13 Oct. Launching her book Reading Cy Twombly: Poetry in Paint, Mary Jacobus asks: How much do we need to know about Twombly’s quotations and how do they affect the viewer’s experience of his work?

During her talk at the British School of Rome Jacobus, Professor Emerita at the University of Cambridge and at Cornell University, will explore the use of quotations in one of Twombly's major works, Say Goodbye, Catullus, to the shores of Asia Minor, which spanned two decades and was completed in time for the American painter's 1994 MoMA retrospective. The enormous tripartite canvas includes a palimpsest of passages drawn, but, from a distance, it appears empty.

Twombly was based in Rome from the 1950s until his death in 2011. Jacobus was a visiting scholar at the British School at Rome in 2013 where she completed her book Reading Cy Twombly: Poetry in Paint.

18.00–19.30. For details see BSR website.

Cy Twombly, Untitled Painting, detail, 1994. Menil Collection © Cy Twombly Foundation. Photo by Adam Baker.