This lecture concentrates on the height of Scandinavian Modern design in the 1950s, when it took America and Europe by storm. It examines 19th century design reform, leading to the functionalist and ideological roots of Scandinavian Modern in the 1920s and 1930s.  

It also explains how Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Norway broke away from Bauhaus and International Style to create softer, more organic furniture and graceful ceramics, glassware and textiles. 

The presentation revolves around three ground-breaking exhibitions to show how global conceptions of Scandinavian Modern became so completely different. And finally there are tips for how to survive an afternoon in IKEA, by learning to identify what really is Scandinavian Modern and what isn't.

James studied interior design and art history at the Inchbald School, Mid-Century Modern at Sotheby’s Institute and electronic music at Point Blank. He has also been a DJ, promoter, record label owner, hosted a local radio show for four years and ran a pop-up community cinema. 

He now lectures and provides study days focusing on Scandinavian arts and design, Danish landscape painting and mid-century furniture, Norse mythology, Icelandic culture, the Modern Breakthrough in Nordic painting and the role of modernism in the Cold War. 

This is the fourth lecture in our annual evening series celebrating the legacy of our founder, 

Millicent Honeywood. From 7pm for 7.45pm

Tickets are not included in the annual membership fee, you can purchase them at our May or June lectures or online here. The ticket price includes a complimentary glass of wine or soft drink.

New Orleans at the end of the 19th century was a busy port welcoming ships and sailors from all over the world bringing with them many diverse styles of music. It was also one of the few places in America where the music of the slave population was not just tolerated but openly enjoyed by black and white communities alike.

In this Creole crucible it was not long before such a kaleidoscope of musical traditions would come together, react, and evolve into an exciting new music, namely jazz.    

Jazz’s evolution didn’t happen overnight of course. And in this talk we’ll look at the part African Blues and Cakewalk, American Classical and Vaudeville, Latin American Dance, and Middle Eastern Klezmer all played in the story of jazz. We’ll also enjoy along the way some of the greatest musical artists of the twentieth century: Louis Armstrong, Benny Goodman, Artie Shaw, Ella Fitzgerald and Duke Ellington to name but a few.

Emma studied Music and English at Pembroke College, Cambridge University, where she was the first woman to be made an Honorary Fellow. She was honoured by the Queen with an M.B.E. in 1996. With 30 CDs to her name, Emma is one of the few clarinettists to have performed as a soloist all over the world.

She also enjoys giving talks about music - Woodwind Wizardry and The Poet John Milton were both broadcast by BBC radio and she has lectured about composers Gerald Finzi and Malcolm Arnold for the internet company Tonebase, as well as about Schubert and Brahms for Martin Randall Travel.

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 Ray-­Jones and Jane Bown.

Brian Stater lectured at University College London for 25 years, retiring in 2021 as a Senior Teaching Fellow. His principal academic interest lay in the appreciation of architecture and he has a lifelong enthusiasm for photography, exhibiting most recently at the Royal Academy Summer show in 2025. He therefore offers lectures to The Arts Society on both architecture and photography.

He has written on architecture for a wide range of publications and an exhibition of his own photographs was held at UCL. Brian is a former member of the Association of Historical and Fine Art Photography. He is an engaging and amusing speaker who seeks to entertain as well as inform his audience.

The Medici were in many ways an unattractive family. Ruthless in pursuit of profit for their Florentine bank, which had branches in every city of the known world, they were greedy for success, merciless to those who opposed their ambition and vicious in their own internal squabbles. And yet without them we wouldn’t have Botticelli’s “Birth of Venus”, the Fra Angelico frescoes in San Marco, Donatello’s “David” or the majestic Michelangelo sculptures in the Medici chapel. The Platonic Academy wouldn’t have been founded and the doors for the Baptistry would never have been cast.

This lecture looks into the turbulent history of this extraordinary family. The triumphs and tragedies, the intrigues and plots; the assassination attempts, the years of exile and their perpetual desire to glorify the family name in works of art, which was to result in some of the greatest achievements of the Italian Renaissance.

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 Centre, 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.

Immerse yourself in a world of carnations, tulips, hyacinths and roses as you discover the history of the famous Turkish Iznik ceramics. From its origins imitating Chinese porcelain to its 16th-century heyday and subsequent decline. The focus on flowers makes this an ideal subject for spring but it works equally well at any time of year.

Dr Antonia Gatward Cevizli is an independent art historian specialising in both Italian Renaissance art and Ottoman art. She gained her PhD from the University of Warwick. Her publications focus on cultural and diplomatic exchange between the Italian city-states and the Ottomans.

Antonia has lectured for a number of institutions including Sabancı University, Istanbul; Sotheby’s Institute of Art; the National Gallery; the V&A Academy and The Courtauld summer school.

Her interests are wide-ranging and she also worked across the collections of both Tate Modern and Tate Britain as a professional guide. She has lived in Siena, Venice and Istanbul.

This talk offers a comprehensive overview of the most significant and notorious cases of art forgery over the last 150 years. The lecture focuses on the core motivations of art forgers and explains how the majority of the most prominent art forgers started out as failed artists whose work was ignored by the dealers, auction house ‘experts’ and connoisseurs who function as the market’s ‘gatekeepers’. In many cases, this rejection led to a desire on the part of the overlooked painters to exact a form of revenge against what they perceived as an elitist art world ‘club’ from which they were excluded.

Dr Tom Flynn is a UK-based art historian, writer and art consultant. He holds a First Class Honours degree in Art History from the University of Sussex, a Masters in Design History from the Royal College of Art and a doctorate from the University of Sussex.

His interests include contemporary art; sculpture history; museology and the history of  museums; art crime; issues in cultural heritage; and the historical development and professional practice of the European art markets.   He is Senior Lecturer at Christie’s Education, Adjunct Professor at Richmond, the American International University in London, visiting Senior Lecturer at Kingston School of Art, and teaches at a number of other UK and European universities.

He taught for many years on the summer Post-Graduate Certificate in Art Crime and Cultural Heritage Protection Studies at the Association for Research into Crimes Against Art (ARCA) in Amelia, Umbria, Italy. 

Musical instruments are found throughout the paintings of the Dutch Golden Age. Despite this, knowledge of their symbolic meaning, and how they sounded to their original participants, is often lost on modern audiences. The associations of music with love and intimacy, enlivened by the sound quality and tone of the instruments of the period, help unravel their meaning. From Jan Steen’s brothel scenes to the solemn interiors of Vermeer and Pieter de Hooch, this lecture charts the vast meaning and rich significance of music in Dutch art

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

He completed his doctorate in the History of Art at the University of Warwick in 2022 and became a cataloguer in the Old Master Paintings Department at Sotheby's where he remains a Consultant.

This lecture explores the way in which the East India Company developed its methods of trade and facilitated the increasingly sophisticated and profound exchange of ideas between East and West. It focuses on textile design as the vehicle for this analysis, but also includes other works, such as wallpaper, porcelain and furniture, as well as the vast commercial trade in spice and tea. Examining first the 17th century textile trade with India, the lecture shows how the East India Company established a methodology for sending out patterns to be copied by the local weavers and dyers, paving the way for the production of chintz – now considered to be a classic expression of English style.

The lecture then turns to the 18th century and the trade with China. Using the same methodology of sending out Western patterns to be copied for export goods, the Company rapidly expanded operations in the Far East. The currency and balance of trade with China is examined, and methods of production are illustrated with a number of Chinese export pieces, predominantly Chinese painted silks but also including furniture and porcelain. The distinction is then drawn between Chinese export and Chinoiserie, a fantasy style produced by Western artists and designers based on the exoticism of China – known to Westerners as ‘Cathay’ – and combining with the prevailing Baroque and Rococo styles in Western design.

Vivienne is an art historian, curator, author and journalist with over 25 years’ experience in the art market. She teaches at several Higher Education institutions, including Sotheby’s Institute of Art, London, where she leads the professional certificate in Art History, as well as the University of the Arts London, Imperial College, SOAS (University of London) and the City & Guilds of London Art School. In 2021 she received the Geoffrey Bond Bursary for Art, an annual prize awarded by the Worshipful Company of Educators to an “outstanding educator” nominated by their institution.

A journey through the 60s in music and images, following the Beatles from the Hamburg Reeperbahn in 1960 to Abbey Road in 1969. The band was always fascinated by the visual arts - the ‘Fifth Beatle’, Stuart Sutcliffe, was a much better painter than he was a bass player - and they also learned very early on that artists and designers could help promote their image and their music.

Their rise to global fame was aided and recorded by an impressive roster of photographers, including Astrid Kirchherr, Bob Freeman, Robert Whitaker, Angus McBean and Linda McCartney. The innovative covers for releases such as Rubber Soul (Bob Freeman) Revolver (Klaus Voormann), the White Album (Richard Hamilton) and Sgt. Pepper (Peter Blake, Jann Haworth and others) turned album design into an art form in its own right.

Barry is an art historian whose interests and teaching range from the art of late medieval Europe to global contemporary art. He has published books, articles and exhibition catalogue essays on Turner, Constable and European landscape painting, but also has an ongoing research interest in postcolonial art and British visual satire.

He works as a consultant and associate lecturer for the Open University. His media work includes two BBC TV documentaries, radio appearances for BBC local radio and abc Australia, and a DVD on Turner for the Tate.

Barry has been invited back to Steyning due to the popularity of his previous lectures

Image credit: Flickr.com/Joe Zimny

In 1709, in a small riverside town in Shropshire, a Quaker industrialist called Abraham Darby set up the Coalbrookdale Iron Foundry. His revolutionary new method of smelting iron ore would make him a pioneer of the Industrial Revolution.

From the beautiful Iron Bridge across the river Severn, built by his grandson in 1776, to the majesty of the Crystal Palace, opened by Queen Victoria in 1851, new forms of technology created a world of factories, railways and mass production. In this talk we’ll meet inventors, industrialists and designers like Josiah Wedgwood, Matthew Boulton, Thomas Telford and the Stephensons, whose products married design and modernity and became renowned across Europe.

Through the paintings of the 18th and 19th centuries, we’ll see how new techniques affected design, and consider how mass production and the changing landscape affected life for rich and poor. The apogee of this industrial age was the Crystal Palace exhibition of 1851. We’ll look at the building, its contents and the huge success of the Great Exhibition, as well as its legacy for art, design and architecture through the nineteenth century and beyond.

Jo has combined teaching and lecturing with a career in art bookselling and has been a volunteer guide at both Tate Britain and Tate Modern. Now a freelance lecturer for The Arts Society, The National Gallery, The Art Fund, and local art societies.

Image credit: commons.wikimedia.org

A jam-packed hour of information and entertainment. Take a trip with Margaret as she delves into the 5000-year history, development, design, music, and lore of this fascinating instrument.

Boasting over 1400 working parts, you will learn how the complex pedal mechanism was introduced and perfected into the instrument played today together with slides of the extraordinary designs as the instrument developed over the centuries.

Indulge in the lavishly decorated Rococo harps made for Queen Marie Antoinette, the fashion statement that became associated with the instrument - and listen as Margaret plays her harp for you on this unique musical journey.

Margaret studied harp under the late Sidonie Goossens OBE and Sussex harpist Helen Arnold. She holds a Diploma in Music Performance on the harp and is also a Fellow of The Guild of Musicians and Singers.

Margaret is a very active member of the charity ‘Music in Hospitals and Care’ and gives bedside concerts for patients and mentally or physically disabled people in hospitals, hospices, and specialist care centres and nursing homes. With her very varied repertoire and often resplendent costumes, she has delighted numerous audiences throughout the UK.

Image credit: commons.wikimedia.org

It is possible to ‘read’ the passage of time, movements, cultures and peoples in the architecture and art forms evident in many of our English country churches. These lectures take us through four overarching eras from the pre-Christian era, through the arrival of the Romans, the Anglo-Saxons, the Normans and onwards to the sixteenth century and the epoch changing Tudors. Beyond the Tudors we move into the establishment of a new Protestant England. Later the profoundly destructive changes of the seventeenth century Commonwealth era are followed by restoration and liturgical change. The largely forgotten Georgian period of church architecture is examined as church architecture that the Victorians forgot.

This lecture is a continuation of the one given by Nicholas in 2023.

A graduate of Selwyn College, Cambridge, Nicholas trained for the Anglican ministry at Ripon Hall, Oxford. Inspired by a period working on the staff of Coventry Cathedral he has gained a wide experience of international matters. Nicholas has a particular interest in the period of the English Reformation and the associated cultural, architectural and social changes it has produced. He lectures regularly and assists as a priest in London.

Image credit: commons.wikimedia.org

This is the third lecture in our annual evening series celebrating the legacy of our founder, Millicent Honeywood. From 7pm for 7.45pm

We’re thrilled to welcome Mark Hill—beloved Antiques Roadshow expert—as this year’s speaker. With his infectious passion and insider knowledge, this event will be a standout.

Don’t wait—secure your tickets early!

Tickets are not included in the annual membership. 

You can purchase them at our May or June lectures or online here

“Antiques? I don’t get them, and they’re way out of my budget—they’re just not for me.”

Think again! Mark Hill’s talk is a lively masterclass in antiques: why they’re smarter buys than you think, how to blend them into modern homes, and what makes them timeless. He’ll decode today’s market, explore the true meaning of value, and reveal what collectors—old and new—are snapping up (and why).

About Mark Hill

With a degree in History of Art & Architecture, Mark began his career at Bonhams and Sotheby’s, where he honed his eye for treasures. A prolific author, he’s published 15+ books on decorative arts and co-authored the Collectables Price Guide with Judith Miller.

You’ll know him from the BBC’s Antiques Roadshow (where he’s been a specialist since 2007) and Antiques Roadtrip, plus five hit BBC2 series on collecting. He’s lectured everywhere from the V&A to international stages, and his insights grace newspapers, magazines, and radio worldwide.

Best known for his outlandish appearances dressed as his feminine alter ego, Claire, Sir Grayson Perry is now a core part of the art establishment, a Knight of the Realm, 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 manner and holds a mirror up to modern society. This talk will examine Sir Grayson Perry’s work, his exciting and thought-provoking exhibitions, and the unique character inside the flamboyant frocks.

A Londoner with a contagious enthusiasm for art and architecture, Ian 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.

Ian has been invited back to Steyning due to the popularity of his previous lectures

Image credit: commons.wikimedia.org

Many people now carry a phone with a camera capable of taking very high-quality pictures, and yet the painting of botanical specimens persists with new Florilegium Societies still being formed. 

Why is a drawing and painting still considered to be superior to a digital image?  This talk looks at the history of botanical illustration from the early herbals 1,500 years ago to the present day, taking in the lives of both the artists and the plants immortalised in the artwork.

Ian read Botany at University College Oxford. After graduation, he worked as a trainee at Oxford Botanic Garden, the Savill Garden Windsor, and the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew. In 1985 he was awarded a Master of Horticulture by the Royal Horticultural Society of London. From 1988 to 2014 he was director (Horti Praefectus) at the Oxford Botanic Garden. Between 1992 & 2000 the OBGHA he won 4 gold medals at the Chelsea Flower Show London.

Timothy has been invited back to Steyning due to the popularity of his previous lectures

Image credit: commons.wikimedia.org

How does the modern viewer recognise and interpret the hidden stories told through signs, symbols iconography in paintings when visiting art galleries. Were paintings merely illustrations of the text, and if so which texts, or did they carry some deeper meaning? How did artists such as Botticelli, Pinturicchio, Titian and Tintoretto approach these subjects? Why were these subjects so popular?

In order to unravel the hidden iconographical content of paintings that may reveal how audiences might have seen these works produced during the Italian Renaissance rather than how we now see them, the modern viewer needs to reacquaint themselves with what was common knowledge during the Renaissance - the knowledge of religious and mythological signs and symbols. Most often these stories originated from antique literary sources, which had survived through the middle ages and were the preserve of the wealthy and cultured élite.

This lecture aims to reveal the hidden language of stories in these paintings and equip the modern viewer with an antique language and a new way to look at paintings through signs, symbols iconography. 

Art historian Leslie Primo is an author, broadcaster, and graduate of Birkbeck, University College, with an MA in Renaissance studies. He lectured at the National Gallery, London for 18 years, and has appeared on the BBC speaking on Michelangelo and presenting on JMW Turner. He contributed to the Oxford Companion Guide to Black British History, and has a forthcoming Thames & Hudson book called, The Foreigners that Invented British Art. He currently teaches art history at Imperial College, The City Literary, London, and lectures for the National Portrait Gallery, London.

Leslie has been invited back to Steyning due to the popularity of his previous lectures

Image credit: commons.wikimedia.org

The history of the City of London is a long and illustrious one, from Medieval plague to the Great Fire of London and  to the Blitz of the Second World War. During this talk you will encounter many stories besides some well known personalities such as Dick Whittington, Geoffrey Chaucer, William Shakespeare and far more.

The churches, halls and civic buildings of the City house some of London's most interesting stained-glass windows, each of which tells its own part of the lively story of our wonderful capital city. Many of these windows have withstood the ravages of the Second World War and can chart their history back to the early foundations of the City. Enjoy a captivating journey through the streets of London to discover its hidden gems and learn about some of the best 19th, 20th and contemporary stained-glass windows in London.  

Biography:

Anna studied for a BA in History of Art & Italian at the University of Sussex and did her MA in Renaissance Decorative Arts & Design at the Royal College of Art.  She worked for 6 years as a curator in the Sculpture Department at the Victoria & Albert Museum as well as in smaller collections such as the Henry Moore Family Trust. 

Besides working as a Blue Badge Guide, she is an adjunct lecturer at Richmond American International University in London where she teaches undergraduates The History of London. She graduated as a Blue Badge Guide early in 2013.  Since then she has been conducting bespoke private tours for visitors to London. Her background and passion is Art & History and she lectures regularly for art, history and academic societies.

Image credit: goegraph.org.uk

This lecture examines Oscar Wilde’s great literary & theatrical successes, beginning with The Picture of Dorian Gray in 1890 followed by 4 smash hit plays in 3 years.  

We give special attention to his greatest play, 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 which the audience then (and perhaps now) were not aware of and discover that for the author, this glittering triumph heralded the beginning of his own fatal final act… 

(Please note 2025 marks the 130th anniversary of the premiere of The Importance of Being Earnest!)

Simon 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.

Image credit: commons.wikimedia.org

This lecture will look at the early experiments into porcelain making in England; concentrating on the Chelsea, Bow, Derby and Worcester factories. It will examine the different pastes developed in an attempt to achieve both whiteness and strength, consider the influence of both silver and continental porcelain on shapes and decoration; and will look back at Chinese and Japanese export wares as a source of inspiration. In addition, it will show the ways in which porcelain was both displayed and used and discuss the fashion for porcelain figures. 

Jane has an MA History of Art, University of London. She trained at the V&A and continues to lecture there. She was Senior Lecturer at Sotheby’s Institute of Art for 17 years, becoming a Deputy Director of Sotheby's, UK. She has also lectured for the National Trust, the Art Fund, London University, Buckingham University, l'Institut d'Etudes Superieures des Arts in Paris, a private women's college in Saudi Arabia, on cruise ships and at antiques fairs and interior design conferences in America.

Image credit: commons.wikimedia.org

This entertaining and informative presentation tells of the Mozart family’s residence in London (1764-5) when the 8-year-old prodigy, Wolfgang Amadeus, befriended George III and became the subject of medical research. Graham illustrates his talk with explanations and performances of Mozart’s witty and precocious miniatures at the piano or electric keyboard. Music by Mozart’s own child-prodigy Franz Xavier brings the event to an emotional conclusion.

Graham's experience is wide ranging, including work as a lecturer, conductor, pianist and composer. Qualifications include Music Research Fellow (City, University of London). DPhil., Musicology (Christ Church, Oxford, 2008), PGCE (Cambridge), BMusHons (Edinburgh). 

Guest appearances - BBC Radio 3’s Composer of the Week (December 2022: BBC Sounds ‘Kashperova Composer of the Week’) and  at ‘St Petersburg International Conservatoires Festival’ performing lost works by Leokadiya Kashperova (1872-1940) re-discovered by Graham. This research featured in the BBC Radio 3/AHRC celebration Five Forgotten Female Composers on International Women’s Day (8 March 2018). Graham's work has been featured by public service broadcasters in several countries.

Picture credit: Flickr.com/Peter O'Connor

In 2024 the National Gallery celebrates its 200th birthday. Siân, will explore some of the nation’s best-loved paintings in a new light, revealing details which cannot be seen with the naked eye and discussing what goes on behind the scenes in the conservation, framing and scientific departments. The lecture will result in a greater understanding of not only the art itself, but also of the work the National Gallery does to care for it, present it and interpret it.

Few of the gallery’s works retain their original frames but an expert team will often source and adapt examples which complement the paintings historically, or indeed hand-carve new ones from scratch. We will also look at the technical challenges involved in hanging, displaying, moving and framing the collection and the various solutions devised by the Art Handling Team.

Many of the paintings in the gallery were designed for a very specific function, an altarpiece such as Piero’s Baptism of Christ for example, so how do the curators allow us to interpret and view these within a museum context? Finally, we’ll talk about restoration and conservation, exploring extraordinary details from works such as the Wilton Diptych, which have only been discovered recently thanks to scientific analysis.

Siân Walters is an art historian and the director of Art History in Focus. She has been a lecturer at the National Gallery for over 20 years and taught their first online course, Stories of Art, in September 2020. She also lectures for The Wallace Collection, The Art Fund and many art societies and colleges throughout Europe and taught at Surrey University for many years.

Picture credit: Flickr.com/Nathan Hughes Hamilton

In a letter sent from London in 1874 Vincent van Gogh wrote: “Always continue walking a lot and loving nature, for that’s the real way to learn to understand art better and better. Painters understand nature and love it, and teach us to see.” With this lecture we will explore the central role and place given to the natural world in van Gogh’s paintings. Depicted with the brightest colours, flowers, setting suns, fields and cypresses are recurrent motifs in his works.

In late 19th century art, the Dutch artist occupies a singular place between naturalism and symbolism. While he closely observed and represented the natural scenery that stood in front of him, he also imbued it with a greater meaning. 

Caroline Levisse is an art historian based in London. She was born in France where she studied art history before moving to Copenhagen. In Denmark, she focused on research work and completed a PhD on the relations between art and religion in contemporary Scandinavian art. After graduating in 2013, she moved to London and started teaching art history with adult education providers. She has since developed a range of courses focusing on 19th and early 20th century Western art. She has published articles in French and English in academic journals as well as magazines and newspapers, such as Church Times and Arts sacrés.

Picture credit: commons.wikimedia.org

Canary Wharf was a totally new concept which revived London’s Docklands. Or was it? This lecture takes you back to the foundations of the West India Docks with their magnificent warehouses and follows through to the glittering high-rise commercial hub of today. It shows how history has repeated itself – from the unprecedented scale of development with buildings to marvel at, to the re-use of derelict space in an ‘island’ setting, the innovative transport connections, the private security systems, and the opposition of the City of London. Businesses central to the national economy underpinned both developments – from the slave-owning sugar producers of two hundred years ago to the global finance houses of today.

It is all there in a lecture that tells these parallel stories, while contrasting them with neighbouring Limehouse and its flagship Nicholas Hawksmoor church, a riverside community before the docks were dreamt of. We meet the likes of Robert Stephenson and William Adam in the first build-out and come across Cesar Pelli and Norman Foster in the second.

As a London walking tour guide and lecturer, Charlie Foreman highlights the social, architectural and artistic history of his home city. It is a city he is passionate about, not least because it has a historic core larger and richer than any other world city. A member of the City of Westminster Guide Lecturers Association, his talks focus on the forces that have shaped and changed this multi-faceted metropolis and the artistic and cultural heritage that this has given us. After many hundreds of walks and a four-decade long career in housing and regeneration he has absorbed a deep understanding and appreciation of the capital. He has had some fascinating vantage points like the seven year build-up to the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games where he played a role in channelling potential long-term benefits into surrounding East London communities. His publications include "Spitalfields: A Battle For Land."

Picture credit: commons.wikimedia.org

The war years brought innovations that we now all recognize as key practices in competitive markets: limited variety, low-cost materials and streamlining. Some utility furniture designs, based upon Arts & Crafts principles, still stand up to scrutiny. The concept of the industrial designer was fully realised in this period when new technologies such as x-ray crystallography influenced product design in mass production. Exploring major UK exhibitions such as Britain Can Make It, 1946, and the Festival of Britain in 1951, this lecture highlights key characteristics of period style.

Vivienne is an art historian, curator, author and journalist with over 25 years’ experience in the art market. She teaches at several Higher Education institutions, including the University of the Arts London, Sotheby’s Institute of Art, the City & Guilds of London Art School, SOAS (University of London) and Imperial College. In January 2021 she received the Geoffrey Bond Bursary for Art, an annual prize awarded by the Worshipful Company of Educators to an “outstanding educator” nominated by their institution.

Picture credit: TASS via Southbank Centre

In conjunction with the Steyning Festival 2024, this, the second annual Millicent Honeywood Lecture, is an evening event with entry by ticket only.  Doors and bar open at 7pm. Lecture commences at 7:45. 

Millicent Honeywood was the driving force behind the setting up of Steyning NADFAS (later to become The Arts Society Steyning). She was our first Chairwoman and later Honorary President and we all remain indebted to her vision and hard work.

Freud and Hockney, two great British artists, come from very different backgrounds: Freud from a childhood affected by the rise of Hitler and his family’s flight to England in 1933, and Hockney from a close-knit working-class background in Bradford. These backgrounds can be seen influencing their future work. Both in their personalities and in their art they are very different but both have produced great work. However, who is the greatest?

John Iddon lectures regularly for the Arts Society and is also a guide at both Tate Britain and Tate Modern. He has also lectured for the National Trust and the Peggy Guggenheim Gallery in Venice and ran an MA course in Heritage Interpretation at St Mary's University College.

Tickets, priced £12.50, are available from the Festival website, or at the Arts Society May lecture on 13th May, or from the Steyning Bookshop.

Picture credit: Flickr/Thad Zadjowicz; Flickr/Ian Birt

This extraordinary manuscript dates to about the year 800 and is almost certain to have been written on the remote Scottish island of Iona. Some people say it has the most sublime beauty. Others, such as Umberto Ecco, describe it as a ‘product of cold-blooded hallucination’. It is partly a fantasy of intertwined animal, bird and people’s heads, but also a standard Book of the Gospels with all that entails including full-page miniatures that illustrate the story. It doesn’t stand alone because the intricate iconography is found in other manuscripts as well as on Anglo-Saxon preaching crosses.

In its time it has been annotated by the helpful and stolen by the wicked (it was found months later in a ditch, so it is robust too). It is a testament to the spirituality, not just of the men who created it, but of the Christianity of that time and place. It is also surprisingly full of mistakes. 

After nearly 20 years in the British army, Imogen went to the University of Kent to study Anglo-Saxon & Medieval History and Art, graduating with 1st class honours, followed by an MPhil from the University of Birmingham. Imogen works as a freelance lecturer across Britain and Europe as well as lecturing on small cruise ships and running study tours and courses on land. She has written Stone on Stone: The Men Who Built the Cathedrals, published 2019. A Freeman of the City of London, being a Member of the Company of Communicators.

Picture credit: commons.wikimedia.org via Picryl.com

This lecture focuses on the work and achievements of, and challenges faced by leading sculptors based in Britain in the 20th century. They comprise Henri Gaudier-Brzeska, Jacob Epstein, Henry Moore, Barbara Hepworth, Anthony Caro, Elisabeth Frink and Antony Gormley.

In their different ways, they all embraced modernism, but some more than others. Some looked to African, Oceanic and pre-Columbian cultures, while others looked to Paris. Some embarked on direct carving, while others modelled or shaped their materials. Some embraced social and humanitarian themes, while others opted for abstraction. For all these differences, the seven sculptors each produced bodies of work that will have a lasting effect on future generations. Mind you, sculpting can be a cut throat business, and there will be clashes and quarrels to tell you about too.

The lecture will also feature a discussion of the difference between a sculpture and an installation, and how some modern artists did one or the other – or both!

Ray has had a life-long love of art. From 2014 to 2017, he studied art history at the Open University, and then at the University of Buckingham, from where he has an MA in the History of Art. Since 2011, he has been a guide at Tate Britain and Tate Modern, where he leads public tours of all the permanent displays and also undertakes exhibition tours. In his twenties, Ray studied social sciences at the London School of Economics and the School of Oriental and African Studies, from where he was awarded a BSc and a MSc respectively.

These degrees led to a career in health and social care, with art being an evening and weekend passion. They also gave Ray a grounding in evidence-based approaches, which he now uses to ensure his art lectures are well-researched and well-informed. Ray is an experienced public speaker who, over many years, has given presentations and lectures on a range of health, art and other themes to diverse audiences in the UK, and abroad from San Diego to Hong Kong. 

Picture credit: geograph.org.uk

How does our experience of living with and looking at works of art today compare to the viewing experience of earlier centuries? You may never have given a thought to how you enjoy a painting, or what it is that you value in it, let alone wonder whether that enjoyment was different in the past.

This lecture will consider the very different conditions in which paintings were displayed and enjoyed in earlier centuries, as well as the very different responses that they evoked. It draws on the evidence in paintings themselves for the many surprising ways in which people handled, hung, used or responded to the art that they owned. From concealing their paintings with a small curtain, to the lighting by candle or window, and the grouping of copies together with originals, this talk will present some of the more unexpected ways that people responded to a picture.

Chantal has a MA in History of Art from Edinburgh and a PhD from the Warburg Institute, London University. With 40 years' experience as a lecturer, she 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.

Picture credit: Chantal Brotherton-Ratcliffe

Puccini only completed six major operas. However, those operas – which include Madam Butterfly, Tosca and La Bohème – are the shows that keep most opera houses afloat. Puccini was a theatre man to his fingertips, a fine stage director, a man who practically invented the cross-fade dawn effect – and yet he left a pile of unfinished works behind him. This lecture explores why such a popular and successful composer had such a baffling career, and how his experience exemplifies the turbulent changes of the 20th century artistic world.

Sarah has spent her working life in the theatre: her principal employers are the Royal Opera House, English National Opera, Glyndebourne Festival Opera and Garsington Opera. She writes programme articles, radio and play scripts, gives lectures on the operas and ballets in the rep. and broadcasts regularly for BBC Radios 3 and 4. She is also a cartoonist. 

Picture credit: commons.wikimedia.org

Charles Dickens brought into the world a staggering array of wonderful characters with orphans, starving children, misers, murderers and abusive school teachers among them. People such as Mr Micawber, Fagin and Abel Magwitch remain in one’s literary psyche long after the books are put down. Largely self-educated, Dickens possessed the genius to become the greatest writer of his age with 15 major novels and countless short stories and articles. In his lecture Bertie looks at the life and places of Dickens through his characters. The talk is interspersed with readings of his works. A truly Dickensian experience. 

Bertie 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. His past experience includes lecturing and performing on cruise ships, and to U3A, historical societies, festivals, schools and colleges. In addition, Bertie has toured the world with a magic cabaret show and a one man show entitled All Aboard. He has written articles for newspapers and magazines on entertainment and theatre.

Picture credit: commons.wikimedia.org via Picryl.com

Explore the World's first dinosaur models hidden in a south London park. Created in 1850s, we will look into the history and science behind these Grade I listed architectural structures. These models represented the cutting edge of our knowledge of ancient dinosaurs and marine reptiles in the 19th century.

Palaeontologists had only just coined the name Dinosaur, and with limited fossil bones, they began the journey to discover how these extinct animals from the deep past looked. We will explore how the professors and fossil hunters such as Mary Anning and Gideon Mantell found these fossils and created the reconstructions, even dining inside one of the massive models for a New Year's Eve party in 1853.

We will see how today's scientists think these animals actually would have looked, however nearly 170 years later, with all our technological advances, we still can't be sure! 

Aaron is a professional scientist and researcher with the University of Cambridge and a prize-winning London Blue Badge Guide and City of Bath Honorary Major’s Guide. As a palaeontologist, he is an expert on fossils and prehistoric life from the first animals to appear on our planet to the evolution of early humans. He has published research on the origin of marine animals 480 million years to the Jurassic world.  He has a passion for archaeology, history, architecture and history of art. He gives lectures that encompass these subjects looking at the interface between the arts and sciences. 

Picture credit: commons.wikipedia.org

Shakespeare without words? Composers and choreographers are always using Shakespeare as a springboard, but only the greatest have pulled it off. Amongst that band are Verdi, Berlioz, Britten, Frederick Ashton and Kenneth MacMillan with their versions of Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet and Midsummer Night’s Dream. Coming up in the fast lane is Christopher Wheeldon with his recent ballet based on The Winter’s Tale. Well-meaning casualties are Rossini, Auber and Bellini. What’s the difference? Possibly the way the first group lets Shakespeare free them up. Sarah will be exploring this idea using clips from the operas and ballets, and first hand accounts from the artists themselves.

Sarah Lenton has spent her working life in the theatre. Her principal employers are the Royal Opera House, English National Opera, Glyndebourne Festival Opera and Garsington Opera. She writes programme articles, radio and play scripts, gives lectures on the operas and ballets in the rep. and broadcasts regularly for BBC Radios 3 and 4. She is also a cartoonist.

Image by GDJ from Pixaby

In this lecture Leslie will look at the events that led up to Joshua Reynolds’s portrait of Omai becoming an emblematic and iconic image representing Britain at the very height of its imperial powers.

To explore this famous moment from history when two worlds collided Leslie will explore the key players in Omai’s story, his origins in Tahiti, his background and motivation to come to England, followed by his time in England and English society and his interaction therein.

He will then go on to look at Joshua Reynolds’s ideas regarding his self image, his influences and how this related to his image of Omai. This will be followed by a look at what this portrait of Omai can tell us about 18th century English society, its perception or preconception of the Other or non-white European and how prevalent pseudo-scientific ideas in this period affected the way Omai was perceived and finally envisioned in Reynolds’s painting.

We'll then look at what happened when Omai returned to the South Seas and impact of going back; can one ever go back, what is the impact of returning? Finally I will speak about the legacy of the image we call Omai, which has become an enigma in its own right.

Leslie Primo holds a BA in Art History and an MA in Renaissance Studies from Birkbeck College, University of London. He was Visiting Lecturer in Art History at the University of Reading in 2005 and 2007, gave lectures and guided tours, plus special talks, at both the National Gallery and the National Portrait Gallery for 18 years. Currently he lectures at the City Literary Institute, Imperial College, London, and has presented a series of talks at the National Maritime Museum and the Courtauld Institute. 

Picture credit: Flickr

It is possible to ‘read’ the passage of time, of movements, cultures and peoples in the architecture and art forms evident in many of our older English country churches.

This lecture takes us from the pre-Christian era, through the arrival of the Romans and onwards to the sixteenth century and the epoch changing Tudors. Simple indicators are given how to identify churches with Roman and Saxon origins.

The great flowering of Romanesque and gothic architecture that followed the invasion of the Normans in the eleventh century are explained with illustrated examples.

Onwards into the high Middle Ages and the tumultuous changes of the Reformation we can see the architectural and structural evidence of a period of great change.

A graduate of Selwyn College, Cambridge, Nicholas trained for the Anglican ministry at Ripon Hall, Oxford. Inspired by a period working on the staff of Coventry Cathedral he has gained a wide experience of international matters. Nicholas has a particular interest in the period of the English Reformation and the associated cultural, architectural and social changes it has produced. He lectures regularly and currently works as a parish priest in West London. 

Picture credit: geograph.org.uk/Paul Gillett

Millicent Honeywood was the driving force behind the setting up of Steyning NADFAS (later to become The Arts Society Steyning). She was our first Chairwoman and later Honorary President and we all remain indebted to her vision and hard work.

NB: This is an evening lecture, with entry by ticket only. The lecture will start at 7:45. Doors open at 7:00 for complimentary wine or soft drink.

IN SIGHT OF THE DOWNS: SUSSEX, A CENTRE FOR 2OTH CENTURY BRITISH ART

Sussex has drawn artists to its rolling landscape and exciting coastline for over a thousand years; with Turner, Constable and Blake among the many inspired by, and working in, Sussex. The 20th century saw many leading British artists including Jacob Epstein, John Piper and Ivon Hitchens, living and working here with visitors such as Picasso and Dali. Rupert Toovey will explain how both Sussex and Steyning have been at the heart of British modern art.

This event is generously supported by Toovey’s Fine Art & Antique Auctioneers & Valuers

Tickets, £10 each, will be on sale to members and their bona fide guests at the May 15th lecture and June 12th lecture. Any remaining tickets after the June lecture will go on sale to the general public. Places are limited, and tickets will be sold on a first come, first served basis.

Picture credit: Rupert Toovey/Chichester Cathedral

In the spring of 1889 the young Edwin Lutyens, later to become the most famous British architect of the 20th century, met the artist-gardener-craftswoman Gertrude Jekyll for the first time at an afternoon tea-party in rural Surrey. She was a well-known eccentric, of whom her parents had despaired, and a generation older than the young man who communicated with the world through drawings and elaborate jokes.

Though Lutyens always found women difficult (his marriage was an enduring fiasco), he found in the daunting Miss Jekyll someone who empathised with his big ideas regarding design, detailing and distinctiveness. She opened social doors to him, and he brought her theories and experiments in garden-making onto the national stage.

Though they always maintained their independence from one another, their joint creations of house and garden became the talk of Edwardian society. His ever-ingenious geometry, soft-furnished by her colour-graded herbaceous borders, his superb textures of terrace and pergola lined and hung with her signature plantings, set a standard of excellence which has been admired ever since. Separately they were interesting, curious, isolated: together they proved irresistible.

Steven is an independent landscape consultant specialising in historic gardens and architecture since 1985; freelance lecturer, including Universities of Bristol and Oxford; specialist tour leader and lecturer in Britain, Ireland, France, Germany and Italy.  Writer and broadcaster on historic gardens and related topics. Steven's book Gardens of the Italian Lakes, with photography by Marianne Majerus, is published by Frances Lincoln. 

Picture credit: commons.wikipedia.org

This talk explores the role of Victorian Women through Pre-Raphaelite paintings. Idealised images of women are seen in stark contrast to the fallen woman epitomised by that daughter of Steyning: Fanny Cornforth.

Fanny’s relationship with Dante Gabriel Rossetti was as his muse and lover and her beauty transformed his art forever. Although he moved on to his Femme Fatale, Janey Morris, Fanny remained his companion until his death.

Daphne Lawson has an MA by Research and Thesis from the University of Canterbury on Degas’s Public and Private Spectacle and a BA in Art History from London University. Since 1994, until she retired two years ago, she was the full time Art History Lecturer for the BISC, Herstmonceux Castle. There, she taught Art History courses ranging from French Impressionism, European Romanticism and Pre-Raphaelite Painting to the survey programme spanning the period from Greek Sculpture to Contemporary British Art. 

Picture credit: commons.wikipedia.org 

In this talk we’ll examine the emergence of Pop Art in the Britain and the USA as a reaction to the dominance of Abstract Expressionism and the rise of consumer culture in the post-war period. We’ll look at both the celebratory and critical aspects of Pop Art. Here was a new art inspired by the popular artefacts generated by a new consumer culture of: cars, home appliances, comic books, the celebrity glamour of pop stars and film stars, science fiction, the junk we throw away, and the junk we eat: hamburgers and American pie.

Artists covered include Eduardo Paolozzi, Richard Hamilton, Peter Blake, Allen Jones, David Hockney, Pauline Boty, Robert Rauschenberg, Jasper Johns, Andy Warhol, Ray Lichtenstein, Marisol, Claes Oldenburg, Robert Indiana, James Rosenquist, and Tom Wesselman.

Colin Pink has a BA in Philosophy and Politics from the University of Southampton and a MA in the History of Art from Birkbeck, University of London. He specialises in the interrelationship between the history of ideas and the history of art and has lectured on aspects of modern art at a wide range of cultural organisations: Putney School of Art and Design; the Temenos Academy; APT Studios; Mascalls Gallery; the Museum of Futures, Surbiton; the Jerwood Gallery, Hastings and the De La Warr Pavilion, Bexhill-on-Sea. 

Picture credit: Flickr/Pierre Doyen

Jane Austen was a gifted social satirist.  Despite the fact that her novels are best known today as love stories, throughout her work she takes delight in lampooning human folly and vanity.  We know that Austen was inspired by satirical writings of the 18th century, but to what extent may she have been influenced by the satirical art of her day?

This lecture will explore links between the visual image and the written word; it will draw on a range of satirical prints published during Austen’s lifetime – including those by Thomas Rowlandson and James Gillray - and consider how far these visual images may have influenced and inspired one of our greatest and best loved novelists.

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 two 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. She is particularly interested in the material culture of writers’ lives, including the quirky and interesting; from the collar worn by Emily Bronte’s dog, Keeper, to William Wordsworth’s ice-skates. 

Picture credit: en.wikipedia.org

In the early 1900s, Lilian Baylis took charge of the Old Vic Theatre, then a Temperance Hall selling coffee and ginger beer, and was asked to put on entertainments for local working-class people. Using ginger beer crates for scenery, she staged opera, Shakespeare and ballet, leading her to create the English National Opera, Royal National Theatre and The Royal Ballet. This talk charts the achievement of Lilian Baylis and the stars she worked with.

Lilian Baylis, the supremely pragmatic manager of the Old Vic and Sadler’s Wells, is a theatrical enigma.  She is still remembered as a comic Cockney with a talent for devastating one-liners and frying supper for her employees in the wings. This talk covers new ground. Based on a collaboration with Zoë Anderson, ballet critic and writer, we’ve discovered another Lilian. A woman who constantly reinvented herself to keep her theatres going, she comes across as extraordinary as ever, but considerably more formidable…  

Sarah Lenton has spent her working life in the theatre: her principal employers are the Royal Opera House, English National Opera, Glyndebourne Festival Opera and Carsington Opera. She writes programme articles, radio and play scripts, gives lectures on the operas and ballets in the rep. and broadcasts regularly for BBC Radios 3 and 4. She is also a cartoonist.

Picture credit: lgbthistoryuk.org

The most influential art movement of the 20th century, according to many, will be explored in this lecture to reveal the true beauty of Cubist painting. The theory behind Cubism, its various phases and the different types of Cubist painting, collage and sculpture between c.1907-25 will be covered. The talk will be illustrated with art by Picasso, Braque, Léger and others.

Cubism can be confusing. Never truly popular, the most influential art movement of the Twentieth Century can sometimes appear difficult and strange. Is this because there is something inherently ‘unlovable’ about Cubism? Not at all! Cubism needs simply to be explained for its beauty to be appreciated. This lecture sets out clearly and succinctly the theory behind Cubism, its various phases and the different types of Cubist painting, collage and sculpture in the years c.1907-25. This is an accessible introduction to the subject, illustrated with artworks by the most famous Cubist artists - Picasso, Braque and Léger - and those lesser-known including some working in Britain.

Steven Barrett has a BA(Hons) in Fine Art, Liverpool School of Art; MA in History of Art, Birkbeck College, London. Lecturer at the National Gallery since 2004. Steven has lectured on the history of European art and architecture at Somerset House, taught courses on art and architecture at London colleges (The City Literary Institute and Bishopsgate Institute) and is a regular gallery and museum guide for U3A. Steven is also a painter

Picture credit: Flickr.com

Jewellery

The influence of the East on European jewellery pervades in all its aspects. This lecture looks at the gemstones that were traded and exported to Europe, such as pearls from the Indies in Roman times, and the gems in the Crown Jewels. There are rubies from Burma, sapphires from Kashmir and Ceylon and Imperial Jade from China. With these gemstones came influences on styles and the way that jewellery was worn. Some pieces were directly copied and at other times simple motifs were added to existing styles. Techniques too were learnt, such as the Japanese cloisonné enamelling used by the French jeweller Falize. This lecture aims to show the glamour of the East and how the West embraced and absorbed its myriad influences.

A Fellow of the Gemmological Society and a Fellow of the Institute of Registered Valuers. Having spent twenty-five years working for International Auction Houses preparing jewellery sales for London, Geneva & New York, she established her own valuation business in 2015. Patricia enjoys a role in teaching gemmology and jewellery history to newly qualified brokers within the insurance industry as well as lecturing to private associations and charitable groups.

Lucien Falize   Cloisonné enamelling             Picture credit: commons.wikimedia.org

History

In June 1520 Henry VIII and Francis 1 meet to ratify an Anglo-French alliance and celebrate the betrothal of Henry’s daughter Mary to the Dauphin. The two handsome ‘Renaissance Princes’ are in their 20s with similar reputations in military prowess, sport and patrons of the arts. Both have imperial ambitions and are eager to display themselves as magnificent nobleman and warrior kings. Each brings an entourage of 6,000 to a field south of Calais for 18 days of various events and entertainments staged to display the skill and splendour of each King and country. The logistics of transporting, accommodating, ordering, feeding and watering, protecting and entertaining the English contingent for this spectacular event is staggering and the supply chain, often through the City of London Guilds, is equally fascinating. 3,217 horses shipped across the ‘Narrow Sea’ to Calais; a vast quantity of wood sourced from Flanders and floated along the coast; a huge temporary palace is built on stone foundations with brick and timber-framed walls reaching to 40 feet. Royal palaces were virtually emptied of their silver, gold, tapestries and furniture to decorate the temporary palace, other principal tents and a chapel (with an organ); gold and silver cloth, velvet and sables, jewels and pearls were imported to ‘dress and impress’.

Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Painter-Stainers and Freeman of the City of London. Originally a trained singer, pianist and orchestra administrator, Jo is now a decorative artist who gilds antique lace and crochet, often combining with hand printing and painting. 

Jo trained in wood graining, marbling, gilding, specialist paint finishes and interior design and was awarded the City & Guilds Silver Medal for Excellence in 2000. She taught in further education for 8 years on Art & Design National Diploma and Foundation courses then up skilled at Central St Martin's College of Art & Design developing her own practice. She now divides her time as a designer/maker, lecturer and tutor running workshops for specialist groups.

Friedrich Bouterwek      Field of the Cloth of Gold       Picture credit: en.wikipedia.org

Theatre

Theatrical scene design is one of the world's most beautiful, varied and lively art forms. In his talk, Bertie looks at the relationship between actor and audience and how this transformed the space and architecture of theatre throughout the ages. Beginning with the Greeks and their remarkable innovations to pageants, masques, liturgical drama, through the science of perspective, to court theatre. A quick glance at Commedia dell'arte before entering the Elizabethan stage of the Globe and the Fortune and arriving at the Theatre Royal in Drury Lane. From great architects such as Inigo Jones and Frank Matcham, to practitioners such as Granville Barker and Gordon Craig and designers Cecil Beaton and Oliver Messel, Bertie brings to life the magical world of theatre.

Bertie has a BA (Hons) in Drama from Manchester University, and a Diploma Internationale from the École Internationale du Théatre, Jacques Lecoq. He is 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, he has toured the world with a magic cabaret show and a one man show entitled All Aboard. He has written articles for newspapers and magazines on entertainment and theatre.

 Theatre Royal, Drury Lane                         Picture credit: en.wikipedia.org

Painting

Raphael’s is one of the most famous names in art history, and until the late 19th century to emulate him was the goal for most artists succeeding him. Yet today he is not as well-known as this might suggest. Is this because his biography is less dramatic than Caravaggio’s? or his career less tormented than Michelangelo’s? or is it because his qualities are difficult to define - the elusive qualities of grace, harmony and idealised beauty.

This lecture asks, “what is the magic of Raphael?” It takes a fresh look at Raphael, exploring what he achieved, and looking, as if for the first time, at the beauty and grace of his work. It will examine his astonishing ability to grow and transform himself over the years of his career, and whose tragically early death leaves us wondering – had he lived, what would have come next?

Chantal 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 in London, Italy and America. Having also trained as a painting's conservator, she brings an understanding of the making and the physical painting to her lectures and study sessions.

 Raphael      Portrait of a Lady with a Unicorn          Picture credit:   commons.wikimedia.org

Music

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

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. 

Photo credit: Essex County Council.  Copyright the Artists estate.

Impressionism Painting

One of the finest collections of Impressionism anywhere in the world was assembled by the English industrialist and philanthropist Samuel Courtauld (1876-1947). During the 1920s, he acquired seminal works by all of the major Impressionists, at a time when Impressionism still struggled to gain acceptance among English public institutions. After a decade of collecting, Courtauld gave the majority of these remarkable works to establish The Courtauld Institute of Art and Gallery in London. This lecture will explore Courtauld’s collection and his role in promoting Impressionism in the United Kingdom.

Natalia Murray was born in St Petersburg where she gained BA and MA in Art History at the Academy of Fine Arts before taking the PhD course at the Hermitage Museum (conducting research on the XVII century Dutch paintings and British reproductive mezzotint engravings of XVII-XIX centuries, and their connection with the development of artistic tastes in Britain). In 2015 she has been awarded PhD at the Courtauld Institute of Art.

At present she is a visiting lecturer at the Courtauld Institute of Art and a senior freelance curator. In 2017 she curated a major exhibition Revolution. Russian Art. 1917-1932 at the Royal Academy of Arts in London and is currently working on exhibition of Malevich and Kandinsky in Paris.

Over the last five years she has taught at the Courtauld Institute of Art Summer and Spring School and presented study days and public lectures at the National Gallery, Royal Academy of Arts, V&A, Art Fund and Chelsea Art Club.

Paul Cézanne    Les joueurs de cartes                         Picture credit: www.flickr.com

This is a different lecture than that previously advertised due to the unavailability of the lecturer at short notice.

Painting

Constable once famously wrote in a letter to his closest friend, John Fisher, ‘I should paint my own places best’, and his own places largely consisted of the Suffolk countryside in which he grew up and which formed the subjects of his most famous and beloved images. It is less widely known that Constable was a formidable painter of the English coast, or that he toured the Lake District, produced portraits, depicted religious subjects and spent fifteen years working intermittently on a grand oil painting of London. This lecture looks at some of these lesser known, but often remarkable products of Constable’s career.

An exhibition of Constable's work, including local paintings of Brighton and Shoreham area was held at the Brighton Museum in 2017

Image: Wikipedia Commons           Shoreham Bay             

Barry gave us a well-received lecture on photography in November 2021 and we're pleased that he's been able to step in at short notice to replace the originally scheduled lecture.

He is a historian of British art with a particular interest in the work of JMW Turner, on whom he has published widely, including the volume on Turner in Phaidon's Art & Ideas series, and several catalogue essays for exhibitions in the UK, Germany, Italy and Poland. He was the BBC's script consultant on Turner's Fighting Temeraire and has recently taken part (2013) in a BBC documentary called The Genius of Turner: Painting the Industrial Revolution. He has also published a study of John Constable's paintings. His interests and his teaching extend from medieval architecture to contemporary British art. He is currently Associate Lecturer with the Open University and lecturing on a freelance basis for The Arts Society, Christie's Education and other organisations. 

Graphic Design

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.

Caroline has been aware of her close family ties to the sculptor and typographer Eric Gill, a fascinating but controversial character. In 2006, a family history project drew her into an exploration of the life and work of his younger brother. MacDonald 'Max' Gill was an architect, mural painter and graphic artist, famed for his humorous pictorial map posters for London Underground and the alphabet he designed for the British military headstone. Although her main profession has been English teaching, she now spends much of her time researching the Gill brothers and championing the work of the lesser known of the pair. 

Wonderground Map – detail             Picture credit: en.wikipedia.org

Art & Science

The National Gallery is home to one of the best collections of art in the world. Its incredible diversity allows you to progress through the history of art in a relatively small space. The gallery gives us the opportunity to discover the science behind fine art. How has scientific innovation changed the way we create art? From the development of perspective in the early Renaissance, to the evolution of different paint types. We will look at the genius of Leonardo da Vinci bringing original scientific knowledge into art. We will see how trade brought new copper minerals to Europe that would change the composition of paintings as seen in the work of Titian. Will explore the development of the landscape where artists experimented with optics and life like environments. The industrial revolution meant that science and innovation became the subject of art, with industrial scenes by Turner and Joseph Wright of Derby and the life like recreation of horse anatomy of George Stubbs. Finally, the 20th century brings modern chemistry that takes painting out of the studio and into the open air where we can see the impact of Impressionism.

Aaron is a professional scientist and researcher with the University of Cambridge and is an expert on fossils and prehistoric life from the first animals to appear on our planet to the evolution of early humans. He has published research on the origin of marine animals 480 million years to the Jurassic world. He has a passion for archaeology, history, architecture, and history of art. He gives lectures that encompass these subjects looking at the interface between the arts and sciences.

Leonardo da Vinci        The Vitruvian Man             Picture credit: commons.wikimedia.org

 Architecture 

A look at the variety of architectural styles adopted by the British during the period of the Empire in India for public and private buildings. These range from the neo-classical and Gothic revival to the so-called Indo-Saracenic and even the Art Deco. Looking at examples from Kolkata, Mumbai, New Delhi and elsewhere, we will also consider what the shifting approaches may tell us about British attitudes to the imperial project.

Prasannajit de Silva completed his doctorate in 2007, researching the art of the British in India during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. His lecturing covers British visual culture of the eighteenth, nineteenth, and early twentieth centuries, including art produced in various colonial settings. He is particularly interested in the relationship of aspects of art, architecture, and design to their broader cultural, social, and political contexts, and also teaches courses on the methods and theoretical approaches of art history. His current work includes roles as Associate Lecturer at Birkbeck, University of London and Sessional Lecturer for the WEA.

Victoria Memorial Hall, Kolkata             Picture credit: commons.wikimedia.org

Photography

In the nineteenth century, photography struggled for recognition as an artistic medium on a par with painting, but through its instantaneity, it's potential for mass reproduction and its sheer versatility it became the dominant visual medium of the early 20th century. This lecture considers a range of great images produced since 1900, by photographers as diverse as Cartier-Bresson, Weegee, Robert Capa, Garry Winogrand and Edward Burtynsky. The photographs were taken for different purposes, sometimes using different processes, some in colour and others in black and white, but they have one thing in common: they show us the world in novel and unexpected ways.

Barry is a historian of British art with a particular interest in the work of JMW Turner, on whom he has published widely, including the volume on Turner in Phaidon's Art & Ideas series, and several catalogue essays for exhibitions in the UK, Germany, Italy and Poland. He was the BBC's script consultant on Turner's Fighting Temeraire and has recently taken part (2013) in a BBC documentary called The Genius of Turner: Painting the Industrial Revolution. He has also published a study of John Constable's paintings. His interests and his teaching extend from medieval architecture to contemporary British art. He is currently Associate Lecturer with the Open University and lecturing on a freelance basis for The Arts Society, Christie's Education and other organisations.

Robert Capa at work.   Picture credit: it.wikipedia.org

Music

Patrick will explore the rich musical traditions of Venice. Claudio Monteverdi not only transformed the music at the Basilica of San Marco but also led the way in the creation of a new art form - opera. We shall look at and listen to works from the other musical geniuses who developed the musical life of San Marco such as Gabrieli and Lotti, as well as tracing Monteverdi’s successors in the creation of Venetian opera, including Cavalli and Albinoni. We shall also examine and hear music from Antonio Vivaldi, the other towering figure of Venetian music, who created music both for the opera stage and the female musicians of the Ospidale della Pietà.

 Patrick 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.

Portrait of a Musician                       Picture credit: ca.wikipedia.org

Painting

Second Empire Paris was the most fashionable capital in Europe, and this talk focuses on how the new artists of modernity, Baudelaire’s Painters of Modern Life, interpreted their rebuilt city. Caillebotte celebrated the structure of the new boulevards, while Monet masked their harsh lines with foliage and open-air sunshine. But Manet and Degas showed a darker reality beneath the glittering surface; the new Brasseries where casual prostitutes mingled with the unsuspecting bourgeois, and the more blatant Courtesans captured by Manet in Olympia and Dejeuner sur l’herbe. As Baudelaire put it, we are shown, “the thousands of uprooted lives that haunt the underworld of a great city.”

Daphne has an MA by Research and Thesis from the University of Canterbury on Degas’s Public and Private Spectacle and a BA in Art History from London University. Since 1994, until she retired two years ago, she was the full time Art History Lecturer for the BISC, Herstmonceux Castle, East Sussex, the European Campus of Queen’s University, Ontario, Canada. There, she taught Art History courses ranging from French Impressionism, European Romanticism and Pre-Raphaelite Painting to the survey programme spanning the period from Greek Sculpture to Contemporary British Art. She has also published a chapter on Van Gogh in 2014 in The Edinburgh Companion to the Bible and the Arts. Her first career was as an actress. She was trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama and worked in theatre, film and television as an actress until her thirties when she had three children. 

Edgar Degas: Ballerine blu    1893               Picture credit: Wikimedia Commons

Sculpture

Sculpture has the power to stop us in our tracks. It can be awe-inspiring, thought-provoking or fun and amusing. Many sculptures are imbued with historical and cultural reference; statues, for example, representing remarkable men and women of the past. Modern sculpture sees the world from different perspectives that may be perplexing or enlightening.

The UK’s national collection of sculpture is arguably the finest in the world and is being catalogued in a unique and ambitious project called Art UK. The lecture explores a range of works from across the country and recounts some of the fascinating stories behind them.

Mary gained an MA (Distinction) in Victorian Art and Literature at Royal Holloway, University of London. In 2007 started working part-time for the Public Catalogue Foundation, now called Art UK.  Accredited lecturer for The Arts Society and has given lectures all over the UK and in Europe. She is a volunteer guide at J.M.W. Turner’s House in Twickenham and Dorich House Museum in Kingston. Freeman of the Worshipful Company of Arts Scholars, one of the City of London livery companies.

Unknown artist:   Saint Matthew                 Picture credit: Lincoln College, University of Oxford/ArtUK

Gardens/Painting

In 1888 Gertrude Jekyll wrote a short but seminal article in The Garden in which she urged the readers to “remember that in a garden we are painting a picture”. As an accomplished watercolour artist, Miss Jekyll was familiar with the principles of using colours, but she felt that in gardens these principles “had been greatly neglected”. This talk looks at how to apply these principles in designing a border, but it also looks at the ways in which a border is different from a painting. However, it goes further than this and looks at how the contemporary work of the likes of Turner, Monet, Rothko, Jackson Pollack, and Hockney evolved in parallel with ideas about what a garden or border should look like.

Since 1986 Tim has given 1,500 public lectures. This was originally part of his work as director of the Oxford University Botanic Garden from 1988 to 2014. Botanic gardens are often described as living museums, and garden curators lecture about them in the same way as museum curators talk about their collections.

Since 1986 Tim has given 1,500 public lectures. This was originally part of his work as director of the Oxford University Botanic Garden from 1988 to 2014. Botanic gardens are often described as living museums, and garden curators lecture about them in the same way as museum curators talk about their collections. Since 2014 Tim has been a college lecturer and tutor at Somerville College Oxford. Gardens are often thought of a place where science and art meet on equal terms. His lectures investigate this relationship.

Picture credit: Pixabay

Painting

Eric Ravilious was only 39 when he died on active service as a war artist in 1942, yet he had already achieved amazing things. A brilliant wood engraver and designer, he is best known today for his haunting watercolours in which lighthouses, white horses, empty rooms and downland paths become marvels.

You can watch a video by James Russell of a major exhibition of his work at the Dulwich Picture Gallery here.

A wonderful video on his life and some of his local paintings can be seen here.

Over the past decade, James has explored many of these paintings in-depth, teasing out stories and characters hidden in the wings. This entertaining illustrated talk illuminates a playful, enigmatic artist's life and work, with plentiful examples of his work in watercolour, wood engraving, lithography, and ceramics. The paintings are a delight, the Ravilious story funny, sad and full of surprises. 

Having studied History at Pembroke College, Cambridge, James enjoyed a lengthy stint selling contemporary paintings and sculpture in Santa Fe, New Mexico, an experience that inspired him to begin writing and lecturing on 20th-century art. Of his dozen or so books, one was a Sunday Times book of the year, while his writing has been described by critics as 'insightful', 'informative' and 'enjoyably readable'. James has curated major exhibitions at Dulwich Picture Gallery and museums nationwide. He bases his lectures on wide-ranging original research into the subjects that fascinate him.

Eric Ravilious      Tea at Furlongs   1939                             Picture credit: Wikimedia Commons

Furniture & Modern Design

With major furniture commissions in 54 of the 68 Oxbridge colleges, countless museums, palaces, boardrooms and churches, you have probably sat on a Luke Hughes chair or around a boardroom table without knowing it.

Despite a scholarship to Peterhouse and subsequent History of Art and Chinese degree, Luke Hughes chose to become a furniture maker. But an accident climbing in the Himalayas necessitated a more intellectual approach that considered modern furniture design's true requirements.

He has since become a dominant figure in the British furniture world with his revolutionary mantra of "flexibility" and "practicality", not to mention the phrase "fine architecture is grossly undermined by bad furniture". This lecture shows what modern furniture requirements say about our society today and illustrates many of the fabulous commissions undertaken by Luke Hughes, many beyond public scrutiny.

Anthony has travelled much of the world, combining painting with tour lecturing - principally to American university students on bespoke tours. He spent six years as a consultant for Luke Hughes and travelled the country advising on prestigious buildings' furniture needs, including museums, palaces, schools, and cathedrals. Now based in London, Anthony spends much of his time lecturing and undertaking research while assisting at the British Museum with outreach events and visiting lecturers. 

                   Picture credit: www.lukehughes.co.uk   UK Supreme Court furniture    

Painting

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.

After nearly 20 years in the British army, Imogen went to the University of Kent to study Anglo-Saxon & Medieval History and Art, graduating with 1st class honours, followed by an MPhil from the University of Birmingham. She works as a freelance lecturer across Britain and Europe as well as lecturing on small cruise ships and running study tours and courses on land. She's written Stone on Stone: the Men Who Built the Cathedrals, published 2019. A Freeman of the City of London, being a Member of the Company of Communicators.

Albrecht Durer​​ Picture credit: Wikimedia Commons

Painting

Russia in the second half of the nineteenth century was a cultural powerhouse. The novelists (Tolstoy, Dostoevsky...) and composers (Mussorgsky, Tchaikovsky...) are well known. The painters are not. But the period saw a new realist school of art, the “Itinerants”, which broke violently with the earlier academicism and, in the run up to the revolutionary twentieth century, ruthlessly depicted and criticised Tsarist Russia with all its flaws. Tony Brenton takes a tour through itinerant art and its interactions with the vast, repressed and unruly Russia that it both loved and detested.

Tony Brenton is a distinguished British diplomat and commentator on public affairs issues. He served for over thirty years with the British Foreign Service, including postings in the Middle East, the European Union, Washington DC, and Russia. He was in charge of the British Embassy in Washington through the Iraq War, and was British Ambassador to Russia through a particularly tense time in UK/Russia relations. He has been a lead UK negotiator on such problems as global climate change and international energy and human rights issues. He has written a well-received book, The Greening of Machiavelli, on international environmental politics. On retirement from the Foreign Service he has settled in Cambridge, where he is a Fellow of Wolfson College and a Senior Fellow at the International studies Department. His book Historically Inevitable? on the Russian revolution was published in June 2016. He is also a regular commentator on international affairs on the BBC and in the press.

Ilya Repin:  Beggar (Fisher Girl) ... 1874  Picture credit: Wikimedia Commons

Art & Design

Zoom Lecture at 1030am

What happened to Art Nouveau?

Partly through British influence it metamorphosed into Art Deco - the style that defined the jazz era and the golden age of pre-war Hollywood musicals. Art Deco pervaded all forms of design in a way that Art Nouveau never did, and in this talk we look at all aspects of design, not just architecture, and examine the influences that made Art Deco the colourful style that is still influential today. We end with a round-up of some of the many surviving Art Deco buildings around the world.

Ian has had a very varied career, from designing underground railways as an engineer for London Transport, to appearing in pantomime with Julian Clary. In between he has worked in travel and tourism, music publishing, television, and especially the theatre, where he has been an actor, director, set designer, stage manager and opera translator. His main interests include architecture, history, transport and classical music, especially opera and operetta, and these are reflected in the wide ranging list of subjects for his lectures. He began giving lectures in 1997, and now gives on average around 140 a year. 

Picture credit: Jean-Luc Benazet on Unsplash

Cultural History

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 were 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 as well as human misery and environmental catastrophe 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 the Turkish middle name) and grew up in Ankara and war-torn Beirut. In 1998 he moved to Uzbekistan to work on a guidebook. He was adopted by a local family, fell in love with the place and people, and stayed. His book ‘A Carpet Ride to Khiva – Seven years on the Silk Road’ tells this story.

After his time in Uzbekistan, Chris then went on to live in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. A total of fifteen years in the region means Chris has travelled extensively, speaks fluent Uzbek and passable Kyrgyz, Tajik and Pamiri, and has also immersed himself in the history, culture and traditions of the region.

Dance

Since the birth of the earliest human civilisations, dance has been an important part of ceremony, rituals, celebrations, a method of healing and a means of expression and entertainment.

Using stills and video clips we take a look at dance as an art form from its earliest beginnings; through the birth and rapid development of ballet throughout Europe, the explosion of modern dance in the early 20th century a time of unprecedented creative growth for dancers and choreographers and with the growth of post-modernism from the 1960s the expansion of street dance, hip-hop, break dancing and rock dance.

Jennifer Toynbee-Holmes is an experienced guide at Tate Britain and Tate Modern and lectures at various art societies and institutions. She has a special interest in British and European art of the late 18th, 19th and early 20th century. 

Having gained an MA in film and television practice, Jennifer had a long-standing career spanning twenty years as a television producer/director making documentaries and factual programmes for the BBC, ITV and Channel 4. She was also a visiting lecturer at Goldsmiths College and Birkbeck, University of London and a senior lecturer at Southampton Solent University in the Faculty of Media, Arts and Society. 

Egyptolgy & Travel

Writer, artist, musician, collector, Amelia Edwards tells, and is, a remarkable story. In 1873, she travelled the length of Egypt and drew, and recorded, her impressions of all she saw; publishing A Thousand Miles up the Nile to great acclaim. From Dervish dancers in Cairo, to a midnight arrival at Abu Simbel, she carried her readers with her in engaging descriptions and evocative engravings.

Using extracts from the book and her original watercolours, as well as illustrations by her contemporaries, we will follow her on her remarkable journey. 

Clive studied Egyptology at Cambridge. Has lectured to Probus, the Rotary Club, U3A, the City Literary Institute and the Guildford Institute of the University of Surrey. Has for thirty years been a teacher in secondary education. Member of the Egypt Exploration Society, being awarded an EES Scholarship to the Saqqara Expedition of 1964-5.

Painting

How should we look at animals? – one of the eternal questions intriguing artists. Are they our friends and servants, to be depicted for their beauty, and for the credit they reflect on their owners? Or are they brute beasts, represented to remind us of the threat they may pose?

Most important, are they really so different from us? From the animal-headed gods of the Egyptians to the sinister hybrids of BritArt, by way of Botticelli’s centaur, Rubens’ tiger hunts, Stubbs’ race-horses, Goya’s bullfights, Turner’s whales, Landseer’s dogs, Seurat’s circus, Picasso’s Minotaur and Hockney's cat Percy, this talk looks at what artists, in portraying animals, have been trying to tell us about ourselves.

Susie is writer, editor and lecturer, specialising in 20th century culture and the arts. Has published eight books on subjects including official war art, opera and the composer Elisabeth Lutyens. The most recent is the biography of Sir Nikolaus Pevsner, published in August 2011. She has lectured to a range of audiences, from the Imperial War Museum and British Museum to the Twentieth Century Society and the RSA, most recently at the Cheltenham and Bridport Literary Festivals and the Victorian Society.

Architecture

 A look at the astonishing flowering of this highly decorative style that flourished briefly around 1900.  Art Nouveau arose, initially in Belgium and France, as a reaction against Victorian historicism and the so-called “battle of the styles”. 

It was the emergence in the 19th century of iron as a building material that allowed for the creation of new forms of architecture.  In a search for these new forms, architects such as Victor Horta and Hector Guimard turned to nature for their inspiration, having been influenced by Britain’s Arts and Crafts movement and the ideas of William Morris.

Here's a link to some wonderful Parisian Art Nouveau Metro Stations

Ian Gledhill has had a very varied career, from designing underground railways as an engineer for London Transport, to appearing in pantomime with Julian Clary. In between he has worked in travel and tourism, music publishing, television, and especially the theatre, where he has been an actor, director, set designer, stage manager and opera translator. His main interests include architecture, history, transport and classical music, especially opera and operetta, and these are reflected in the wide ranging list of subjects for his lectures. He began giving lectures in 1997, and now gives on average around 140 a year. 

Painting/Music

Gustav Klimt broke away from the imperially endorsed art institutions in Vienna in 1897 and founded The Secession - the same year that Gustav Mahler took charge of the Opera House in the city.  Comparing these two totemic fin de siecle talents, we place Klimt and Mahler in context, asking what fundamentally links and indeed, divides them.

Gavin is a writer and broadcaster, appearing on BBC Radio 3, BBC Radio 4 and contributing to newspapers, magazines and opera and concert programmes worldwide. He lectures widely about the culture of Central Europe during the 19th and 20th centuries.

Rene Lalique was the 20th century’s greatest glass designer and entrepreneur and this talk is a visual feast, covering his early work in jewels and furniture before he dedicated the remainder of his life, c1905-45, to glass.

Mr McConnell has dealt in antiques since adolescence and runs Britain’s largest antique and vintage glass gallery in Rye, Sussex. He may be familiar to you as the glass specialist in the BBC’s Antiques Road Show.

Andy has written several books about glass including The Decanter: An Illustrated History of Glass from 1650 and 20th Century Glass, which covers the more recent past. He is currently researching a new book about Swedish glass. Andy lectures widely and writes for journals as diverse as The Times, Country Life, and Glass Circle News. His passion for his subject is reflected in his personal collection of over 30,000 pieces of glass.

Our Annual YOUNG ARTS PRIZE WINNERS PRESENTATION will take place at 1030

followed by Howard Smith's talk.

GPO Film Unit

The birth of documentary films in the 1930's with clips from Victorian and Edwardian films, through the experimental Soviet era to the 129 films produced by the GPO Film Unit in seven years, including 'Night Mail' with poetry by WH Auden and music by Benjamin Briitten.

Born during the Second World War, Howard was educated in Scotland and gained an MA from Trinity College, Dublin. In the 1960s he worked for UK and International Advertising Agencies before starting his own marketing and print company in Canterbury. 

His lectures mainly cover an extraordinary thirty year period which saw immense change, ingenuity and creativity and set the theme of 'Graphic Icons of the Twentieth Century'.

RICHARD CUPIDI

American-born and Brighton-based, Richard Cupidi is an experienced art historian, educator and professional storyteller specialising in American art and artists of the 20th century, art of the early Renaissance, Native American art and culture, and the magic of cinema.

He has taught, performed and run workshops in a range of settings including the Tate Modern, Goldsmiths, Brighton Festival, Lighthouse, Kings College, BBC World Service, Sussex University, Combination Theatre, Towner Gallery and the Barbican. As a highly skilled storyteller, Richard has the ability to make his topics come alive, to entertain as well as inform.

Georgia O'Keeffe

One of America's most popular artists with an international reputation. She is best known for her dramatic, and sometimes controversial pictures of flowers. She was, in every sense a pioneering artist - female, talented, independant and willing to to look beyond outward appearances. With her unique visions of both city and desert, she transformed the infinitely smalland large into landscapes of exuberant colour and unexpected forms.

ANNE ANDERSON

Anne graduated in Art History and Archaeology from Leicester University in 1978 and worked as an archaeologist for 8 years, being elected to the Society of Antiquaries in 1997. From 1993 -2007 Anne was senior lecturer on the Fine Arts Valuation degree courses at Southampton Solent University, specialising in the Aesthetic Movement, Arts & Crafts, Art Nouveau and Modernism.

She has published books on Roman pottery, Art Deco teapots and Edward Burne Jones. A lecturer for The Arts Society since 1993, Anne toured Australia in 2000, 2006, 2009 and has lectured on cruises. Her television credits include BBC's Flog It!

This lecture will go below the surface of Pre-Raphaelite paintings, to reveal not only the symbols but also the stories, the tales of Chivalric love drawn from the Morte D’Arthur, Shakespeare and Dante that spilled over into real life. With their Stunners and femme fatales the Pre-Raphaelites hold us enthralled. We are hooked by their personal melodramas as well as their ravishing paintings. 

JANET CANETTY-CLARKE

For over 35 years, until their closure in 2012, Janet was a lecturer in music for the Centre for Community Engagement at Sussex University and for London University at Birkbeck College. She now gives individual lectures and study weekends for Cambridge University.  She was Musical Director and Conductor of the Ditchling Choral Society for 37 years and has been made their Conductor Emeritus.  She was Guest Conductor of The Frauen Kammerorchester von Osterreich in Vienna for over 16 years.

Today she will speak about Igor Stravinsky who was inspired by the eight oil paintings of William Hogarth (1733-4) to create his own full length opera in English.

Dazzled by the impact of Impressionism, it is easy to overlook the stunning achievements of Nordic painters during the 19th century. From the national romanticism of Norway's Adolf Tidermand and Hans Gude, to the mythical landscapes of Finland's Pekka Halonin and the impressionistic, moody interiors of Norway's best known female painter, Harriet Backer, we discover the unique cultural identity, forged in part from a battle against the elements, social deprivation, political power and provincialism.

A senior modern languages teacher for many years, Brian has also enjoyed a successful parallel career since the 1980s as a professional artist and interior designer. Since 2006 he has been regularly appointed to a number of prestigious ocean and river cruise lines, either as resident artist, guest lecturer on art history or as destination speaker for more than forty countries. Most recently this work has successfully extended to art guiding through important towns and museums in France, Belgium, Holland and Spain. 

Dame Zaha Hadid died on March 31st 2016 at the age of 65. One of the most important architects of the early 21st Century. She was born in Iraq and her reputation was global but she made her home in Britain. We will hear the story of her career from the visionary projects of the 1980s, through the years of frustration when her designs were considered unbuildable, to the prolific crop of successful projects built all over the world in the last decade of her life. 

Our AGM takes place today at 1030

which will be followed by James Taylor's talk 'MASTERS of the SEA'.

Highlights of Maritime Art from 17th Century to the present day. Introduces the subjects, themes and styles of maritime painting and focuses on the development of the genre in Britain. See dramatic sea battles, ship portraits, ports and harbours, fishing, Captain James Cook and Vice Admiral Nelson, royal yachts and races, clipper ships and ocean liners as well as official war artists. The historic buildings of the National Maritime Museum are also featured.

"I put all my genius into my life: I put only my talent into my works" 

Examine the public and private life of the world's most original and contoversial poet and playwright.

Oscar Fingal O'Flaherty Wilde was an Irish poet and playwright. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s he became one of London's most popular playwrights in the 1890s.

He is best remembered for his epigrams and plays and his novel 'The Picture of Dorian Gray' and the circumstances of his imprisonment and early death.

​Johann Sebastian BACH (1685 - 1759)

Music lovers generally regard JS Bach as the greatest of early 18th century composers. In fact, he is so important in the history of music that we close down the Baroque period with his death in 1750.  However, Bach is also one of the most challenging of composers and rarely reveals the subtleties of his music on first or even second hearing, causing some of his listeners to feel distanced from many of the finer moments in his output.  This lecture goes beneath the surface of Bach’s music to decode some of his musical symbolism, to reveal some of his working methods and to highlight some of his aesthetic goals.

Antony Penrose.   Film maker, Photographer, Artist and Author

The relationship between Lee Miller and Picasso began during the enchanted summer holidays they shared in the Cote d'Azur and lasted until his death in 1973.  Picasso painted 6 portraits of Lee Miller and she photographed him more than 1000 times.

She was a frequent visitor to his home in post war years accompanying Roland Penrose on his many research trips whilst he was writing his biography of the artist 'Picasso His Life and Work'.

This story is told mainly using Lee Miller's own photographs and contains a brief biography of her and Roland Penrose.

Artists Frida Kahlo (1907-1954) and Diego Rivera (1886-1957) have iconic status in Mexico. Rivera’s vast murals adorn the walls of public buildings. Inspired by early Italian fresco painting, and also by Aztec and Maya imagery, his visual narratives incorporate allegory and symbolism. Kahlo, arguably Mexico’s most original painter, made herself the principal theme of her art. Her paintings reflect her experiences, dreams, hopes and fears. Both artists, in their different ways, have shaped the cultural identity of twentieth-century Mexico. In June 2018, Kahlo's clothing will go on show at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

Chloë Sayer is an author and curator, specialising in the art and culture of Latin America. She has made ethnographic collections for the British Museum, and is a Research Associate with the Department for World Cultures at the Royal Ontario Museum. In 2016, the Mexican Government awarded Chloë the Ohtli medal to thank her for her commitment to Mexican culture. 

Foreigners in London 1520 – 1677: The Artists that Changed the Course of British Art

Why were foreigner painters preferred by the aristocracy in London to native-born English painters, why did foreigners come in the first place, what was their motivation, and what was the impact of foreigners in London on English art and art practise?
The lecture will look at the various formats and uses of art, tracing foreign artists from the Tudor period through to the Renaissance and Baroque, looking at their origins and how they came to work in England. It will examine the contributions of artists such as Holbein, Gerrit van Honthorst, Marcus Gheeraerts the younger, Lucas and Susanna Horenbout, Isaac Oliver, Paulus van Somer, van Dyck, Peter Lely, and Rubens. This lecture will look at how these artists influenced the British School of painting and assess their legacy.

Modernist Living in Mid 20th Century London.

This is the story of a ground-breaking building,

and of the rich and complex lives of its residents. 

The setting is the Lawn Road Flats, a startling Modernist block in a leafy road in North London.  It offered a new housing concept for young professionals: small serviced flats with a communal restaurant and popular club. 

The cast of characters includes Walter Gropius and Marcel Breuer, refugees from the Bauhaus in Germany, the sculptors Henry Moore and Barbara Hepworth, writers such as Nicholas Monsarrat and Agatha Christie, intellectuals, civil servants – and a clutch of Soviet agents.

Sir Stamford Raffles

Art Collector and Discoverer of Singapore

Raffles, whose name is synonymous with a luxury hotel rather than the greatest Buddhist temple in the world, was the enlightened colonal administrator of Java, Indonesia. In 1804 he discovered the 8th century temple of Borobudur, hidden under volcanic ash, acquired wondrous artefacts such as shadow puppets and textiles, now in the British Museum, and founded Singapore, the most important trading port in the East.

This lecture tells the story of Raffles, a scholar and polymath, looks at the art objects he collected, reveals the mystical temple in Java and its radiant carvings, and shows the architectural heritage of Singapore, inspired by his vision, and its revival today as innovative art galleries and museums.

“

Robert specialises in the domestic and social life of the past. He is the author of the best-selling Life in Medieval England for Pitkin and of a series of popular histories of places, including Chawton: Jane Austen’s Village. His most recent book – perhaps his greatest challenge to date – is Basingstoke and its Contribution to World Culture.

Rupert has published numerous articles, contributes regular obituaries to The Daily Telegraph, writes histories of houses, occasionally broadcasts to the nation and is an experienced lecturer, whose repertoire ranges from the life and personalities of the Middle Ages to the world of Jane

 its Contribution to World Culture.

One of the most derided towns in England, renowned for its dullness, Basingstoke is distinguished only by its numerous roundabouts and absurd Modernist architecture. Rupert explains that the post-war planners, who inflicted such features as ‘the Great Wall of Basingstoke’ on the town, were politically-motivated and bent on destroying all traces of its past. He reveals the nobler Basingstoke that is buried beneath the concrete, and the few historic gems that have survived the holocaust. Hilariously told, it is a story that neatly illustrates the ugliest episode in England’s architectural history. As Betjeman wrote prophetically, ‘What goes for Basingstoke goes for most English towns’

Who does the housework? Who gets the glory? Successful artists tend to be driven and, dare one say it, egotistical, so what happens when two of them set up home together? Focusing on 20th century British art, this colourful lecture explores the lives and careers of notable artist couples, including Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant, Eric Ravilious and Tirzah Garwood, and Julian Trevelyan and Mary Fedden. It will quickly become clear that, where artists are concerned, there are few rules. The private lives of artist couples are often startling and never dull, and the paintings and sculpture on show here are glorious. (S)

Horace Walpole

and the creation of

Strawberry Hill

The media promote an image of suave and sophisticated gentlemen art thieves operating in heists with beautiful paintings, elegant locations and connotations of en exotic millionaire lifestyle. The reality is that the art thief is no aristocrat. Stealing fine art and antiques affords criminals with a high value commodity, often poorly protected, that can transcend national or international boundaries and reach those eager to deal with the discreditable and unsuspecting. Using fascinating actual case studies the lecture examines the trail and Repatriation of stolen art.

Malcolm Kenwood

Former specialist police detective investigating art and antique crime and was recoveries director for the Artloss Register. His company has created training courses to prevent and detect art crime. Has lectured to police and customs officers, museum and auction house staff, Interpol, the FBI and specialist interest groups.

Paintings in the National Gallery 

A child of six could do it

The American west in the 19th Century 

Fire, restoration and the Queen

In celebration of her 200th anniversary 

A journey through London's stations: Revelling in London's architecture 

At Chateau de Malmaison

The art of Piero Della Francesca: in celebration of his 600th anniversary

17th and 18th Century Art in the Guilhall Gallery

Sculptures in the Acropolis Museum in Athens.