In the early twentieth century, modernist writers and artists reveal a significant familiarity with Pre-Raphaelite poetics and visual art. At a time when Pre-Raphaelitism is often considered to have been out of fashion, the Pre-Raphaelites were still very much of interest, being discussed, written about, their literary works read and re-read, and their artworks exhibited and used as a point of reference by modernist writers and artists. Hannah’s talk will explore some of the modernist interactions and engagements with Pre-Raphaelitism and how it shaped their work.

Hannah Comer is an independent scholar. She obtained her PhD in English Literature from the University of Birmingham in 2020. Her thesis looks at the Pre-Raphaelite legacy in Modernism. Her research on Lawrence, the Pre-Raphaelites and Persephone was included as a chapter in Defining Pre-Raphaelite Poetics (2020).

This talk gives a new perspective on one of the most haunting Pre-Raphaelite images ever created. Considering the painting through the prism of ‘the phantom flower’, Julie Whyman uncovers new research and shares, for the first time, the scope of her new methodology for interpreting flowers in Pre-Raphaelite art.
Awarded the John Pickard Essay Prize by the Pre-Raphaelite Society for her essay ‘Four Flowers and a Funeral’ (2017), Julie Whyman has a PhD from the University of York with her thesis - Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s Language of Flowers (2019). She gained a distinction in a Master of Studies in Arts and Literature from the University of Oxford with her dissertation - Exposing the Lily: Decoding Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s Sacred and Profane (2015) and published Sacred Profanity: Decoding the Lily in Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s ‘The Blessed Damozel’ in Vides (2015); the University of Oxford’s annual volume of interdisciplinary essays. She is currently publishing a series of short essays on www.pre-raphaeliteflowers.com, engaging with Pre-Raphaelite flower enthusiasts around the world. Since its launch this year the site has attracted visitors from more than 55 countries.