Botticelli is one of the best-loved artists of the Florentine renaissance. This lecture looks at his career and at the city that shaped his art, putting his paintings in their historical context, and showing how they reflect Botticelli’s world. From The Birth of Venus and Primavera, painted during the golden age of the Medici, to the Mystic Nativity, redolent of the religious fervour of Savonarola, who dominated Florence after the expulsion of the Medici in 1494, Botticelli’s paintings are not only stunning works of art, but visual testimony to one of the most eventful periods in Florentine history. 

Paula Nutall is a specialist in Renaissance art, both Italian and northern European, on which she has published widely, notably From Flanders to Florence: the Impact of Netherlandish Painting 1400-1500 (Yale, 2004).  She has collaborated on major exhibitions including Jan van Eyck: an Optical Revolution (Ghent, 2020).  Before retiring in 2023 Paula was Director of the V&A Medieval and Renaissance Year Course, and has taught at – among others – the Courtauld Institute and the British Institute of Florence.  She now focuses on the Arts Society, her own online courses, and research.

Almost everyone has played Monopoly at some time in their life.  It is one of the world’s most popular and enduring board games.  But, how well do you really know it? This talk starts with the original Landlord’s Game of 1903 and its evolution into the game as we know it today.  Based on the classic 1936 London version we then take a photographic journey around the locations on that Monopoly board.   Expect some surprises as we explore the relationships between the various properties, look at the ones that don’t actually exist and uncover the story behind the game we all know so well - or do we?

Roger Mendham's artistic taste is predominantly 20th century and he is particularly interested in the visual aspects of art. He has studied the evolution of photography from its earliest days in the early 1800s to becoming a major art form in the late 20th and now 21st centuries. An experienced public speaker, his talks are all richly illustrated with both his own and images from some of the leading photographers.

The Magic Flute is one of the best loved of all Mozart's operas and charms audiences as much today as it did those at the end of the 18th century. However, beneath the surface of the music are many complexities, ambiguities and hidden secrets, which when revealed may well enhance the listener’s understanding and enjoyment of the work. By following the progress of Tamino - the opera’s hero – Peter Medhurst shows that Mozart’s opera is one of the finest musical products of the enlightenment.

The lecture is by Peter Medhurst has been to TASEH many times and is much loved.  With demonstrations on the piano and easy to understand explanations, Peter will bring this opera to life to those that know this opera well  and those not so fanatical.  He appears in the UK and abroad as a musician and scholar, giving recitals and delivering illustrated lectures on music and the arts. He studied singing and early keyboard instruments at the Royal College of Music and at the Mozarteum in Salzburg.

Alongside a number of exhibitions celebrating the 250th anniversary of the birth of John Constable, we take a journey into the life and work of the Suffolk-born painter, looking anew at familiar paintings, and asking why he remains the most influential and important of English painters. 

Dr John-Paul Stonard is an art historian and writer, whose 2021 book Creation. Art Since the Beginning was nominated a Sunday Times Art Book of the Year, and described as a ‘worthy and richly-illustrated successor’ to E.H. Gombrich’s The Story of Art. Following training as a painter, Stonard studied art history at the Courtauld Institute, where he went on to work as a part-time lecturer. He has also worked as an editor at The Burlington Magazine, and as a Senior Fellow at the National Gallery of Art, Washington DC. He has curated exhibitions, including Kenneth Clark: Looking for Civilisation (Tate Britain, 2015), and written books including Creation. Art Since the Beginning (Bloomsbury 2021), Chatsworth, Arcadia, Now (Penguin, 2021), and (as editor) The Books that Shaped Art History (Thames & Hudson 2013). He is a regular contributor to the Times Literary Supplement and the London Review of Books. 

Picasso is one of the most famous and controversial figures of the 20th century. Even today his work triggers mixed and often violent reactions from art lovers. This lecture aims to calm those fears. It follows his early career from his childhood in Spain, where his unique talent was first recognized, to the garrets and back streets of Paris where the poetic and wistful images of the Blue Period were transformed into the daring experiments with form and structure that became known as Cubism.

This lecture will be presented by a well known and admired lecturer with TASEH, Douglas Skeggs.  His last lecture with us, on Klimt, was a memorable meeting.  Douglas read Fine Art at Magdalene College Cambridge and has been a lecturer on paintings since 1980. In that time he has given over 8000 lectures to universities, colleges and art societies. He was the director of  The New Academy of Art Studies for three years and is presently a regular lecturer at The Study Center, Christie's course 'The History of Art Studies' and other London courses.

 In December 2024, Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, often referred to as the Soul of the City, reopened to the public after a devastating fire had threatened to destroy it 5 years earlier.  A seemingly impossible target had been set by the French President to rebuild; yet huge sums of donated money and teams of expert restorers ensured the timescale was met. Such is the symbolic power of this cultural icon in the psyche of the French people and indeed people beyond.

Carole Petipher, this month's lecturer,  is an experienced guide and lecturer on combined history and art tours in France with 20 years experience. Having lived and worked on a number of bespoke river vessels and converted barges there she has used them as a platform from which to research her lectures. She uses art in all its guises to explore the characters who shaped France and likes to delve behind the scenes to discover hidden truths. She also acts as a guide for a privately owned ancestral home in her native Chilterns.

Our royal families have celebrated Christmas throughout their long history, from William the Conqueror making sure of his claim to the English throne by being crowned in Westminster Abbey on Christmas Day 1066. Feasting on a spectacular scale characterised medieval Christmases – we read of extraordinary culinary delicacies served to Henry II, crane’s flesh, peacocks and herons. Present-giving always marked the season, from the extravagant – the City of London presented Richard II with a camel and a pelican – to the witty – Mrs. Thatcher sent the Queen a pair of yellow washing-up gloves having seen Her Majesty doing the dishes without any.

Roger Askew was a chorister at Wells Cathedral School and a choral scholar at Magdalen College, Oxford, where he graduated with an honours degree in English. He combined a teaching career with professional singing in London, and after obtaining a further degree in Music became Director of Music at Daniel Stewart’s and Melville College in Edinburgh. After retiring in 2003 he returned to the south of England. He is President Emeritus of The Stoke Poges Society.

This lecture will be preceeded by the AGM
and followed by the Christmas Lunch

In this lecture we look at Oscar Wilde's great literary successes, beginning with The Picture of Dorian Gray in 1890 followed by 4 smash hit plays in 3 years. 

We focus especially on The Importance of Being Earnest, one of the funniest, most performed and most frequently quoted plays in the English-speaking world. Described as ‘A Trivial Comedy for Serious People’, it was of its time and yet ahead of its time, satirising the shallowness and superficiality of upper-class Victorian society. We explore some of the hidden elements of which the audience then (and perhaps now) were unaware and discover that, for the author, this glittering triumph heralded the beginning of his own fatal final act.

Simon Whitehouse is a (recovering) actor, lecturer, presenter, Alexander Technique and voice teacher and award winning London Blue Badge guide. He has worked as a guide lecturer in house at Shakespeare’s Globe, the Royal Opera House, the BBC and the National Gallery guiding both public and private tours. He is on the faculty of Ithaca College and also lectures for the Blue Badge Guide training course on the performing arts and English literature. Simon’s specialisms and passions are theatre, literature, fashion and art history but whatever the subject, Simon will weave a wonderful story from it.

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

Julia Musgrave got her first degree in Chemical Engineering and went on to become a Chartered Information Systems Engineer and IT project manager. In 2008 she decided that life was too short for just one career and decided to become an art historian. She now has a Graduate Diploma in the History of Art from the Courtauld Institute of Art and an MLitt in ‘Art, Style and Design: Renaissance to Modernism, c.1450 – c.1930’ from the University of Glasgow. She gained her PhD at the University of York for her research into the involvement of Roger Fry and the Bloomsbury Group and the social networks of the British art world in the development of the Contemporary Art Society from 1910 to 1939. She teaches Art History at the City Literary Institute (City Lit) and is Co-Director of The London Art Salon.

2025 will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the international 1925 Arts Décoratifs exhibition in Paris (giving its name to the style later to become  known as ArtDeco). Visitors from around the world, museum curators, retailers, and the international press  descended on Paris to see and buy the designs which would influence a new generation of artists and designers. We will ask such questions as – Why Paris? Was there a distinctive style? Who were the key movers and shakers? Which were the key disseminators? Using original black and white photographs set against actual colour artefacts, we will recreate the experience of walking through the stunning showcase pavilions.

Mary Alexander trained as an art historian and graduated with a BA Hons in History & History of Art (University College London) and later an MA (with Distinction) in History of Art (University College London). She moved to Manchester to take up the post of Assistant Curator at Platt Hall, the Gallery of English Costume, a renowned collection of historic dress. Subsequently she lectured in art history at the University of Leeds, the Open University and Manchester University Extra Mural Department. From 1995 - 2008, she was a Visiting Lecturer at Christie’s Education in London. Mary has also combined academic work with the world of design consultancy. In 1985 she joined Pentagram Design in London, a leading international design consultancy, and coordinated client presentations, publications, conferences and international special events, including the 1986 British Design event in Aspen Colorado. In 1988 she transferred to Pentagram’s New York office with the task of organising an international design conference held at Stanford University involving business, design and education leaders. As an experienced international speaker, Mary lectures regularly for The Arts Society throughout the UK, Europe and Australia and New Zealand. She also contributes articles to magazines, newspapers and professional journals. She was President of The Arts Society Glaven Valley, Norfolk from 2016- 2021

The past decade has seen the meteoric rise of this extraordinarily versatile British designer with his acclaimed Olympic cauldron, the iconic new London bus and designs for a spectacular new HQ building in King's Cross for Google. Over the last thirty years the Heatherwick Studio has used an intriguing combination of curiosity and experimentation to produce a vast range of solutions to design challenges around the world. This talk looks at the problems presented, and the wonderfully creative ways in which Heatherwick and his team have responded.

Ian Swankie is a Londoner with a contagious enthusiasm for art and architecture, he is an official guide at Tate Modern, Tate Britain, Guildhall Art Gallery and St Paul’s Cathedral, he is also a freelance London tour guide. Since 2012 he has led a popular weekly independent art lecture group in his home town of Richmond in West London. He is an Accredited Lecturer for The Arts Society and a Freeman of the Worshipful Company of Art Scholars, one of the City livery companies.

Indian classical music has a rich heritage stretching back beyond the thirteenth century. Its two major traditions - the Hindustani and the Carnatic - have given rise to some of the most beautiful and deeply spiritual music ever conceived. Yet Westerners tend to find it baffling. This lecture aims to break down barriers to artistic appreciation by providing an introduction to the major traditions, artists and concepts that form the basis of the Indian classical tradition. By the end of the lecture you will know your sitar from your sarod, your sarangi from your shehnai, and your tanpura from your tabla.

Dr John Stevens gained his PhD in History from UCL, before going on to teach British Imperial History, Indian History and Bengali Language at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS, University of London). His biography of the Indian guru Keshab Chandra Sen – Keshab: Bengal’s Forgotten Prophet - was published by Hurst and Oxford University Press in 2018. He is a regular visitor to India and Bangladesh and has lectured at numerous Indian universities. He also works as a consultant on Indian affairs and teaches the Bengali language to private students. He has appeared many times in the Indian media, and was a guest on BBC Radio Four’s In Our Time, discussing the poet and artist Rabindranath Tagore. 

 I write only for fame… 

Jane Austen 

When Jane Austen declared that she wrote ‘only for fame’, she was, of course, being ironic: she published anonymously; there is no record on her gravestone that she was a writer; and her books fell out of print shortly after her death.  But now, Jane Austen is one of our best loved authors, with legions of adoring fans throughout the world.  Her novels have inspired countless stage and screen adaptations, and even provided solace to soldiers in the trenches.  She is the face of the £10 banknote, and she adorns tea towels and fridge magnets everywhere.  Jane Austen is now very famous indeed.    But how did it all happen?  This lecture will chart Jane Austen’s rise to fame; it will explore the making of a literary celebrity and examine Austen’s legacy, 250 years after her birth. 

Following a career in teaching, Annalie spent several years working on education programmes at museums and literary houses across the UK, including the Wordsworth Trust, Grasmere; Wordsworth House in Cockermouth; Jane Austen’s House in Hampshire; and the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford. At Jane Austen’s House, Annalie won 2 Sandford Awards for Excellence in Heritage Education; she also worked with the British Library, the Bodleian Library, and Chawton House Library in promoting Austen’s work to young people.  Annalie’s lectures focus on aspects of Romantic and Victorian literature. She uses her knowledge and personal experience of literary houses - and their collections - to offer a unique perspective on writers and their works. 

Situated on the altar wall in the most important chapel in Christendom, Michelangelo’s monumental fresco of the Last Judgment (painted 1536-41) in the Sistine Chapel in Rome could easily lay claim to being one of the most significant paintings in the world. In its depiction of the end of the universe, the importance of the fresco was immediately recognised by contemporaries, becoming a focus for controversy as well as admiration. In an attempt to ‘decode’ the fresco and explain its hidden meaning, the Judao-Christian tradition of cosmological symbolism in art and architecture will be examined, and influence of the astronomer Copernicus will be argued as a key underlying theme.

Valerie is currently Senior Research Associate at Gresham College London (previously Registrar and Secretary of the College). Having studied at the Universities of Bristol, Manchester and the Witwatersrand, she has lectured extensively on Byzantine, Medieval and Renaissance art and architecture and published widely on the influence of astronomy and cosmology on art (including her PhD on the influence of Copernican heliocentricity on Michelangelo’s Sistine Last Judgment). After her main career in education management, she now works freelance, in order to pursue her writing and research (www.valerieshrimplin.com). She is Chair of the series of Conferences on the Inspiration of Astronomical Phenomena (www.insap.org). Author of many publications.

What is the origin of the double portrait? Are the sitters posed in a single image or in two separate portraits meant to hang together? And what happens if one of the paintings is lost? What do these images tell us about the subjects, for example, is there a power struggle going on between the two figures? Is there a male/female hierarchy? Are same gender double portraits simply a modern notion or have they been around for much longer?  Alice answers these questions fully through a wide ranging selection of images from medieval donor portraits to the twentieth century. All are linked by the common theme of double portraits.

Alice has lectured for Oxford University Department of Continuing Education since 1998. She lectures regularly at the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, and at the Oxfordshire Museum in Woodstock. Her busy freelance career includes organising History of Art study days with colleagues, and regular weekly classes in Oxfordshire and Worcestershire. In 2004 Alice joined The Arts Society and has lectured in Britain and in Europe. In 2025 she undertakes tours of Australia and New Zealand.  Since 2003 Alice has been a tutor on study holidays in Italy. Currently, Alice is a residential tutor at the Argyll Hotel on the Isle of Iona, specialising in Scottish art.   In 2010 she was elected President of Banbury Fine Arts Society.

Have you ever wondered why every Nativity scene and every school play has to have an Ox and an Ass?  Are they there just to add authenticity to Christ’s lowly birth in a stable or could they have a long history of symbolic meaning? Why are they so central to the iconography of the Nativity when they are not mentioned in the Gospels? This lecture sets out to find out more. The ox also has a long and important rôle in Mediterranean mythology and religion as a beast of royal sacrifice, while the ass seems to represent humility and servanthood, but it could also be a type for Christ like the fish/ikthus.

Hilary lectures in the main museums in London for American universities, and has toured widely in the USA and lectured for the Smithsonian Institution. She has also worked for the Art Fund, taught courses for Cambridge University and has been a guest speaker on cruises. Hilary trained as a painter at Central St Martin’s, she exhibits abroad, most recently in Berlin and France and lives in London and in Provence.

The Impressionists were an innovative and radical group of artists who took Paris by storm in the 1870s. Using new colours and techniques, they created paintings of modern life which shocked and horrified the art establishment. From the start the group included women artists but their contribution to Impressionism has often been overshadowed by their male contemporaries. Marie Bracquemond, Berthe Morisot and Mary Cassatt all exhibited regularly at the Impressionist exhibitions alongside artists such as Monet, Renoir and Degas.

Sarah Burles studied History of Art at Cambridge University before doing a master’s degree at University College London. She went on to have a career in museum and gallery education, establishing new services in three different museums before working at the Fitzwilliam Museum for many years.   Sarah is the founder of Cambridge Art Tours, which runs tours and courses in and around East Anglia. She is also a Tour Director for a travel company and has led tours to Italy, France, Germany, Belgium and America. During the coronavirus pandemic, Sarah moved her work online, offering art history courses to audiences all over the world. Sarah  has given lectures and run study days for Arts Societies throughout the UK and in Europe.

In 1565, Pieter Bruegel the Elder was commissioned to create a series of paintings for a dining room in Antwerp. The images, charting the course of a year, changed the way we view the world through art. Landscape had previously been a decorative backdrop to dramas both sacred and profane. But in Bruegel's hands the landscape and our interaction with it became the focus. Looking at paintings such as The Return of the Herd, Hunters in the Snow and The Gloomy Day, this lecture explores how Bruegel pioneered a whole new way of thinking about the environment and our individual places within a shifting cosmos.

Gavin is a writer and broadcaster, he appears on BBC Radio 3 and 4, and contributes to newspapers, magazines and opera and concert programmes. He lectures widely about the culture of Central Europe during the 19th and 20th centuries and his recent appearances include Klimt and The Kiss in cinemas worldwide, and talks for the Hay and Cheltenham Literature Festivals, the Royal Opera House, the National Gallery, the National Trust, the National Theatre, the British Museum and the V&A. His first book, A Home for All Seasons, is out now.

Drawing on his own experiences as both a child and adult actor, Tyler reveals the pains and the pleasures of a career in the theatre, and takes us through the various intricate processes of putting on a play from the actor’s perspective, from the casting session to the curtain call, and all stops in between. On the way, he reveals how props can let you down at crucial moments, how actors survive when out of work, and how to deal with stage nudity.

Tyler Butterworth grew up in a theatrical family and spent twenty five years as an actor working extensively in film, television, theatre and radio. He then worked as a development producer in television documentaries and was closely involved with NASA on a landmark commemorative tv series. Now, he produces walking audio guides to cities across Europe for private clients on whatever subject he’s commissioned to do. 

Tamara de Lempicka's story is one of self-invention. From her early beginnings as an aristocratic fugitive from the Russian Revolution, to later taking Paris by storm as a successful artist living on her own terms, she has become an icon of the Roaring Twenties. Few artists sum up an epoch quite so completely - a true art deco diva.

Alexandra Epps is an Official Guide and Lecturer at Tate Modern, Tate Britain and the Guildhall Art Gallery. She is a qualified Guide to the City of London, offering walks, talks and tours about many aspects of the arts for societies, corporations and private individuals. Member of the City of London Guide Lecturers Association. Co-author of the book Lord Mayor's Portraits 1983-2014 (2015). Alexandra’s background is in design having practised as a graphic designer running her own design consultancy for many years. BA Saint Martins School of Art, MA London College of Printing.

There's more to the world of street art than Banksy, Hidden Canvases is a beginner's guide to the biggest art movement since pop art.  From train writing in New York to interactive technology that brings murals to life, the concept of un-commissioned public art is a very different beast to that which it once was.  Hidden Canvases explores the key stages in street art's growth examining the different elements and styles that comprise the scene with no rules.  From the international superstars to the local underground heroes you're guaranteed to leave knowing your Invader from you Aryz and who knows you might even start looking at the world a little differently.

Doug Gillen is heavily involved in documenting the street art scene in London and abroad through his project Fifth Wall TV, and can offer a genuine insight into this world. Previously lectured for London Art and More, and when not filming he is an East End tour guide for Alternative London, specialising in culture and art.

A look at Part II of Handel’s Messiah – The Passion

Unlike JS Bach’s St Matthew Passion, which is a faithful setting of the gospel’s account of the events that led up to Christ’s crucifixion, Part II of Handel’s Messiah is less literal in achieving a similar goal.  Drawing on texts from Isaiah, the psalms, and the gospels, the listener is presented with a series of musical tableaus, which suggest, rather than articulate, the narrative of Christ's passion and resurrection.  At the same time, words and music send home the clear message that man is ultimately powerless to oppose the will of God.  

This musical journey will be delivered by an old friend of TASEH, Peter Medhurst.  He has presented a number of lectures for us in the past and brought many famous musical works to life with demonstrations and fascinating facts.  

He appears in the UK and abroad as a musician and scholar, giving recitals and delivering illustrated lectures on music and the arts. He studied singing and early keyboard instruments at the Royal College of Music and at the Mozarteum in Salzburg.

Stuart Harvey is a “History and Art Communicator” of 30 years experience and is well known to many members as he led the trip to Rome in 2022 where he is a Guida Turistica Abilitata della Provincia di Roma.  He is also a London Blue Badge Tourist Guide where he was awarded “New Guide of the Year”) He has worked in educational tourism since 1992, leading study tours all over Europe.

Living in Rome since 2003, Stuart has developed a great love for the Eternal City and its many treasures. In addition to his primary career as full-time Rome tourist guide, Stuart’s entertaining and lively lectures and virtual tours bring the rich artistic and historical wealth of Rome’s 28 centuries to life for people all over the world.

He lives in Rome for most of the year but he will be in the UK for live lectures between 20th February and 16th March and we are delighted to learn that has agreed to fit us in to this very tight schedule.

This talk surveys a hundred years of Art in Britain from the Victorian Leopold Augustus Egg to Francis Bacon.

Lydia 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"! 

Lydia Bauman was born in Poland and studied for her BA in Fine Art at University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne (John Christie Scholarship and the Hatton Award), and an MA in History of Art from Courtauld Institute of Art, London, (19th-20th century art - Distinction for thesis on Matisse's Illustrations to Poetry). She has since divided her time between painting and exhibiting as well as lecturing widely to adult audiences. She has taught at London's National Gallery for more than 35 years, and intermittently at Tate Gallery and National Portrait Gallery as well as collections such as Boston Museum of Fine Arts, the Hermitage and the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, the latter as a guest speaker for travel companies.

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.

Bertie Pearce has a BA (Hons) in Drama from Manchester University, and a Diploma Internationale from the École Internationale du Théatre, Jacques Lecoq. A member of the Inner Magic Circle, with Gold Star. Past experience includes lecturing and performing on cruise ships, and to U3A, historical societies, festivals, schools and colleges. In addition, has toured the world with a magic cabaret show and a one man show entitled All Aboard. Has written articles for newspapers and magazines on entertainment and theatre.

A wide-ranging exploration of the music chosen by ballet choreographers through the years, proving that the right composition with the addition of the right moves and the right designs can create modern masterpieces and timeless classics.  We move from the grandness of Imperial Russia with the creation of Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty and other established and popular works through to the current modern repertoire of the Royal Ballet, exploring the challenges met by both composers and choreographers.  Includes several performance video clips.

Nigel Bates has been a performer for more than forty years in and out of the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, including seventeen years as Principal Percussionist with the Orchestra and eight years as the Music Administrator of The Royal Ballet.

 He has worked with many of the leading figures in the classical music industry and was also a producer for both the BBC's Maestro at the Opera and Pappano's Classical Voices documentary series. He is a regular contributor to the printed and online content of the ROH.

He has given lectures for over thirty years, including many arts societies and conservatoires in the UK and across Australia.

Already in his own day, Albrecht Dürer was a larger-than-life figure. Through the high quality of his woodcutting, and the facility with which printed culture could be disseminated, Dürer became an international success. Not a stranger to a mode of self-fashioning that would sit comfortably in today’s social media channels, Dürer crafted a lasting legacy for his art through his prints, paintings, and copious writing. Yet, the words he wrote - as much as the images he invented - reveal a man in profound search of his identity, especially at a time when social and religious values were in radical flux. This lecture will trace the artist’s origins in his goldsmith father’s workshop in Nuremberg, his ambitious travels in Italy and subsequent patronage by the Habsburgs.

Albert Godetzky’s research concentrates on Northern European art of the early modern period. He is currently Associate Lecturer at the Courtauld Institute where he received his PhD with a thesis on ‘Haarlem Mannerism’. Before joining the Courtauld, Albert was Visiting Lecturer at The Victoria & Albert Museum and the Harry M. Weinrebe Curatorial Fellow at the National Gallery, London, where he contributed to exhibitions including Rembrandt: The Late Works and Vermeer and Music: The Art of Love and Leisure. Albert also works as a cultural advisor to several international corporate institutions and private individuals, drawing on his experience in the field and using education to widen understanding of and participation in the study of art history.

Please Note:  This is a change of the advertised lecturer due to health reasons.

Have you had this experience? You go to a gallery, an exhibition and are stopped dead by an unknown picture: you look at the label and find you have never heard of the artist. How does it come about that there can be such wonderful painters of whom we have never heard? This lecture will consider some of the many reasons for a good artist’s obscurity, from the brevity of his life to the misfortune of his being born and working in the shadow of a larger reputation, such as Leonardo or Rembrandt. But above all it is an excuse to spend an hour gorging on beautiful paintings, finding hidden treasures.

Chantal Brotherton-Ratcliffe has an MA in History of Art from Edinburgh, PhD from the Warburg Institute, London University. With 40 years' experience as a lecturer, Chantal has taught at Sotheby's Institute of Art on the MA in Fine and Decorative Arts since 1989, and as a freelance lecturer for a number of societies and institutions in London, including the National Gallery and the Wallace Collection. Having also trained as a paintings conservator, she brings an understanding of the making and the physical painting to her lectures and study sessions.

The National Gallery's collection begins with works from the early 13th century and finishes with masterpieces by the Impressionists and Post-impressionists in the 19th century.

The stories behind the pictures are interesting, amusing, unexpected and sometimes surprising, such as a portrait of a female rhinoceros who toured Europe and set a fashion for having ones hair styled ' a la rhinoceros'.

Linda will look at the most perfect Christmas angel, an equestrian portrait of Charles 1, a painting on copper by the Le Nain brothers of Northern France and a tiny picture from the predella of the most ambitious altarpiece in Western art. 

Her10 favourite paintings are not always the best known in the gallery - and they change from time to time - but she loves looking into these paintings, asking them questions and reading their stories.

It is important to remember that none of these pictures were produced to hang on the walls of a London gallery. - they have all lived other, often surprising lives.'

Linda Collins is a lecturer at Historic Royal Palaces & National Trust. A freelance lecturer at the Tate Modern & National Gallery, London.She is a Member of the Association of Art Historians and President of The Arts Society Harpenden Area.

Her publications include The Tudors: The Crown, The Dynasty, the Golden Age.  Linda Collins & Siobhan Clarke,  Andre Deutsch Publishing, 2019;  King & Collector: Henry VIII and the Art of Kingship, Linda Collins & Siobhan Clarke, The History Press, 2021. and Gloriana: The Art of Elizabeth I, Linda Collins & Siobhan Clarke, The History Press, 2021.

“A miracle which God let be born in Salzburg” is Leopold Mozart’s assessment of his enormously gifted son Wolfgang Amadeus who conquered Europe as a child prodigy and took classical music to new heights in the Vienna of the 1780s. Yet Mozart died tragically young at just 35, impoverished and underappreciated, while writing a Requiem that had been commissioned from on condition of absolute secrecy. In this illustrated talk, featuring recorded musical examples and contemporary portraits, Sandy strips away some of the myths to piece together the real Mozart and celebrate his extraordinary legacy.

Sandy is one of the UK’s most versatile music commentators, enjoying a career that combines broadcasting, performing and lecturing. After studying at St Catharine’s College, Cambridge and working as music director for the RSC, National Theatre and in London’s West End, Sandy Burnett spent a decade as one of the core team of presenters on BBC Radio 3. Combining engaging scholarship with hands-on expertise, he devises and leads cultural holidays all over the world, is the author of the Idler Guide to Classical Music, is a highly sought after double bassist on the London jazz scene, and was appointed the Academy of Ancient Music’s Hogwood Fellow for the 2018-19 season.

Best known for his outlandish appearances dressed as his feminine alter ego, Claire, Grayson Perry is now a core part of the art establishment, a Turner Prize winner, Royal Academician, popular broadcaster and colourful character. He’s possibly one of the world’s best-known contemporary artists. His works of ceramics, textiles, tapestries and prints are highly sought after. Often controversial, he tackles difficult subjects in a poignant yet witty way and holds a mirror up to society. This talk will examine Grayson Perry’s work, his exciting and thought-provoking exhibitions, and the unique character inside the flamboyant frocks.

Our speaker, Ian Swankie, is a Londoner with a passion for art and architecture, Ian is an official guide at Tate Modern, Tate Britain, Guildhall Art Gallery and St Paul’s Cathedral, and gives tours around each venue. He is also a qualified and active freelance London guide and leads regular tours for various corporations and organisations. Since 2012 he has led a popular weekly independent art lecture group in his home town of Richmond in West London. He is a Freeman of the Worshipful Company of Art Scholars, one of the City livery companies.

Raoul Dufy (1877-1953) was a key player in early twentieth century avant garde art, design and literary/theatrical circles in Paris. As a widely travelled polymath, Dufy's charismatic personality, wit and curiosity about the world was infectious.

His imagination and technical virtuosity - across a range of media including painting and lithography, posters, book illustration, theatrical set design, textiles and fashion, ceramics and large murals - cut across all conventional boundaries. Whether a small intricate woodcut illustrating a love poem, or the truly gigantic 1937 world fair murals depicting the role of electricity in the modern age, the effect is mesmerising.

Dufy defies categorisation, constantly innovating and experimenting with new materials and effects. His analysis of the visual world is sophisticated and joyous in equal measure. Perhaps this goes some way to explain why some later critics fail to grasp its complexity and pigeonhole him a 'decorative artist', or misunderstand the irony in his witty yet gentle caricatures of elegant social life.

Mary Alexander has thirty years' experience as a lecturer, with a BA in History and History of Art and a MA with distinction in History of Art from University College London. Experience includes public lectures in museums, tutoring for the Open University, visiting lecturer at Christie's Education in London, museum curator at Platt Hall, the Gallery of Costume, Manchester. Now a freelance lecturer to various arts, heritage and antiquarian societies. She also worked in Pentagram design consultancy in London and New York, organising conferences and special events. Author of various articles on design and visual awareness issues, her background combines an unusual blend of academic and visual communications skills. Lectured for ADFAS Australia and New Zealand in 2011, 2013 and 2016. Mary is an enthusiastic member and President of The Arts Society Glaven Valley.

London’s sumptuous Victorian and Edwardian department stores changed the capital – and changed its women. Shoppers of every rank were lavishly wooed, seduced and often undone by the temptations laid out before them in these new ‘cathedrals of desire’. 

Starting on Oxford Street’s ‘golden mile’, we’ll set off on a cultural tour of the capital’s big stores – from snooty Marshall & Snelgrove, to Pontings, ‘House of Value’; from Kennards’ wart-removal service, to the live flamingos atop Derry & Toms; from Bodgers of Ilford, to Bon Marché of Brixton.

How did it feel to enter a great store in 1850 – and in 1950? What was it like to serve? From shoppers to shop girls, publicity stunts to wow factor window dressing, a fascinating slice of social history, with wonderful period images. 

Tessa is a freelance lecturer for The Arts Society along with other organisations such as the V&A, English Heritage and the National Trust. She’s the author of two books of social history: The Housekeeper’s Tale – The Women Who Really Ran the English Country House, and Mrs Pankhurst’s Purple Feather – Fashion, Fury and Feminism, Women’s Fight for Change. Her interest lies in uncovering stories of invisible women of the Victorian and Edwardian eras, revealing how they drove industry, propped up high society and manipulated politics. Tessa has an MA in English Literature from Oxford University, a diploma in Art History from the British Institute of Florence, and has enjoyed a long career in journalism for national newspapers and magazines. 

The Christmas that we now celebrate is largely based on the one that the Victorians invented but there are many traditions that we take for granted that have their origins in much earlier times…Who  invented mince pies, Christmas pudding and cake? Where did cross dressing, and slapstick from theatrical performances become part of the Christmas tradition? Who invented and designed the first Christmas card and what themes were popular in this artistic industry? All will be revealed in this light hearted and informative talk.

Jane Tapley is currently Special Events Organiser, Theatre Royal Bath. Interviews visiting actors, writers, directors. Lectures regularly to theatre going societies, NT and history and fine arts groups. West Country Tourist Board Registered Blue Badge Guide and Lecturer. Author and researcher of theatre programme notes on Hamlet, Sheridan's The Rivals and Jane Austen's Emma. Theatrical landlady! Home Economist. Consultant to various TV productions of Jane Austen adaptations on food in the 18th and 19th centuries. Hosts and cooks period meals in her Regency house in Bath for the Jane Austen Festival and other literary groups.

The last time St Paul’s Cathedral was deprived of music for a long period was after the devastating Fire of London in 1666. But in 1697 Christopher Wren was able to triumphantly declare RESURGAM as the phoenix rose from the ashes.

Patrick will look at music from either side of this momentous event. He will also guide us through the finest repertoire from across the Cathedral’s liturgical year. Escorted by a selection of his favourite photographs, music and videos he will aim to convey the glories of twenty-five years of singing in this extraordinary building. 

Patrick Craig is a Vicar Choral at St Paul’s Cathedral. For twenty years he combined this with an international career singing over a thousand concerts with the world-renowned early music consort The Tallis Scholars. He also sings with the award-winning group The Cardinall’s Musick. He founded and conducts this country’s leading all-female professional choir, Aurora Nova. He has conducted concerts for the BBC Proms, the Brighton, Lichfield and Aldeburgh Festivals, and with the City of London Sinfonia.

As a Cambridge history graduate with a lifelong interest in the arts, he has gone on to lead choral workshops for amateur singers across the world, where he places music in its historical and cultural context. He regularly lectures for the St Paul’s Adult Education programme and for John Hall’s Venice Courses, which have allowed him to incorporate his interests in theology, art and poetry. 

In 2020, when his singing and conducting work disappeared overnight as a result of the Covid pandemic, Patrick poured all his experience into online presentations which have raised vital funds for the Help Musicians Charity.

“Mind the Gap” examines the world-beating graphics, designs, maps and posters created for the London Underground. From early days through the inventive inter-war years, this lecture is rammed with well-known artists and great stories. Modern London was shaped by the Underground. Tunnel Vision has never been so celebrated.

Focusing on the role of posters and poster artists in the history of advertising, this global-award winning Creative Director of international advertising agencies has lectured extensively on design, illustration and photographic styles as they have influenced the building of brands. He has himself created posters for major brands including British Airways, Nestlé, Sony, General Motors and Shell. His travel writing and photography has appeared in various airline magazines as well as Time. He has also written and produced several hundred TV and Radio commercials and corporate video programmes. A member of The Arts Society Winchester.

This lecture will be held at our regular venue -The Spotlight, Hoddesdon

It starts at 10.30 with coffee or tea served from 10.00 onwards

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.

Caroline Rayman has lectured for many years to universities and art organisations in America and on cruise boats. She was an official guide at the British Museum and has published articles on samplers. Her lectures range from the role of the royal mistress in history to more scholarly lectures on Frederick the Great of Prussia.

This lecture will be held at our regular venue -The Spotlight, Hoddesdon

It starts at 10.30 with coffee or tea served from 10.00 onwards

A first hand insight behind the nation’s most popular antiques programme by Marc Allum - specialist on the show for over 20 years.

Marc Allum is a freelance art and antiques journalist, writer and broadcaster based in Wiltshire. He is shortly to begin his 23rd year as a specialist on the BBC Antiques Roadshow and has appeared on numerous television and radio programmes.

Marc regularly writes for mainstream magazines and is an author, antiques consultant and lecturer. He also runs a fine art valuation and consultancy service. Marc has his own unique style with interests ranging from pre-history to modern design and is a self-confessed collectaholic. He has a passion and reputation for divining the unusual through ‘a desire to connect with history through the interpretation and pursuit of objects and their origins’. Marc has lectured widely for many years to a number of different organisations in both the public and charity sector, including travel companies, The National Trust, The WI and many literary festivals including Cheltenham, Bath, Wells and Petworth. Marc is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries.

This lecture will be held at our regular venue -The Spotlight, Hoddesdon

It starts at 10.30 with coffee or tea served from 10.00 onwards

VISITORS WILL BE FREE FOR THIS LECTURE
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Augustus and Gwen John were brother and sister, born in the west of Wales in the 1870s. Both studied at the Slade School of Art in London. His work has been called brash and shallow, and hers dismissed as fussy and spinsterish. These assessments are not really fair to either artist, and this lecture takes a careful look at their lives, up to the point of Gwen’s death in 1939. At that time, she had no public reputation whatsoever, and her brother was enjoying enormous professional and critical success. By the time he died, however, the positions had been reversed. 

Our lecturer. Linda Smith, holds two first-class degrees in Art History. A broad knowledge of art historical subjects, but specialises in British Art and twentieth century art. Experienced lecturer and guide, especially at Tate Britain and Tate Modern. Has lectured to a wide variety of audiences in different venues, including school and university students, and independent arts societies in the UK and overseas.

This lecture will be held at our regular venue -The Spotlight, Hoddesdon

It starts at 10.30 with coffee or tea served from 10.00 onwards

This lecture will be held back at our regular home - The Spotlight, Hoddesdon

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.

In 1980, when he was nine, Andrew's mother took him to the Princely Magnificence exhibition at the V&A, exhibiting Renaissance jewels dating from 1500 to 1630. It proved a revelation. Dazzled by the splendour and opulence of the jewels on show, Andrew decided then and there that creating jewellery was what he wanted to devote his life to. His passion for jewellery grew when, in 1984 on his first ever visit to Bond Street, Andrew viewed an exhibition by Castellani and Giulianoe at Wartski & Co’s. While there, he was allowed to handle beautiful 18th century gold boxes and magnificent imperial Russian pieces by Fabergé. In 1987, just before leaving school, he took time off to visit Geneva to view the astonishing Sotheby’s auction of the Duchess of Windsor's jewellery collection. Here, for the first time, he held pieces created by some of the world's greatest jewellers, fashioned from only the finest of stones and set in designs of outstanding quality. For the young Andrew, it was a life-changing experience.

Andrew's taste for fine 'costume jewellery' can be traced back to an antique market, where he came across a late Victorian brooch set with what he initially thought were emeralds and diamonds. They were, in fact, crystal and green glass set in silver and gold. He realised that beautiful jewellery didn't require expensive stones, and that it was the elegance of the design and the quality of the workmanship that truly mattered. Private commissions then started to trickle in. The trickle turned into a flood, as celebrities such as Michael Jackson (a large crystal and pearl shoulder jewel) and Shirley Bassey (necklaces) were seen wearing Andrew's creations.

In 2002, the V&A commissioned a collection of jewels to accompany the resplendent Tiaras, Past and Present exhibition which became one of their most popular exhibits. The exposure gained by the show then led to Andrew's jewellery appearing in film.

In 2005, he was asked to make tiaras and jewellery for Mrs Henderson Presents starring Judy Dench. In 2009, pieces were commissioned for The Young Victoria starring Emily Blunt and Miranda Richardson. In 2012, he was chosen by the creators of Downton Abbey to supply a large collection of jewellery for the third series. The characters played by Maggie Smith, Shirley Maclaine, Elizabeth McGovern and Michelle Dockery were all adorned with elegant tiaras, combs, earrings and necklaces designed and created by Andrew Prince.

This lecture will be held at our regular venue -The Spotlight, Hoddesdon

It starts at 10.30 with coffee or tea served from 10.00 onwards

It is intended that this lecture will be held at the Arched Barn, Ware

The fears and anxieties of Vienna in the final years before the outbreak of the Great War found expression in the writing of Freud, the music of Gustav Mahler and the haunting paintings of Klimt, Kokoschka and Schiele. Shimmering portraits flecked with gold; hypnotic landscapes of vibrant brushstrokes; erotic dreams of decadence and death reveal a society in search for salvation at a time when mankind had lost faith in its future. The lecture traces the course of this brief, often dark but always dazzlingly inventive period of art.

Douglas Skeggs read Fine Art at Magdalene College Cambridge and has been a lecturer on paintings since 1980. In that time he has given over 8000 lectures to universities, colleges and art societies. He was the director of  The New Academy of Art Studies for three years and is presently a regular lecturer at The Study Center, Christie's course 'The History of Art Studies' and other London courses. Among his more improbable venues for lectures are the bar on the QE2, MI5 headquarters, the Captain's Room at Lloyds, and an aircraft hanger in a German NATO base. Overseas he has lectured in Belgium, France, Germany and Spain, and has taken numerous tours around Europe.

He has written and presented various TV documentaries, notably the Omnibus programme on Whistler and the exhibition video on William Morris. Three one-man exhibitions of his paintings have been held in England and Switzerland. He has published five novels, which have been translated into 8 foreign languages, and his book on Monet, River of Light, has sold 30,000 copies in England, America and France.

This lecture will be held at our temporary venue -The Arched Barn, Ware

It starts at 10.30 with coffee or tea served from 10.00 onwards

NOTE: THIS LECTURE WILL BE HELD ON ZOOM

As part of the Habsburg Empire, Prague was beloved of kings and princes. During the 19th century, however, the Czechs sought to reclaim the city for their own. Looking back at their roots and mythology, the Czech people imagined a new future through art, entirely reshaping cultural movements including Romanticism and symbolism in specifically patriotic ways. Looking at painters such as Alfons Mucha, Otakar Lebeda and Jakub Schikaneder and composers like Bedřich Smetana and Antonín Dvořák, as well as their forward-thinking literary and architectural contemporaries, this contextual talk shows how the Czechs reclaimed both country and capital by cultural means. 

Gavin Plumley is a writer and broadcaster, appearing on BBC Radio 3, BBC Radio 4 and contributing to newspapers, magazines and opera and concert programmes worldwide. Lectures widely about the culture of Central Europe during the 19th and 20th centuries. Recent talks include the Royal Opera House, the National Gallery, the National Trust, the National Theatre, the British Museum, the V&A, the Southbank Centre, the Tate and the Neue Galerie, New York, as well as for history of art societies and The Art Fund. 

This lecture will be held on Zoom

It starts at 10.30 with log in from 10.15 onwards

Over 2500 years in the making the great British pantomime is a very potent brew indeed. Mix the earliest Greek and Roman drama with commedia dell'arte and medieval morality plays, then stir in a sprig of C17th masque, a dash of C18th harlequinade and a hefty shot of Victorian music hall and, hey presto, you have the modern Christmas pantomime. (Oh no you don't!).

Giles Ramsay is an independent theatre director and producer who specializes in creating new work with artists in developing countries. He is the Founding Director of the charity Developing Artists (www.developingartists.org), a Fellow of St. Chad’s College, Durham University and Course Leader in Theatre at The Victoria and Albert Museum in London. Giles has run theatre projects in Botswana, Cape Verde, Equatorial Guinea, Kenya, Kosovo, Palestine, Mexico, Thailand and Zimbabwe and given numerous talks for institutions ranging from The Foundation for Mexican Literature in Mexico City to The Royal College of Physicians in London. He regularly lectures on the history and practice of theatre on the Queen Mary 2 as it sails from New York to the UK. Giles combines academic analysis with hands on experience to bring a unique insight to the world of the theatre.

This lecture will be held at our temporary venue - The Arched Barn, Ware.

It starts at 10.30 with coffee or tea served from 10.00 onwards

2020 marked the 500th anniversary of the death of Raphael and in this lecture Shirley will study his art form from the early paintings in Urbino and Florence to its full maturuty in Rome in his elegant painting of the school of Athens and the sublime cartoons for Leo x's tapestries in the Vatican.  His monumental figures and clarity of form of his art epitomises the grandeur of the High Renaissance while his masterful drawings, in a variety of media, reflect his creative processes. His early death at the age of 37 belies the scope of his work and future influence. 

Shirley Smith graduated from the University of East Anglia with a first class honours degree in the History of Art, specialising in the Italian and Northern Renaissance. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and a part-time lecturer for the University of East Anglia and for the Department of Continuing Education of the University of Cambridge. She lectures to the Art Fund and individual clubs and societies. She is particularly keen to set the art and architecture of the period in the context of the society for which it was produced.  Her essay on The Fresco Decoration in the Sistine Chapel Biblical Authority and the Church of Rome appears in The Bible and the Arts published by Edinburgh University Press.

This lecture will be held at our temporary venue - The Arched Barn, Ware.

It starts at 10.30 with coffee or tea served from 10.00 onwards

A tour of the Mediterranean is a visit into the past; this virtual tour of the Ancient Mediterranean will share who the various ancient civilisations were and how they fit together into a ‘big picture’. Discover how you can you identify whose art or architecture are whose and why their lives and cultures prompted them to create such features. Find out what to expect from sites and how to find the special details that thrill archaeologists. You too can walk in the footsteps of the ancients and to see the sites as they might have done. Egypt, Mycenaean, Minoan, Phoenician, Etruscan, Greek, Hellenistic, Roman …   They’re all here, demystifying the who, where, when, how and why of Ancient Art. You’ll never look at ancient sites in the same way again… 

Gillian Hovell has a BA (Hons) Latin and Ancient History from Exeter University. Ex-BBC, she is a lecturer for the British Museum and York University, an award winning writer and author who specialises in relating the ancient world to our modern lives, in person, in the field, on line and in the media (most recently on Radio 4). Publications include Visiting the Past: A guide to finding and understanding Britain's Archaeology and Roman Britain. Forthcoming Latin Yesterday, Today and For Ever, and A Mediterranean Tour: Not just a Load of Old Stones. Teaches adult education courses in Latin, archaeology and ancient history and has publicly lectures widely and passionately, on cruises and tours and for museums such as the British Museum and Ashmolean, national press, universities, literary festivals, and diverse societies including Classical Associations, the U3A and the National Trust. 
 

This lecture will be held at our temporary venue - The Arched Barn, Ware.

It starts at 10.30 with coffee or tea served from 10.00 onwards

“Antiques. I don’t understand them and they’re beyond my budget. They’re not for me.” A persuasive introduction to buying antiques and integrating and using them in today’s homes. The state of the antiques market and the different meanings of the word value are considered, and we take a look at what current and future generations of collectors are buying, why they are buying it and how they are displaying it.

Mark Hill studied History of Art & Architecture (BA Hons), and began his career as a porter and Junior Cataloguer at Bonhams, before moving to Sotheby's where he was a Specialist in the Collectors' Department. Became director of an internet company forming and running a ground-breaking deal with eBay Live Auctions. He founded his own publishing company in 2005 and has since published over 12 books on specialist subjects in 20th century design and decorative arts. A Miscellaneous expert on the Antiques Roadshow since 2007, he has co-presented three primetime factual TV series on antiques and collecting for BBC2. An auctioneer running 20th century design auctions in partnership with Dawsons Auctioneers.  He has lectured across the world, including at the V&A in London, and contributed to many newspapers, magazines, radio and TV programmes. A Freeman of the Worshipful Company of Arts Scholars and a Freeman of the City of London.

At the end of the 17th century, Poland was the largest state in Europe, but within a hundred years it had been partitioned by its powerful neighbours and partly absorbed into the Russian empire. The Poles reacted to Russia’s brutal suppression of their 1830 Uprising by developing a strong cultural identity in which artists played a key role. This lecture shows how Chopin and his revolutionary Polonaises and Mazurkas came to be seen as an indispensable symbol of the Polish nation, both during his lifetime, and in the years before Poland regained its independence in 1918. 

Rosamund Bartlett a writer, lecturer and translator whose work as a cultural historian ranges across the arts. She completed her doctorate at Oxford and is the author of several books, including biographies of Chekhov and Tolstoy, and a study of Wagner's influence in Russia. She is currently writing a history of the Russian avant-garde. Her new translation of Anna Karenina for Oxford World’s Classics was published to acclaim in 2014. She has written on art, music and literature for publications such as The Daily Telegraph and Apollo, and received commissions from institutions including the Royal Opera House, Tate UK, and the Salzburg Festival. Her lecturing work has taken her from the V&A and the National Theatre in London to the Art Gallery of New South Wales in Sydney, and she contributes regularly to Proms events and opera broadcasts on the BBC.

British photography enjoyed a golden age in the 1960s. Young, talented newcomers broke out of the conventional studio to revolutionise perceptions of fashion, portraiture and popular culture. This lecture looks at a range of superb images from photographers such as David Bailey, Terence Donovan, Lewis Morley, Tony Ray­Jones and Jane Bown.

Brian Stater is a Senior Teaching Fellow at University College London, where he has lectured since 1997.  He has written on architecture for a wide range of publications and an exhibition of his own photographs has been held at UCL. He is a member of the Association of Historical and Fine Art Photography and he works with a pre-War Leica camera, as used by his great hero, Henri Cartier-Bresson, and many others.

The High Renaissance saw the seamless integration of art and architecture, the pinnacle of a tradition extending back thousands of years. So how was it that by the mid-20th century, mainstream Modernist architects saw painting and sculpture as anathema to their designs?

This talk tells the fascinating story of how painting and architecture went their separate ways, exploring the complex reasons behind their dramatic divorce, including:

• The “special status” of painting as the heralded product of artistic genius
• A change in the form and function of the picture frame
• The emergence of the commercial art market
• The rise of the public “Art Exhibition”

Embracing the likes of Michelangelo, Watteau, Whistler and Matisse, this broad-ranging survey culminates with the Bauhaus and its legacy in the USA – and ends by asking whether the partnership between art and architecture might be revived in the 21st Century.

This lecture is by Richard Whincop who is a professional artist who graduated in English and Art History from York University in 1986. From 1988-1994 he lectured at the adult education departments of Glasgow and Strathclyde Universities, and then went on to become a full-time figurative artist, executing large-scale public commissions, and exhibiting widely throughout the UK.

Not only was Peggy Guggenheim ahead of her time but she was the woman who helped define it - the'poor little rich girl' who changed the face of twentieth century art.   She discovered and nurtured a new generation of artists producing a new kind of art through collecting not only art but the artists themselves, her life was as radical as her collection.  Guggenheim collected art in Europe and America primarily between 1938 and 1946. She exhibited this collection as she built it; in 1949, she settled in Venice, where she lived and exhibited her collection for the rest of her life.

This lecture is presented by Alexandra Epps who is an official Guide and Lecturer at Tate Modern, Tate Britain and Guildhall Art Gallery. She is a Pallant House Gallery Lecturer and a qualified guide to the City of London, offering lectures and walks about many aspects of the arts for societies, corporations and private individuals. She is a member of the City of London Guide Lecturers Association and co-author of the book Lord Mayor's Portraits 1983-2014 (2015).  Alexandra’s background is in design having practised as a graphic designer running her own design consultancy for many years.  She has a BA from Saint Martins School of Art and an MA from the London College of Printing.

Famously, every morning of his adult life, Beethoven measured out exactly 60 coffee beans for his breakfast.  A man who is capable of such discipline over a cup of coffee, can surely apply that exactness elsewhere in his life; and in Beethoven’s case, it was applied to his compositions. In fact, the detail found in his music is often so subtle, that most people don’t even know it’s there. The lecture explores Beethoven’s genius as a writer of music, at the same time setting his extraordinary story against the backdrop of 19th century warfare, revolution and dramatic social changes. Beethoven will be 250 years old on 17 December 2020.

Peter Medhurst appears in the UK and abroad as a musician and scholar, giving recitals and delivering illustrated lectures on music and the arts. He studied singing and early keyboard instruments at the Royal College of Music and at the Mozarteum in Salzburg.

To take a glimpse of Peter Medhurst talking about Beethoven Click Here

PLEASE NOTE THIS IS TUESDAY THE 24TH NOT THURSDAY THE 26TH AND WILL BE PRECEDED BY THE AGM

The Nutcracker has delighted audiences at Christmas for many decades yet it was deemed a failure at its first performances.  With the help of a number of video clips, Nigel takes a close look at how this well-loved ballet now takes its rightful place on stage and how the music of Tchaikovsky along with story-telling, design and dance all come together to make the most magical escape for young and old alike.  

Nigel Bates is the Music Administrator of The Royal Ballet and has been a performer for nearly forty years in and out of the Royal Opera House, including seventeen years as Principal Percussionist with the Orchestra. He has worked with many of the leading figures in the classical music industry and was also a producer for both the BBC's Maestro at the Opera and Pappano's Classical Voices documentary series. He is a regular contributor to the printed and online content of the Royal Opera House.

William Morris was a one-man pattern-making phenomenon whose work had a powerful and lasting impact on many areas of interior design. He is probably best-known today as a designer of wallpapers and textiles.

This lecture examines the development and production of his work in these genres from his early medievalising patterns to his more elegant mature style. It explores the sources and inspiration for his wallpapers and textiles, changes in style, and how and where they were used, all within the context of 19th century design.

Jo Banham is a freelance curator, lecturer and writer. From 2006-2016 she was Head of Adult Learning at the Victoria & Albert Museum, and before that Head of Learning and Access at the National Portrait Gallery, and Head of Public Programmes at Tate Britain. She has also been Curator of Leighton House and Assistant Keeper at the Whitworth Art Gallery. She has published on many aspects of Victorian and early 20th century decoration and interiors. She is currently curating an exhibition on William Morris and the Arts and Crafts Movement for the Juan March Fundacion in Madrid and the Museu Nacional d’Art Catalunya in Barcelona. She is also Director of the Victorian Society Summer School.

Caravaggio was the definitive bad boy of art history – determined and ambitious yet irascible and highly volatile. In 1606 his life was to change forever following a particularly violent and bloody brawl in which Caravaggio, himself badly injured, ended up killing a certain Ranuccio with his sword. This lecture will explore his meteoric rise to fame and dramatic fall from grace, examining the remarkable stylistic transformations that took place during the last four years of Caravaggio’s life, a period of restlessness and yet extraordinary creative activity when the artist was forced to leave Rome, realising that his own life was now on the line.

Sian Walters studied at Cambridge University. She is a lecturer at the National Gallery and The Wallace Collection and has taught at Surrey University, specialising in 15th and 16th century Italian painting, Spanish art & architecture, and the relationship between dance and art.  She also teaches private courses, and organises lectures, study days and art holidays abroad. Sian has lived in France and Italy, where she worked at the Peggy Guggenheim Museum in Venice.  Over the last few months she has presented a number of lectures on line to many Arts Societies.

This lecture is a live talk with illustrations by Sian directly and only to The Arts Society East Herts.  Members of the society will be contacted by Mail Chimp a couple of days before the lecture with a unique link to use to access the presentation. The lecture can be watched on any device - computer, tablet or smart phone.  No extra software will be required to watch the lecture and it is completely free to members.  If you are unable to view this at 10.30 a recording will be available for the following 24 hours.  

This Lecture has been Cancelled

Wool, cotton and silk have each played a crucial role in the fortunes of Central Asia. Wool created the clothing and housing needed by the great nomadic cultures to dominate Middle Asia. Silk was more valuable than gold and used as currency, creating a network of trading routes that led to the first outbreak of globalisation. Cotton was the cause of Russian and then Soviet Colonisation and continues to cause controversy today. The felts, carpets, embroideries, robes and veils of the Silk Road stratified wealth, displayed religious and political entrenchments and changed the fortunes of this fascinating part of the world; a meeting place between Mohammed and Marx.

Chris was born in Turkey (hence his middle name) and spent his childhood there and in war-torn Beirut. After school, Chris spent two years at sea before studying Media and journalism at Leicester University. He then moved to Khiva, a desert oasis in Uzbekistan, establishing a UNESCO workshop reviving fifteenth century carpet designs and embroideries, creating income for women. After a year in the UK writing A Carpet Ride to Khiva, he moved to the Pamirs in Tajikistan, training yak herders to comb their yaks for their cashmere-like down, spending three years there. Next came two years in Kyrgyzstan living in the world’s largest natural walnut forest and establishing a wood-carving workshop. Chris has recently finished rowing and studying at Oxford and is now a curate at St. Barnabas, North Finchley, and author of Alabaster and Manacle. He returns to Central Asia whenever he can and conducts tours there.

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. 

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. Faber and Faber is the last of the great publishing houses to remain independent. As the grandson of its founder, Toby grew up steeped in its books. He was managing director for four years and remains on the board. Toby is passionate about the firm’s success, and intensely proud of his association with it.

Toby 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, 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 and a director of Liverpool University Press and the Copyright Licensing Agency.

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 revue, 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.  Sometimes it seems that Christmas has turned into Kitschmas.

The lecturer, David Phillips, studied History at Oxford, and from 1968-82 worked for Nottingham Castle Museum. From 1982-98 he was lecturer in Museum Studies and Art History at University of Manchester. In 2007 he published a book about museum practice with Manchester University Press, Exhibiting Authenticity. 

The Lecture will be preceeded by the AGM, and followed by the Christmas Lunch.

Only a tiny number of the 316,000 listed buildings in England are related to sports or recreation.  Simon outlines some of the most interesting examples and investigates why these buildings are so important, what they tell us about our sporting heritage and social history and why it has taken so long for them to achieve the same level of protection as other buildings.

The lecturer is writer and historian Simon Inglis who specialises in the architecture and heritage of sport and recreation. Since 2004 he has edited the Played in Britain series for English Heritage.  He has curated exhibitions for the Building Centre and the British Council, been a regular contributor to radio and television, has travelled and lectured extensively, and written a number of books. Two were shortlisted for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year, while another, on British football grounds, was chosen by journalist Frank Keating as the best sports book of the 20th century.

Do you see your passport as a necessary nuisance or perhaps an obsolete facility? What do you know of its history? Travel through the centuries to learn how passports went from copperplate and wax seal to the digital photograph and microchip. Man has exploited the skill of the artist and artisan in his attempt to manufacture a forgery-proof document.  This lecture takes us through three hundred years of passport design.  It explains the overt and uncovers the covert to illustrate the defences built into the passport and the tricks the forger uses to defeat them.  You will never see your passport in the same light again! 

The lecturer is Martin Lloyd who has been lecturing to various groups, including U3A, National Trust, historical societies, Gresham College and business groups since 2008. Previously, Martin worked for HM Immigration Service, and he has broadcast on local and national television and radio.

This lecture included a brief history of picture framing showing how frames have developed in Europe, often influenced by prevailing architectural styles.  There was an insight into frame design & selection covering gilding techniques over time, together with the materials used in the workshop.  Julia also discussed the conservation of frames, and how to choose the right one to transform a painting and display it to its best advantage. 

Julia Korner is a specialist and lecturer in fine art conservation and the restoration of paintings, sculptures and frames. She is also a valuer, passionate collector, advisor and curator of paintings and works of art. Julia has worked independently in her own studio in West London for almost twenty years. Here, she and her small team give specialist conservation work personal and expert attention. Damaged paintings, polychrome statues, frames, over-mantles, traditional gold leaf and gesso frames all emerge restored and transformed under her expertise, knowledge and care. Julia acts as an advisor, valuer and exhibition curator for public and private collections, in the UK and abroad. She is an elected member of The British Antique Dealers' Association, (and exhibits at the annual exhibition), The British Association of Paintings Conservator Restorers, The Worshipful Company of Arts Scholars, The International Institute for Conservation, The Fine Art Trade Guild, The Maritime Information Association, The Museums Association, and The Conservation Consortium.

This lecture was followed by the society's summer lunch. 

Using the wealth of paintings, archive material and decorative art objects associated with and depicting the ‘Sport of Kings’, the lecture took as its starting point the earliest origins of the sport.  Christopher looked at the history of horseracing from the 17th century, including the development of Newmarket and the Jockey Club as racing’s ‘Headquarters’ through to the modern period.

The lecturer was Christopher Garibaldi who was. until recently, director of the National Horseracing Museum, Newmarket.  He was also Senior Curator & Assistant Keeper of Art (Decorative Art) at Norwich Castle Museum from 1998 to 2003.  He was curator for the exhibition George Wickes of Bury St Edmunds, Royal Goldsmith in 1997 and from 1994 to 1997 he catalogued the silver in the Royal Collection at Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle and the Speaker's Residence - The House of Commons.

This lecture was not about the excesses of the top end of the over-heated art market but an excuse to examine some beautiful and varied Art.  These works would not achieve such sky-high prices if they were no good; so be prepared to see some wonderful paintings, including those by Picasso, Cezanne, Klimt, Rembrandt, Modigliani, Bacon and Pollock, all held together by their extraordinary commercial value.  Ian looked at the buyers and sellers of these works and try to answer the question “Are they really worth hundreds of millions of pounds?”

The lecturer was Ian Swankie.  A Londoner with a passion for art and architecture, Ian is an official guide at Tate Modern, Tate Britain, Guildhall Art Gallery and St Paul’s Cathedral, and gives tours around each venue. He is also a qualified and active freelance London guide and leads regular tours for various corporations and organisations. Since 2012 he has led a popular weekly independent art lecture group in his home town of Richmond in West London. He is a Freeman of the Worshipful Company of Art Scholars, one of the City livery companies.

March’s lecture looked at the wide and glittering array of jewelled objects and jewellery created by the Russian imperial goldsmith Carl Fabergé.  Famed for his ingenious precious eggs made for the tsarinas from the mid-1880s to 1917, his reputation also rested on his superb enamelled boxes and picture frames, carved hardstone animal and flower studies, small trinkets and jewellery.  

The talk traced Fabergé’s rise at the extravagant but doomed Russian Court, follow his international triumph and eventual exile, all the while focussing on individual pieces and the diverse materials and techniques by which they were created.

Our Speaker, Clare Phillips, has an MA in The History of Design from the Royal College of Art, 1989.   Clare is a curator at the Victoria & Albert Museum specialising in the history of jewellery.  The V & A’s display of Faberge included a dedicated case in the Jewellery Gallery; the Museum has hosted two major Faberge exhibitions. 

Vivaldi is the one Baroque composer whose music is a direct reflection of the city in which it was composed.  Listen to a Vivaldi concerto and hey presto you are transported directly to the heart of 18th century Venice.  In this lec-ture, Peter will explore the customs, colours, festivals and music-making of 18thc Venice.

To mark the Academy’s 250th anniversary,Rosalind Whyte looks at some of the artists involved at the very beginning (including the first President, Sir Joshua Reynolds) and brings us right up to date, where amongst its members are a number of contemporary artists such as Tracey Emin and Cornelia Parker.  Along the way, she describes some of the colourful characters connected with the RA and some of the controversies at the institution, as well as at the Summer Exhibition, always central to its role.

Charles Dickens was an amateur conjurer for around seven years of his life, from the time he wrote A Christmas Carol to David Copperfield.  The talk will look at how Dickens was inspired to take up magic, which other conjurers influenced him, whether he was any good as a conjurer and how he depicted, and wrote about, magic in his own books, articles and letters.  With luck we will not only get a description of some of Dickens' tricks but also some performances by our speakler, Ian Keable.

Ian gained a First Class degree from Oxford University in Politics, Philosophy and Economics, qualified as a Chartered Accountant and then became a professional magician; he is a Member of The Inner Magic Circle with Gold Star. In 2014 Ian published ‘Charles Dickens Magician: Conjuring in Life, Letters & Literature’.

We normally provide a summary of the month’s lecture to guide any Member wondering whether to come along.  Unfortunately there is no synopsis available for our October lecture – ‘The gold from Troy and the Land of the Golden Fleece’.

However our lecturer – Louise Schofield – has given us some great talks in the recent past, so we know we are in for another excellent session.  And casting around on the internet I came across this intriguing excerpt from a TV broadcast made by Louise in 2004:

“There’s a great will to believe that there was a Trojan war and it was for the love of a beautiful woman.  But if the independent Mycenaean kingdoms were to band together to undertake an expedition to Troy they're not going to be doing it for honour or for the love of a beautiful woman. They’re going to be doing it because they want something, and what they’re going to want over there really is access to wealth.”

So bang goes another schoolboy myth – Helen’s wasn’t the face that launched a thousand ships, it was avarice that set off the whole Trojan thing.  So much for Homer’s account – our Louise has given us a much more convincing rationale. 

Come to October’s lecture and learn more shocking truths about the golden past.

Louise Schofield was for 13 years Curator of Greek Bronze Age and Geometric Antiquities at the British Museum, and was responsible for the Mycenaean collection. She has also worked on international archaeological projects, principally in Turkey, Albania and Greece, and now spends some time living in a tent in a small village in Ethiopia, running an archaeological, conservation and development project. She has lectured for a number of universities and institutions, including Florida State University, Christie's Education, and Swan Hellenic Cruises, and recently published The Mycenaeans (The British Museum and the Getty Museum).

Our September Talk looks at the Collection of King George IV.  George IV was the single greatest Royal collector of art and instigator of architectural projects. He was passionately fond of lavish decoration and display. As Prince of Wales, he refurbished Carlton House in London; and built Brighton Pavilion. As King, he converted Buckingham House into Buckingham Palace; and made huge changes to Windsor Castle.

George IV furnished his palaces magnificently with French furniture, clocks, porcelain and sculpture. He was an avid collector of Dutch and Flemish paintings, including works by Rembrandt, Rubens and van Dyck. He also patronised contemporary artists such as Reynolds, Gainsborough, Lawrence and Stubbs; and sculptors Canova and Chantrey. He assembled the greatest collection of Sèvres porcelain in the world and a huge amount of historic and contemporary silver and gold objects. 

 The Talk will be given by Oliver Everett.  Oliver was educated at Cambridge University and did post graduate work at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University, USA; and at the London School of Economics. Following service in the Foreign Office, including postings in India and Spain, he was Assistant Private Secretary to the Prince of Wales,1978 80; and then Private Secretary to Diana, Princess of Wales, 1981-3.

Oliver was Librarian in the Royal Library, Windsor Castle, 1984 2002 and is now Librarian Emeritus following his retirement in 2002. He wrote the official guidebook and audio tour on Windsor Castle, taught a course on its history and advised on a television programme about it. He has written articles on the Royal Library and helped with two books on aspects of the Royal Collection. He lectures widely in Britain and abroad and also on cruise ships.

Our June lecture looks at what has been going on in British art since 1945, when Francis Bacon caused ‘total consternation’ with his raw and visceral canvasses. His work was part of a wider phenomenon called the ‘Geometry of Fear’ by a leading critic of the day.

From that point, the talk tracks key moments in British art decade by decade, through the curious mixture of modernism and pastoralism which is associated with the Festival of Britain; on to the explosion of Pop Art and Conceptualism in the 1960s and 70s, through to the 1980s and 90s, which gave us the notorious Sensation exhibition and the Turner Prize, and on to the present day. However, despite all these highly public shocks and upsets, figurative painters like Francis Bacon and Lucian Freud were quietly getting on with it in the background, and one of the great stories of post-war British art is the continuing strength and vigour of that tradition.

Linda holds two first-class degrees in Art History. She is an experienced guide and lecturer at Tate Britain, Tate Modern and the Dulwich Picture Gallery. She lectures to secondary school audiences and independent arts societies.

The current crisis in the Middle East has refocused attention on the remarkable career of Gertrude Lowthian Bell (1868-1926). She has recently been the subject of a new biography, Georgina Howell’s Daughter of the Desert (2006); a major feature film, Queen of the Desert (2015), directed by Werner Herzog; and an innovative 90-minute documentary, Letters from Baghdad (2016), directed by Sabine Krayenbuhl and Zeva Oelbaum.

For a woman of her time and class, her achievements were extraordinary. She broke free of social constraint and convention to make outstanding contributions in the male-dominated worlds of exploration, archaeology, and imperial statesmanship. Partly because of this, however, commentary has tended to be gushing and uncritical.

Bell was a complex figure. The daughter of the one of the richest men in Britain, it was class privilege that made her achievements possible. Her politics were reactionary: she opposed women’s suffrage, campaigned for volunteers for the trenches, and opposed anti-colonial movements after the First World War.

This lecture will assess the character, career, and contribution of Gertrude Bell to exploration, archaeology, and imperial politics in the context of the tumultuous age through which she lived.

Dr Neil Faulkner is a graduate of King's College Cambridge and of the Institute of Archaeology UCL. He is a Research Fellow at the University of Bristol, a lecturer, writer, archaeologist and occasional broadcaster.  Dr Faulkner’s books include The Decline and Fall of Roman Britain, Apocalypse, Hidden Treasure, Rome: Empire of the Eagles, The Ancient Greek Olympics: a visitor's guide and Lawrence of Arabia's War. His appearances on TV include Channel 4's Time Team, BBC2's Timewatch, Channel Five's Boudica Revealed and Sky Atlantic's The British.

Continuing our celebration of the Society’s Golden Anniversary the April Lecture is entitled Gold of the Gods. It looks at the treasures of South America and the search for El Dorado.

Gold in South America had a spiritual importance. Its brilliance evoked the Sun — the golden disk that nourished the Earth. In Peru and Colombia, goldsmiths made some of the most spectacular treasures of the ancient world. Cast and hammered, gold was transformed into sacred offerings for tombs and temples.

Europeans, by contrast, saw gold as a commodity — the ultimate symbol of wealth. For decades, Europeans searched in vain for El Dorado, the legendary Golden One. Although many golden treasures were melted down for bullion, magnificent works of art are preserved in the museums of Peru and Colombia. 

The talk will be given by Chloe Sayers, a freelance specialist in the art and culture of Latin America. Chloe has lectured in the UK, Canada, Ireland, Mexico, Australia and New Zealand. She has curated exhibitions, and assisted on TV documentaries for BBC and Channel 4. Chloe has made collections in Mexico and Belize for the British Museum, and is Research Associate in the Department of World Cultures at the Royal Ontario Museum. In 2016 she was awarded the prestigious Ohtli medal by the Mexican government for her long-standing commitment to Mexican culture. Her many publications include Mexican Textiles (British Museum Press, 1990), Arts and Crafts of Mexico (Thames & Hudson, 1990),  Focus on Aztecs and Incas  (Watts Books, 1995), The Incas - The Ancient World (Wayland, 1998), Textiles from Mexico  (British Museum Press, 2002), and  Mexico: Clothing and Culture (Royal Ontario Museum, 2015). 

2018 is our Golden Anniversary and in keeping with this theme the March talk will be on the colour Yellow.  The colour is not all sunlight and sunflowers however: its golden appearance belies the perils of using, and making it.   Yellow is also the colour of treachery and cowardice. To Mondrian it symbolised the intellect, to Franz Marc femininity; to Kandinsky it just had to be a triangle!

Yellow has come into its own now as a ‘primary colour’, but modern aniline yellows left many Post-Impressionist paintings a drab brown version of their original vibrant selves. From costly gold to deathly orpiment, fetid Indian yellow to heavy metals, we will discover ‘The Peril of Yellow’. 

The Talk will be given by Lynne Gibson.  Lynne is a freelance lecturer in the History of Art, and in practical drawing, painting and printmaking. For many years she lectured for the universities of Sussex and Bristol; she also gives talks, lectures and guided tours to a wide range of organisations and institutions including ARCA colleges, the National Trust, National Gallery, art museums and art societies.

When time permits Lynne works as a professional artist specializing in oil painting and etching. Solo and group shows have included the RWA, British Museum and the Barbican.

This year is our Golden Anniversary year: a great excuse to look back over the last 50 years of Art.  One innovation in the second half of the 20th Century was Pop Art - a figurative, realist, brightly-coloured response to the world of consumerism, youth culture and the mass media in Britain and the USA.  Inspired by popular and commercial culture, Pop artists were fascinated with their own modern era - the post-war world of advertising, Hollywood films, pop music, comics and the cult of celebrity. 

 The talk is titled ‘The rock ‘n’ roll era:  Pop art and the swinging sixties’ and will be given by Frank Woodgate – a Lecturer and Guide at Tate Britain and Tate Modern, and for Tate on cruises.  Frank also lectures at Dulwich Picture Gallery and is a scriptwriter for the Living Paintings Trust.

 NB This talk is one week later than our normal meeting day - as the Spotlight Hall is being refurbished in the last week of February.

January’s talk is titled ‘Paintbrushes at dawn – great art world feuds’.

The history of art is peppered with first rate bust ups: between the great early Renaissance artists, Brunelleschi and Ghiberti, between Constable and Turner in the early 1830s, between Salvador Dali and the Surrealist leader, Andre Breton in the 1930s and, most recently, between the graffiti artists Banksy and ‘King’ Robbo, who painted out and amended each other’s works. While the rows of great artists are highly entertaining they also tell us a great deal about key issues in art history.

The talk will be given by Barry Venning – a historian of British Art whose interests and teaching extend from medieval architecture to contemporary British art. Barry is an Associate Lecturer in the History of Art with the Open University.

NB This talk is not the one advertised in our 2017 Programme Card. The Speaker planned for January 2018 – Louise Schoefield – has had to drop out for medical reasons. Barry Venning was scheduled to give this talk in October 2018, and has now stepped in to fill the January gap.

*The November meeting will be preceded by the AGM and followed by the Winter lunch

SUMMER LUNCH

While artists of earlier generations frequently had powerful patrons or worked on commission, nineteenth-century artists were increasingly reliant on making their name at public exhibitions and through art dealers.  Many struggled in poverty.  This talk looks at the ways in which artists dealt with the challenges they faced.  It features masterpieces from the studios of Ingres, Delacroix and Courbet, amongst others.

The talk will be given by Dr Lois Oliver.  Lois studied English Literature at Cambridge University, and History of Art at the Courtauld Institute.  She subsequently worked at the Harvard University Art Museums before joining the curatorial team at the V&A and then the National Gallery where she co-curated the major exhibition Rebels and Martyrs: the image of the artist in the nineteenth century.  Lois is currently Assistant Professor in History of Art at the University of Notre Dame in London, and a Visiting Lecturer at the Courtauld Institute.  Lois does work for the National Gallery, National Maritime Museum, Royal Academy and Tate; she has appeared on TV programmes for the BBC and Channel 5, and broadcast on BBC Radio 3 and Radio 4.