Sotheby's Talks

Women and Power: How Have Powerful Women Been Represented in Western Culture?

with Mary Beard, Holly Braine and Shahidha Bari
A panel discussion featuring classicist Mary Beard and Sotheby’s specialist Holly Braine. How has Western culture depicted powerful women down the ages? To what extent have they been packaged into a male template? And how much have they been able to control their own image? Chaired by cultural critic Shahidha Bari, the conversation will range from sculptures of ancient goddesses such as Aphrodite and Athena, to portraits of Queen Elizabeth I as ‘Gloriana’, to the empowered politicians and cultural icons of today.

Meet the Panel

Shahidha Bari 

Shahidha Bari is an academic, critic and broadcaster. She is a Professor at the University of the Arts London, a presenter of BBC Radio 3's nightly Free Thinking programme, also known as the Arts and Ideas podcast, and the occasional host of BBC Radio 4's Front Row. She is the author of Dressed: The Secret Life of Clothes (2019), the winner of The Observer Anthony Burgess Arts Journalism Prize 2016 and has been a judge for the Booker Prize for Fiction, the Forward Poetry Prizes and the Baillie Gifford Non-Fiction Prize. She writes for The Guardian, Times Literary Supplement and Frieze magazine.

Mary Beard 

Dame Mary Beard is Cambridge Emerita Professor of Classics and Fellow of Newnham College. As one of Britain's best-known classicists, she has written numerous books including the Wolfson Prize-winning Pompeii: The Life of a Roman Town, the best-selling SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome, Women & Power and most recently Twelve Caesars – Images of Power from the Ancient World to the Modern. Mary has presented highly acclaimed television documentaries including Meet the Romans and Rome – Empire without Limit, hosted the BBC arts show Inside Culture, and was co-presenter of the BBC landmark series, Civilisations. After being made an OBE in 2013 for services to classical scholarship, Beard was made a dame in 2018. Mary’s forthcoming book, due to be released in the autumn, will explore the world of the Roman emperor.

Holly Braine

Holly Braine is an auctioneer and specialist in Impressionist and Modern art. She is Head of the Modern Art Day sales for Sotheby’s in London and has been closely involved with several high-profile consignments since joining the company in 2012, including the remarkable collection of works on paper, sculptures and ceramics from Marina Picasso. Prior to her career in the art world, Holly was awarded a BA in Classics and an MPhil in Latin Literature from the University of Cambridge. Alongside her Greek and Roman pursuits, she was continually involved with productions at the ADC Theatre. Today she uses her performance skills to great aplomb on the rostrums in New York and London.

The London Sales featuring (Women) Artists

Stay informed with Sotheby’s top stories, videos, events & news.

Receive the best from Sotheby’s delivered to your inbox.

By subscribing you are agreeing to Sotheby’s Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe from Sotheby’s emails at any time by clicking the “Manage your Subscriptions” link in any of your emails.