Niven's remarkable life and career in cinema is explored, with an examination of his enduring place in public affection. Rising from studio extra to Hollywood leading man, although Niven remained characteristically modest about his abilities they were in fact considerable, as this lecture demonstrates. Particular attention is paid to his military film roles, and insights are offered into his writings, and the huge range of his wartime activities. From his personification of an ideal young subaltern in The Way Ahead, to the reality of being a Lt.-Colonel on Eisenhower’s staff, there was much more to this unique actor than a moustache and a smile.  Richard will bring original film stills, magazines and other memorabilia to the lecture.

Biography:

Richard took a BA Hons in English Language and Literature from the University of Manchester, followed by an acting diploma at the Birmingham School of Speech and Drama. He combines acting, writing and lecturing. He has lectured in many venues including the National Army Museum and the Museum of London, as well as presenting a variety of virtual lectures online. Richard has contributed to, among others, The Journal of Popular Film and Television, The Sherlock Holmes Journal, and the P G Wodehouse journal Wooster Sauce. A specialist in voice work, he has narrated numerous television documentaries and 180 audiobooks.

Winston Churchill is best remembered for his political career. However, he was a prolific painter who not only painted in his quiet moments at home but took his brushes with him when he  travelled on political business. This lecture examines why, how and when Churchill began painting. We will meet some of the individuals who helped to hone his skills and we will study how painting became a lifelong passion and helped give him peace of mind.

Biography:

Angela is a freelance art historian. She studied Art History at Leicester University and holds a PhD in cultural history from the Warburg Institute, London University. She spent more than a decade teaching for Leicester University. She has led many tours in Spain, and has lectured for several cruise lines. Angela has written articles and reviews on a wide range of subjects and has written a number of books, including a Timeline of Art History and a volume on the building accounts of Corpus Christi College, Oxford. She has recently completed a diploma in genealogy.

The definitive lecture on Britain’s favourite artist, by the author and lecturer who knows him best. Jacky has written the authoritative monograph on Grayson’s work, a bestselling book now in its third edition and covering the artist’s life and work, his loves and artistic inspirations, from his earliest student projects of the 1980s to his very latest work. She has been a close collaborator of Perry’s for more than a decade, interviewing him numerous times and enjoying exclusive access to his archive, and in this talk she reveals his techniques and sources, his favourite themes and subjects, and the diverse artworks he has produced across ceramics, tapestry, print-making, sculpture and architecture. How did Perry, almost unknown until his mid-40s when he unexpectedly won the Turner Prize, come to be Britain’s favourite artist since David Hockney and Lucian Freud? And where might this peculiarly British National Treasure be going next? 

Biography:

Jacky Klein is an art historian, publisher, writer and broadcaster, specialising in modern and contemporary art. After studying at Oxford University and the Courtauld Institute of Art in London, she worked as a curator at a number of leading galleries: Tate, the Barbican, the Courtauld and the Hayward. In 2008, she moved sideways into the world of art publishing, first as Commissioning Editor at Thames & Hudson, then as Executive Editor at Tate Publishing and subsequently as Director of HENI Publishing, a small independent arts publisher. She is the author herself of a bestselling book on British artist Grayson Perry (Thames & Hudson, 3rd edition 2020) and co-author of a number of other titles including Alfred Cohen: An American Artist in Europe (Ben Uri Gallery / Alfred Cohen Art Foundation, 2020), Body of Art (Phaidon, 2015) and What is Contemporary Art?  (Thames & Hudson, 2012), a children's guide to the Museum of Modern Art, New York, which has been translated into 11 languages.  Jacky has presented and contributed to a range of television programmes for the BBC, and is a regular contributor to BBC Radio 4's arts review programme, 'Front Row'. She has appeared on Channel 5, the Travel Channel and Bloomberg TV, and has written and presented a number of online films and livestreams for Tate, Christie's and the Art Fund. She regularly delivers digital talks including Zoom lectures, ‘Instagram Live’ events and Crowdcast broadcasts which have reached live audiences of many thousands of people across the world. An experienced lecturer in museums, galleries and at literary festivals, she has taught at a number of arts institutions including University College London, Christie’s Education, the Victoria & Albert Museum and the Royal Academy of Arts. A public and passionate advocate for the arts, she was a Trustee of the UK Association for Art History from 2013-2023, and was most recently Associate Lecturer at the Courtauld Institute on their Masters programme, 'Curating the Art Museum'. She is currently based between London and Tel Aviv.

This lecture looks at the life and work of Sir Godfrey Kneller (1646-1723), the leading portraitist of Stuart and early Georgian England. His ambition was only exceeded by his productivity: there are stories of as many as fourteen sitters in a single day and that at his death, three hundred years ago, there were 500 unfinished portraits in his studio. Such reliance on assistants produced many rather indifferent works and in 1815 James Northcote dismissed the majority of Kneller’s portraits as ‘hasty slobbers…scarcely fit to be seen’. But the sheer volume of work should not taint our opinion of a painter who produced portraits of seven successive British monarchs, arguably the definitive portraits of Isaac Newton and Christopher Wren, the Kit Kat portraits and the Hampton Court Beauties. Kneller’s achievement as a painter was actually quite remarkable.

Biography:

Alan has a masters and first-class honours degree in History of Art from Birkbeck College, University of London. He is a gallery guide at Tate Britain and regularly lectures at both London Tates. For twenty years he was a gallery guide and lecturer at the National Portrait Gallery and the Dulwich Picture Gallery. He also works as a London Blue Badge Guide.

Robert Keable was a famous novelist in the 1920s who is virtually unknown today. His first novel Simon Called Peter, about a WW1 chaplain's affair with a nurse, shocked many, was name checked in The Great Gatsby, and became a huge international best seller. What no one knew at the time was it was semi-autobiographical. His grandson tells the extraordinary story of the book and of the author's life. Robert Keable was a Cambridge educated priest who served as a missionary in Africa, before becoming chaplain to ill-treated black labourers in France. After the war he left the church, and his wife, and ran away to Tahiti with his mistress to live for a year in Paul Gauguin’s house. He stayed in Tahiti, built his own house, continued writing and married a Tahitian princess.

Biography:

A graduate of Durham University, Simon was Head of Politics and Director of Model United Nations at Royal Russell School for 25 years. He now works as a writer, researcher, and lecturer. His first book Utterly Immoral, Robert Keable and his scandalous novel was published in November 2022, and he had also written articles for The Church Times, The History News Network, The Beresford Family Society Magazine, The Journal of the Society for Army Historical Research (to be published next year) and Genealogy Today. He is a regular speaker at events run by Western Front Associations, U3As and Family History Societies. 

The great Venetian artist Canaletto spent ten years living in London producing wonderful landscapes of the city and its surrounds. In this lecture, we explore his time in the capital and look at how his style changed during his long visit.  We look at some of the work he produced and explore how the views he captured have changed over the centuries. 

Biography:

Nick Salmond is a London Blue Badge Guide and a lecturer in History and the Arts. He qualified as a London Blue Badge Guide in 2019, winning the award as Guide of the Year. In 2021 he gave the annual Katrine Prince Lecture to members of the Institute of Tourist Guiding. Before guiding he joined the BBC where he worked for over 30 years in both television and radio. He helped cover some of the great events of History, from the fall of the Berlin Wall to the terrible events of 9/11, from the fall of the Thatcher Government to the celebrations of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.

The Trojan war is the central myth of the Greek tradition, and the tale has influenced art and literature down the ages. When was the ancient city of Troy first identified by archaeologists and what do we know about it? Was there really a Trojan War fought over a kidnapped Greek queen? How has the city of Troy been depicted in art and literature ever since? Why does the city and its story continue to cast such a spell in every generation, even so far as inspiring acclaimed theatrical performances by Syrian refugee women in our own times? 

James Renshaw - Biography:

Following a degree in Classics from Oxford University, I have taught Classics at secondary school level since 1998, and currently teach at Godolphin and Latymer in London; here I run the school’s Ancient World Breakfast Club, which has an ethos similar to that of The Arts Society.  Since 1998, I have published a number of textbooks related to the classical world, including In Search of the Greeks and In Search of the Romans. In addition to my school teaching, I have also lectured for the V&A Academy, most recently on their Classical World and its Afterlife and Classicism from the Ancients to the Renaissance courses. I am a keen traveller, and am lucky enough to have taken many photos of ancient sites, a number of which have been used in my books.

A fascinating look at the courtly ceremonial splendour and function of furniture of the post-Restoration period, with reference not just to its design, construction and decoration but also to its upholstery –frequently more expensive than the furniture itself. At its best, the decoration of furniture in this period - inspired by advanced French taste in particular and the Baroque generally - is successfully integrated with the exciting form it assumed under the ever-developing skill of remarkable craftsmen; at its worst, its “intolerable luxury and huge expense” led to vulgarity and bad taste! Unique close-ups of the upholstered State furniture from Knole and elsewhere – a visual ‘wow’ factor- are included in this lecture.

Biography:

Freelance lecturer and researcher in English furniture history and also an antique dealer.

Before The Nutcracker became everybody's favourite Christmas ballet, it was staged in Tsarist Russia.  With reference to the glorious history of the Imperial Ballet company in St. Petersburg, this lecture discusses how Tchaikovsky came to write his magical score and Petipa created its choreography, and also tells the story of the dancers who created the leading roles.  It also explores Tchaikovsky's role in transforming classical ballet into the vibrant art form it is today.

Biography:

Rosamund Bartlett is a writer, lecturer and translator whose work ranges across the arts, and across the cultures of Europe, from Italy to Norway.  She began her career as an academic in Slavic studies after completing her doctorate at Oxford, and has held fellowships both in the UK and at the European University Institute in Florence.  In 2024 she became a Royal Literary Fund Fellow at Brasenose College, Oxford. 

The author of several books, including biographies of Chekhov and Tolstoy, and a study of Wagner's influence in Russia, she is also well known as a translator - her publications include acclaimed editions of Anna Karenina and Chekhov's stories for Oxford World’s Classics.  She has written on music and literature for institutions including the Royal Opera House, the National Theatre and the Salzburg Festival, and about art for Apollo and The Burlington Magazine.  She is currently writing a book about the revolution in the arts which took place in early 20th-century Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kyiv and Odesa, and its connection to modernist developments in Paris, Munich and Milan. 

She has led art, architecture, design and music tours throughout Europe, and contributes regularly to Proms events and opera broadcasts on the BBC. Her lecturing work has taken her from the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford where she lives, to the V&A in London, and to the Art Gallery of New South Wales in Sydney.  

Although very influential in English painting, Walter Sickert’s art is sometimes difficult to appreciate. I look at his background as pupil of Whistler, his friendship with Degas and the development of his unique style. I present his superb paintings of the Victorian music halls, of Venice and his Camden Town nudes. A truly international figure, Sickert moved between London, Paris, Dieppe and Venice. However in 1905 he settled in London and collected around him a group of young artists called the Camden Town Group – Spencer Gore, Harold Gilman, Charles Ginner, Malcolm Drummond, Robert Bevan and William Ratcliffe. Their colourful paintings of London life before 1914 including street scenes, theatres, restaurants, nudes in interiors and even the railways form the basis of this lecture.

Biography:

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

With a façade more than twice the length of Buckingham Palace and some of the finest 18th century rooms anywhere, Wentworth Woodhouse, seat of the Marquesses of Rockingham and then of the Earls Fitzwilliam, is being awaken from more than half a century of slumber. The history and architecture of the house are laid out alongside the story of the warring families that built and owned it – a story of political execution, madness, child-substitution, socialist vindictiveness, royal visits…and badminton. 

The venue for the lecture is Duke Street Church, Richmond TW9 1DH, drinks from 6.45pm, one-hour lecture at 7.30pm. Non-members are very welcome, £5 on the door, no ticket needed. We will send members the Zoom link a few days before the lecture. If you not a member and would like to watch the lecture on Zoom, please go to https://tixoom.app/theartssociety/jevagn4v

Biography:

Studied English at Birmingham University and taught for several years before joining the Countryside Commission as Co-ordinator of its National Parks Campaign. Worked for the Central Office of Information in Leeds before setting up own public relations company. Author of 'Up to a Point - in search of pyramids in Britain and Ireland' and has written and contributed to several books for the AA. Has written for BBC Countryfile Magazine and English Heritage magazine.  He is chairman of Ripon Civic Society and lectures on architectural and related subjects on cruise ships and on dry land.

Examining E H Shepard's artistic journey through the First World War from jocular cartoons in Punch as a civilian, to dark and impactful images of death and destruction on the western front, and how his own artistic style and approach changed and was influenced by the conflict. It shows a range of cartoons, drawings, watercolours, annotated maps and guides for the Intelligence Corps, as well as commercial work for the home market. We see a transition towards the simple economy of line and expression which is exemplified by the Winnie-the-Pooh illustrations started shortly after the end of the conflict. An individual and personal record of the 'war to end all wars'.

Biography:

James Campbell has a BA in History and an MA in the History of Art and a particular interest in the work of the artist, illustrator and cartoonist E H Shepard (1879-1976). He has been lecturing for over twenty years, and has lectured across the UK and overseas to Literary Festivals, Art Societies, military museums, and to private clubs and community groups. He has been a Trustee of the E H Shepard Estate since 2010, as was involved in the ground-breaking Victoria and Albert Museum 2017 Exhibition marking the 90th birthday of Winnie-the-Pooh.  His books Shepard’s War and The Art of Winnie-the-Pooh were published in 2015 and 2017 respectively. His new joint biography of A A Milne and E H Shepard - The Men Who Created Winne-the-Pooh: The Lives of A A Milne and E H Shepard - commissioned for the centenary of the Winnie-the-Pooh books will be published in September 2024 by Michael O'Mara Books.  James Campbell actively supports Societies wishing to use his lectures to attract visitors and potential new members  - with increasing

So many portraits of artists’ fathers show them sitting still, wearing dark suits and reading a newspaper. But further research reveals broader aspects of how artists have viewed their parent – not always with filial affection. 

Biography:

Juliet studied History of Art at London University. For thirty years she lived in France where she became a lecturer on art and architecture in the Midi-Pyrenees area and gained a Masters degree in English Literature at Toulouse University. She has devised and led art study tours in some seven areas of France. As a writer, she has published many books - folktales, fiction and art - of which her History of Western Painting for Young People was translated into twelve languages. Returned to England she continues to write and hosts informal art history classes as well as lecturing widely for organisations including The Arts Society and the Ashmolean Museum. Her most recent book is Van Gogh: A Life in Places which led her to take part in the television series Art on the BBC.

Public Art is a contentious subject. It is the most visible art form and therefore is an easy target. But how do they come to appear in our public spaces? This lecture tracks the development of public art over the last century and looks at various examples to see why are some loved and others loathed. It also explains the process of procurement from the initial commissioning to the production and installation. Drawing from his own experience and using case studies Arts Society lecturer David Worthington will take us through this process and try to show why we are all richer with the presence of art on the streets.

Profile

David Worthington has been drawn to abstract sculpture since seeing a Barbara Hepworth in a school history book aged 10. He graduated from Oxford University in 1984 with a degree in Philosophy and Theology, then studied fine art in London, Barcelona and New York. A maker he also curates and writes about art. He was shortlisted for the Jerwood Sculpture Prize in 2009. David is a Fellow of The Royal Society of Sculptors, and was Vice President in 2010-13. He has carried out public commissions in the UK, America and Japan. His work is in the museum the Creative Cities Collection Beijing China. He has had solo shows at the Lefevre Gallery, Sladers Yard, Horatio’s Garden, the William Bennington Gallery, the Glyndebourne Festival Opera, and in October 2017 at the Lightbox Gallery Museum, Woking. He took part in exhibitions at Colyer Bristow Gallery and Contemporary Sculpture at Fulmer 2018.

Combs survive in abundance from the Middle Ages. The majority, carved from bone or wood, were practical objects used to remove unwelcome tangles and lice, and arrange the hair, but others, fashioned from ivory and ornamented with decoration and intricate narratives, performed more elevated roles. Ivory combs decorated with scenes of courtly love and chivalry were exchanged as gifts by wealthy lovers, to beguile or demonstrate commitment, while those carved with sacred themes, played a part in ceremonial rituals involving high-ranking ecclesiastics and secular rulers. Bishops had their hair combed during their investitures, as did priests before they celebrated a Mass, and an emperor’s locks were combed in the course of his coronation. This lecture will explore why well-groomed hair was desirable in the Middle Ages, consider contemporary images of combs in use, and examine medieval combs from church treasuries and museums, some connected with individuals like St Cuthbert (d. 687), and, paradoxically, Emperor Charles the Bald (d. 877)!

Profile

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

This is a Bring-Friends-Free lecture.  Bring as many friends as you like!  Everybody is welcome to come along for free.  You don't need to be accompanied by a member.  Just turn up and enjoy the lecture for free.

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

Profile

A keen and accomplished photographer Roger has gained Distinctions from the Royal Photographic Society and is currently the President of the Surrey Photographic Association. His artistic taste is predominantly 20th century and he is particularly interested in the visual aspects of art. He has studied the evolution of photography from its earliest days in the early 1800s to becoming a major art form in the late 20th and now 21st centuries. An experienced public speaker, his talks are all richly illustrated with both his own and images from some of the leading photographers in history.

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

Profile

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

The Grand Tourists of the 1700s changed the art world. Rome was now filled with wealthy travellers, many from Britain, not only visiting the great works of art and architecture, but also looking for portraits, miniatures, mosaics and ancient sculptures to purchase for their family collections. This lecture will highlight some of the most famous visitors to Rome, including many artists who came to study, and will introduce some of the fascinating characters that catered to them in Rome, as we look at how the art world in Rome adapted to this lucrative new market.

Profile:

Stuart is a “History and Art Communicator” of 30 years experience. He is a London Blue Badge Tourist Guide (qualified in 1998 - awarded “New Guide of the Year”) and also a Guida Turistica Abilitata della Provincia di Roma (qualified in 2010). He has worked in educational tourism since 1992, leading study tours all over Europe. Living in Rome since 2003, Stuart has developed a great love for the Eternal City and its many treasures. In addition to his primary career as full-time Rome tourist guide, Stuart’s entertaining and lively lectures and virtual tours bring the rich artistic and historical wealth of Rome’s 28 centuries to life for people all over the world.

Born the son of a plantation owner and his Senegalese-born slave, St Georges gained fame in France, and was called “the most accomplished man in Europe” by US President John Adams. His skills at horse-riding and fencing earned the admiration of his peers, but it was his skill as a musician and the first recognized black composer which have preserved his name and reputation. He taught Queen Marie Antoinette to play the harpsichord, and met Mozart in the court of Versailles, but after the Revolution, fought in the army as the Colonel of the first regiment made entirely from men of African ancestry.   

Biography:

Canon Chris Newlands is a retired Anglican priest, having ministered across England from Portsmouth to Durham, and from Essex to Lancashire. Before ordination, he worked for the British Council in Algeria, and after ordination was posted to Romania and Bulgaria as Embassy Chaplain and Envoy of the Anglican Communion to the Orthodox Churches of Eastern Europe. Chris is a guest lecturer on cruise ships where his lectures relate to the destinations in the Baltic, Black Sea, and Mediterranean regions.

Michael Praetorius’s music was celebrated again in his anniversary year of 2021, and thanks to a wonderful 1994 disc from the Gabrieli Consort, his music for Christmas has become his most loved calling card. Paul McCreesh describes it as “Lutheran music at its most beguiling” as well as “community music at its best’, allowing amateur singers, congregational input, children’s choirs and local instrumentalists to join in. Through his settings of the great carols Von Himmel hoch, In dulci jubilo, Puer natus in Bethlehem, Quem pastores laudavere and Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern, we will be able to travel through the entire Advent, Christmas and Epiphany stories, whilst exploring contemporary art and history.

Profile

Patrick Craig is a Vicar Choral at St Paul’s Cathedral. For twenty years he combined this with an international career singing over a thousand concerts with the world-renowned early music consort The Tallis Scholars. He also sings with the award-winning group The Cardinall’s Musick. He founded and conducts this country’s leading all-female professional choir, Aurora Nova. He has conducted concerts for the BBC Proms, the Brighton, Lichfield and Aldeburgh Festivals, and with the City of London Sinfonia. As a Cambridge history graduate with a lifelong interest in the arts, he has gone on to lead choral workshops for amateur singers across the world, where he places music in its historical and cultural context. He regularly lectures for the St Paul’s Adult Education programme and for John Hall’s Venice Courses, which have allowed him to incorporate his interests in theology, art and poetry.  In 2020, when his singing and conducting work disappeared overnight as a result of the Covid pandemic, Patrick poured all his experience into online presentations which have raised vital funds for the Help Musicians Charity.

When Diego Velázquez arrived at the court in Madrid from Seville, he stepped into a world that was the polar opposite to the bustle and chaos of his hometown. The court of Philip IV was governed by strict codes, hierarchies and prejudices. Yet, in his portraits of the king, courtiers, jesters, and dwarfs Velázquez manages to peel away mask of formality to reveal the individual beneath.

This lecture explores these paintings and the relationships behind them.

Isabelle will end with a discussion of Velázquez’s greatest and most enigmatic masterpiece, Las Meninas.

The Moulin Rouge immediately evokes the Belle Epoque - a period of French, and quintessentially Parisian history around the turn of the 19th century, a time which pulsated with artistic energy , technological and scientific discoveries, risqué entertainment and boundless optimism; but there a dark side as well.

Cindy Polemis explores the contradictions of the golden era of the Belle Epoque: from the towering height of the Eiffel Tower  to the seedy glamour of Montmartre; from the curls and curves of Sarah Bernhardt’s Art Deco costumes to Henri Guimard’s Metro Designs-everything was open to creativity.

This was a time too of artistic experimentation as the gritty realism of after dark culture moved on from Impressionist landscapes. Paris, with its nightclubs, artistic communities and joie de vivre, was the epicentre of the era and a new generation of artists including Toulouse Lautrec, Edgar Degas and Pablo Picasso captured the essence of that time.

The Belle Epoque- a fabrication borne out of nostalgia, as Europeans who were caught between global wars and financial crises looked back to a more positive time. The ‘modern world’ of the golden age may have been celebrated by millions who attended Paris’s international exhibitions but it was also a time marked by social tensions, poverty, anti-Semitism and corruption.  Paris, as it emerged into the 20th century, was not just about high kicks and glitz.

Profile

Cindy Polemis is an art historian, independent lecturer and art guide. She has a BA in Modern History from Oxford University and as a mature student she went back to university to study first for a BA and then for a Masters in History of Art at Birkbeck College, London University. Before that she spent many years as a radio producer and presenter for the BBC World Service working in news and current affairs. Since 2016 Cindy has worked as an official art guide at Tate Britain and Tate Modern. She has also been a trustee at the Museum of the Home, formerly the Geffrye Museum. Cindy has accumulated a wide range of art historical knowledge ranging from 18th European and British art to the contemporary international art scene. She has been an official guide for both Frieze Masters and Frieze Art Fairs in London. She is particularly keen to draw parallels with art and social history and her lectures are accessible and engaging, drawing out the stories of art and artists which are steeped in human emotions and experiences which we all share.

This is a Bring-Friends-Free lecture.  Bring as many friends as you like!  Everybody is welcome to come along for free.  You don't need to be accompanied by a member.  Just turn up and enjoy the lecture for free.

We are still living amongst the infrastructure created by Isambard Kingdom Brunel in the 19th century. He changed the face of the English landscape with his ground-breaking projects including railways, bridges, tunnels, ships, and grand buildings such as the magnificent Paddington Station. He merged art with engineering and science and was a pioneer and a revolutionary. And he was brilliant. We'll look at the man, his background, his work, and his legacy.

Profile
Ian Swankie is a Londoner with a contagious enthusiasm for art and architecture. He is an official guide at Tate Modern, Tate Britain, Guildhall Art Gallery and St Paul’s Cathedral. He is also a freelance London tour guide. Since 2012 he has led a popular weekly independent art lecture group in his hometown 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.

Fake News has been around since the time of the Egyptian pharaohs and art has always been one of its favourite media.

In this talk Geri will be uncovering the subtle art of spin and propaganda in art from the glories of Ancient Mesopotamia to the Norman Conquest and then onto Elizabethan England and the dark days of Nazi Germany.

Every picture tells a story—whether it is true or not is an entirely different matter.

Profile

Geri is a former Fleet Street journalist and film PR. She has a first-class honours degree in History and Theology, a Masters in History of Art from the Courtauld Institute and a Theology doctorate from Roehampton University in London. She has been lecturing for the past 14 years both in the UK and internationally. She is also principal lecturer on The Arts Society South West Area’s History of Art course and is an Honorary Research Fellow at Roehampton University.

Imperial Chinese Court Art and Portraiture – Emperors, Ancestors and Jesuits. This lecture explores the origins and evolution of the nature and function of paintings created under an Emperor's patronage by artists of the Imperial School of Art. Court art evolved separately from classical Chinese paintings and included portraiture plus scenes of court life and significant State Events. These were used as visual evidence of the political power of the Emperor and the splendour of his court. The lecture concludes by considering the revolution in court art that occurred in the 18th century as Emperor Qianlong deployed Western artistic skills and techniques brought by Jesuits invited to the Forbidden City.

____________________________________________________________

Profile
David has over 25 years of working and living in Asia. Whilst living in Hong Kong (1991-2004) he assembled a collection of about 700 predominately Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), Imperial and related textiles/costume accessories. He is a Past Committee Member of the Hong Kong Textile Society and frequent speaker on Imperial Insignia and Badges of Rank.

In the roughly three hundred years during which the British constructed buildings in India there persisted an unresolved dialogue about the creation of an authoritative British style. The Victorians and Edwardians looked with envy at the confident, distinctive and appropriate architectural style of the buildings in India constructed in the time of the Mughal Empire. The questions - as to whether the British should impose a British style, fuse a British style with Indian or even adopt the Mughal style for their own – were never satisfactorily answered in India … That is until Edwin Lutyens penned his designs for New Delhi. Anthony's lecture gives consideration to the several styles of Indian architecture – not least the Mughal, before celebrating the masterpiece, and innovative stylistic triumph, that is New Delhi. 

Profile

Anthony is a freelance historic buildings' consultant, educated as an Architectural Historian at Manchester University and trained in building conservation at the Institute of Advanced Architectural Studies, York. After two years with SAVE Britain's Heritage, where he wrote Deserted Bastions, worked with the English Heritage Listing Division on the review of military buildings. In the mid 1990s was employed by the DTI in Bombay, India, setting up and running an innovative project to repair George Gilbert Scott's university buildings and training local architects and craftsmen in conservation techniques and philosophy. From 1998 until 2010, he worked as Rodney Melville & Partners' historian, involved with research, analysis, assessment and conservation planning at such sites as The Workhouse, Southwell; Aston Hall, Birmingham; The Royal Institution, London and Cliveden. Andrew published a book on the History of Birmingham Town Hall in 2012, to critical acclaim. He is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries and Deputy Chairman of the Ancient Monuments Society.

This is a "Bring Friends Free" lecture.  Bring as many friends as you like!  Everybody is welcome to come along for free.  You don’t need to be accompanied by a member. Just turn up and enjoy the lecture for free.

Andrew Lloyd Webber is probably the most successful creative force within contemporary musical theatre. His music is known worldwide more than any other musical theatre composer, from the intense dramas of Jesus Christ Superstar, Evita and The Phantom of the Opera to the ever-tuneful Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and Cats.

With such a range of stories and styles, what defines a ‘Lloyd Webber’ show? And what has driven such extraordinary achievement?

This lecture will explore the biography, works and collaborations of Andrew Lloyd Webber to discover some answers and in the process outline some of the major shifts in pop music and musical theatre that the shows illustrate.

Profile

John Snelson has been fascinated by musicals all his life and is now a leading expert in British musical theatre (the subject of his PhD). His publications include Andrew Lloyd Webber (Yale University Press) and chapters in many authoritative reference works. He is especially known for exploring musicals – British and American – in the light of not just the music and the stage but society and culture to reveal what makes them so appealing, enduring and important.

He is well known as a writer and speaker on all aspects of the lyric stage – musicals, opera, ballet – and has written many programme articles for leading companies in the UK and abroad. John has given talks for, among others, the Royal Opera House, English National Opera, the Garsington and Glyndebourne festivals and for BBC radio. For 20 years he worked for the Royal Opera House. He currently lectures at Goldsmiths, University of London, and is completing a book on British musical theatre for Bloomsbury Publishing.

The Centennial International Exhibition at the 1876 World Fair in Philadelphia inspired the quest for ‘olden tyme’ plants and poetry, magically created at Appledore by Celia Thaxter and painted by Childe Hassam.  Then in 1893 Chicago hosted the World’s Columbian Exposition which featured murals Primitive Woman by Mary Fairchild MacMonnies facing Modern Woman by Mary Cassatt.

Three generations of American artists including Frederick Frieseke tired of narrow artistic traditions at home. They sought the greater freedom of France and the comforts of the Hotel Baudy in Giverny. This lectures looks at Impressions of sunshine in gardens on both sides of the Atlantic through painters, plants and personalities.

Profile

Caroline has lectured all around the world.  She’s a Cambridge University tutor and course director and she lectures for the Royal Horticultural Society, museums and many organisations worldwide.  She’s the author of 12 books on gardens and in 2017 was awarded the Herb Society of America ‘Elizabeth Crisp Rea Award’. 

This lecture covers the turbulent life of Tutankhamun, his relationship with the Ancient Egyptian gods and goddesses and the abrupt ending to his short reign.

Over 3,000 years later, the discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb made him the most famous pharaoh in Ancient Egyptian history.  Hear about the tomb robbers in the Valley of the Kings, the apparent “curse” and see works of art from his tomb, on display in Egypt today.

Profile

Vicky became a London Blue Badge Tourist Guide in 2005, receiving an award as the ‘Best Guide in Gallery Exams’.

One of her main areas of interest is Ancient Egypt and she studied hieroglyphs and worked as a volunteer in the Egyptian department at the British Museum. Vicky leads specialist tours at relevant sites across London and also delivers lectures on this subject.

She was invited to give a talk on BBC Radio 4 about the execution site of Tyburn and she is currently writing a book on the British monarchy.

This lecture explores the little known history of Victorian women mountaineers and the clothes they chose to wear on the mountains of Europe. Unlikely stories of some intrepid explorers abound!

Profile

Kate has worked as a curator of textiles and dress for over 20 years and is now the Deputy Curator at the Totnes Fashion and Textile Museum.  She is a Senior Lecturer in History and Theory at Falmouth University and a Special Visiting Lecturer for the DeTao Masters Academy in Shanghai. Publications include An Easy Day for a Lady (Costume Journal, 2008) and Empire Dressing – the Design and Realisation of Queen Alexandra’s Coronation Gown (Journal of Design History, 2012). Kate’s book on Queen Alexandra’s wardrobe was published in 2017 and she is working on her next book, The Secrets of a 19th Century Dress Diary. She is one of the youngest practitioners of the dying art of Honiton lace.

This most celebrated of Victorian novelists led a life as colourful as any of his characters. From his earliest days he was a consummate performer, as actor and reader. However he lived two lives, one public, one private. This lecture will examine the huge popularity he came to enjoy in his lifetime in contrast to the unsteady nature of his personal life. We shall revisit the unique world he created in his 16 novels, his Christmas stories and numerous articles, as relevant and as entertaining today as in 19th century Britain. 

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

The lecture looks at a hundred years of British painting, from the Victorian Augustus Egg to 20th century Francis Bacon.

Just like the full English breakfast where your bacon might come from Denmark and tomatoes from Spain, so with British Art we see some stylistic influences coming in from elsewhere, notably Dutch genre painting of the 17th century and late 19th century French art which was belatedly discovered in Britain through the groundbreaking exhibition of Post Impressionists organised by Roger Fry in London in 1911.

We will be looking at those hundred years through a thematic approach including representations of such cliche concepts and preoccupations as the “stiff upper lip”, “a nice cup of tea”, “no sex we are British” and of course, the weather - all expressed in the choice of subjects and a particularly, often eccentrically, British character.

To round off the lecture and to place the paintings we have been looking at in the right chronological order, a short slide show will follow which will enable you to trace the development of the British school and its responses clearly to foreign influences from Victorian storytelling to the stylistic innovations of the 20th century.

Profile
Lydia was born in Poland and studied for her BA in Fine Art at University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne (John Christie Scholarship and the Hatton Award), and an MA in History of Art from Courtauld Institute of Art, London, (19th-20th century art - Distinction for thesis on Matisse's Illustrations to Poetry).

She has since divided her time between painting and exhibiting as well as lecturing widely.

She has taught at the National Gallery for more than 35 years, and intermittently at Tate Gallery and National Portrait Gallery as well as the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, the Hermitage and the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. Since the pandemic began Lydia had devised and delivered more than 180 online lectures to her own group Art For The Uninitiated.

Art UK is a unique and ambitious project set up to catalogue paintings held in public collections across the United Kingdom. Remarkably, around 80% of these paintings are held in storage and rarely seen (www.artuk.org). Art UK has uncovered many works relating to Malta, either by Maltese artists or by visiting British artists. Links between Great Britain and Malta go back hundreds of years. Its history is recorded in fascinating paintings ranging from the Great Siege of 1565 to the devastating bombardment in WW2 following which the islanders’ heroism was recognised in a unique way by King George VI. Other paintings portray Malta’s people, palaces, historic cities and unforgettable sea views.

Profile
Mary Rose gained an MA in Victorian Art and Literature at Royal Holloway, University of London. In 2007 she started working part-time for the Public Catalogue Foundation, now called Art UK. She is an accredited lecturer for The Arts Society and has given lectures all over the UK and in Europe. In 2020 she presented eight lectures in New Zealand via Zoom webinar. Mary Rose is a volunteer guide at Turner’s House in Twickenham and Dorich House Museum in Kingston. She is also a freeman of the Worshipful Company of Arts Scholars, one of the City of London’s livery companies.

This is a "Bring Friends Free" lecture.  Bring as many friends as you like!  Everybody is welcome to come along for free.  You don’t need to be accompanied by a member. Just turn up and enjoy the lecture for free.

Vivaldi is the one Baroque composer whose music is a direct reflection of the city in which it was composed. Listen to a Vivaldi concerto and hey presto you are transported directly to the heart of 18th century Venice. The reasons for this are many – Vivaldi’s passion for colour, display and spectacle in his music; the unusual way in which Venice solved its problems with the poor and the homeless; Vivaldi’s health problems and his eccentricities as a man and a priest. Against the luxurious backdrop of 18th century Venice, and with live musical performances, this lecture explores the amazing world of Vivaldi’s music – music that is as intrinsically Venetian as the canvasses of Canaletto. 

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

From St. Ives to Coleshill to Winchcombe, many of the early studio potteries were in the South West and were inspired by the potteries of the area. This talk explores the history and characters of the ceramics scene in the region since Bernard Leach set up his pottery in Cornwall in 1920 and looks closely at the work of Leach’s first pupils Michael Cardew in Gloucestershire and Cornwall and Katherine Pleydell-Bouverie in Oxfordshire, as well as examining the many potters and potteries that followed, from Ray Finch to William Worrell, from Ivan and Kay Martin to Toff Milway and many more. 

Profile
Kirsty has been the curator of decorative and fine art at The Wilson Art Gallery and Museum, Cheltenham since 2008 and prior to that was the curator and manager of Swindon Museum and Art Gallery. At Cheltenham she looks after the Designated Arts and Crafts Movement collection which includes the important private press archive, the Emery Walker Library.

Passionate about sharing her deep love for and knowledge of the arts, Kirsty is also a freelance researcher, currently researching Arts and Crafts war memorials and the work of Arts and Crafts designers in churches in the South West. She has also been an oral storyteller for over 20 years and has published a number of collections of stories. She is the newsletter editor for the Society of Decorative Art Collections and a regular columnist for Cotswold Life, and she writes for diverse other publications on art history and folklore.

Since the first commercial flight in 1919 airlines initially needed to show a wary public where their services ran and in doing so created some of the most iconic and beautiful travel posters. Spanning a century of art and design, from art nouveau images of the colonies, through Art Deco and streamlined planes to satellite images of the planet, this talk is world-wide journey, a visual delight inspiring dreams of far flung destinations in vivid colours and styles.

Profile
Mark Ovenden is a broadcaster and author who specialises in graphic design, cartography and architecture in public transport with an emphasis on underground rapid transit.

His first book Metro Maps of the World published in 2003 is a guide to the diagrams, plans and maps of underground rapid transit system including images ranging from photos of the systems to rare and historical maps. Paris Metro Style in map and station design was published November 2008. Railway Maps of the World was published in May 2011 in the USA and a British edition was produced in September 2011. London Underground by Design was published in January 2013. A celebration of the Johnston typeface centenary and 90th Anniversary of Gill Sans was published in 2016, and in July 2017 Mark fronted a television documentary for BBC Four on the subject of Johnston and Gill. Then in November 2018 he presented a documentary for BBC Radio 4 on skyscrapers.

A portrait can be much more than a straightforward likeness of a person.

A cryptoportrait may at first sight not look like a portrait at all, because it can be disguised perhaps as an Adoration of the Magi with real people playing the parts of the Magi or as a statue of a prophet or saint with the features of a patron, or the artist’s self-portrait may be hidden amongst a host of other faces. Through-out Western art we may discover such concealed portraits if we look carefully and are prepared to recognise these games that artists and patrons chose to play with the beholder. 

Profile
Sophie was born in Gouda in The Netherlands. She has an MA and PhD in English Literature from the University of Leiden, an MA in Medieval Studies from York and a PhD in Art History from Leicester.

She has taught at the universities of St Andrews, Leicester and Manchester, Sotheby’s Institute of Art, National Trust, V&A, U3A, WEA and other organisations, and she has organised many study days, tours and visits.

She is also a regular lecturer for Cambridge University and travel companies, and is Vice President of the Church Monuments Society.

The auction house is the public face of the art market. When the hammer falls, the price of an artwork can make headlines around the world, astounding and confounding many with the eventual result, whether selling for a new world record, only finding one bidder and scraping away or failing to find a buyer when pre-sale expectations and rhetoric were raging high. 

How did we get to this point and where are we heading with new digital technology? 

Join us as we look at the origins and development of London’s great auction houses, studying the notable characters in their histories, exploring the controversies and mapping their growth from small individual enterprises to monolithic international institutions. Many of London’s great auction houses have been around for over 200 years. This talk aims to give a succinct and colourful introduction to their histories. With one eye on the past we can give shrewd insight into their current practice and how they plan to place themselves in the art market of the future.

Profile
Grant is an Independent Fine Art Advisor, Private Curator and Representative based in Marlborough. He is a senior paintings specialist for BBC’s Antiques Roadshow and is particularly well known in the field of Victorian, Pre-Raphaelitism, Irish, Scottish, Sporting and European Art. He was responsible for Sotheby’s Victorian Art Department (2001-2016), as well as being a Senior Director and Head of British & Irish Art Post 1850. He spent 30 years at Sotheby’s and now represents a number of prestigious family collections. He is a regular guest lecturer in the UK, Ireland, USA, Canada and elsewhere and has written extensively for many publications. 

In this talk Andrew shows that following the turbulent political times between 1870 and 1929 which culminated in the final collapse of the Russian and European monarchies, countless astonishing art and jewel collections were dispersed, looted or sold.

Fortunately this coincided with the growing wealth and power of America and its industrial millionaires who were intent on creating sumptuous palaces of their own and filling them with the greatest paintings and furniture, together with weighing down their wives and daughters with the finest of recently purchased royal jewels.

In this talk, Andrew explains how these fabulously wealthy heiresses then married into the British aristocracy, bringing many of these treasures with them. He shows how, with the decline of aristocratic power and the British Empire, these legendary jewels have again been parted from their owners and can now to be seen by everyone in the world’s great museums.

Profile
Andrew’s taste for fine costume jewellery can be traced back to an antique market where he came across a late Victorian brooch set with what he initially thought were emeralds and diamonds. They were in fact crystal and green glass set in silver and gold. He realised that beautiful jewellery didn’t require expensive stones but that it was the elegance of the design and the quality of the workmanship that truly mattered. 

In 2002 the V&A commissioned a collection of jewels to accompany the resplendent Tiaras, Past and Present exhibition which became one of its most popular exhibits. 

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

We have all heard about the great achievements of the Italian Renaissance, but there is little acknowledgement of the artistic events that took place in Britain at the same time. 

This lecture will bring back to life that period from the late 15th century through to the early 17th century and will explore the tumultuous creative outpourings of artists that are now all but lost to us.

This lecture will explore the successes, conflicts and tensions between indigenous and incoming artists and will examine what relationship, if any, existed between the practices of the native artists and their foreign counterparts. Could the native art be said to have a unique character of its own or was it derivative and thus led by the incoming art of the day? Just how distinctive was the art they produced, how did it fare when compared to the contemporaneous work of foreign artists, how direct was the competition and was there even some interaction resulting in shared artistic knowledge and thus heritage among these diverse communities of artists? We will discover The Flowering of the British Renaissance.

Profile
Leslie Primo is an art historian, author, broadcaster, and graduate of Birkbeck, University College, with an MA in Renaissance studies. He lectured at the National Gallery 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 and lectures for the Royal Academy.

The lecture includes a brief history of frames and focuses on their design and construction. Julia also discusses the conservation of frames and how to choose the right one to transform a painting and display it to its best advantage.

– The History of Frames – how frames have developed in Europe, often influenced by prevailing architectural styles.

– The Design & Making of Frames – an insight into their design & selection and gilding techniques over time, together with the materials used in the workshop.

Profile
Julia Korner is a specialist and lecturer in fine art conservation and the restoration of paintings, sculptures and frames. She is also a valuer, passionate collector, advisor and curator of paintings and works of art.

She trained in art history and conservation at Cambridge. Then for twenty years she worked for Christie’s as a paintings’ specialist, building extensive knowledge of Old Masters and British, European and American paintings from the 1700s onwards. She set up Christie’s Maritime Department in 1986, followed by the Frame sales, the Aeronautical, Exploration & Travel and the Polar sales.

In 1997 Julia was elected Huntington Fellow of the Mariners’ Museum, Newport News, Virginia, USA. A seven-year commitment there saw her catalogue this collection and that of its sister organisation, the South Street Seaport Museum, New York.

By 1960 interest in rock ‘n’ roll had started to fade, its biggest star was moving on and a new generation of teenagers were seeking something different. It came in the form of The Beatles who broke all the rules and all the records. This is the story of the first five years of the 1960s, one of the most creative and innovative periods in the history of music, featuring all the major artists, important songs and principal musical genres.

Profile
Steve King has spent 35 years working in the radio industry as a Broadcaster, Programmer and Events Director. He has managed some of the biggest radio brands in the UK and has interviewed and worked with many well-known popular music artists. He has also directed over 50 multi-artist events at venues including the Royal Albert Hall, the London Palladium and the Manchester Arena. His work in the broadcasting industry has been recognised on numerous occasions. 
 
Steve is an engaging public speaker and has recently produced a series of highly entertaining lectures based on his extensive knowledge of popular music, and his experiences in the radio business. He has lectured at various media conferences, industry events and for several cruise lines.

Siân was not able to give the lecture because of illness. We are very grateful to Catherine Parry-Wingfield who stepped in on the day to give a lecture on the Venetian artist Giovanni Tiepolo (1694-1770).

Raphael is often referred to as one of the three giants of the High Renaissance alongside Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci, yet his career unlike theirs was short-lived as he died tragically young, aged just 37. Nevertheless, in this relatively short space of time he progressed from a series of modest initial commissions in and around his home town of Urbino to the coveted position of one of the leading artists at the court of Pope Julius II.

This lecture will explore how Raphael achieved this extraordinary rise in status, tracing the development of early works under the influence of Perugino and Pinturicchio, to encounters with Michelangelo and Leonardo in Florence, and finally an examination of later masterpieces of painting and drawing created in Rome.

Profile
Siân Walters is an art historian and the director of Art History in Focus. She has been a lecturer at the National Gallery for 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.

Her specialist areas include 15th and 16th century Italian Art, Spanish Art and Architecture, Dutch and Flemish painting and the relationship between Dance and Art (she is an honorary advisor to the Nonsuch Historical Dance Society). She studied at Cambridge University where she was awarded a choral exhibition and a 1st for her dissertation on the paintings of Arnold Schoenberg. She has lived in France and Italy where she worked for Haydn scholar H.C. Robbins in Landon and for the Peggy Guggenheim Museum in Venice. She spends much of the year organising and leading specialist art tours abroad, including bespoke trips for The Arts Society.

In recent years Siân has been asked to represent the National Gallery at the international Hay Festival and was named a Highly Commended finalist in the World’s Best Guide Awards. In 2018 she was invited to be the guest lecturer on the inaugural BRAVO Cruise of Performing Arts alongside Katherine Jenkins, Julian Lloyd Webber and Ruthie Henshall. 

In 2020 she launched a series of live, online tours and visits abroad entitled Cultural Travels from Home. These include visits by special arrangement to a number of major European art galleries, allowing virtual access to their collections. Siân organised the world’s first livestream tours of the Basilica of San Marco in Venice, the Medici Palace in Florence, the Basilica of St Francis in Assisi and the Castello Sforzesco in Milan and many more. These are being offered to Arts Society groups as part of their online tours/events programme.

The remarkable untold story of Carry On actor Peter Butterworth and his wife, Britain’s first female TV impressionist Janet Brown, best known for her impression of Mrs Thatcher. 

Using classic film and TV clips, personal mementos, and rare photographs and letters from his family’s unseen collection, Tyler reveals the private story behind his parents’ public lives. It’s a journey that takes in MI9, the building of a theatre in the notorious WW2 Prisoner of War camp Stalag Luft III, nights at Chequers with a Prime Minister, This Is Your Life, and many more moments in their long, shared life in the theatre. 

Profile
Tyler Butterworth grew up in a theatrical family and spent twenty five years as an actor working extensively in film, television, theatre and radio. He then worked as a development producer in television documentaries and was closely involved with NASA on a landmark commemorative television series. Now he works as a voice actor recording audiobooks, documentaries and voiceovers, and he produces walking audio guides to cities across Europe for private clients on whatever subject he’s commissioned to do. They’re like the audio guides you get in art galleries and museums but they’re out on the street. He lives in Sussex where he walks on the South Downs and the South Coast.

This lecture covers almost 2000 years of London’s history illustrated through its stained glass windows. These cover 19th century, 20th century and contemporary glass makers.

Profile
Anna graduated as a Blue Badge Guide in early 2013 and won an award for the best new guide at Westminster Abbey. Since then she has been conducting bespoke private tours for visitors to London and she set up her own guiding company Canvas and Stone Tours in 2018. She read History of Art & Italian at Sussex University and did her MA in Renaissance Decorative Arts & Design at the Royal College of Art. 

Anna worked for 6 years as a curator in the Sculpture Department at the V&A as well as in smaller collections such as the Henry Moore Family Trust. As well as guiding she is a lecturer at the American International University in Richmond where she teaches undergraduates The History of London. 

In the 1880s and 1890s Europe and America saw the rise of artistic colonies, such as the Newlyn School, practising a form of painting known as “naturalism”. Another such colony, the Glasgow boys, seized the mantle of Bastien-Lepage and their paintings became the toast of Europe. The Glasgow Girls were their contemporaries. Painters such as Bessie MacNicol and designers, such as Margaret and Frances Macdonald, influenced the development of the Glasgow Style and achieved international recognition, contributing to the development of the modern movement. The Scottish Colourists had direct contact with French Post-Impressionism, particularly Matisse and the Fauves. As a result their paintings are considered some of the most progressive in British art of the early 20th century. During my talk, I will discuss the lives, the times and the work of these artists. 

Profile
Harry tutored three courses for the Open University – The History of Modern Art course, the Art and the Environment and Design course, and the Processes and Products course. He has been an Open University and A level examiner in the History of Art. He is a practising artist and has had his work shortlisted for the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition. He has lead art appreciation holidays across Europe. As Head of Art & Design in a comprehensive school he taught A level art, history of art, printmaking, the history of printmaking and the history of architecture.

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.

Profile
Natalia was born in St Petersburg where she gained BA and MA degrees in Art History at the Academy of Fine Arts before taking the PhD course at the Hermitage Museum (conducting research on 17th 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. Over the last five years she has taught at the Courtauld Institute of Art Summer and Spring School, conducted an evening lecture course Showcasing Art History, and presented study days and public lectures at the National Gallery, Royal Academy of Arts, V&A, Art Fund and Chelsea Art Club.