10.45

The story of Roland Penrose, British Surrealist artist and biographer of Picasso and Lee Miller, the American Surrealist photographer, who shot fashion and combat with equal talent as seen through the eyes of their son Antony Penrose, who is also their biographer. We look at how their early lives formed their motivations and how they strove to use art to make the world a better place. The last decades of their life together were at Farley Farm, their home in Sussex which was frequented by many prominent Surrealist and Modern artists. • Contains some war time images which may be disturbing.

10.45

New Orleans at the end of the 19th century was a busy port welcoming ships and sailors from all over the world bringing with them many diverse styles of music. It was also one of the few places in America where the
music of the slave population was not just tolerated but openly enjoyed by black and white communities alike. In this Creole crucible it was not long before such a kaleidoscope of musical traditions would come together, react, and evolve into an exciting new music which would revolutionize and democratize culture, namely jazz.
Jazz’s evolution didn’t happen overnight of course. And in this talk we’ll look at the part African Blues and Cakewalk, American Classical and Vaudeville, Latin American Dance, and Middle Eastern Klezmer all played in the story of jazz. We’ll also enjoy along the way some of the greatest musical artists of the twentieth century: Louis Armstrong, Benny Goodman, Artie Shaw, Ella Fitzgerald and Duke Ellington to name but a few.

Akhenaten (c1352 – c1336 BC) is probably the most controversial of all the Egyptian pharaohs. He made extraordinary changes to the religion and art, all the more striking when we consider how conventional the ancient Egyptians tended to be in these respects. He replaced the traditional polytheistic religion with the worship of one solar deity, and the art is unlike that of any other pharaoh’s reign. He chose to be represented in a most singular fashion. Did he really look like this? Or was his representation determined by ideology? Lucia will explore these questions and consider the mythologising of a most unusual pharaoh – a mythologising that began soon after his death and has continued through to the present day.

10.45

A moving, beautifully-illustrated lecture exploring the life and work of Tirzah Garwood (1908-51).

The name of Eric Ravilious has become familiar over the past decade, but few people are aware that his wife, Tirzah Garwood (1908-51), was a talented and original artist in her own right. A witty observer of the human condition, the youthful Garwood became established as a wood engraver of rare ability. After marrying Ravilious and becoming a devoted mother to three children, she took up paper marbling, quickly achieving renown for the dazzling originality of her decorative papers. In her early 30s she suffered the double blow of a grave breast cancer diagnosis and her husband's death on active service in World War 2. Undaunted, she remarried and took up oil painting, producing in a few short years a series of strange, beautiful paintings.

12th March 10.45

Glass is a marvellous material. Everything about it makes it an incomparable plastic medium in the hands of an ingenious artist, offering his imagination and talent almost limitless scope for discovery. [René Lalique] Glass: tough, fragile and unpredictable; colourful or colourless; capable of flowing like metal or being carved like stone. To be shaped it must be heated and reheated to extreme temperatures and as it cools it may shatter explosively without stringent precautions. No two pieces will ever be identical, and what you think you placed in the kiln will rarely if ever come out exactly as you expected and planned. Glass is dangerous, difficult and glamorous; a combination which has fascinated craftsmen and artists, chemists and collectors throughout history. The 19th century saw the beginnings of the shift of glass-working from craft to art, and Art Nouveau glass remains some of the most spectacular ever produced. offered a unique range of opportunities for translating the swirling energies and sinuous lines of Art Nouveau into objects to enchant the eye and intrigue the mind. This lecture explores the achievement of the masters of Art Nouveau glass, Émile Gallé, Louis Comfort Tiffany and René Lalique, and their outstanding contribution to one of the most important movements of the last century.

10.45

A hero in his own country as one of the first locally-born artists, Cazabon (1813- 1888) enjoyed brief, but enormous success for his paintings and prints of the lush scenery of the most southerly island of the Caribbean. A schoolboy in England, then a student in the art studios of Paris in the turbulent 1840s, Cazabon’s career encapsulates many of the contradictory tendencies of European and colonial life in the period surrounding the abolition of slavery. He used his art to overcome prejudice depicting both tropical jungle and cultivated plantations as subjects worthy of notice not only among his own social circles in Trinidad but also in the Paris Salon.

10.45
Four hundred years ago in July 1623 saw the death of the outstanding English composer William Byrd; prolific and successful, he was a favourite at the court of Queen Elizabeth. But Byrd led a complicated existence as a devout Catholic in troubled Tudor times, when to infringe strict religious rules ran the risk of imprisonment or even death. Forced underground, he created some of his most expressive music for fellow Catholics to use in secret worship. This talk celebrates the best of Byrd’s awe-inspiring work and reflects on what it means to create superb art in circumstances of great danger.

10.15 for 10.45 am

The scene of Nativity is one of the most recognizable themes in the western art. However, it has undergone quite a few changes over the centuries. The Nativity tableau, as we recognize it today, was unknown before 1200s, with the artists and patrons preferring the Magi and the scene of Epiphany throughout the early Middle Ages. Using the art of Giotto, Botticelli, van der Goes, Rubens and others as illustrations, the lecture explains the origins, social history and changing fashions of the beloved scene. 

10.15 for 10.45 am

Perfect for the Autumn season and Halloween, this new lecture lifts the lid on the surprising world of spells, amulets, charms and miraculous objects which operated throughout the diverse regions of the vast Byzantine commonwealth. How and why were these intriguing artefacts being used and what do they tell us about the citizens at the centre and at the edge of this powerful Christian empire? We journey from 4th century Syria to 14th century Trebizond to discover their secrets. 

10.15 for 10.45 am

Avant-garde painter, designer, decorator, inspired colourist, mother and muse, Vanessa Bell was the warm heart of the Bloomsbury Group, a set who Dorothy Parker once described as “living in squares and loving in triangles”. Navigating the tides of sexual and artistic revolution with tolerance, irreverence and wit she had a central role in the social and aesthetic life of Bloomsbury; alive to their love affairs, romances, passions and pleasures, and refreshingly uninterested in politics. She was the sister of the writer Virginia Woolf, wife of the critic Clive Bell, and counted the painter Roger Fry and the artist Duncan Grant among her lovers. Her Bloomsbury Group connections and their associated scandals have perhaps lessened the fame of her work – this lecture asks the question was Vanessa Bell the painter as radical as Virginia Woolf the writer?

10.15 for 10.45 am

Truly one of the most beautiful cities in the world, this is an overview into the most stunning monuments and sites found in Kyoto, the old capital of Japan. Kyoto not only has magnificent shrines, temples and gardens, but also is famous for its array of marvellous, colourful and seasonal festivals.   

10.15 for 10.45 am

Blenheim Palace has been used as a filming location in a wide variety of TV adverts and programmes, and has appeared in both Hollywood and Bollywood blockbusters.  It has starred in films such as Hamlet, The Young Victoria, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Gulliver's Travels and more recently, Mission Impossible 5, Spectre and the popular Netfix series, Queen Charlotte. 

The talk will explain what actually happens at the Palace when Hollywood descends and will also look at how TV documentaries and films are made here sometimes involving the colourful characters who work at Blenheim Palace. 

10.15 for 10.45 am

From the controversial Parthenon or ‘Elgin’ marbles to the Venus de Milo, most celebrated among the ‘naked Aphrodites’, here is a chance to meet the Ancient Greeks in the raw. Contains nudity!

The Ancient Greeks invented the human portrait and their sculpture formed the basis of European art. Arguably, it has never been bettered. They produced statues of such beauty and realism that men are said to have fallen in love with them. A Classical scholar and teacher, Rupert elucidates some of their finest artistic expressions, including the controversial Parthenon or ‘Elgin’ marbles (the story of which is recounted in detail) and the Venus de Milo, celebrated survivor of a craze for ‘naked Aphrodites’. Here is a chance to meet the Ancient Greeks in the raw. Contains nudity!
 

10.15 for 10.45 am

Some of the most iconic images of the 20th century were created, not for galleries or private patrons, but for record sleeves. The zebra crossing immortalised on the cover of the Beatles’ Abbey Road is the site of a pilgrimage for people traveling thousands of miles to recreate this famous scene. Album covers have been adorned by Andy Warhol, Peter Blake, Salvador Dali, Richard Hamilton and a host of lesser-known artists and designers. We will explore the art of the album cover and reveal the close connections between visual and musical creativity in this vibrant period of popular culture. Also available as a two or three-lecture study day with titles: "Blue Note to Beatles",  "Hipgnosis and the Heyday of Album Art" and "The Vinyl Countdown".

10.15 for 10.45 am

Music was a constant theme in Edouard Manet’s life and art. His wife Suzanne Leenhoff was a gifted pianist, and regular musical soirées were held at the Manet family home. His pictures of musicians and their audiences range from major early canvases depicting itinerant gypsy musicians and Spanish dancers, through to paintings encompassing the full range of Parisian musical culture, from private performances to street entertainment, café concerts and the Paris Opera. Manet also designed cover illustrations for music composed by his friends. Bringing together Manet’s art and the music that inspired him (including Spanish flamenco, Wagner piano reductions, café songs, and opera highlights) this lecture immerses you in Manet’s world.

10.15 for 10.45 am

Prometheus was a Titan who, according to Greek legend, created the human race and then famously incurred the wrath of Zeus by stealing fire from the gods to preserve it. The punishment that Zeus devised was both cruel and ingenious.  This lecture goes back to original sources to re-tell the story, explore the remarkable parallels with Adam and Eve and trace its influence from Reubens to Henry Moore and from Frankenstein, through Great Expectations to the Alien movies.  Mary will explore our enduring interest in the ideas that thread their way through the numerous adaptations and reflect on what they reveal about our changing attitudes to religious belief. 

10.15 for 10.45 am

Warwick Castle remains one of Britain’s best preserved and most popular medieval castles. The imposing stone walls and towers were raised by the powerful Earls of Warwick, who took a leading role in the most important events of Medieval England. From 1604, the castle was transformed from a fortification and into a luxurious stately home. The treasures of the eighteenth and nineteenth century Earls filled the castle with arguably one of Britain’s most undiscovered collections of Old Master Painting, Furniture, Arms and Armour and objet d’art. The sale of Warwick Castle to an entertainments company in 1978, by Lord Brooke, meant that the castle’s history, collection and interiors remains one of the country’s best kept secrets.

Adam Busiakiewicz is an Art Historian, Lecturer and Lutenist. After completing his Bachelor’s Degree in History at University College London in 2010 he held the position of Head of Historical Interpretation (curator) at Warwick Castle. He left the castle in 2013 after winning a full AHRC studentship to pursue a Master’s Degree in Fine and Decorative Art at the Sotheby’s Institute of Art, London. He is currently finishing his doctorate in Art History at the University of Warwick for which he received a full scholarship. 

Adam is a Lecturer / Educator at the National Gallery and Guide Lecturer at the Wallace Collection, where he has organised several events and courses on Music & Art as well as other subjects. He has also given talks and performances at the Royal Collection, the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Sotheby’s Institute of Art. 

Alongside his publications and scholarly articles, Adam is the co-editor of arthistorynews.com, one of the internet’s most popular art history blogs. 

Peter Ross has a History of Art degree, an MA in London history, a PhD in the cultural history of an English Criminal, and qualifications in the teaching of adults. Currently Principal Librarian at Guildhall Library, he has for 20 years lectured on a broad range of topics including the history of English books, portraiture, and London history. Peter has appeared on TV and radio as a consultant on the 18th century criminal Jack Sheppard and on the history of English food. His most recent publication, The Curious Cookbook, was published by the British Library.  

2024 - 2028 marks one hundred years since Winnie-the-Pooh was introduced to children of all ages in the four iconic books created by A A Milne and E H Shepard. First seen in When We Were Very Young (1924), Winnie-the-Pooh and the characters of the Hundred Acre Wood had their own adventures in Winnie-The-Pooh (1926), with Now We Are Six (1927) and The House at Pooh Corner (1928), giving us more wonderful poems and stories which include the introduction of both Tigger and Poohsticks.

This lecture tells the story of how these much loved books were created by the genius of Milne and Shepard’s groundbreaking collaboration and why they remain embedded in our national identity. A wonderful opportunity to see behind the scenes of these marvels of childhood for a hundred years. This lecture will only be available between 2024 - 2028.

As his work makes abundantly clear, Marc Chagall (1887-1985) remained deeply loyal to his humble Russian-Jewish origins. Yet he also wished his art to have a universal appeal – which, judging by its popularity, it undoubtedly achieved.

This lecture will trace his long, chequered and colourful career, giving particular emphasis to the creative tensions produced by the very different cultural and artistic environments in which he found himself: starting with his hometown of Vitebsk (up to 1906), then St.Petersburg (1906-10), Paris (1910-14), Revolutionary Russia (1914-22), Berlin (1922-3), Paris (again, 1923-40), America during World War Two, and back to France in 1948.

The lecture explores the history of Persian tilework primarily through the monuments of the most beautiful of all Persian cities, Isfahan, though it will also make reference to buildings elsewhere in Iran. From simple monochrome, turquoise inlays, in the 12th century, tilework in Iran developed in both polychromality and decorative complexity, until, by the 17th century, enormous architectural surfaces were covered with brilliant ornament. 

But then comes the surprise, for in the 19th century tiles are used for the first time to tell a story…!   

Jelly is a curious foodstuff to say the least; neither solid nor liquid, it can be imbued with any flavour or colour, serving both as an artistic vehicle and culinary spectacle. Yet if you mention jelly to most people today, it’s more likely to evoke childhood memories of rabbit shaped desserts, rather than an extravagant regal banquet. How has the once crowning glory of the dinner table fallen into such ill repute? Once food fit for a king, now better associated with a toddler’s tea party.

This lecture will cover the undulating social status of jelly through discussions of its sensory values, cultural history, material culture and mass production. Binding these factors together will be the thematic notions of novelty and spectacle, which underpin class and social structures throughout the sixteenth to twenty-first centuries in which this lecture is set. Welcome to the Jelly Renaissance.

Survey of a hundred years of Art in Britain from the Victorian Leopold Augustus Egg to Francis Bacon. This talk examines ways in which Britain’s isolated position resulted in an art which, while occasionally showing  European influences, for most part remained steadfastly and uniquely British.

Expect a tongue in cheek analysis of such popular British archetypes as the "stiff upper lip",  a "nice cup of tea", "no sex we are British" and of course "the weather"! 

This lecture will deal with Anna of Denmark's contribution to early 17th century English culture, including art and jewellery as well as architecture and garden creation.

Like its name, the Roaring Twenties was a loud and boisterous decade, marked by novelty, modernity and huge social, technological, and economic change. Following the dark days of the Great War, it spawned a generation of wealthy and privileged Bright Young Things who were determined to shock and who broke with the conventions of the past to pursue a life of hedonism and promiscuity, fuelled by an endless round of champagne, cocaine, parties and jazz.

Women wore fur coats and cloche hats, donned new boyish fashions and had short, cropped hair. Men drove fast cars, mixed cocktails and smoked American cigarettes. Society ate in new restaurants like The Trocadero, danced the Charleston in ballrooms like the Savoy, and drank in clubs like the Embassy and the Café de Paris. Valentino, Tallulah Bankhead, and Noel Coward emerged as major celebrities through the growing popularity of cinema and the stage.

The Roaring Twenties was also a period of enormous vitality in art and design. Fashionable society was immortalised by portraitists like John Lavery and Cecil Beaton who brilliantly captured the glamour of the age. Leisure, pleasure and the excitement of jazz were portrayed in paintings by Burra and Roberts, while the speed of the city and travel were explored in work by McKnight Kauffer and Nevinson.  Furniture and decoration showed the influence of Cubism, Vorticism and other styles associated with the avant-garde, while events like the discovery of Tutankhamun’s Tomb ushered in an obsession with all things Egyptian and Oriental. This lecture aims to conjure up the energy and originality of the decade and to explore the lives of its leading figures and examples of its most innovative art and design.

For more than three centuries Sadler's Wells has been a place of entertainment and a part of London's theatrical history with a reputation known across the world. Surviving many highs, lows and rebuildings, the theatre has hosted and nurtured an impressive array of performing companies over the years.

We follow the unique story of The Wells which includes pony racing, naval warfare, Shakespeare with Sir John Gielgud as well as the strongest connections with the worlds of opera and dance and the roots of today's Royal Ballet companies. A fully illustrated talk with audio & video clips.

The most beloved American illustrator of the 20th century always portrayed life as he wished it would be. And so it was that Norman Rockwell was most at home portraying the ideal family Christmas often with direct connections to Dickens and the English Yuletide Tradition. A bounty of Christmas posters, magazine covers, cards and even Norman Rockwell Christmas gifts will keep you entertained throughout. Your American-born lecturer shares his own experiences of the ideal American Christmas from sleigh rides and ice-skating in the woods to trimming the tree and wondering how Santa got down the chimney. Light and lively Christmas fair! 

Gustav Klimt and his colleagues broke away from the imperially endorsed art institutions in Vienna in 1897 and founded the Secession. That was the same year that Gustav Mahler arrived to take charge of the Opera House in the city. Comparing these two totemic fin de siècle talents, this lecture places Klimt and Mahler in context, asking what fundamentally links and, indeed, divides them.

Edith Durham's travels in the first decades of the twentieth century took her across the unexplored Accursed Mountains between Kosovo, Montenegro and Albania, to what are now UNESCO World Heritage Site monasteries, and through bazaars she describes as ‘glowing with goods’. In watercolours and in seven published books she recorded the objects she collected, the landscapes she visited and the people she met. She was elected a Fellow of the Royal Anthropological Institute and was the first woman to become its Vice President. The lively lecture draws on my book, Edith and I; on the trail of an Edwardian traveller in Kosovo (2013). The book was the first biographical work on Edith Durham in English and was described by The Times as 'the most delicious and delightful read of the summer’.

The light-filled canvases of Impressionist painter Berthe Morisot capture the pleasures of modernity: fashionable ballgowns, afternoons spent boating on a lake, children playing. Yet, her contemporaries perceived a connection with the eighteenth century. Renoir declared her ‘the last elegant and ‘feminine’ artist that we have had since Fragonard.’ Surveying the 1896 posthumous retrospective of her oeuvre, Paul Girard declared ‘it is the eighteenth century modernised.’ Eighteenth-century art fell from favour following the French Revolution, but was rediscovered in the mid-nineteenth century by collectors including Louis La Caze and Hippolyte Walferdin. Morisot copied works by Boucher; she experimented with red chalk, a technique closely associated with Rococo drawings; she also admired the English painters Gainsborough, Reynolds and Romney, whose work she first encountered on honeymoon in the Isle of Wight and London. This lecture traces Morisot’s engagement with eighteenth-century art and culture, and highlights what set her work apart from that of her predecessors.

DR LOIS OLIVER

Dr Lois Oliver studied English Literature at Cambridge University, and History of Art at the Courtauld Institute of Art, completing an MA in Venetian Renaissance Art and a PhD thesis on The Image of the Artist, Paris 1815-1855. She worked at the Harvard Art Museums before joining the curatorial team at the V&A and then the National Gallery, where she curated several exhibitions and contributed to major re-displays of the collections. Currently Curator of Paintings and Sculpture at the Royal Academy, Associate Professor in History of Art at the University of Notre Dame in London, and a Visiting Lecturer at the Courtauld Institute, Lois also writes audio and multimedia tours for clients including the National Gallery, Royal Academy, Royal Collection, and Tate, and has appeared on BBC Radio and TV. Also a keen violinist, Lois plays regularly with Kensington Chamber Orchestra and the Endellion Festival Orchestra.

One of our greatest composers, Edward Elgar was an extraordinary man.  Brought up in a provincial town, his father a piano tuner and the owner of a music shop, Elgar was completely self-taught as a musician, evidence of the strong determination behind his original and unique genius. His path to recognition was hard and bitter.  He had to contend with the prejudices of the British musical establishment, religious bigotry (he was a Roman Catholic) and with the entrenched class-consciousness of late Victorian provincial society.  However, with his wife Alice as his staunchest supporter, from a hesitant start with pieces written for his local music societies, to cantatas celebrating Britain’s history, “King Olaf” and “Caractacus”, he finally achieved national and international success with his “Variations on an original theme (Enigma)” of 1899.   He went on to create two of the greatest of 20th century symphonies, the magnificent oratorio “The Dream of Gerontius” and two concertos, for violin and cello, among the finest ever written. And of course, he expresses a vigorous patriotism in his “Pomp and Circumstance Marches”.This lecture, illustrated with many notable musical examples, explores the development of this contradictory musician, always wracked with self-doubt, and explains how his music expresses a quintessential Englishness.

Turner was born and grew up in the then shadowy backstreet Maiden Lane, Covent Garden, London. Born in 1775, exactly three centuries after the birth of Michelangelo, Joseph Mallord William Turner was every bit as determined and hungry for fame and fortune, and like Michelangelo, he would also be written about and find fame within his lifetime. This lecture will trace the life of boy genius from his early beginnings selling works in his dad’s barber shop to his early entry into the Royal Academy and early tutelage under the founding president, Sir Joshua Reynolds. We will look at those who wrote about Turner, his critics, both detractors, who accused him of having “an affectation of carelessness” with his application of paint on the canvas, and those who praised him as “The only landscape painter of Genius in Europe”.The lecture will end with Turner’s legacy, the vast body of work he left behind, what he wished for, in terms of what should become of it all, what happened next, and how we got to our current appreciation of his great genius.

In this lecture we play armchair detective and follow trail of clues to discover more about the London life of the“Queen of Crime”. Although Dame Agatha Christie is closely associated with Torquay in Devon, the world’s best-selling author left a trail of clues for us to follow all over London. Living in various London properties during her long (and eventful) life, she penned 16 out of 66 novels from one London address alone! It was at University College London that she further developed her knowledge of her preferred method of murder; poison! We examine the London links to her novels including a hotel that inspired a Miss Marple novel and Agatha’s perhaps lesser known links to The Mesopotamian galleries at the British Museum. We conclude with a look at Agatha’s personal and professional devotion to the theatre and the extraordinary longevity of The Mousetrap: the longest running theatrical production in the world.

Harry Venning has been a professional cartoonist for thirty years, during which time he has provided cartoons for several high profile UK publications (The Guardian, Radio Times) as well as for countless more obscure titles (British Journal Of Wound Care).

He was awarded UK Strip Cartoonist Of The Year for his Guardian strip Clare In The Community, which he adapted into a Radio 4 sitcom. In 'The Art Of The Cartoonist' Harry will be tracing the history of his profession with examples from early practitioners like Cruickshank and Hogarth, to more contemporary artists such as Giles and Schulz, bringing events right up to date with cartoons produced fresh on the page that day! Yes, Harry will be drawing live. Prepare to hear some tricks of his trade, learn where to put eyebrows for maximum effect and discover exactly what the eskimo brothers said in The Funniest Joke Ever (possibly).

MR HARRY VENNING

I graduated from the University of Wales, Aberystwyth with a BA in history, formed a touring theatre company bringing new plays to audiences in rural Wales, was then employed for a year as an actor/writer with the Channel Theatre Company in Ramsgate, Kent, before giving up acting and becoming a cartoonist instead.

I have had work published in the UK and abroad, including the strip Clare in the Community which has been a weekly feature in The Guardian since 1996. In 2016 I was awarded Strip Cartoonist of the Year by the UK Cartoon Trust.

I am also a Sony Award winning writer of radio comedy, including the shows Coach Karen’s Half Time Team Talk and Clare in the Community starring Sally Phillips, currently recording its twelfth series.

For the last ten years I have been performing my cartoon workshop Release Your Inner Cartoonist in its many different guises, to audiences as diverse as schoolchildren, business executives and festival goers.

I can’t draw hands or horses.

Rome, September 1531: Cardinal Salviati has just hosted a magnificent feast at which astonished guests were served a new culinary sensation, desrcibed by the agent of the Duke of Mantua who was present as "a kind of Indian peacock". This is one of the earliest mentions of what we today call the Turkey. This lecture describes the introduction of this exotic bird to our tables and in our art, offering an insight into the rich traditions of centuries past, cultural and culinary.

DR TOM DUNCAN

After a generation in University life, has now retired from teaching to concentrate on lecturing to a wider public, and to leading tours to his major areas of interest: the architecture and archaeology of Ireland, and the Mediterranean basin.

An introduction to Islamic art and architecture, this lecture takes us on a journey across the greater Middle East, from mediaeval Andalusia and North Africa to Persia. There’s a sense that while we might struggle to define Islamic art and architecture we’d recognise it if we saw it.

This lecture opens with a practical definition of the subject. After that, we’ll turn our attention to an exploration of the four main features common to the vast majority of Islamic art and architecture: calligraphic; geometric; vegetal; and figurative. To do this, we’ll look at the finest examples of Islamic art and architecture from the Middle East and in collections across Europe and North America.

Rather than, “I don’t know much about Islamic art and architecture, but I know what I like”, this presentation will allow you to say, “I know quite a lot, and have seen much that I love!"

For the series and film Downton Abbey, Andrew was commissioned to make many jewels for the main characters and this inspired him to create a talk based on this unique period.

Jewellery and Fashion are often seen as two entirely separate and distinct fields of design, but this is very far from the case. In his talk, Andrew guides you through the extraordinary decades and events between 1890 and 1929, where the great couturiers collaborated with the finest of jewellers to produce jewels and clothes of outstanding quality and glittering opulence. Along with this, he illustrates the clients and patrons who commissioned the jewels and shows how they were worn with their sumptuous gowns.

At a time when women were frowned upon for being out in public without a guardian, when they weren’t allowed into the bars and cafes that male artists could frequent, and when serious art was still seen as ‘men’s work’, this lecture looks at the daring women who braved social stigma and fought against the odds to become some of the most important and sensitive of the Impressionist painters.

From Berthe Morisot – one of the founding members of the Impressionist movement – and the American painter Mary Cassatt to the lesserknown Marie Bracquemond, Eva Gonzales, Cecilia Beaux and Louise-Catherine Breslau – the only woman to debut at the Paris Salon – we explore how these women artists made Impressionism their own. How did their subject-matter, painting styles and attitudes differ from their male counterparts? And why – despite many of them being hugely successful and critically admired during their lifetimes – were they until so recently written out of the history books?

For the Romans, life meant getting together to eat and drink, in a pub or at a banquet. This talk, based on the 2019-2020 exhibition Last supper in Pompeii at the Ashmolean Museum Oxford, celebrates the Roman love affair with food and drink - a journey, from fields and vineyards to markets and shops, from tables to toilets and the tomb. We see the influence of the Greeks and mysterious Etruscans, and visit fertile Vesuvius to see how Romans got their food and drink (and a Roman vineyard buried in AD79!).

Into the bustling city, past hawkers, shops and bars we enter the house, visit the shrine of the gods (with a chicken head!) and the gorgeous garden with its flowers and fountains. We recline in the dining room, with exotic food and fine wine, and surrounded by Greek-style luxury – fine silver, mosaics and frescoes. A skeleton mosaic reminds us that death is always at the feast…saying to us loud and clear “Seize the day - Carpe diem!!” Dare we see the kitchen? No fridge, no running water, no hygiene – and there is the toilet, feeding into a cess pit below….Lastly we look at how Roman ideas and customs on food caught on in Roman Britain.

Along with Roman gods of fertility and wine, come exotic imports like pepper, figs and finest fish sauce. We witness the birth of the British beer industry with the first brewer, cooper and beer deliveryman and even see the British dead, feasting into the afterlife, like all good Romans. Death comes as the end and we come face to face with the resin lady, a real inhabitant of Pompeii who died in the eruption, but we finish with the convivial afterlife she would have hoped for.

There are many illustrious gardens on the shores of Lakes Como and Maggiore in the mountainous far north of Italy. Those included in this lecture include a 16th-century parterre and water staircase; a baroque garden in the middle of a lake; two gardens made by rival Napoleonic grandees; and a garden created by two Edwardian romantics as a theatre for sharing their love of art and nature.

These achievements and others are set in a climate ideal for garden-making among some of the world’s noblest scenery, where Wordsworth, Liszt and Bellini found inspiration. It could work for you.

2022 is the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee and 2023 marks the 70th Anniversary of her Coronation, events which are unique in the history of our nation. This lecture celebrates these events and looks at the evolution of the coronation ceremony from Saxon times to that of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953. It examines the different stages of the ceremony from the Recognition through to the Homage and explains the significance of the different items of the Coronation Regalia.

Finally, the lecture gives an account of the ill omens and memorable mishaps which have occurred at coronations throughout the centuries and ends with the coronation of Her Majesty the Queen, the first to be genuinely witnessed by the people through the medium of television.

In this lecture we will look at work by Banksy, quite possibly the most famous living street artist in the world, as well as street art by Ben Eine whose piece “Twenty First Century City” was recently presented by Prime Minister David Cameron to Barrack Obama. We will also see work by Shepherd Fairey the most celebrated street artist working in the US today, known around the world for his Obey and Hope campaigns.

You will discover how the huge growth and popularity of Street Art is reflected in the astonishing transformation of Spitalfields and Shoreditch from a once seedy and deprived area into one of the most vibrant, most fashionable, most happening neighbourhoods in London.

Donatello may have been born, in Florence, over 600 years ago, but his sculpture is so powerful that it still speaks directly to us today. Working alongside masters such as Brunelleschi, Ghiberti and , he  was one of the pioneers of the Renaissance and helped to change the way people looked at the world.

From delicate idealism and startling realism, to the astonishing emotional force of his later works, this survey looks at the huge range of his sculpture, setting it against the vivid and colourful world of Italian politics in the age of the Renaissance.

On Line lecture

In this lively presentation John shares his knowledge and enthusiasm for wine and the contribution that ‘wine art’ makes to our colourful world. Wine can be a civilising influence upon us and it is made to be shared and enjoyed. As a consequence there are numerous wonderful paintings of wine being made and wine being drunk in celebration but it also lends itself to wicked cartoons and striking posters. In addition we shall examine wine labels from around the world which now display such style and creativity.

On Line lecture

A master of fin-de- siècle art and design in Britain.

A journey through the career of the man who designed the famous tile interior of Harrods Meat Hall and so much more! One of the best-known tile interiors in Britain is the ceramic extravaganza by W.J. Neatby (1860-1910) in the Meat Hall in Harrods Department store in London. His designs for this remarkable building were commissioned by Doulton and Co. of Lambeth, but the project is only one of Neatby’s achievements, as a leading designer in fin-de- siècle Britain.

This lecture charts his career from his beginnings as a ceramic artist in Leeds to his time as Head of Doulton’s Department, and beyond. Topics for study include his graphic work, designs for architectural ceramics, and his work as a book illustrator and wallpaper designer. One of the few designers to work in the Art Nouveau style in England, Neatby created artworks that are still a visual feast for those interested in art and design in the years around 1900.

On Line lecture

Years of working as an artist within the Criminal Justice System in England and Germany have given Angela unique insights into the destructive and costly cycle of crime, prisons and re-offending. In this thought-provoking talk she offers a deeper understanding of the minds, lives and challenges of offenders. With extraordinary slides of art projects and prisoner’s art, she demonstrates how within the process of creating art of any discipline, there are vital opportunities for offenders to confront their crimes and develop the key life skills so essential in leading a positive and productive life.

A frequent response to this talk has been “I had no idea!” and indeed it casts light onto areas of our society where the Arts not only are visual, decorative or commercial, but absolutely vital, hugely relevant and potentially life-changing. This talk is moving, informative and very original. Interspersed with personal accounts of humorous or slightly horrifying situations, these talks have kept audiences across the country engrossed.

On Line lecture

Brought up as a house pet by a Director of the Dutch East India Company in India, from a young age, Clara was shipped to Holland in 1741 and spent nearly 20 years touring Europe as one of the wonders of the age. She visited all the major Courts of Europe including to King Louis XV of France, dying in London in 1758. She was recorded in paintings, prints porcelain, bronze, clocks and even hair styles.

This talk explores the charming story of this magnificent beast, only the third or fourth rhino to be seen in Europe, through contemporary records and works of art.

On Line lecture

London not only has a world-class reputation for art in its many galleries, but also a remarkable range of art outside in the streets. We tour around the capital discovering some of the most interesting works from across the centuries. They range from huge and expensive commissions to unofficial graffiti, which is sometimes audacious and often playful, but they all have a place in our society. We look at why art is there, how it has developed over the years and discover many hidden gems.

On Line lecture

The extraordinary story of the rebuilding of the Cathedral as a symbol of peace and reconciliation and its inspiring commitment to the modern.

Experience the work of many of the world - class artists associated with its treasures including Epstein, Frink, Piper and Sutherland.

The Annual General Meeting will be held today on-line

On Line lecture

Grayson Perry, who won the Turner Prize in 2003, is close to becoming a ‘National Treasure’. His beautiful, finely-crafted pottery, which frequently has a sting in the tail, and his colourful, imaginative and often amusing tapestries are enormously popular in the fine art world. Initially considered as something of a rebel, he is now an acknowledged member of the Establishment.

He has exhibited in the British Museum and the National Portrait Gallery, delivered the Reith lectures for the BBC in 2013 and curated the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition in 2018. In this lecture, we will look at his work in some detail, as well as considering his cross-dressing alter ego, Claire, and his fondness for his childhood teddy bear, Alan Measles.

On Line lecture

This talk looks at the art and society of Roman North Africa, from Morocco to Egypt. Though divided, then as now, by their history and ethnicity these countries all once formed part of the Roman Empire – and a very important part, too. We see how Rome gradually conquered them and why – their incredible natural resources, from the fish of Morocco to the grain of Tunisia the oil of Libya and the fabulous wealth of Egypt. Roman influence spread through these provinces – in buildings, art and language, but it is clear it wasn’t a one way process. With the flood of imports from these provinces came changes in art, religion and society – some Africans even rose to be Emperors, including Septimius Severus, one of the greatest in Rome’s history.

Ultimately the loss of Roman Africa in the Late Empire was a body blow from which the Empire never recovered – so great was the interdependence between them.

On Line lecture

‘Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.’ — William Morris

William Morris was an artist, a visionary, and a radical.

He spearheaded the ‘Arts & Crafts’ movement, vehemently objecting to the machine-dominated mass production of the Industrial Revolution, which he believed to be ‘dishonest’.

Morris instead championed craftsmanship, the revival of traditional skills, and handmade production. He, and his firm ‘Morris & Co’, developed products with an ethos of simplicity, integrity, and useful beauty. These included designs for wallpapers, fabrics, furniture, and stained glass.

On Line lecture

This lecture charts the meteoric rise to prominence of the artist Raphael (1483-1520). In 1500, aged seventeen, Raphael entered the workshop of the successful Umbrian artist Pietro Perugino and so began his emergence as one of the greatest masters of the High Renaissance.

While lacking his older rivals Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) and Michelangelo Buonarroti’s (1475- 1564) advantage of being born and trained in Florence, he was generally admitted to be their equal. Raphael’s early work is analysed alongside his commissions in Florence and for the Papacy in Rome which demonstrate the genius of his extraordinary talent.

Charles Dickens has often been proclaimed as “The Man Who Invented Christmas” and indeed on hearing that Dickens had died, a cockney barrow-girl said: “Dickens dead? Then will Father Christmas die too?”  Dickens revived the Christmas traditions with his warm portrayal of Christmas in the domestic setting; with plum pudding, piping hot turkey, games, dancing and family cheer by the hearth. Although he celebrated Christmas in numerous works it is his enduring master piece, ‘A Christmas Carol’ published on 19th December 1843 which immortalises the spirit of Christmas Cheer. Dickens was a man of extraordinary energy and talent: literary genius, reformer, public speaker, actor and amateur magician.

In his lecture Bertie Pearce reveals a Dickensian Christmas with readings, biographical details and conjuring tricks.

Les Parisiennes is a story about women’s lives during the dark years of Nazi occupation and beyond and includes British and American women caught in Paris as well as native born resisters who were eventually sent to camps, couturiers and jewellers, some of whom flourished in wartime, as well as actors, singers, night club dancers and housewives.

The lecture opens with a magnificent circus ball held by Elsie de Wolfe at the magnificent Villa Trianon, a chateau in the grounds of the Palace of Versailles; many of the guests could not believe that war was imminent and ends with Christian Dior’s lavish new look in 1947 as well as a perfume, Miss Dior, named after his sister Catherine, a resister, who had only just survived a prison camp and never wanted to talk about her experiences.

Through five thousand years of history the name of one apparently insignificant boy stands out in Egyptian history above all others. Hieroglyphics have only comparatively recently been rediscovered, opening up so much meaning from the desert sands. This lecture puts Tutankhamun in the context of Egyptian civilization, considers all that is known about him and the great legacy of his discovery. It also tells the remarkable story of that discovery in 1922 and illustrates many of the most fabulous finds in what was perhaps history's greatest hoard. But it also asks when it is appropriate to dig up the remains of the deceased and what has really been learned from so much research.

It is hard for the modern mind to conceive such apparent faith and commitment and perhaps equally hard to resist ‘dissecting’ everything to find some ‘inner truth’. What was actually found is here revealed. 

This lecture charts the meteoric rise to prominence of the artist Raphael (1483-1520). In 1500, aged seventeen, Raphael entered the workshop of the successful Umbrian artist Pietro Perugino and so began his emergence as one of the greatest masters of the High Renaissance.

While lacking his older rivals Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) and Michelangelo Buonarroti’s (1475- 1564) advantage of being born and trained in Florence, he was generally admitted to be their equal. Raphael’s early work is analysed alongside his commissions in Florence and for the Papacy in Rome which demonstrate the genius of his extraordinary talent.

In this lively presentation John shares his knowledge and enthusiasm for wine and the contribution that ‘wine art’ makes to our colourful world. Wine can be a civilising influence upon us and it is made to be shared and enjoyed. As a consequence there are numerous wonderful paintings of wine being made and wine being drunk in celebration but it also lends itself to wicked cartoons and striking posters.

In addition we shall examine wine labels from around the world which now display such style and creativity.

Brought up as a house pet by a Director of the Dutch East India Company in India, from a young age, Clara was shipped to Holland in 1741 and spent nearly 20 years touring Europe as one of the wonders of the age. She visited all the major Courts of Europe including to King Louis XV of France, dying in London in 1758. She was recorded in paintings, prints porcelain, bronze, clocks and even hair styles. 

This talk explores the charming story of this magnificent beast, only the third or fourth rhino to be seen in Europe, through contemporary records and works of art.

This lecture and the AGM have been cancelled due to the Coronavirus situation.

Annual General Meeting

Then the lecture:

There are many illustrious gardens on the shores of Lakes Como and Maggiore in the mountainous far north of Italy. Those included in this lecture include a 16th-century parterre and water staircase; a baroque garden in the middle of a lake; two gardens made by rival Napoleonic grandees; and a garden created by two Edwardian romantics as a theatre for sharing their love of art and nature. These achievements and others are set in a climate ideal for garden-making among some of the world’s noblest scenery, where Wordsworth, Liszt and Bellini found inspiration. It could work for you.

Food and Art Through the Ages is a whistle-stop tour of the history of food as artistic medium; starting with 16th century sugar sculpture and venturing all the way up to 3D dessert printing and beyond. Hosted by Food Historian Tasha Marks, this lecture is a treat for those with a sweet tooth, as Marks feels the subject of food and art through the ages is most exciting in the realms of the dessert.

Topics covered include; the origins of dessert, the crossover between sugar and art, architecture and dessert (including Renaissance banqueting houses), sugar and spectacle, food as artistic medium, and the future of food.

This exploration into the realms of dessert as spectacle includes an accompanying display to illustrate and enhance the historic subject.

Commissioned by the Bishop of Bayeux who fought at Hastings, executed by skilled English craftsmen, the Bayeux Tapestry is the last survivor of a vanished art form. Rupert Willoughby presents a lively introduction to the tapestry – so much more than the story of Hastings – in which he unravels some of its mysteries, places it in the context of its age and firmly establishes it as a landmark in the history of Western art.

With its lively illustrations of languid, party-loving, moustachioed Englishmen, of the cavalcades of noble huntsmen and of the snorting Norman cavalry poised to charge into battle, the Tapestry is the next best thing to a moving picture from the time. 

At the turn of the twentieth century, the British Empire held sway over approximately one quarter of the total population of the world. British imperial power was projected through a variety of artistic mediums, from fine portraiture and grand imperial buildings to more popular forms of imagery. British artists also produced countless images of people from all over the globe who had become subjects of British rule.

Through considering a variety of paintings, buildings and objects from across the Empire, this lecture provides a fascinating insight into the ways in which the British viewed themselves and their subjects in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

Please note the date of the December meeting has had to be changed from 12th December to 5th December, because the Bourne End Community Centre is used as a polling station, and the date of the General Election clashes with our meeting. We are lucky to find both the Speaker and the Hall free for the new date, and we will still be able to enjoy a glass of wine and a mince pie after the lecture.

Even in ancient Rome people made complaints about the mid-winter Saturnalia celebrations remarkably like the ones we hear today about our commercialised Christmas.

In a light-hearted historical review we discover some wonderful and some gloriously awful Christmas imagery, from Giotto’s painting of the first Christmas crib until Dickens meets Coca Cola amongst the movers and shakers who sometimes seem to have turned Christmas into Kitschmas.

The Guggenheim, designed by the Canadian architect Frank Gehry and opened to the public in 1997, is one of the most exciting buildings of the 20th C.

The lecture begins with an introduction to the Guggenheim foundation and how it came about, and then moves on to describe the very particular circumstances that led to the commission in Bilbao. It examines the architecture of Frank Gehry using illustrations from his work in Europe and America, and describes how the vast asymmetrical, apparently chaotic and fragmented structure was created. It also discusses the use of titanium – the unusual and eye-catching material which is used to clad a large surface area of the building.

This lecture takes a number of themes in order to expand the concept of jewellery and examine the different reasons why people wear it. Everyone decorates the body, but there are different notions of how to do so and which parts to decorate. In many societies jewellery serves as vital protection against evil spirits. It can be a powerful vehicle of communication, indicating the wearer’s preoccupations, their religion or ethnic group. It can be a keepsake of a loved one, or a memorial to the dead. And it can also be a work of art in its own right harnessing all the .skills of the goldsmith, gem-setter, or enameller.

It easy to take colour for granted in our man-made world. But before organic chemistry the most desirable pigments were often rare, exotic or poisonous. Merchants supplied cochineal ‘grana’ from the holds of Spanish galleons, pungent golden nuggets from India and lapis rock carried by camel train from the mountains of Badakhshan. Alchemists prepared deadly King’s Yellow, mysterious Vitriol of Venus and Moorish Gold concocted from basilisk powder and human blood.

The making of Hard-paste porcelain, going back over 2000 years, represents one of the most important technical, artistic and economic achievements in the history of mankind. However, until the late 17th century the secret of porcelain manufacture was unknown outside of China.  Meissen became the first place in Europe where the secret of making Hard-paste porcelain was discovered and made commercially from  around 1712.

This talk looks at the amazing, varied, and often very beautiful products of the Meissen factory in the 18th and 19th centuries. The man who is credited with creating Meissen porcelain, Johann Friedrich Böttger had started out trying to change base metals into gold but, in the end, created porcelain, sometimes known as ‘white gold’!

A.G.M. Then the lecture

The lute holds a special place in the history of art: painters of the Italian Renaissance depicted golden-haired angels plucking its delicate strings, evoking celestial harmony; in the sixteenth century, during the rise of humanism, the lute was a becoming pastime of educated courtiers, as depicted by the likes of Holbein and Titian; throughout the seventeenth century, the instrument continued to play a key role in emphasising the intimate, debauched and transient pleasures of interior scenes by Jan Steen and portraits by Frans Hals. This lecture looks at the lute, and other musical instruments, as devices to express various aspects of the human character throughout the ages.

The Lunar Society of Birmingham, whose members included Matthew Boulton, James Watt, Erasmus Darwin, Joseph Priestly and their friend Josiah Wedgwood, were both artists and scientists and their legacy of experimentation in the late 18th and early 19th centuries helped give us the modern industrial world we know today.

This lecture discusses the relationship between art and science in the Lunar Circle, with examples drawn from subjects including painting and drawing and Matthew Boulton’s silver. The lecture also discusses the virtually unknown women connected with the Lunar Circle, including Elizabeth Stockdale Wilkinson (1799 – 1871), who was involved in early photography in Birmingham, and the poet Anna Seward (1747 – 1809).

At the start of the Silk Road, the complex technologies required for the production of cultivated silk were only known in China. Within several centuries they had spread across Afro-Eurasia.

This lecture will tell the story of this diffusion, discussing examples of silks surviving from this period and how we can identify their origins from their weaves and designs.

Hans Holbein was the first great mainland painter to spend much time in England and he brought with him a sophistication and skill, with far reaching consequences for this island's artistic development. His Ambassadors is recognised by the National Gallery of London as one of its greatest treasures. It dates from a tradition in the arts when no object was without meaning and symbolism.

This lecture considers the tempestuous circumstances of its creation and the hidden messages concealed within it.

Synopsis:

From the mud skyscrapers of Shibam to 'zabur' buildings of Sadah, traditional building techniques and decoration are beautifully examined. The old city of San'a, capital of Yemen, brings together ornate early-period mosques and soaring minarets; ancient bustling caravanserais and decorated houses, where multi-coloured glass windows have only recently replaced alabaster sheets. Unique stone, mud and wood architecture are highlighted in the houses of Red Sea Ottoman merchant's, who grew wealthy from trading coffee. Fine workmanship can still be seen today in women's jewellery and the Yemeni 'djambia' and Omani 'khanjar' daggers with needlework belts are still worn by the men.

Synopsis:

The Romans used triumphal arches to express the victories by which they extended their empire across Europe.  The triumphal arch motif was used extensively by many architects including Sir Edwin Lutyens, who created the Cenotaph in Whitehall as the ultimate abstract expression of sacrifice.  In 1918 Luytens was appointed one of the three principal architects to the War Graves Registration Commission together with Sir Herbert Baker and Sir Reginald Bloomfield.  

Synopsis:

A room dedicated to eating evolved out of the needs of society: the presence of such a room relates to social class, formal versus informal meals and public versus private eating. Has eating in the kitchen or in front of the television made the dining room redundant? This talk looks at the development of the dining room, from the Middle Ages to our own time, and explores the fascinating development of the furniture and furnishing associated with changing tastes, customs and fashions. 

Synopsis:

Modern art is often considered difficult, but it is much less so when seen through the eyes of some of the greatest cartoonists of the last one hundred and fifty years, who provide a humorous and sceptical but instructive guide to modern art from Courbet to the Britart of the 1990s. A chance to enjoy the insights and cartoons of (among others) Daumier, Larry, Thelwell, Matt, the wise guys at the New Yorker magazine and, of course, the immortal Giles. Collectively, they provide an absorbing, illuminating and, above all, a funny, revealing and sidelong view of 150 years of modern art. 

Synopsis:

This talk combines the lives of the Astors, the Sackville Wests and the Rothschilds and their family history with the story of the gardens they have all created, despite their very different backgrounds, here in the English countryside.

Synopsis:

Tchaikovsky was one of the first people to perceive Chekhov’s genius, and unusually took the step of becoming personally acquainted with the writer, despite his shy and retiring nature. The admiration was mutual, and the much younger Chekhov was proud to dedicate a story collection to the great composer. This lecture explores why Tchaikovsky and Chekhov should have felt such admiration for each other’s work, and examines their lives and careers in the context of late nineteenth-century Russian culture, paying particular attention to the landscape paintings of Levitan, whose name is often mentioned in the same breath. 

Synopsis:

This lecture looks at ordinary working people: skilled and unskilled workers in both urban and agricultural environments, craftsmen, artisans, shopkeepers, domestic servants, entertainers, prostitutes, beggars, paupers, slaves. Throughout the history of western art, they have always been there: for centuries as mute observers, background detail or comic relief. But as the world changes, art changes, and this talk will discuss the move of low-life subject matter from the despised and vulgar fringes of popular taste into the respectable mainstream; and out again into political radicalism and avant- garde edginess. 

Synopsis:

Isabella d’Este (1476-1530), Marchioness of Mantua, known to her contemporaries as ‘the world’s First Lady’, was one of the leading women of the Italian renaissance. She was stylish, cultivated, feisty and – in her own words – ‘hungry for art’. As a female patron in a male-dominated world, she is an exceptional figure: paintings by Mantegna decorated her study, she sat for her portrait by Leonardo da Vinci, scoured Italy for classical antiquities and stole a statue by Michelangelo from her Urbino in-laws. Drawing extensively on contemporary anecdote, this lecture looks at Isabella’s life, personality, predilections and peccadilloes, and of course at the masterpieces of art she owned. 

Synopsis:

For a brief period in the history of glass paperweight-making truly blossomed. Influenced by developments in Venice in the 1840s, the French glass manufacturers of Baccarat, Clichy and St.Louis added a wide range of highly decorative and extremely ornate paperweights to their repertoire.  The fashion lasted for seven years giving it the title of the ‘classic period’. During that time, millefiori canes of all colours and sizes were used in a variety of patterns within clear glass domes. The glassmaker also produced floral paperweights following original botanical forms, each one hand-made. Together with fine paperweight examples, the methods of manufacture will be clearly demonstrated, set against the turbulent nature of society in mid-19th century France.

Synopsis:

Frida Kahlo (1907-1954) and Diego Rivera (1886-1957) have iconic status in Mexico. Rivera's intricate visual narratives, rich with allegory and symbolism, adorn the walls of public buildings. Inspired by Aztec and Maya imagery, and by early Italian fresco painting, his vast murals combine social criticism with faith in human progress. Kahlo's work, unlike Rivera's, is small in format. Arguably Mexico’s most original painter, she made herself the principal theme of her art. Her paintings reflect her experiences and dreams. This lecture surveys the work of both artists; it chronicles their turbulent marriage and Mexico's history after the 1910 Revolution.

Synopsis:

Federigo da Montefeltro, the Duke of Urbino, brought to his remote, hill-town palace some of the greatest artists of the Renaissance, including Piero della Francesca. This lecture explores how such a crafty, astute soldier of fortune created not only a breath-taking palace but also an outstanding collection of art.

Synopsis:

As adults we carry in our heads huge numbers of images from childhood, and some of those most deeply etched come from illustrations in books that we read as children. Images of ‘Tigger’ and ‘Toad’ or even ‘The Tiger Who Came to Tea’ will probably remain with us for ever! In this lecture we will not only consider a range of book illustrations but also the intriguing lives of famous illustrators such as Beatrix Potter and Howard Pyle.  In addition we will explore how illustrations contribute to the development of understanding and how the interaction of image and narrative creates such powerful memories. 

Synopsis:

Dutch art is quite different to anything else at that time.  It dealt with the real lives of its people at times ordered, at other others bawdy or self-important and occasionally tragic.  This lecture looks into why this I so.  It shows how Holland achieved its independence through its bitter wars with Spain.  How its new Protestant mentality would allow astonishing advances in sciences, as Rembrandt shows in his portrait of Dr Tulp; how its merchant wealth will be reflected in serene seascapes by Van de Velde and Van Goyen, its civic pride in the brilliant portraits of Frans Hals and its insistence on moral order and well-scrubbed households in the enigmatic poetry of Vermeer, It is a lecture that shows how art is the mirror of its age and how the age is preserved in its art.

Synopsis:

Watercolourist, muralist, ceramicist and wood-engraver, Eric Ravilious was one of the most distinctive young British artists working between the two World Wars.  This lecture explores his career, looking both at his place in the long tradition of watercolour painting in England as well as within the social and cultural context of England in the 1920s and ‘30s

Synopsis:

La Mortella means “the place of myrtles” and rocls and myrtles were everywhere on the property acquired by Sir William Walton and his young Argentinian bride Susana, when he decided to settle on the Island of Ischia in the Bay of Naples.  The task of taming the Mediterranean land was huge and the Waltons decided to invite Russell Page, the renowned landscape architect and author The Education of a Gardener to come to their rescue.

This lecture tells the story of how the wild place was transformed into an amazing garden and a wonderful work of art.  There will be colourful anecdotes accompanying the beautiful images and music too, imbued with the light of the Mediterranean, played at the conclusion of the lecture.  Lady Walton wrote that La Mortella is a garden of sounds - poetic, mysterious, bewitching, serene and joyous.  All the more true as the place is the active centre of the Fondazione William Walton, a trust set up to help young musicians to blossom and offering wide range of events and a season of concerts.

Synopsis:

“When my father, the British Surrealist artist Roland Penrose and biographer of Man Ray, made his collage titled Homage to Man Ray (1976), he included the pencilled wording HOM MAGE, a pun in French which can be translated as Magic Man. Roland knew that in his photography Man Ray magically transformed light into wonderful Surrealist images, and in his objects everyday things became visual puns, sometimes sinister, sometimes funny, but always provocative. Man Ray was much adored by both my parents and from an early age by me too. He encouraged me to make my own objects and my own puns. I knew he and my mother Lee Miller had been lovers in their youth and their love endured as a deep friendship. Together in Paris in the heyday of Surrealism they discovered the technique of solarisation which became the hallmark of their artistic association. Their collaboration produced some of the most striking images in Man Ray’s whole oeuvre and it was Man Ray who in turn helped Lee Miller to become a Surrealist photographer in her own right. Years later when I saw them together, I noticed there was always a special smile on my mother’s face when Man Ray was around, but it took me much of my life to discover the history that lay between her, Man Ray and my father”. This is the story behind Lee Miller’s special smile. 

Annual General Meeting Tonight

Synopsis:

Beside the Seaside surveys the history of the seaside holiday towns that grew up in Victorian times when the railway system enabled ordinary working people to spend time away from home enjoying themselves and highlights the rich architectural heritage of the heyday of te British holiday industry.  Holiday makers from workaday British inland towns expected tom experience luxurious, exotic surrounding, even if the weather was disappointing, so designers ransacked the vocabulary of architectural and decorative styles  - rococo, oriental, gothic- in an exuberant display of cast iron, faience, plaster and paint.  This lecture includes such major resorts as Blackpool, Brighton, Great Yarmouth and Scarborough, showing the unique quality of seaside structure such as piers, winter gardens and fairgrounds.

Synopsis:

For centuries, the eyes of Europe have focused their interest on Italy, regarding Lo Stivale not only as a place to visit for pleasure but also as a place from which to derive artistic and musical inspiration.  Peter Medhurst takes a fresh look at the many famous artists, writers and composers who have visited Italy over the years and then goes on to introduce a range of musical compositions that have modelled themselves on Italian examples.

Music includes work by Huygens, Monteverdi, Vivaldi, Bach, Handel and Mendelssohn.

Synopsis:

In Spring 2000 archaeological drama began to unfold on the banks of the Euphrates River in Turkey, close to the border with Syria.  A small team of French and Turkish archaeologists found a Roman city on the banks of the river, with mosaics and wall-paintings finer than those of Pompeii. However just beside them was the almost complete Birecik Dam and the Turks had begun to flood the great reservoir behind it, taking the city under water.  This lecture tells the story of the extraordinary archaeological rescue excavation that then took place (racing against the waters for four and a half months as they rose at the rate of two feet per day) and the fabulous treasures recovered.

Synopsis:

A history of the outstanding and diverse Devonshire collection told chronologically through the interests, characters and tastes of its collectors over 16 generations, from Elizabethan beginnings to the current Duke and Duchess of Devonshire and their family. Each generation has left its mark on the collections, whether as connoisseurs, passionate and enthusiastic patrons and acquirers, fortuitous marriage, or the occasional benign indifference, and it is fascinating to see how these diverse personalities, linked only by family, have contributed to what is now considered one of the finest surviving family collections in Europe. This story features outstanding work by artists as varied as Raphael, Rembrandt, Reynolds, Canova, Freud and Craig-Martin and comes right up to date with the current Duke and Duchess's passion for modern British sculpture. The lecture includes Old Master drawings, fine books and archives, silver and rare jewels, portraits ancient and modern, sculpture spanning 2000 years of European culture, furniture by outstanding cabinet makers and other unique treasures.

Lecture followed by mince pies and a glass of wine

We conclude our year with a festive subject when Sally Dormer will speak on ‘St Nicholas of Myra and Santa Claus: a case of mistaken identity’. How did the remains of Nicholas, a fourth-century bishop from Myra, Turkey, reach Bari, Italy in 1087? And how did this rather obscure churchman become the patron saint of sailors, merchants, prisoners and children in the Byzantine Empire and Western Europe? This lecture explores the development of St Nicholas’ medieval cult through the artefacts associated with it: icons, wall paintings and illuminated manuscripts, and charts his eventual transformation into the well-loved Santa Claus.

Dr Dormer is a lecturer and tutor for the Early Medieval Year Course at V&A. Dean of 'European Studies' for 2 US Universities. Freelance lecturer for The Art Fund. Study tours for NADFAS, cruises and other tour groups. BA (History) University of Durham; PhD (Medieval Manuscript illumination) and MA (Medieval History of Art) Courtauld Institute.

THE EXTRAORDINARY LIFE OF MISIA SERT: muse to Renoir, Toulouse-Lautrec, Bonnard and Vuillard; patron of the Ballet Russes; concert pianist and fashion icon.

As we near the end of our programme for 2016, prepare to be amazed by the story of a beautiful woman in a lecture by Julian Halsby entitled ‘The extraordinary life of Misia Sert: muse to Renoir, Toulouse-Lautrec, Bonnard and Vuillard; patron of the Ballet Russes; concert pianist and fashion icon’. She was truly a woman of many parts who led a very full life!

Born into a Polish family, Misia was a virtuoso pianist taught by Gabriel Fauré, before marrying Thadee Natanson owner of the magazine ‘La Revue Blanche’. She was painted many times by Toulouse-Lautrec, Pierre Bonnard, Eduard Vuillard (who was deeply in love with her), and Renoir who wanted to paint her nude. She knew Debussy and Ravel who dedicated several pieces to her. She later remarried a wealthy businessman and was able to finance Diaghilev’s extraordinary Russian Ballets becoming an integral part of the circle around Picasso, Stravinsky, Cocteau and Nijinsky. Her final marriage was to the Spanish muralist José Sert with whom she travelled extensively, becoming Coco Chanel’s closet friend and confidante. Misia was at the very heart of modern art and music in Paris. Misia Sert was the subject of a major exhibition in the Musée d’Orsay in 2012.

Julian Halsby studied History of Art at Cambridge. Formerly Senior Lecturer and Head of Department at Croydon College of Art. Publications include Venice - the Artist's Vision (1990, 1995), The Art of Diana Armfield RA (1995), Dictionary of Scottish Painters (1990, 1998, 2001, 4th edition 2010), A Hand to Obey the Demon's Eye (2000), Scottish Watercolours 1740-1940 (1986, 1991), A Private View - David Wolfers and the New Grafton Gallery (2002). Interviews artists for the Artist Magazine and is a member of the International Association of Art Critics and The Critics Circle. A practising artist, he was elected to the Royal Society of British Artists in 1994 and appointed Keeper in 2010.

In October, Hugh Ellwood will lecture on ‘The Far Eastern and Orient Express’ – a train journey which will take us from Singapore to Bangkok, looking at the different artistic traditions and cultures of Malaysia and Thailand.

Hugh Ellwood studied philosophy in Rome, followed by a degree in architecture at the University of Manchester. Previously an architect partner with Building Design Partnership, the largest multi-discipline design organisation in the UK, and was for some years an external examiner in architecture at the University of Manchester. For several years was a visiting lecturer in the history of art and architecture at the University of Central Lancashire. A watercolourist, and has also lectured extensively to various societies and organisations, including cruises, on art and architecture.

Sign on for October Visit and November Study Day

COFFEE WITH THE WITTGENSTEINS: discover what it was like to be the  richest family in Austria, to be patrons of Klimt, Hoffman, Strauss, Brahms and the Wiener Werkstatte, and how any of this was going to help the family to survive WW2.

On our return from the summer break in September, our attention is directed towards an influential Austrian family in ‘Coffee with the Wittgensteins: discover what it was like to be the richest family in Austria, to be patrons of Klimt, Hoffman, Straus, Brahms and the Wiener Werkstätte, and how any of that was going to help the family survive WW2’ by Sarah Lenton. Her colleague, Margaret Stonborough will accompany her as she is a descendant of the Wittgensteins, and much of the material is from her family archive.

Sarah Lenton read Theology at King's College London and has spent most of her working life in the theatre. She regularly writes articles for Royal Opera House programmes, lectures at study days, and gives pre-performance talks for both the Royal Opera House and English National Opera. She has written and directed more than 20 shows for the Royal Opera House Linbury Theatre, and gives tours at the London Coliseum. She does live commentary for BBC Radio 3 Opera broadcasts and writes scripts for BBC Radio 4. She is also a cartoonist.

Moving on to 20th century landscapes, we look forward to welcoming James Russell in June with his lecture ‘Edward Seago: from the circus to Sandringham’.

Like LS Lowry, oil painter and watercolourist Edward Seago (1910-74) was immensely popular but overlooked by critics; today the best of his landscapes look fantastic, while his life story is full of interest. A prolific author, he overcame childhood illness before running away with the circus. He also mixed in aristocratic circles, making friends among the Royal family; a colourful wartime career and a trip to Antarctica aboard the Royal Yacht add to this fascinating account. Seago is much loved by artists, and in this lecture we explore a number of his finest oil paintings and watercolours in detail, looking at his choice of subject, design and technique. James Russell is the author of Edward Seago, the definitive account of the artist’s life and work, which was published by Lund Humphries in 2014, with a Foreword by HRH the Prince of Wales.

James Russell studied History at Pembroke College, Cambridge, but was galvanized into writing about art by a lengthy stint selling contemporary paintings and sculpture in Santa Fe, New Mexico. A passionate advocate of 20th century painting and design, he writes and lectures widely. His books include the popular 4-volume series Ravilious in Pictures, about British watercolourist and designer Eric Ravilious (1903-42), and other titles devoted to Paul Nash, Peggy Angus, Edward Bawden and Edward Seago. He curated the 2015 exhibition Ravilious at Dulwich Picture Gallery and has lectured all over the country, from Rye to Glasgow and from the V&A to the Royal West of England Academy.

Sign on for June Visit

 Fenella Billington returns in May and this time she is concerned with contrasting styles of art in the 18th century in England and France. Her lecture ‘Romance, Realism and Revolution’ (1700-1800) takes us from Watteau, Boucher and Fragonard to Gainsborough, Stubbs and Hogarth as social systems change throughout Europe. 

Fenella Billington joined Wirral DFAS in 1983. She has a Masters Degree in Art History, Manchester University. Lecturer for the University of Liverpool's Continuing Education Programme for Adults. She has guided tours to Rome and Florence, been a speaker on cruises and given freelance talks to art societies, historical associations and charitable institutions, including the Art Fund, U3A and the National Trust. She is a Liverywoman of the Worshipful Company of Skinners of London.

14th April A.G.M. at 10.30am

View the agenda here

Among the variety of art produced by the Victorians, much neglected are scenes of contemporary life, especially those that tell a story. Peter Scott aims to redress the balance in his April lecture ‘William Powell Frith: painter of the crowd’,  with interesting stories behind the people featured in these scenes of Victorian life.

Sign on for April Visit

We switch continents in March to America and its ‘Gilded Age’, when Roger Mitchell will transport us to the mansions built by the likes of the Vanderbilts and the Astors in New England and California in his talk entitled ‘Plutocrats on vacation: holiday homes of the American rich 1870-1940’.

The Plutocrats of America’s Gilded Age were probably the richest individuals in the history of the world and their houses reflect this. Like many rich people before them, families like the Astors, the Vanderbilts and the Morgans built to impress. Our journey takes us from the ‘cottages’ of Newport, Rhode Island to the great houses of Biltmore and Viscaya via the more modest charms of Jekyll Island and reaches an appropriate conclusion at Hearst Castle on the Californian Coast in the 1920s. Architects like Stanford White, Richard Morris Hunt and Julia Morgan ensured that they got quality as well as glamour.

Roger Mitchell studied History at Oxford and Fine Art at Leeds. Awarded Churchill Fellowship to travel and study in USA. Former College Vice-Principal who now lectures for University of Liverpool and for Adult Residential Colleges. Organises and leads country house study tours, and tries to find time for research at Chatsworth.

In February, we leap forward to the 20th century when Toby Faber, in ‘Faber and Faber – its design and history’ traces the history of his family publishing house from its foundation in 1925, through its illustrations, book covers and photos, together with personal insight and anecdote. As the grandson of its founder, Tony Faber grew up steeped in its books. He was managing director for four years and remains on the board.

 Since its foundation in 1925, Faber and Faber has built a reputation as one of London’s most important literary publishing houses. Part of that relates to the editorial team that Geoffrey Faber and his successors built around them - TS Eliot was famously an early recruit - but a large part is also due to the firm’s insistence on good design and illustration. Faber and Faber is the last of the great publishing houses to remain independent. This lecture traces the history of Faber and Faber through its illustrations, covers and designs. Early years brought innovations like the Ariel Poems – single poems, beautifully illustrated, sold in their own envelopes. In the 1950s and 1960s, there was an emphasis on typography, led by the firm’s art director Berthold Wolpe; his Albertus font is still used on City of London road signs. In the 1980s, the firm started its association with Pentagram, responsible for the ff logo. Along the way, it has employed some of our most celebrated artists as cover illustrators – from Rex Whistler and Barnett Freedman to Peter Blake and Damien Hirst. Slides will range from book covers, advertisements and photos of key individuals, to illustrations of the concepts behind the designs. The talk will also be peppered with personal insight and anecdote.

Tony Faber has written two works of narrative history, Stradivarius and Fabergé's Eggs, published by Macmillan in the UK and Random House in the US, and given lectures associated with these two subjects at venues including The Victoria and Albert Museum, Bath Theatre, The Library of Congress and the Huntington Library, as well as a number of literary festivals. His career began with Natural Sciences at Cambridge and has been through investment banking, management consulting and five years as managing director of the publishing company founded by his grandfather, Faber and Faber, where he remains on the board. He is also non-executive Chairman of its sister company, Faber Music, a trustee of Yale University Press (UK) and a director of the Authors Licensing and Collecting Society.

Sign on for March Study Day

Our lecture programme for 2016 begins with ‘These stolen glances…’ - a fascinating glimpse into the Elizabethan miniatures of Nicholas Hilliard and Isaac Oliver by Carolyn Leder. She will illustrate through her slides and commentary what miniatures tell us about Elizabethan dress, society and astonishing artistic technique. In the Elizabethan age, these exquisite miniatures capturing transient expressions (‘these stolen glances’) were regarded as jewels, to be held in the hand. Only about 1-2 inches in size, they were painted on vellum mounted on playing cards; the pleasurable symbolism of the hearts suit was chosen for pictures of spouses or lovers. Miniatures provide a portrait of the age, from its monarchs and courtiers, to grand ladies, city merchants and military men. The tiny miniatures reproduce excellently on screen, showing every detail of the astonishingly elaborate costumes: even down to ruffs, which were worn ever larger, so that in the end even eating became difficult. 

Carolyn Leder is an art historian who has written widely on Stanley Spencer, including a book on his autobiographical Scrapbook drawings. A trustee of the Stanley Spencer Gallery, she has featured as a talking head on television and radio and acted as the historical adviser to BBC television and Arts Council films on Spencer, and her work is frequently cited in the art historical press. For many years, she was also Curator of the Old Speech Room Gallery, Harrow School. The gallery has a distinguished collection of antiquities and fine art, for which she researched and published a series of catalogues. She curated over 80 exhibitions and ran a thriving gallery arts society for the boys, taking them on over 200 visits to museums and exhibitions in London.