Italian & French Prints & Drawings (1400–1880)
SOLD OUT (Join Waiting List)
Auction Visit: Master works on paper from five centuries
28 June | 11.00am
@ Sotheby’s
Join us for a guided preview of the upcoming auction 'Master Works on Paper from Five Centuries', followed by refreshments with Gregory Rubinstein and his colleagues Cristiana Romalli, Mark Griffith-Jones and Alexander Faber. Explore a remarkable selection of drawings, watercolours, gouaches, and pastels – including works by Francesco Primaticcio, J.M.W. Turner, and William Blake.
Hosts: Gregory Rubinstein, Cristiana Romalli, Mark Griffith-Jones and Alexander Faber
Attendance is limited to 25 spaces.
PRINT ROOM VISIT: The Courtauld Gallery’s Collection of Drawings à Trois Crayons
1 July | 10:30am
@ The Courtauld Gallery, Somerset House
Join us for an exclusive visit to the Courtauld Gallery’s Prints and Drawings Study Room, led by Ketty Gottardo and Rachel Sloan. This special session offers a rare opportunity to go behind the scenes and study, up close, a selection of drawings executed in the trois crayons technique—the method that inspired our organisation’s name.
Hosts: Ketty Gottardo, Martin Halusa Senior Curator of Drawings and Rachel Sloan, Associate Curator of Works on paper
Attendance is limited to 15 spaces.