This is a man who took centre-stage in the world of art at a time when most artistic attention was focussed on Italy or the Netherlands. Albrecht Dürer came from Nuremberg and lived most of his 57 years there, although he travelled a great deal, constantly searching for new information and striving to improve his already prodigious skill. His early training was that of a goldsmith, following in the family tradition, but ‘my liking attracted me to painting rather than goldsmith’s work’. That said, it stood him in good stead as we can see from the attention to minute detail and the ability to work in several media. Not only were his portraits and altarpieces exquisitely and acutely observed, but he revolutionised the world of wood-cuts and engravings. We know much about his character because he was the first German artist to write about his own life. He was also the first in Germany to draw nudes from life and he was the first to write on the theory of art as well as to create it. Only his contemporary, Leonardo da Vinci, bears comparison with him in these achievements. 

Robert Hughes declared of Still life painting; ‘Still Life is to eating what the nude is to sex’ (we won’t go there I assure you!), although he did also admit that Spanish Still Life painting is ‘more sacramental than gastronomic’. The lecture will cover a cabbage that has been painted with such astonishing accuracy that the painted version is more alluring than the vegetable itself.  Goya’s painting of a pile of 6 silvery fish is a political commentary on the disasters of war. These bream have been abandoned on a beach in the middle of the night, left to rot in the sand, evidence of reckless waste at a time of famine. Through this and other paintings by Velazquez, Zurburán, and Meléndez, we shall explore several stunning key themes that can all be discerned from arrangements of simple food stuffs; religious fervour and symbolism, the absence of presence and that importance generates waste.

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?

There is something special about Nordic nature. Its vastness, wilderness, and remoteness are some of the reasons it is so fascinating.  Let’s not forget the exceptional light conditions, such as the midnight sun and auroras. Surely, nature has been a cornerstone of life in the Nordic countries. This importance is reflected in the history of art by the significant place held by landscape painting. We will explore various ways in which nature has been represented by Danish, Finnish, Norwegian and Swedish painters from 1840 to 1910. As we will see, nature was rarely just represented in a transparent, unmediated manner. It mirrored a national identity or an artist’s inner world.  

How an organisation established for distressed gentlewomen kept reinventing itself to still be here today

In 2022 the Royal School of Needlework (RSN) celebrated its 150th anniversary.  It was founded to keep hand embroidery alive and to offer suitable occupation to educated women who would otherwise have been destitute. Today it is a thriving centre of hand embroidery education to the highest level. This lecture, goes behind the scenes to tell the story of the last 150 years and the School’s changing fortunes including:  being part of the ‘Kensington set’; the links with the Arts and Crafts and Aestheticism movements;  the connection with the SAS;  the move to Hampton Court Palace, and the variety of commissions the RSN has undertaken from wedding dresses to Oscar gowns and from runway garments to ecclesiastical vestments. It then adds work from the RSN's 151st year when the team worked on nine pieces for the 2023 coronation.

An American artist in London, James Abbott McNeill Whistler was a leading proponent of the idea of "art for art's sake". He signed his paintings with stylized monogram of a butterfly with a long stinger for a tail – as much a symbol of his love of Japanese art as his assertive and sometimes combative nature. Having lived and worked with the Paris avant-garde he settled in London in 1859 having created a distinctive Post-Impressionist style at a time when many of his British contemporaries had yet to come to terms with Impressionism. Whistler’s art moved painting towards abstraction, sparked a renaissance in printmaking and gave us the Peacock Room, a masterpiece of interior design. Inspired, influential, and infuriating, his art was full of subtle delicacy, he had a wide social network of friends and family and yet, if crossed, could be a formidable opponent. He mastered the art of making enemies.

Why do most weddings have bridesmaids, and why do brides wear veils?  Why do many items of clothing and jewellery contain reoccurring motifs and how do they offer amuletic protection?  In this lecture we explore embroidered su doku and mirror-work, the symbols of sexual potency used to ward off the evil eye, and the prevalence of belief in the evil eye and jinn, in the Turkic and Persian world. Chris Aslan draws on his 15 years living and working in the region, to reveal the hidden magical properties behind decoration and symbolisation. 

Kettle’s Yard in Cambridge has been described as “one of the country’s most intimate  and spellbinding museums, the collection of one man and his unerring eye; restorative,  homely yet life-changing”. This man was H.S. ‘Jim’ Ede, curator, writer, collector and  friend to artists. In1957, he opened his Cambridge home to university students as “a  living place where works of art could be enjoyed… unhampered by the greater austerity of  the museum or public art gallery.” His collection included works by Ben and Winifred  Nicholson, Christopher Wood, Alfred Wallis and Henri Gaudier-Brzeska which were  carefully placed alongside pieces of furniture, ceramics and natural objects. His curated home remains, by and large as he left it, characterised by its unique atmosphere, fascinating juxtapositions and personal connections. This lecture will discuss the life of Jim Ede, his collecting, his vision for Kettles Yard and its enduring legacy.

The celebration of Christmas brings together a broad range of traditions which are now regarded by many as integral to Christmas as a whole.  Using a wide range of artworks and covering the output of many well-known and lesser known artists including Giotto, Caspar David Friedrich and Norman Rockwell this talk examines the elements of Christmas in their artistic setting.  From the Christmas feast to Christmas Cards, holly and ivy, trees, crackers, gift giving and of course lots and lots of snow, this lecture is guaranteed to put you in the Christmas spirit. 

This talk follows on from “Come to Arcady” and takes up the story of British musical theatre during the First World War, with wartime hits such as ‘Chu Chin Chow’ and The Maid of the Mountains’.  Then in the 1920s and 30s British theatre was influenced by imported shows from America like ‘The Student Prince’ and ‘No, No Nanette’, leading to the successful careers of Noel Coward and Ivor Novello.  The talks is illustrated with musical examples, as well as pictures on the screen. 

Everyday life, either virtuous or not, as an independent subject seems to have been established in classical times in fresco and mosaic but, with the beginning of Christianity, the subject all but disappeared.  Domestic details and street scenes begin to emerge again in paintings of the 14th and 15th centuries, and in the 16th century, with Flemish artists such as Pieter Bruegel the Elder, it emerges as an independent subject.  Everyday life becomes an important, amusing, and vibrant subject for newly protestant Dutch painters, such as the 17th century Dutch artists Frans Hals, Jan Steen, Pieter de Hooch and Nicolaes Maes, as well as a host of other fascinating painters, culminating in the work of Vermeer.

The silver collection at Audley End House near Saffron Walden spans over three centuries and serves to illustrate the ebb and flow of the Griffin/Howard de Walden/Braybrooke family fortunes from the late seventeenth to the nineteenth centuries.  The history of the house is reflected in its silver collection and this lecture aims to use that collection as a form of documentary evidence to unlock the fascinating history of this spectacular Jacobean house as well as placing its silver collection in the context of the stylistic history of English silver more generally.

Whether drawing duchesses or portraying princes, John Singer Sargent (1856–1925) was high society’s leading portraitist.  Flaunting a consummate technique, his luxurious canvases mirrored his subjects’ wealth.  Yet beneath the dazzling veneer of works such as Madame X, The Daughters of Edward Darley Boit and Lady Agnew of Lochnaw lurks a much rawer world by far.  Sargent certainly scandalised Parisian society and the city’s Salon with his frank depictions of human sexuality, yet he was even more modern than they might have feared.  This talk charts the artist’s life and his prolific output, showing that, like the era he came to represent, Sargent was always on the cusp of seismic change.

Venice is, quite simply, the most beautiful city in the world.  A thousand years of independence, of sailing and trading, many centuries of a flourishing commercial empire and a unique position, have resulted in the harmonious growth of a beautiful entity.  La Serenissima (The Most Serene City) holds an appeal which goes far beyond the sum of its many palaces, churches and monuments.

Sumerian, Assyrian and Babylonian sculpture, painting, glyptic art:  a survey of Mesopotamia’s contribution to the aesthetic inheritance of the world, assessed with the help of materials large and small from the British Museum collections.  Art before the word ‘art’ existed.

Taking four aspects of Elizabeth court culture, this lecture explores the richness of sixteenth-century royal and aristocratic life, bringing it alive through the poetry, plays, presents and portraits of the time.  We will get to know the key figures who made up the court of Elizabeth I, their idea of fashion, what they did for entertainment and how they wished to be remembered.  Shakespeare, Robert Dudley and the Queen herself are just some of the people we will meet in this colourful and memorable exploration of life five hundred years ago.

Young gentlemen in the 18th century completed their education by travel in Europe, especially Italy. This lecture looks at how and where they went, what they saw, and what they brought back with them.  This included antique sculpture and Old Master paintings, as well as views of Venice, Rome and Naples;  many gentlemen commissioned portraits.  Many Grand Tour purchases are still in the country houses of their descendants; others are in museums. 

Sorolla (1863-1923) was a highly successful artist of international renown in his lifetime, but outside Spain and the United States he is largely forgotten today.  While Sorolla admired the great Spanish traditions of Velázquez and Goya, his delightful paintings of fishermen and children at the seaside, landscapes and the great series depicting his Vision of Spain in the Hispanic Society in New York are full of sunlight and optimism.  His former home and studio is now one of Madrid’s most popular small museums.  For those who do not know him, his paintings are a real treat.

Wallpaper is often regarded as the Cinderella of the Decorative Arts – the most ephemeral and least precious of the decorations produced for the home. The history of wallpaper is a long and fascinating subject that dates back to the 16th century and encompasses a huge range of beautiful patterns created both by anonymous hands and by some of the best-known designers of the 19th and 20th centuries.  This lecture explores the history and development of this product from earliest times up to the present day.  It includes a discussion of the changing ways in which wallpaper was made and a survey of designs from the first black and white patterns, the creation of elegant flock hangings, the fashion for Chinese hand-painted papers, the introduction of machine-printing, the designs of Morris and the Arts and Crafts Movement, and the taste for Modernist and Contemporary designs in the 20th century.  It also includes a discussion of the ways that wallpapers were used within grand and more ordinary homes and hopes to justify the claim that they were indeed a truly Decorative Art.

Starting in 1607 with Monteverdi’s astonishing opera Orfeo, and ending in 1759 with the death of that great “English” composer George Frideric Handel, the Baroque era produced music of great brilliance and emotional depth.  In helping to navigate us through its choppy waters, Sandy draws on his experience as broadcaster, conductor and hands-on practical musician.  His in-depth exploration of this fascinating period of Classical music draws on hand-picked images, autograph scores and recorded musical illustrations, with a special focus on the work of Johann Sebastian Bach.

Between 1885 and 1916, Carl Fabergé made fifty jewelled eggs – Easter presents from Russia’s last two emperors to their wives.  They have become the most famous surviving symbols of the Romanov Empire:  both supreme examples of the jeweller’s art and the vulgar playthings of a decadent court.  Given almost total artistic freedom, Fabergé and his designers had to conform to only three rules:  that each year’s Easter present should be egg-shaped, that it should contain some surprise to amuse or delight its recipient, and that it should be different from any predecessor.  The result was a series of creations demonstrating ingenuity and creativity for which there are few parallels in any other field.  Their styles range from traditional Russian to Art Nouveau, and their materials from carved hardstone to exquisite enamelled gold.  Their maker’s relentless search for novelty also means that they provide a fabulously quirky illustrated history of the decline of the Romanovs.  The lecture is illustrated with pictures of the Romanovs and their palaces, and, of course, with photographs of the eggs themselves. 

Subtitled (in Edith's own words) 'Such costumes as I have never seen before and never shall again perhaps’, the lecture is illustrated with rich fabrics and great stories. 

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

What was the fate of art after the Nazi rise to power in 1933?  The Nazis are famous for their opposition to modern art, staging the Degenerate Art Exhibition in 1937 that ridiculed modern art and labelled it a Jewish and Bolshevik conspiracy to undermine German identity.   Nazi propaganda hinged on creating a potent myth about the German nation and art was a critical weapon in this process.

In this talk Colin will examine the complexities of Nazi art policy and what actually happened to modernist artists during this period.  Many modernist artists were forced into exile, some were tortured and imprisoned, others’ sought to reach an accommodation with the authorities, some chose ‘inner immigration’, retreating into a private secluded world to escape persecution. 

The rise of the Nazis created undreamed of opportunities for reactionary academic artists who worked in a neo-classical or late nineteenth century realist style and we will look at the rarely seen work of these Nazi artists such as the painters Adolf Ziegler, Werner Peiner, and Adolf Wissel, sculptors such as Arno Breker and Josef Thorak and filmmakers such as Leni Riefenstahl and Fritz Hippler.

We will see how Nazi architects combined neo-classical facades with modernist architectural structures.  We will also see how, despite closing down the Bauhaus art school, elements of Bauhaus design were utilised by Nazi designers.

Contrasting with this we will look at work made by artists in exile and under Nazi occupation such as the work of Max Beckmann, Karl Schwesig and Felix Nussbaum (exiled in Holland and Belgium) and the Hel Hesten group of Danish artists, who succeeded in creating avant-garde art under the nose of the Nazis in occupied Copenhagen.

The Housekeeper’s Tale 

The most senior of upper servants, the housekeeper carried a family’s secrets with her to the grave. She ran the English country house, controlled its female servants and conserved its many treasures – and yet has not been remembered history. Using old letters, secret diaries and neglected archives, Tessa has resurrected a series of fascinating stories from 19th and 20th century domestic service. We’ll be looking at this changing key role, from the formalities of the Victorian era to the power shift of the 20th-century, hastened by two world wars. Mrs Wells of Uppark, Mrs Mackenzie of Wrest Park, and Mrs Higgins of Charleston were working at times of great social change. Each housekeeper responded very differently to the challenges she faced.  

Although not always acknowledged nowadays, this 17th century Spanish artist is one of the most influential painters in the history of art. Born in Seville in 1599, where he made his name producing penetratingly observed scenes of everyday life, he moved up to Madrid where his portraiture was so successful that by the age of twenty-four he was the only artist permitted to paint the king of Spain. After his death, the cool elegance of his style, his ability to discover a sense of dignity and humanity in even the simplest of subjects, coupled with his breathtakingly daring treatment of the paint was widely admired by generations of artists from Whistler to Picasso, who famously described him as “The Great Magician of Art”.

Towards the end of her life May Morris (1862-1938), designer, craftsperson, and younger daughter of William Morris, wrote, ‘I’m a remarkable woman, always was, though none of you seem to think so’.  Overshadowed in her lifetime by the achievements of her illustrious father, thankfully today May Morris is recognised as a leading figure in the Arts & Crafts Movement.  Excelling in the field of embroidery, she was Head of Embroidery at Morris & Co. by the time she was twenty-three.  May also designed wallpapers, made jewellery and was a talented amateur watercolour artist.  She was instrumental in founding the Women’s Guild of Arts formed to support women working in the arts and crafts field at a time when they were excluded from similar organisations.  A skilled editor, May spent her later years editing the 24 volumes of her father's collected works.

In 1856 an 18-year-old student at the Royal College of Chemistry accidentally discovered the first fully synthetic colour.  This lecture takes us from Perkin’s discovery and comes right up to date with the development and challenges of dyeing in the 20th and 21st centuries with synthetic dyes and fibres.  It is a story of serendipity, science, war, innovation, trial and error, environmental concerns, economics and fashion, all of which have had changing demands on the dyeing trade over the last 160 years.

The Impressionists were an innovative and radical group of artists whose 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.  In 1894 they were given the title “Les Trois Grandes Dames d’Impressionisme” by the art critic Gustave Geffroy.  This lecture will discuss the lives of each of these artists and their work, revealing their skill and originality as well as their willingness to take risks, despite the additional obstacles they faced as women.

AGM at 10.00am, lecture at 10.40am at South Mill Arts.

Illegitimate by birth, Federico da Montefeltro achieved power in the Renaissance city state of Urbino following the assassination of his legitimate younger brother.  Federico moved quickly to establish his position in Urbino and through a programme of artistic and architectural patronage worked to secure his place in the Montefeltro dynasty.  This lecture examines the artworks and buildings commissioned by Federico, and considers them as pieces of renaissance propaganda.  This lecture includes architectural works by Francesco di Giorgio Martini and Luciano Laurana, and artworks by Piero della Francesca, Pedro Berruguete and Francesco Laurana. 

10.40am at South Mill Arts.

In the 1860s London couldn’t get enough of the music of Jacques Offenbach, but his shows frequently had to be rewritten for the London stage as the plots were rather too risqué for English tastes.  Then along came Gilbert and Sullivan to provide wholesome home-grown entertainment.  The result was one of the most successful musical partnerships ever, and even today over 130 years later, their operas are still performed, while most of Offenbach’s are long forgotten. This talk tells the story of their partnership, with music from most of the G & S operas.

10.40am at South Mill Arts.

In his heyday, the animal artist Edwin Landseer was hugely celebrated and loved for his dogs and Highland stags;  later, for his lions in Trafalgar Square.  He was a child prodigy;  aged 5 years old he made a detailed study of a foxhound, which astounded everybody;  later he became known for his vivid and varied textures of animal skin, hair and fur, which he achieved with special brushes, keeping their design a secret.  He was a party man, with party tricks;  with his left hand he could draw a horse’s head and with his right a stag’s head complete with horns – at the same time!

Most widely appreciated for his dogs, he could paint comic dogs, tragic dogs and in-between dogs, and he became known - with some justification - as the Shakespeare of Dogs.  He was socially much in demand with the aristocracy and with Royalty, teaching the Queen and Prince to etch.  But after a while it all became too exhausting; the celebrated artist felt happier up in the Highlands of Scotland. He ended up stressed, drunk and mad, comparing himself to one of his own hunted stags.  Nobody could get him to behave except his neighbour Mrs Pritchard, an elderly widow said to look like “a very small monkey, with bright blinking eyes and a merry mouth”.
 
When Sir Edwin died they named a pub after him;  they buried him in St Paul’s Cathedral, and someone put black wreaths around the necks of those lions in Trafalgar Square. 

10.40am at South Mill Arts.

During the Edo period of rule by the Tokugawa Shogunate (1615-1868), the arts of Japan gained in richness and diversity.  With the rise of the merchant class and the growth of cities such as Edo (modern-day Tokyo), a new vitality was injected into traditional forms and an emerging middle class culture gave rise to exciting developments in the visual and performing arts.  This lecture will consider the arts of the period including castle architecture, golden screen painting, ukiyo-e prints, textiles, lacquerware, and netsuke, as well as the emergence of the flamboyant kabuki theatre.  It will provide a snapshot of both aristocratic and popular taste as Japan made the transition from feudal kingdom into modern state.

10.40am at South Mill Arts.

In every age there have been artists whose fascination with these ancient stories has produced some of the most beautiful and memorable works of art ever created in the Western world. 

10.40am at South Mill Arts.

Lights, Camera, Action! – inside stories of the art and artifice of the early decades of Hollywood.  This lecture covers the work of stills photographers, costumiers, publicists, actors and actresses and the movie moguls who made it all happen.

(This is a follow-up to the August 2021 SID, From Magic Lanterns to Metro Goldwyn Mayer - the birth of the Silver Screen and the artists it inspired)

10.40am at South Mill Arts.

Originally created for Shakespeare’s 450th birthday celebrations at the V&A, this lecture centres on what the bard himself would have eaten in his lifetime.  Shakespeare had an exceptional gastronomic experience, eating at the tavern like many of his contemporaries, but also regularly at the Royal Court - meaning a journey into his edible life-story is a microcosm of the Elizabethan Era, and an exploration of the 16th century and beyond.  We will be given aroma tabs to sniff, which will enhance the enjoyment of the lecture.

10.40am at South Mill Arts.

The lecture will trace the story of Banksy’s humble beginnings as a tagger on the streets of Bristol in the 1980’s to one of the most recognisable names in the art world.  We will examine the reasons behind his incredible rise, looking at some of his famous stunts, discuss what his influence has been on the art market today and look at what his legacy, if any, might be.

10.40am at South Mill Arts.

"There is an Old Lady in Threadneedle Street
Sits threading of needles so deft and so neat. . ."

Threadneedle Street is just one of the many whimsical verses which make play of the capital's place names in Nursery Rhymes of London Town.  First published in 1916, this collection was the first literary success for Eleanor Farjeon (1881-1965).  Her rhymes about Highgate, Hammersmith, Richmond and dozens more were an instant hit with both children and adults, including soldiers on the Western Front.  The book and its sequel the following year paved the way for a string of much-loved children's stories, poetry, musical plays and biography.  Today however, Farjeon is best-known for her words to the hymn Morning has Broken and the children's poem Cats Sleep Anywhere.  The comic illustrations accompanying the Nursery Rhymes also played a huge role in the book's success – these were the work of Caroline Walker’s great-uncle, the graphic artist and pictorial mapmaker MacDonald 'Max' Gill.

The talk tells the story of this enchanting book through a magical mix of poetry, picture and anecdote interwoven with tales of the talented Farjeon family and the artist Max Gill as well as Eleanor's poignant reminiscences of her close friend, the poet Edward Thomas.

For many of us, Dick is simply a fictional character from a Ladybird book or the Christmas pantomime.  In fact, Dick was very real, indeed one of the major movers and shakers of medieval London. 

In this lecture we separate the man from the myth as we follow in his footsteps through the streets that were not exactly ‘paved with gold…’.  Apprenticed to a master mercer, Whittington went on to become one of the wealthiest and most successful textile merchants in the City, bankrolled no fewer than three medieval kings and as a result held the office of Lord Mayor of London no fewer than four times.  And what of that famous feline companion; his cat? Well, the church that he built might just provide the answer but the lecture reveals all….

Bilbao in Spain had been producing iron for centuries, drawing in workers from all over the country. Its rapid industrialisation in the nineteenth century was helped in no little measure by British capital and entrepreneurship. By 1985, it was all over. But the rise, heyday and fall of the Bilbaoan iron industry has been fixed forever in oils, water colours and bronze. In this lecture, he first shows how iron is turned into steel, illustrating the equipment used and explaining the processes involved. He then introduces the artistic works which have recorded the iron and steel industry of Bilbao over the last 150 years and the viewer is thus equipped to identify and understand the activities represented.

The art of the three main ‘Bloomsbury’ artists (Duncan Grant, Vanessa Bell and Roger Fry) cannot be separated from their extraordinary lives. They, along with their literary and other intellectual companions (Virginia Woolf, Lytton Strachey and John Maynard Keynes, amongst others) were part of a movement, the popular name for which became widely used only after the death of around half its members.

Giuseppe Garibaldi (1807–1882) was one of the leading figures in the fight for the unification of Italy during the nineteenth century.  He was a romantic and heroic figure who captured the imagination not only of Italians but also of the British.  This prompted a fashion for everything from Staffordshire figurines, biscuits and blouses to the famous red shirts that became symbols of the Risorgimento and Italy's fight for freedom.  This fascination culminated in a triumphant visit in 1864 when over 500,000 Londoners turned out to see him in Trafalgar Square.  This lecture looks at the amazing life of Garibaldi through the art of the Risorgimento and uses paintings, documents, newspaper accounts and the many representations of him in popular British culture to trace the reasons for his popularity in this country.  It looks at the many links he had with Britain and how he fits into the contemporary artistic fashions of the period.

For many years Scottish artists found it necessary to travel south to make their names and careers in art, but with the increasing importance of the cities of Edinburgh and Glasgow from the end of the 18th Century, an independent Scottish art scene became possible. These developments will be traced through individuals such as Sir Henry Raeburn, the first artist to find success whilst remaining in his native Scotland, and Sir David Wilkie, important as one of the first to truly export Scottish art. This lecture will also look at the parallels between Scottish and other European art, as well as periods of divergence, touching on art movements such as the Glasgow Boys and the Scottish Colourists. 

Frank Thrower was one of the most prolific and successful glass designers of the late 20th century. From the inception of Dartington Glass in 1967, he provided the creative and marketing drive that contributed to the company’s considerable success. As sole designer for almost 20 years, he produced over 700 innovative and popular designs. This lecture looks at the history of the company, Frank’s life and the major phases of, and influences behind, his well known designs.

The lecture relates how this popular magazine evolved, adapted to changing tastes and provided an outlet for an outstanding array of writers and artists.  The Strand was a pioneer among illustrated monthly magazines and rapidly spawned many imitators.  Its major contributors included Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Agatha Christie (Poirot and Miss Marple both appeared here), Winston Churchill (political sketches during his ‘wilderness years’, paintings after World War Two), and P.G Wodehouse. From the early brilliance of writers such as Grant Allen and E.W. Hornung, through the enchanting tales of children’s favourite E Nesbit, the robust melodramas of Sapper and his heroes Bulldog Drummond and Ronald Standish, to the weightier work of H.G. Wells and even Joseph Conrad, the Strand left a remarkable legacy.

One of the finest eighteenth-century French painters and among the most important women artists of all time. Celebrated for her expressive portraits of French royalty and aristocracy, and especially of her patron Marie Antoinette, Vigée Le Brun exemplified success and resourcefulness in an age when women were rarely allowed either. Because of her close association with the queen Vigée Le Brun was forced to flee France during the French Revolution. For twelve years she travelled throughout Europe, painting noble sitters in the courts of Naples, Russia, Austria, and Prussia. She returned to France in 1802, under the reign of Napoleon where she continued to work with success in France, London and Switzerland. Her work and her life make her an extraordinary woman working in dramatically changing times

The 'poor little rich girl' who changed the face of twentieth century art. Not only was Peggy Guggenheim ahead of her time but she was the woman who helped define it. 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.

Despite our own modern preconceptions, the quiet introspection of melancholy was often associated with creativity in the past. This was prevalent in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, when significant treatises, music and art were dedicated to this condition. Treading the thin line between madness and contentment, this lecture will investigate why and how artists of painting and music responded to this significant part of human consciousness.

(Several pieces of live lute music will be performed as part of the lecture.)

Houses made from wool that warm in the depths of winter, carpets that tell stories, woven bands that appease ancestors, embroideries that ward off evil, and kilims that store kitchenware, with everything ready to be packed and carried on yak, or camel at a moment’s notice; the little-known nomadic textile cultures of the Kyrgyz, Turkoman and Karakalpak are explored in this lecture, along with the rise and fall of nomadism and where nomadism fits within the modern world. Chris also shares from his own experience of working with nomadic yak herders in the High Pamirs for three years.

This lecture will take place only on Zoom. The link will be emailed to members in advance.

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 environmentand our individual places within a shifting cosmos.

This lecture will be preceded by our Annual General Meeting which will commence at 10.00am. The lecture will start as usual at 10.40am

The lecture is based on the Islamic manuscripts, the Padshahnama (chronicle of the King of the World), which is the unique official history of the Mughal Emperor, Shah Jahan, who ruled India from 1628 to 1659.  He is best remembered for the building of the Taj Mahal as a tomb for his favourite wife, Mumtaz Mahal. 

The Padshahnama is illustrated with 44 of the finest Mughal paintings in the world.  They vividly depict the very dramatic events in the Emperor’s life and reign.  Most of the important individuals in Shah Jahan’s court can be identified and the paintings tell the remarkable story of the intrigues of court life as well as the Emperor’s Coronation, royal weddings, bloody battles and hunting scenes. 

The book is the finest Islamic manuscript in the Royal Library at Windsor Castle and was given to King George III in 1797 by the ruler of the north Indian state of Oudh.

A strong influence on younger brother Felix, the teenage Fanny Mendelssohn composed and played prolifically.  Persuaded by their banker father to take a back seat, she married an impoverished artist who enjoyed collaborating with her.  She continued to play and compose; publishing works under her brother’s name and, after their father’s death, under her own.  She died aged 42.  Of her exquisite songs Felix said “They prove that true music exists….that the soul is made of music.”       

With songs by Fanny Hensel, portraits by Wilhelm Hensel, watercolours by Felix Mendelssohn and paintings by Caspar David Friedrich.

Cleopatra, the woman for whose love’s sake Antony is imagined to have given up the chance to rule the Roman world, has been inspiring painters, poets and (more recently) film-makers for over two millennia.  Their gorgeously voluptuous depictions of her offer insights into changing concepts of beauty, and into the racial and sexual assumptions underlying them.  Showing images ranging from Roman portrait busts, through medieval illuminations, the glorious works of Renaissance masters like Michelangelo, the splendour of Tiepolo and the exoticism of Gustave Moreau to 20th century film stars (Theda Bara, Claudette Colbert, Vivien Leigh, Elizabeth Taylor and the Carry On team’s Amanda Barry), I will show how Cleopatra became a screen onto which artists have projected their wildly differing fantasies about exotic danger and erotic bliss. 

MacDonald 'Max' Gill, younger brother of the sculptor and typographer Eric Gill, was an architect, graphic designer and letterer, best known for his pictorial maps, especially those for the London Underground.  He also created painted maps for Arts & Crafts houses including Lindisfarne Castle, magnificent murals for Cunard liners, and eye-catching publicity posters for organisations such as the Empire Marketing Board. An enduring legacy is his alphabet for the Imperial War Graves Commission used on all British military headstones since the First World War.  This illustrated talk by Max Gill’s great-niece presents a colourful overview of this versatile artist's personal life and artistic achievements.

NB. Max's work can be found in many localities around Britain. Caroline will include local connections wherever possible.

Food and Art Through the Ages is a whistle-stop tour of the history of food as artistic medium; starting with 16th century sugar sculpture and venturing all the way up to 3D dessert printing and beyond.  Hosted by Food Historian Tasha Marks, this lecture is a treat for those with a sweet tooth, as Marks feels the subject of food and art through the ages is most exciting in the realms of the dessert. Topics covered include; the origins of dessert, the crossover between sugar and art, architecture and dessert (including Renaissance banqueting houses), sugar and spectacle, food as artistic medium, and the future of food. This exploration into the realms of dessert as spectacle includes an accompanying display to illustrate and enhance the historic subject.

King Henry VIII was a great jouster and skilled swordsman, and he was fond of showing off his knightly prowess.  But he only ever fought one field battle, 'The Battle of the Spurs', against the French in 1513.  The ensuing Anglo-French peace-treaty was followed in 1520 by an attempt to outlaw all war between Christian kingdoms.  At the Field of Cloth of Gold, in the Pas de Calais, Henry met the French King Francis I in a lavish courtly spectacle.  The meeting took the form of an enormous tournament, with jousts and other supposedly friendly combats taking place over more than two weeks.  Despite being one of the most famous events in Tudor history, the nature of the martial contests themselves has remained largely mysterious.  On this 500th anniversary year, we shall delve into this oft-misunderstood subject, to uncover both the splendour and the sinister undertones of this extraordinary moment of history.

Road and rail, sea and air, the infrastructure of travel has provided many architectural treasures from the thatched petrol station of Blashford Hampshire to the futuristic styling of Los Angeles airport.  This lecture examines the art and architecture of travelling and includes often overlooked gems including as bus and railway stations, travel posters and tube stations.  It examines leading artists and architects in the sphere of travel, including John Hassall, Fougasse, Leslie Green, and Richard Rogers. 

From the early Kosovan silver mines which are mentioned in Dante, through the twentieth century politics over Kosovo’s mines which resulted in both a war and a golf course, a silver thread winds through Kosovo’s history.  Its most intricate tanglings are in the country’s cultural capital, Prizren, where a seventh generation of filigree artisans use ‘filum’ and ‘granum’, zigzags, ‘mouse-tooth’ designs and other twists and turns to magic lacy creations from dull sticks of raw material.  The results – in boxes, buttons, jewellery, religious ornamentation and the talismans of superstitition – are a fine narrative of Kosovo’s history and traditions.

Few countries in the world offer such a rich and varied cultural heritage as Mexico. Before the Spanish Conquest of 1519, numerous civilisations rose and fell. Their great cities were peopled by muralists, sculptors in stone, ceramic artists, feather- and gold-workers, jewellers, weavers, and painters of sacred books. Frida Kahlo (1907-1954) and Diego Rivera (1886-1957) helped to shape the cultural identity of twentieth-century Mexico by fusing pre- Conquest and European traditions. Today countless folk-artists create splendid weavings, rich embroideries, shimmering beadwork, jewellery of silver and gold, fine pottery and dance-masks for religious festivals. Chloë Sayer will display items from her collection. 

This is the adapted second part of Chloë's lecture that was curtailed in April 2019 because of a stationary train.

Fake scientific and documentary evidence can play as big a role in forgery scandals as clever fabrication of the artwork itself, as we discover in a “ripping yarns” survey featuring the familiar Tom Keating and Van Meegeren amongst a supporting cast of exotic rogues. We come right up to date with the Greenhalghs of Bolton. 

We are able to have a lecture in December and are very pleased that Claire Walsh will be giving the above-named lecture.

Despite the usual emphasis on women’s love of fashion, men have, throughout the centuries, selected their attire with concern and precision.  What men wore could express political position, social status or personality.  This lecture traces the fascinating history of men’s dress from the introduction of the basic elements of the suit under Charles II in the 1660s.  The eighteenth century saw the flamboyance of dress for the dandies and court peacocks balanced by the sombre form of dress worn on the country estate – the frock coat.  This would come to form the essence of gentlemanly dignity and give Savile Row international fame.  The turn of the nineteenth century saw the dramatic transition to wearing black.  Despite the influence of aesthetes such as Oscar Wilde, the dark suit continued to dominate.  In the twentieth century leaders of aristocratic fashion such as Edward VII and Edward VIII continued to uphold and refine standards of gentlemanly attire.  After this talk, we expect the gentlemen members of Bishop’s Stortford DFAS to be the smartest in town.  Not that they aren’t already!!

These lectures discuss the nature of oil painting materials, from the Middle Ages to the present day, and common problems associated with the ageing and deterioration of, and damage to, easel paintings.  These can be on canvas, panel, board or paper in a range of mediums:  oil, acrylic, egg tempera, or mixed media.

Problems can involve natural deterioration and neglect, accidental damage, vandalism and even war.  The most surprising event was a large hole caused by a Turkish cannon ball going through a picture in the 18th century!!  Modern ‘museum standard’ approaches to conservation and restoration will be illustrated with detailed slides ranging from early Italian religious paintings in egg tempera via rapid oil sketches on paper by John Constable to 20th century British paintings and modern abstract works.  

Hints and advice on the general care of paintings in homes is given in liberal doses throughout! 

The lecture will tell us the story of one of the greatest creative collaborations of all:  Serge Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes, whose team of dancers, choreographers, and costume and set designers transformed expectations of what a night in the theatre could be, and the circumstances behind its most notorious stage work of all.

Sandy will examine the build-up to the Rite of Spring’s premiere in Paris, take a look at the original costumes, play excerpts from this fascinatingly inventive score, and explore what divided opinions of that first-night audience quite so dramatically.  No, nothing could top the riot at the Rite in 1913…

The late antique emperor Diocletian saved the empire from collapse by instituting a new system of government.  However, his most enduring legacy was probably his wide-ranging building schemes which included renovation work at Palmyra, Luxor and the existing Senate House in the Roman Forum.  This lecture looks at his monumental palace at Split (modern day Croatia) including the domed mausoleum and the southern facade along the sea front.  

We will also consider its impact on the young architect Robert Adam, leading to him publishing illustrations of the building and subsequently to its influence on neo-classicism and 18th century architecture.

For many years, Scottish artists found it necessary to travel south to make their names and careers in art, but with the increasing importance of the cities of Edinburgh and Glasgow from the end of the 18th Century, an independent Scottish art scene became possible.  Rosalind will trace these developments through individuals such as Sir Henry Raeburn, the first artist to find success whilst remaining in his native Scotland, and Sir David Wilkie, important as one of the first to truly export Scottish art. 

This lecture will also look at the parallels between Scottish and other European art, as well as periods of divergence, touching on art movements such as the Glasgow Boys and the Scottish Colourists. 

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 that dominated 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.

Once, travel had been the preserve of the wealthy.  With the advent of steam, hotels, boarding houses, seaside resorts and Thomas Cook, travel was no longer an elite experience but an activity for the middle classes.  By the 1920s the social elite not only needed new destinations to get away from the package holiday maker, but they also needed new, exciting activities and a distinctive air of class and luxury.  

They drew on the far reaches of the African Bush, new corners of the Riviera;  they climbed, tobogganed, skied and they performed the Charleston on the new form of luxury entertainment;  the cruise liner.  In all this, Art Deco played a significant role.  It was harnessed as the style which would signal the exclusivity, luxury and modernity of the Glamour Holiday. 

Claire Walsh is an Arts Soceity acredited lecturer and am based just outside Cambridge. Having previously worked at the Victoria & Albert Museum and lectured for the University of Warwick, she now teaches at the Open University. She has lectured widely in Britain; at the Courtauld Institute of Art, Victoria & Albert Museum and Museum of London amongst others, and to specialist groups including the NACF, the Ceramics Society, the Costume Society and the Ancient Monuments Society. She has also lectured in Europe, the USA (including Yale and the Huntington) and Canada and have numerous publications in academic journals and edited volumes.

Elizabeth Vigée le Brun was one of the finest eighteenth-century French painters and among the most important women artists of all time.  Celebrated for her expressive portraits of French royalty and aristocracy, and especially of her patron Marie Antoinette, Vigée Le Brun exemplified success and resourcefulness in an age when women were rarely allowed either.  Because of her close association with the queen Vigée Le Brun was forced to flee France during the French Revolution.  

For twelve years she travelled throughout Europe, painting noble sitters in the courts of Naples, Russia, Austria, and Prussia.  She returned to France in 1802, under the reign of Napoleon where she continued to work with success in France, London and Switzerland.  Her work and her life make her an extraordinary woman working in dramatically changing times.

Stained glass tells stories.  It has been used to play politics, bribe bishops, recruit soldiers and tell jokes.  The most remarkable subjects appear in its panes, from miracles to Mandela, tanks to Tiffany, Burne-Jones's water-closet to Churchill's cigar.  

It is a powerful way to create atmosphere and send a message - not just in churches, but in airports, sports centres, town halls, banks, libraries and shops.  Susie will include its stories in our area:  our saints and sinners.

Howard Smith will talk about the birth of documentary films in the 1930s, through the experimental Soviet era to the 129 films produced by the GPO Film Unit in seven years, including 'Night Mail' with poetry by W. H. Auden and music by Benjamin Britten. 

He will include clips from Victorian and Edwardian films.

This story has a plot worthy of Agatha Christie.

The cast includesWalter Gropius, and Laszlo Moholy Nagy, refugees
from the Bauhaus in Germany, Henry Moore the sculptor, the writers Nicholas Monsarrat and Agatha Christie.The setting is The Lawn Road Flats, a startling Modernist block in a leafy road in North London.

BUT  It was also home to a nest of Soviet spies, including the recruiter and controller of the Cambridge 5.This is the story of a ground breaking building, now Grade 1 listed, and of the rich and complex lives of its residents.