On Aug. 30, we visited the two Shakespeare exhibitions in the Old College Gallery. First, emeritus professor of English Jay Halio talked with us about First Folio! The book that gave us Shakespeare, then director of University Museums Janis Tomlinson took us on a walking tour of Illustrating Shakespeare: from Boydell to Baskin. The two exhibitions complement each other well; they will both be in the main Old College Gallery until September 25, 2016.

Halio spoke with us about the importance of the first folio and about the Folger Library’s efforts to make sure that one of the Shakespeare folios in their collection visit every state in the Union. He also discussed some of his favorite moments teaching Shakespeare, talked about the folio itself–which works are included, the sources for the folio–and discussed the importance of Shakespeare to all English-speaking cultures.

Tomlinson talked with us about the images drawn from Shakespeare’s plays that are displayed on the outer walls of the Old College Gallery. She told us about the late-18th century Shakespeare Gallery organized by John Boydell, then described many of the works in the exhibition from the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries–engravings, lithographs, woodcuts, color prints, paintings, water colors. It was fascinating seeing the range of approaches artists have taken over the years when creating images based on Shakespeare’s works.

Follow the link below to listen to these two fascinating conversations.

Listen to the Interview

Professor Jay Halio and Museums Director Janis Tomlinson, recorded Aug. 30, 2016. First aired Sep. 8, 2016.
29:58
28.7MB