A walk in the country; you come upon the typical village country church. This lecture will help you look at the architecture inside and out, the church furniture, those mysterious nooks and crannies, high and low.  How and why did it all come to look this way?  This is a fascinating journey through English history unravelling before your eyes.  “I can’t make you experts” says Nicholas Henderson, “but I can teach you enough to amaze your friends on that day in the countryside.”  This lecture will cover the period upto to Tudor times.

Our lecturer today is Nicholas Henderson.

A graduate of Selwyn College, Cambridge, Nicholas trained for the Anglican ministry at Ripon Hall, Oxford.  His doctorate from the University of Wales, Lampeter, is in Anglican Lay Ecclesiology based on studies in Brazil, Japan, Uganda, the United Kingdom and the United States. Nicholas is a Vice President of ‘Modern Church’ (founded 1898) the oldest theological society in the Anglican Communion.  He is also interested in the study of Anglicanism both historical and contemporary.  You can learn more by clicking here.

Picture:- St-Clarus-St-Cleer-Cornwall

Although his name is generally thrown in with the Impressionists, Manet was a quite independent artist whose reputation stands alone.  Elegant, well mannered and fashionable, this sophisticated Parisian absorbed the ideas of the old masters and redefined them in the language of the real world around him: the cafes, the dance halls and cabarets of the city.  Crackling with light and energy, and the incomparable brilliance of his brushwork, these paintings shocked and appalled the public at the time but have earned him the unrivalled status in history of being the first painter of the modern world.

Our lecturer today is Douglas Skeggs.

Douglas read Fine Art at Magdalene College Cambridge and has been a lecturer on paintings since 1980.  In that time he has given over 4000 lectures to universities, colleges and art societies.  He was the director of 'The New Academy of Art Studies' for three years and 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.  Overseas he has lectured in Belgium, France, Germany and Spain, and has taken numerous tours around Europe.  He has written and presented various TV documentaries, notably the Omnibus programme on ‘Whistler' and the exhibition video on 'William Morris.’  Three one-man exhibitions of his paintings have been held in England and Switzerland.  He has published five novels, which have been translated into 8 foreign languages, and his book on Monet, 'River of Light', has sold over 30,000 copies in England, America and France.

Every year, thousands of people visit sites associated with their favourite writers: graves, birthplaces, writers’ house museums - even fictional settings.  But what is it that makes us so interested in seeing where great literature began?  Does seeing a grave or a birthplace, or even a lock of hair, bring us closer to the writer or the work?

This fascinating lecture takes us on a journey through the history of literary tourism un the UK.  Beginning in Stratford in the 18th century with the cult of Shakespeare, we move north to Scotland and then end with the founding of museums dedicated to Wordsworth, the Brontes and Jane Austen.  Along the way, we learn about the people who’ve played their part in this history; including enthusiast collectors, custodians, literary pilgrims – even forgers!

Our lecturer today is Annalie Talent.

Following a career in teaching, Annalie has 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.  Drawing on her knowledge and personal experience of literary houses and their collections, Annalie’s lectures offer unique perspectives on writers and their works.

Why remember a battle that took place over two and a half thousand years ago?  One of the world’s most popular athletic events commemorates Pheidippides’s epic run from the battlefield of Marathon to his native Athens.  Since the 19th century, historians have argued that it was a crucial event; one that decided ‘the whole future of human civilisation’.  As John Stuart Mill put it, "the Battle of Marathon, even as an event in English history, is more important than the Battle of Hastings”.

Rupert demonstrates that the athleticism of the Greeks was crucial to their success.  He explores the ruins of Olympia, one of the key cultural sites in ancient Greece, where the four-yearly Olympic Games were held; and connects them not only with the modern Olympics, but also with school sports-days and even the game of rugby.  Re-creating the background and the battle itself in thrilling detail, Rupert argues that Marathon was, indeed, the battle that saved ‘Western Civilisation’. Eye-opening, edge-of-your-seat stuff.

Our lecturer today is Rupert Willoughby.

Rupert specialises in the domestic and social life of the past. He is the author of the best-selling Life in Medieval England and of a series of popular histories of places, including Chawton: Jane Austen’s Village and Basingstoke and its Contribution to World Culture. (He lectured at our 2018 AGM meeting on this latter topic.)

Rupert has published numerous articles, contributes regular obituaries to The Daily Telegraph, undertakes private research commissions including histories of houses, and occasionally broadcasts to the nation. He an experienced lecturer, whose repertoire ranges from the ancient Greeks, through the life and personalities of the Middle Ages to Modernist architecture.  Click here to visit his website.

It’s said in our theatrical history that there was a Golden Age of British Comedy.  It ran from the 1970’s to the 1980’s and occurred as we started to drift away from theatres and radios, and found ourselves living through a wonderfully rich period of television comedy.  Some say this period has never been bettered.  In this unashamedly affectionate and entertaining lecture, and sharing his personal, family connection with this world, Tyler will revisit those wonderful comedy programmes and the people who were in them.  He will unravel the formula for tv comedy success, and how it made us laugh.  And he will look at how the world of Variety was kept alive by the comedians who managed to leap successfully from the stage into our televisions.

This is a lecture that will bring back many fond memories as we revisit a key part of our country’s theatrical heritage.

Our lecturer today is Tyler Butterworth.

Tyler grew up in a theatrical family and spent twenty five years as an actor working extensively in film, television, theatre and radio.  He then worked as a development producer in television documentaries and was closely involved with NASA on a landmark commemorative tv series.  Now, he produces walking audio guides to cities across Europe for private clients.  He lives in Sussex where he walks on the South Downs and the South Coast.

Winslow Homer and Edward Hopper exemplify one of the central themes of American art – the representation of modern life. Homer’s dispassionate images of America after the Civil War still shape our idea of that period, while Hopper’s name is inextricably linked with ideas of loneliness and alienation in the modern city. Both are chroniclers of human experience, who reveal to us the mysterious, unspoken aspects of daily life through physical appearances of people and places. Hence the fascination of their paintings, which appear at first glance direct and straightforward, but which prove – if we look more closely – endlessly mysterious.

Our lecturer today is Dr Kathy McLauchlan.

Kathy graduated at Oxford University and the Courtauld Institute. In 2001 she completed a PhD thesis on French painters in Rome during the 19th century. A freelance lecturer specialising in 19th-century art history, she has published catalogues and articles for the British Council and the Barbican Art Gallery. Currently a course director at the Victoria & Albert Museum, where she organises courses and study days on the history of art and design.

Reading list

Nicolai Cikovsky, Jr. and Franlin Kelly, Winslow Homer (NG Washington, 1996)

Gail Levin, Edward Hopper: The Art and the Artist (New York 1980)

Christopher Riopelle, Winslow Homer: Force of Nature (NG, 2022)

Carol Troyen et al., Edward Hopper (Boston MFA, Washington NG, Chicago Art

Inst, 2007-8)

Walter Wells, Silent Theater: The Art of Edward Hopper Phaidon 2007

Murder, poison, corruption and incest: all perfect ingredients for sensational popular culture. But, in an age known for its brutality and church corruption, were the Borgias really so bad? This sumptuously illustrated lecture reveals the real story of the family that dominated the Papacy and Italian politics during the last decade of the 15th century: the wily, charismatic, womaniser, Pope Alexander, his sociopathic son, Cesare, cardinal, general and the model for “The Prince” by Machiavelli, himself a character in their story, and his adored daughter, Lucrezia, who moves from “the greatest whore in Rome” to a devout and treasured Duchess of the city of Ferrara. Sometimes truth is more intoxicating than myth.

Our lecturer today is Sarah Dunant.

Sarah Dunant is a historian, broadcaster and novelist who has written, among other works on the Italian renaissance, a two-part novel on the Borgia family: “Blood and Beauty”, published 2013 and “In the Name of the Family”, published March 2017.

London's history is fascinating and full of colourful characters, from William Shakespeare to Dick Whittington's cat!  In this lecture we gallop through almost 2000 years of London's history brilliantly illustrated through the stained glass windows found in the city churches and livery halls. Often overlooked, these provide a unique insight into the milestones which have made up London's story.  As well as 18th, 19th and 20th century windows, we look at some of the most up-to-date and contemporary glass makers.

Our Lecturer today is Anna Warrilow.

Since 2013, Anna Warrilow has been a London Blue Badge Guide taking discerning private clients on bespoke tours of everything this city has to offer.  Before becoming a guide, she worked in some of the main museums in London as well as for art dealers.  She is also a freelance lecturer and teaches undergraduates at the American University in London.

Music is our oldest social activity. It crosses divisions of age, race, gender, class, religion and is inherently social.  A birthday isn’t properly marked without the communal singing of ‘Happy Birthday’ and music underscores our traditions and identifies us culturally.  Surviving historical manuscripts give us a really good overview of what music was played at any given period in history.  But it is through works of art that we can see how music affected people’s lives – how they would have enjoyed it, who would have played it.  “Music in Art” looks at how the depiction of musical instruments from the Middle Ages to the 18th century evolves, focusing on instruments that Sophie plays.  So, as well as looking at images by artists such as Bruegel, Bosch and Hogarth, she gives musical demonstrations on replicas of the instruments depicted.

Sophie began playing flute at the age of ten but is now better known for her prowess on the English border bagpipes.  She has become one of the foremost players of the instrument in the UK.  She also plays a variety of early woodwind instruments such as shawm, rauschpfeife, crumhorn and recorder.  She is one of a handful of British players of the baroque musette, an 18th century French bagpipe similar to the Northumbrian smallpipes.

Our Lecturer today is Sophie Matthews.

Sophie is also recognised as a superb interpreter of narrative song with a clear, pure and unaffected soprano voice.  When not touring, Sophie also makes instruments (she made her own baroque oboe) and works with respected luthier Tony Millyard on his flutes.  Sophie is self-taught on all of her instruments.

Sophie is an Arts Society accredited lecturer.  You can learn more at her website.

In this lecture, Charlie Waite reflects on the ways in which all creative endeavour is shaped by influence. He suggests that whenever a photographer seeks to express their response to the world around them, their work inevitably emerges against a backdrop of what has gone before.

Photography, now one of the most widely practised of the visual arts, was once an exciting frontier of discovery. In its early days, photographers explored uncharted ground, producing work that continues to inspire and fascinate today’s photographic communities. Charlie considers how rare it is to see images created entirely free from influence, yet how originality and imagination can still shine through. Some photographers readily acknowledge the artists who have shaped their vision, while others prefer to believe their work is untouched by outside voices. Yet influence, whether openly embraced or quietly absorbed, remains a powerful force in photography.

Through his own photographs, Charlie illustrates how influence can guide, inspire, and enrich the creative journey, helping shape the aspirations and passions that lie at the heart of the photographic pursuit.

Our Speaker, Charlie, is firmly established as one of the world’s leading landscape photographers.  He was born in 1949 and worked as an actor in British theatre and television for the first ten years of his professional life.  Gradually, the landscape and the way it can be revealed to us through light and shade stole him away from the acting profession.  His style is unique in that his photographs convey a spiritual quality of serenity and calm. He has established a worldwide reputation for his particular approach to his work. His photographs are held in private and corporate collections throughout the world.

Over the last forty years, Charlie has lectured throughout the UK, Europe, Asia and the US. He has held numerous solo exhibitions all over the world. Charlie continues to provide tuition to amateur, professional and aspiring photographers of all ages from anywhere in the world, work which he hugely enjoys.

The Millennium year saw him being awarded the prestigious Honorary Fellowship to the British Institute of Professional Photographers. In 2007, he was presented with Amateur Photographer’s Power of Photography award. In 2014, Charlie was awarded a direct Fellowship by The Royal Photographic Society.

In 2016, he received an invitation from the Royal Academy of Arts to exhibit in its Summer Exhibition.

You can learn more by clicking here.

Ever since the late nineteenth century, seduced by its intense light and sensual colours, visual artists have been irresistibly drawn to the Mediterranean coast of France.  Claude Monet painted in Antibes in 1888; while in the same year, van Gogh, dreaming of setting up a “Studio of the South”, persuaded Gauguin – with disastrous results - to join him in Arles.  Cézanne’s roots lay in his beloved Midi, to which he returned for good in 1899.  Meanwhile, in 1892, Paul Signac sailed into the unspoilt port of St.Tropez, settling there and attracting large numbers of younger artists to the area – among them, his Neo-Impressionist disciples and members of the future Fauve group.  In the early 20th century, Renoir would make the Midi his home, as would Bonnard and Matisse.  After the Second World War, so too would Picasso and Chagall.

Our lecturer today is Monica Bohm-Duchen

London-based freelance lecturer, writer and exhibition organiser,  Monica Bohm-Duchen has lectured for The Tate, The National Gallery, The Royal Academy of Arts, The Open University, Sotheby's Institute of Art and The Courtauld Institute of Art.   She is an Associate Lecturer at Birkbeck College, and has led many tours.  Her publications include “Understanding Modern Art”, “Chagall”, “The Private Life of a Masterpiece”, “The Art and Life of Josef Herman” and “Art and the Second World War”.  She is the initiator and Creative Director of the nationwide Insiders/Outsiders arts festival, and contributing editor of the companion volume, Insiders/Outsiders: Refugees from Nazi Europe and their Contribution to British Visual Culture.

Artists were never far behind the explorers who opened the west of America in the 19th century.  Thus painters like Alfred Miller, Frederick Church and Albert Bierstadt have left us a powerful, if romanticised, record of the country and people that the settlers found.  Now we can use their pictures to chart the history of the opening of America’s west - the arrival of the railroad, the confinement of native Americans into reservations, and the extermination of the buffalo.  This is a story on a big scale and it seems appropriate that among the pictures illustrating the lecture are some of the largest and most grandiloquent paintings of the era.  After a period of deep neglect, they are now very much back in vogue, but whatever one thinks of their artistic merits, I hope audiences will agree with me that they are, above all, great fun.

Our lecturer today is Toby Faber

Toby Faber is an experienced lecturer and public speaker who has been accredited by The Arts Society since 2012.  His career began with Natural Sciences at Cambridge and has been through investment banking, management consulting and five years as managing director of the publishing company founded by his grandfather, Faber and Faber, where he remains on the board.  He is also non-executive Chairman of its sister company, Faber Music, and a director of Liverpool University Press.

Toby has written three narrative histories: Stradivarius – “Five Violins, One Cello and a Genius”; “Faberge’s Eggs”, andm”Faber & Faber – The Untold Story”, as well as a novel, “Close to the Edge”.  Of these, only the obvious one is published by the family firm!

Learn more here.

Please note that this lecture will take place at the Exeter Golf and Country Club, NOT in the Matthews Hall.

However, coffee is included in the lecture.

The “Mona Lisa” and the art of Leonardo

The 'Mona Lisa' is both mesmerising and tantalising.  So much about it is mysterious, but one thing is clear; in a life studded with unfinished projects, this was one which Leonardo not only completed, but kept with him until his death.  In it, he addressed and realised so many of the themes which are at the core of his work.  This lecture examines the Mona Lisa itself but also uses it to explore and understand the genius of Leonardo da Vinci.

Our Speaker is Nicole Mezey

Nicole studied Art History at the Universities of Sussex, York and Paris. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and of the Higher Education Academy.  She was Senior Lecturer at Queen’s University, Belfast until 2009, working primarily with adults, managing and teaching on both the Part-Time degree and Extra-Mural programmes and conducting annual, international study-tours.  She also established and was first Director of the Department of Art History, the first in the north of Ireland.  Nicole now lives in central London and is a freelance lecturer, working for organisations such as national museums, universities, the National Trust and private companies.  She has been lecturing for the Arts Society since 2011.

Please note that this lecture will take place at Exeter Golf and Country Club (Duckham Suite), Topsham.

NOT in the Matthews Hall.

Today’s talk gets up close and personal with the dynamic east London street art scene.  You’ll see art on walls, on the sides of buildings and on the sidewalk.  We will see work by Banksy, quite possibly the most famous living street artist in the world, as well as street art by Ben Eine.  His piece “Twenty First Century City” was presented by Prime Minister David Cameron to Barrack Obama.  We will also see work by Shepherd Fairey the most celebrated street artist working in the US today, known around the world for his Obey and Hope campaigns.  You will discover how the huge growth and popularity of Street Art is reflected in the astonishing transformation of Spitalfields and Shoreditch from a once seedy and deprived area into one of the most vibrant and most fashionable neighbourhoods of London.

Our lecturer today is Pepe Martinez

Born and bred in London, Pepe Martinez has lived there all his life.  It is one of the greatest cities in the world, he believes.  In a previous life, he was a Stage Manager and still tries to get to as many shows as he can.  For 15 years he lead tours of the UK, Ireland, Europe, USA, Canada, New Zealand, The Middle and Far East.  Today we will explore Urban London and its dynamic Street Art Scene with him.

Here is a link to his website:- https://www.londontourguidepepe.co.uk

This talk examines the possibility that Burne-Jones was not actually a Pre- Raphaelite at all. Although he begins as one, his style moves away by the late 1860s and transforms into the huge paintings that relate to the vertical fifteenth century altarpieces that he absorbed on his four visits to Italy, the first two accompanied by John Ruskin.  It was Burne-Jones that took English Art back to the spirit of medievalism, and it was through his love of myth and legend that the late Victorians rediscovered the middle ages.  He was also an accomplished designer of stained glass, much of it created by Morris and Co.

Our lecturer today is Daphne Lawson

Daphne Lawson has an MA by research and a thesis on Degas from the University of Canterbury and a BA in History from London University.  Since 1994 until she retired, she was an Art Historian lecturer at Herstmonceux Castle.  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.

This fully illustrated talk explores a selection of The Royal Academy’s ground– breaking temporary loan exhibitions and considers its role and impact on the art scene, both on British soil and overseas. In addition, anecdotal stories will be revealed by the lecturer as well as a ‘behind the scenes’ look at the Summer Exhibition.

Our Lecturer today is Pamela Campbell-Johnston

Pamela Campbell-Johnston has a MA Hons in Art History from St Andrew's University. She has over 30 years of lecturing experience to undergraduates, adult groups, and to Friends and Patrons of the Royal Academy of Arts as part of its Adult Education Department. She also conducts numerous guided tours and focused gallery talks on individual works of art. Her specialities include British Domestic Architecture and Modern British Art. With over 12 years experience at the Royal Academy, her work experience also includes Bonhams, The Art Loss Register and The National Trust. She is now a freelance art consultant and lecturer.

Painting of an early Royal Academy Summer Exhibition held at Somerset house, the original home of the Academy

A look at the life of an opera singer behind the curtains, away from the apparent glamour.  What are the pitfalls and consequences of such a life?  This talk is also interspersed with live singing of 3 operatic arias.

Our lecturer to day is Tim Mirfin

Tim Mirfin graduated in Law from Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, where he was also a choral scholar.  He studied singing at the Royal Academy of Music as a postgraduate scholar, followed by the National Opera Studio.  He was principal artist for Welsh National Opera. He has a wide and varied concert repertoire, ranging from Baroque oratorios to modern day premieres.  He made his recital debut at the Wigmore Hall in 2001. He has sung operatic roles and solo concerts in all major European countries as well as in Russia, Australia and the Middle East.  He also gives masterclasses and teaches singing in and around Exeter, where he now lives.

The Seine – River of Light and Artists’ Delight.

A tiny section of the Seine to the West of Paris, which was the perfect antidote to the claustrophobia of mid 19th Paris, has been termed the Cradle of Impressionism.  It was to here and to 5 neighbouring riverside villages that the artists, who would later become known as the Impressionists, became frequent visitors.  In some cases, they even set up home for a while.  The lives and early works of Monet, Renoir, Pissarro, Sisley and Morisot will be explored in this lively and entertaining lecture.  Their desperation to gain recognition and to make their mark is apparent in both the painting styles and subject matter and led to a revolution in the Art World.

Our Speaker is Carole Petipher.

With 20 years experience, Carole is an experienced guide and lecturer on history and art tours in France.  Having lived and worked on a number of bespoke river vessels and converted barges there, she has used them as a platform from which to research her lectures.  She likes to delve behind the scenes to discover hidden truths.  She also acts as a guide for a privately owned ancestral home in her native Chilterns.

The Grand Tour was regarded as an essential rite of passage for the aristocracy and educated classes. Its origins, dating from the 15th century and incorporating the wonders of the ancient world from the Mediterranean to the Holy Land, reached their zenith in the 18th and 19th centuries with the discoveries of Pompeii and Herculaneum. This talk, based on Marc’s passion for collecting Grand Tour souvenirs, is a fascinating insight into the world of early tourist travel and collecting, and its influence on the fashion and style of a nation.

Our lecturer today is Marc Allum.

Marc Allum is a freelance art and antiques journalist, writer and broadcaster based in Wiltshire. He has been a miscellaneous specialist on the BBC Antiques Roadshow since 1998 and has appeared on numerous television and radio programmes. Marc regularly writes for mainstream magazines and is an author, antiques consultant and lecturer.  Marc is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries.

Marc has his own unique style with interests ranging from pre-history to modern design and is a self-confessed collectaholic. He has a passion and reputation for divining the unusual; 'a desire to connect with history through the interpretation and pursuit of objects and their origins'.

Click here to visit his website.

In this talk we wind the clock back to the seventeenth century and enjoy an armchair tour of some of Wren’s magnificent structures.  The talk will include City Churches, the Old Royal Naval College at Greenwich and, of course, his greatest masterpiece St Paul’s Cathedral.  Wren was primarily a mathematician and astronomer and we will see how these disciplines are harnessed in his work.  We will also look at the origins of the classical orders of architecture and discover how Wren’s love of this ancient system is everywhere to be seen in his legacy.

Our lecturer today is Ian Swankie

Ian is a native Londoner and is a guide and a lecturer with a special interest in art and architecture.  He is an accredited lecturer for The Arts Society, a fully qualified City of London tour guide, a City of Westminster guide and a green badge holder from the Institute of Tourist Guiding.  He is also an official guide at Tate Modern and Tate Britain, St Paul’s Cathedral and the Guildhall Art Gallery.  He is a Freeman of the Worshipful Company of Art Scholars.

Find out more by clicking here.

With the seemingly unstoppable appetite for Eastern Orthodox icons in the West, and the inevitable misunderstandings that have arisen as to their meaning and function, terminology and theology, maybe it is time to address some of the key facts?  Expect a few hot potatoes!

Our lecturer today is Helen Dejean.

Helen is a graduate of the Courtauld Institute of Art, specialising in trecento panel-painting, Russian and Byzantine icons and iconography.  Helen has worked at London’s Russian Art Auction House (MacDougall Arts) and in museums and adult education.  She is currently working on a major icon commission for a London church and writing a book on icon painting.  Among her lectures for The Arts Society are “From Cradle to Cave: The Iconography of the Nativity in Late Medieval Italian Art”, “Strange Virgins and Quirky Saints: Intriguing and Unusual Icons”, “Finding Francis: A Visual Pilgrimage through the Art of Assisi” and “Madonnas and Miracles: The Golden Age of Sienese Painting, 1250-1350”. 

Find out more by clicking here.

A look into the lives of ordinary people through their furniture. Most furniture in museums and books is representative of the wealthier social classes and so tells us little about the living conditions of the ‘humbler classes’. Vernacular, in the sense of ‘every day’ and ‘common’, furniture was seldom ‘crude’ or ‘primitive’ and often displayed as much sophistication in construction and design as more costly items. This lecture focuses on the period 1600-1800 but also looks at earlier and later items.

Our lecturer today is Janusz Karezewski-Slowarski.

Janusz retired from a 35 year-long career in Higher education. Whilst studying for his first degree, he worked part time in an antiques shop, which he then took over as proprietor. Such was his interest in collecting that he became known as the dealer who bought but never sold. His lectures seek to explain furniture in terms of the skills and materials employed in its design and construction and also its socio-economic significance. He hase lectured on antique furniture since 1975 and has been in the NADFAS Directory since 1982. He has lectured to over 300 NADFAS societies including those in Australia, Belgium, France, Germany, The Hague and Spain.

You can find out more here.

When social historian Tessa Boase told the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds she wanted to write their early story, they refused to let her visit their archives.  To a former investigative journalist, this was a challenge she could not resist.  This lecture shines a light on the intriguing story of women’s love affair with plumage ­and of the brave eco feminists who fought back on behalf of the birds.  Moving from a polite Victorian tea party to an egret hunt in a Florida swamp; from a suffragette ‘monster rally’ to a milliner’s dusty workshop, you’ll be taken back in time to a world where every woman, of every class wore a hat.

Our lecturer today is Tessa Boase.

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

Find out more here.

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

Our lecturer today is Harry Venning.

Harry Venning has been a professional cartoonist for thirty years, during which time he has provided cartoons for several high profile UK publications as well as for countless more obscure titles, such as The British Journal Of Wound Care. He was awarded UK Strip Cartoonist Of The Year for his Guardian strip Clare In The Community, which he adapted into a Radio 4 sitcom.

You can learn more about him and his work at his website.

Click here.

From St. Ives to Coleshill to Winchcombe, many of the early studio potteries were in the South West, and were inspired by the vernacular 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. it will look 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.

Our Lecturer today is Kirsty Hartsiotis.

Kirsty is an Accredited Arts Society lecturer, giving talks on both art history and folklore, her two passions. She also gives talks for local history societies, WIs, museums, Probus and more. She is also the curator of a Designated Arts and Crafts Movement collection  museum in Cheltenham, and draws on her knowledge of the movement and 19th and 20th century art for her talks.

Kirsty is a storyteller, writer and speaker. You can learn more about work at her website. Furthermore you can book zoom talks about folklore.

For all of that, click here.

This lecture is a celebration of the chaotic and the carnal, evoking the spirit of 1960s Soho nightlife. Fleshy models, furious drinking habits, fractious tempers and fabulous fame combine in the story of these artists, whose life-long competition had a lasting impact on each other and the art world. The talk features artworks exhibited at the Lucian Freud exhibition “The Self Portraits”, at the Royal Academy of Arts, in 2019-20.

If you like paint, passion and personality, this talk is for you!

Our lecturer today is Alice White.

Alice White is a contemporary oil-painter, and a Tutor at the University of the Arts London and University College London. She has lectured at Kings College London, The Art Worker’s Guild, and the Courtauld Institute of Art. Alice’s solo show ‘A New Wave’ documented her year’s residency as Artist for Animals at London Zoo. Recent projects include The Art of Science (Scott Polar Institute, University of Cambridge 2021)  She regularly exhibits at the Mall Galleries in London.

Click here for her website.

One of the greatest novels ever written, Anna Karenina explores profound questions of life, death, love and marriage which far transcend their setting in 1870s imperial Russia, and continue to have relevance for us today.  This discussion of Tolstoy’s masterpiece will show how how its exhilarating and intricate narrative both reflects events in the author’s own turbulent life and anticipates the upheaval of Revolution.

Rosamund Bartlett is a cultural historian with expertise in Russian literature, music, and art.  She has a particular interest in European Modernism, opera, and the intersection between politics, history and the arts.  She has lectured on these subjects at universities and public institutions around the world.   Her books include Wagner and Russia and Tolstoy: A Russian Life    She has also written a biography of Chekhov, and published translations of his short stories and letters  Her new translation of Anna Karenina was published in 2014.

Find out more here.

Nicholas Hilliard captured a glowing, delicate and intimate image of the Elizabethans in his jewel-like portrait miniatures. He has left us a legacy of colour, pattern, symbolism and likeness, as well as an opinionated insight into the thoughts and practices of a sixteenth-century English artist. This lecture outlines Hilliard’s career and explores the changing styles demanded by his patrons

The lecturer on this occasion is Gillian White

Dr Gillian White specialises in the history and visual arts of late medieval and sixteenth-century England. After beginning her career at the Warwickshire Museum, she then worked for the National Trust as Curator/Collections Manager at Hardwick Hall, Derbyshire, about which she wrote her PhD at Warwick University. Since then, she taught part-time at Leicester University in the Centre for the Study of the Country House and continues to teach History of Art in the Department of Continuing Education at Oxford University and elsewhere.

This lecture will be given at 1045 a.m. on 8th June in the Matthews Hall.

Founded in 1919 in Weimar, the Bauhaus was a progressive art school. Under the directorship of architect Walter Gropius, its students studied a broad range of artistic disciplines. The Bauhaus lasted for a 14-year period, with bases in Weimar, Dessau and Berlin, and during that time it not only came to typify an age but also dictate matters of style for decades to come, through its art, architecture and design. This talk looks at some of the movers and shakers behind this hugely influential movement, including Marianne Brandt, Mies van der Rohe and Marcel Breuer, as well as exploring their legacy in our world and homes today.

For this lecture we welcome back Gavin Plumley  Learn more here.

A writer and broadcaster, appearing on BBC Radio 3, BBC Radio 4 and contributing to newspapers, magazines and opera and concert programmes worldwide. Lectures widely about the culture of Central Europe during the 19th and 20th centuries. Recent talks include the Royal Opera House, the National Gallery, the National Trust, the National Theatre, the British Museum, the V&A, the Southbank Centre, the Tate and the Neue Galerie, New York. His first book, A Home for All Seasons, is published in June 2022. 

11th May 2023 at 1045 in the Matthews Hall.

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

The lecturer on this occasion is Rupert Willoughby  Learn More here

Rupert Willoughby is an historian and Classicist, a poet, a father and a wild swimmer with a passion for castles, lakes and uncovering the layers of the past. A graduate with First Class Honours in History from the University of London (where he immersed himself in the ‘Byzantine’, or medieval Greek Empire), 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, and the whimsical, yet scholarly Basingstoke and its Contribution to World Culture. Rupert also contributes regular obituaries to The Daily Telegraph. Accredited to the Arts Society since 2011, he is an experienced lecturer, who is known for his light, humorous touch, his love of narrative and his vivid evocations of the past.  

This lecture will be presented at 1045 a.m. in the Matthews Hall on 13th April.

We know much about Turner and Constable, whose work dominated the first half of the 19th century.  But in what way did they develop from a genre that had once been considered a lesser kind of subject matter?  From its classical origins in the Baroque painters in Rome, through to the colourful dynamism of Hockney in Yorkshire, the lecture follows the progress of England's great achievements in landscape painting.

Our lecturer on this occasion is Juliet Heslewood.  Click here for her website.

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.  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”.  This led to her taking part in the television series Art on the BBC.

This lecture will be given in the Matthews Hall at 1045 a.m. on Thursday 9th March 2023

Paul Cezanne's art was a strange novelty in his time.  It was figurative and objects were recognizable, but they didn't look right.  Alice's lecture explores Cezanne's interest in a new pictorial language that was the forerunner of abstract art.  Later artists like Picasso saw Cezanne as an inspiration for modern art.

The lecturer on this occasion is Alice Foster.

Alice has lectured for Oxford University Department of Continuing Education since 1998. She lectures regularly at the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, and at the Oxfordshire Museum in Woodstock. Her busy freelance career includes organising History of Art study days with colleagues, and regular weekly classes in Oxfordshire and Worcestershire. In 2004 Alice joined The Arts Society and has lectured in Britain and in Europe. Since 2003 Alice has been a tutor on study holidays. In 2010 she was elected President of Banbury Fine Arts Society.

This lecture will be given at 1045 a.m on 9th February 2023

Our speaker has been a writer and director of historic pantomimes throughout England for over 30 years. He has researched its origins and evolution, from the commedia d’ell arte roots, to its first British representation in Georgian England, to the Victorian spectaculars, music hall & variety additions and ultimately into the modern age. Learn about the origins of slapstick and how Britain became the crucible of the pantomime form, independently from the rest of the world. Find-out exactly why pantomime is so popular, what makes it so successful and how it remains such a joyful celebration of all that is quintessentially British.

The lecturer on this occasion is Tony Lidington  Click here for his website

Tony has been a showman, researcher and teacher for over 35 years: he has run theatre venues, companies, festivals and events for and with a wide range of diverse communities. He specialises in historical popular entertainment forms and their application to contemporary contexts and in 2017, he was awarded a doctorate by Exeter University for his research into itinerant British performance forms and where he is now a part-time lecturer. He regularly broadcasts for both radio and television – most recently for Lee Mack’s episode of Who Do You Think You Are? However, he is perhaps best known by families throughout the country, as ‘Uncle Tacko!’ – ringmaster of his extraordinary flea circus and the founder of ‘The Pierrotters’, Britain’s last professional seaside pierrot troupe.

This lecture will be given in the Matthews Hall at 1045 a.m.on 12th January 2023.

A story teller with a brush! A celebrated and prolific twentieth century painter and illustrator whose work has probably been seen by a larger audience than any other artist in History! In America his work enjoys broad popular appeal, where Rockwell is most famous for the cover illustrations he created for The Saturday Evening Post. Today his work sells for millions of dollars. 

The lecturer on this occasion is John Ericson.  Click here for his website

Formerly a lecturer at the University of Bath where he was Director of Studies in the School of Education with responsibility for the professional development of teachers. He has worked extensively overseas as an educational consultant and this has given him the opportunity to give lectures and presentations at conferences all over the world.

Over the last decade he has been a popular speaker on the Arts Society circuit in the UK and Europe as well as a frequent visitor to the societies in Australia and New Zealand.

This lecture will be given in the Matthews Hall at 1045 a.m. on Thursday December 8th 2022

This unique genre was first fully explored as an individual subject in the Low Countries.
The Dutch had a particular relationship with their land, reclaiming it from the sea and becoming independent
as a republic.
We will discuss its beqinnings, its development, and its influences on later artists in other countries.

Sir John Betjeman was a unique combination of poet, historian, writer, conservationist, campaigner and performer. Above all, his enthusiasm for people and places remains infectious. This lecture will look at his places and his friends but also the demands placed on his personal and private life.

ANDREW DAVIES will be our lecturer

Extra-Mural Tutor for London, Essex and The Open University; Author of 9 books, including The East End Nobody Knows; frequent contributor to radio and television; has lectured all over the world.  

October 13th at 10 45 a.m. in the Matthews Hall

The first lecture of the 2022-23 season is on September 8th at 10.45 a.m. in the Matthews Hall.

Possibly the most admired historic English building outside London, Blenheim Palace is an uncompromising World Heritage monument to English military ambition and one family’s self importance. The story of its construction is a fascinating catalogue of excess and outrage, while the result is both monstrous and utterly sublime. But it is in the effect that its perceived spirit has had on consecutive generations of Marlboroughs, that is most revealing. It is also of course, from within this ‘cauldron’ that a Churchill was born, recently voted the ‘The Greatest Briton of All Time’. This lecture explores these themes and the characters involved, marvelling at the genius of Vanbrugh and considering the real impact the palace has left on the nation. 

Anthony Russell has travelled much of the world, combining painting with tour lecturing – principally to American university students on bespoke tours. Spent six years as a consultant for Luke Hughes and travelled the country advising on the furniture needs of prestigious buildings, including museums, palaces, schools and cathedrals. Now based in London, spends much of his time lecturing and undertaking research, while assisting at the British Museum with outreach events and visiting lecturers. As an advocate of non-violence, he is the author of the book Evolving the Spirit – From Democracy to Peace, commended by Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel Peace Laureate, as meaning a great deal to her.

Behind every great artist is a muse – and legendary painter Pablo Picasso, well, he had plenty of them. Simply put, the artist’s sexual appetite was irrepressible. Over the course of his life, he had two wives, six mistresses, and dozens, if not hundreds, of lovers, many of who served as the inspiration for the artist’s exceptionally prolific body of work. From his first tumultuous marriage to the many illicit affairs that followed, here are the top ten things to know about

The lecturer on this occasion is Valerie Woodgate love life and the muses behind his masterpieces.

Lecturer and guide at Tate Britain and Tate Modern, also at many other London Galleries and for various art organisations. Former member of the teaching team at Dulwich Picture Gallery. Lecturer to The Arts Society (formerly NADFAS) throughout Britain, and to related organisations in Europe, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.

This lecture will be given on June 9th in the Matthews Hall after the AGM which starts at 10.45 a.m.

The subtle science and Exact Art of colour in Garden Design and how gardens have been represented in art.

The lecturer on this occasion is Timothy Walker

From August 2014  been a stipendiary lecturer in Plant Sciences at Somerville College, Oxford, and I now hold similar positions at Pembroke College and Hertford College

The subtle science and Exact Art of colour in Garden Design and how gardens have been represented in art.

The lecturer on this occasion is Timothy Walker

From August 2014  been a stipendiary lecturer in Plant Sciences at Somerville College, Oxford, and I now hold similar positions at Pembroke College and Hertford Colle

2020 was the 500th anniversary of Raphael’s death. This lecture takes a look at his art and architecture.

This lecture charts the meteoric rise to prominence of the artist Raphael (1483-1520). In 1500, aged seventeen, Raphael entered the workshop of the successful Umbrian artist Pietro Perugino and so began his emergence as one of the greatest masters of the High Renaissance. While lacking his older rivals Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) and Michelangelo Buonarroti’s (1475- 1564) advantage of being born and trained in Florence, he was generally admitted to be their equal. Raphael’s early work is analysed alongside his commissions in Florence and for the Papacy in Rome which demonstrate the genius of his extraordinary talent.

The lecturer on this occasion is Dr James Lindow

Dr. James Lindow was the first Renaissance PhD from the Royal College of Art and the V&A. He has convened and presented at international conferences, lectures widely in the UK and overseas and is currently a fine art underwriter in the City. He has written articles on diverse aspects of the Renaissance, and his book entitled The Renaissance Palace in Florence: Magnificence and Splendour in Fifteenth-Century Italy was published by Ashgate Press in 2007 to widespread critical acclaim.

This lecture will be presented in the Matthews Hall at 10 45 a.m. on April 14th 2022

In this talk we wind the clock back to the seventeenth century and enjoy an armchair tour of some of Wren’s magnificent structures including City Churches, the Old Royal Naval College at Greenwich and, of course, his greatest masterpiece St Paul’s Cathedral. Wren was primarily a mathematician and astronomer and we’ll see how these disciplines are harnessed in his work. We will also look at the origins of the classical orders of architecture and discover how Wren’s love of this ancient system is everywhere to be seen in his legacy.

On this occasion the lecturer will be Ian Swankie

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

This lecture will be given at 10 45 a.m. in the Matthews Hall on March 10th

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.

The lecturer on this occasion is Barry Venning

An 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.

This lecture will be given in the Matthews Hall at 1045 a.m. on February 10th 2022.

Post-glasnost there was a huge surge of interest in Russian Avant Garde Painting but reputed specialists think 95% of pictures on the market are unacceptable.  

The lecturer on this occasion is James Butterwick

James Butterwick began collecting and selling Russian art in 1985 and has established himself as one of the world’s leading dealers and experts in the field. During the 1990s he lived in Moscow, becoming the only foreign member of the Russian Society of Private Collectors, forming collections, contributing to museum exhibitions and reading lectures on the history of Russian Art. In 2008 James became the only foreign member of International Confederation of Antique and Art Dealers of Russia and the CIS, and in 2013 joined the Society of London Art Dealers, the leading group of its kind. 

This lecture will be presented in the Matthews Hall at 10.45 a.m.  on January 13th. 

Thus Bach exhorts the listener to greet the Christ child in the opening chorus of the Christmas Oratorio,  Jauchzet, frohlocket, auf, preiset die Tage.

Bach composed the six-part “Christmas Oratorio” (“Weihnachts Oratorium”) in 1734 for two Leipzig churches, St. Thomas and St. Nicholas, for which he served as music director.

Each part is a cantata for one of six feast days within the 12 days of the Christmas season:

The story begins with the birth of Jesus (for Christmas Day). The second and third parts feature the shepherds (for December 26 and 27). The fourth part describes the naming and circumcision of Jesus (for New Year’s Day). The fifth and sixth parts describe the Three Kings, or Magi (for the first Sunday after New Year and for Epiphany).

The lecturer on this occasion is Sandy Burnett.

He explores Christmas in Bach’s Leipzig: the Christmas Oratorio of 1734/5

Music Director for the RSC, he spent a decade as one of the core team of presenters on BBC Radio 3. He is a highly sought after double bassist on the London Jazz Scene.

Sandy Burnett’s close relationship with Bach’s music stretches back for decades; between 1997 and 2010 he directed a complete cycle of Bach’s sacred cantatas in West London. In this illustrated talk he explores how Bach brings the Christmas story alive in his Weihnachtsoratorium or Christmas Oratorio, written for Lutheran congregations in 1730s Leipzig. Starting with an overview of Bach’s life and achievement, Sandy moves on to an examination of this magnificent work which draws on various forms ranging from recitative, arioso, aria, chorale, and instrumental sinfonia through to full-blown choruses which harness the power of music and deploy it in the service of God.

This lecture will be presented in the Matthews hall at 10 45 a.m. on December 9th 2021

An overview of 42 cathedrals, looking at their history and their role over the centuries as well as their role today.

The lecturer on this occasion is Janet Gough

A Cambridge graduate in History and History of Art, she has worked at Sotheby’s. She is the Church of England Director of Church Buildings.

This lecture will be given in the Matthews Hall at 10.45 a.m. on November 11th.

A STUDY OF HIS CONTEMPORARIES AND THEIR VARIED RESPONSE TO HIS REVOLUTIONARY ART

Caravaggio’s influence on the new baroque style that emerged from mannerism was profound. It can be seen directly or indirectly in the work of  Peter Paul Rubens, Jusepe de Ribera, Gian Lorenzo Bernini and Rembrandt  and artists in the following generation heavily under his influence were called the “Caraggivisti (or “Caravagesques”), as well as tenebrists or tenebrosi (“shadowists”).

The lecturer on this occasion is Chantal Brotherton-Radcliffe

She has taught at Sotheby’s Institute of Art since 1989 on their MA in Fine and Decorative Arts. Also trained as a paintings conservator.

John Sell Cotman was a true Romantic. A contemporary of Turner and Constable, he was one of the most original watercolour painters in what is now regarded as the Golden Age for the medium in British art. Yet, in his day, Cotman depended almost entirely on teaching and printmaking for his income.

This lecture explores Cotman’s early successes among the Welsh mountains and along the banks of the Greta in North Yorkshire. His ideal of total immersion in nature then eluded him for the best part of three decades, only to be recaptured in his final years. Cotman died unfulfilled, but was not forgotten. His greatest fame came in the 20th century and the lecture concludes with a brief look at the inspiration he lent to artists as diverse as Paul Nash, Eric Ravilious and John Piper.

The lecturer on this occasion is Tim Wilcox

Timothy Wilcox is a writer, lecturer and exhibition curator with special interests in British art, in landscape and in watercolour painting. He was a museum curator in the British Museum Department of Prints and Drawings following positions at the V&A, in Liverpool and Hove. As a freelance curator and lecturer since 1997, he has organised exhibitions on Laura Knight, Hilda Carline, John Sell Cotman and John Constable, at venues including Tate, The Lowry, the Wordsworth Trust and Dulwich Picture Gallery. He contributes regularly to the Courtauld Institute Summer School and lectures at museums and galleries in Britain, Europe and the USA.

This lecture will be given in the Mathews Hall at 1045 a.m. on September 9th.

The importance of the role played by Byzantium as a link in the great chain of world history is an important theme. With its roots firmly in the Ancient World of Greece and Rome, the Byzantine period – AD 330 -1453 – spans the medieval centuries. While much of the West was in deep decline Byzantium, mistress of the Mediterranean and centre of Christendom, was a symbol of wealth, power and cultural ascendancy. It was here, in the eastern Mediterranean that Christianity took root and spread, giving us the architectural forms and imagery that are still a part of the faith. We look at mosaics, frescoes and icons, opulent liturgical vessels in gold and enamel, silks, ivories, manuscripts and the centrally planned domed churches, designed as microcosms of the Universe.

The lecturer on this occasion is Jane Angelini

Jane is a freelance lecturer for The Arts Society and other arts organisations. She runs her own art tours company, specialising in cultural visits. She speaks several foreign languages and has translated a number of works of 19th century Russian literature for Penguin Books and Oxford University Press. She has a BA in Russian Studies and an MA in Byzantine Studies.

The Annual General Meeting. will take place 'virtually' on line on June 10th before this lecture is given. Subscriptions for the 2021-22 season are now due.and must be paid before the end of June. The subscriptions for the new season are £30 for members, and £35 for new members.

The life of Misia Sert is a fascinating subject. She was brought up in Brussels and Paris, was a friend and patron of many artists (painted by both Renoir and Vuillard) and musicians, financial supporter of Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes, concert pianist, close friend of Coco Chanel and described as ‘The Queen of Paris’.

The lecturer on this occasion is Julian Halsby

Julian Halsby was born in North London, and he won an exhibition To Emmanuel College, Cambridge in 1966 to read History and after Part One he changed to the History of Art. During his gap year h taught English at the British Institute of Florence, and it was here that he acquired a passion for art history.

After graduating in 1971 he began lecturing at Croydon College of Art eventually becoming Senior Lecturer and Head of the Postgraduate Conservation Department. He also lectured in other London art colleges and was an early lecturer for NADFAS in the 1970’s. He eventually decided to go freelance and set up an art gallery with his wife in Highgate specialising in late 19th century paintings and Modern British, in particular the work of painters from the New English Art Club. 

He has  written seven books and published many articles and is also a practising artist and an elected member of the Royal Society of British Artists. He exhibits at the Mall Galleries and other galleries around the country.

His special period as an art historian is from about 1850 to 1920, a period rich with amazingly talented artists. He is interested in the private lives of artists, trying to show them as real people. Hence his lecture today.

This lecture can be viewed via Zoom on Thursday May 13th, at 1045 a.m.. Members will be advised by email of the link to this lecture.

Ancient Peruvian burial grounds have yielded up dazzling goldwork, fine ceramic vessels, and some of the richest textiles in the world. Sumptuously woven garments, preserved for 2,000 years by the Paracas desert, display a profusion of embroidered designs. For the Incas, who ruled the Andes of South America after AD 1200, the textile arts took precedence over other media. Chosen women devoted their lives to weaving for the Sun and the Inca State. Today, nearly 500 years after the Spanish conquest, textiles remain central to Andean life. Contemporary Peruvian textiles are displayed during this lecture, if travel arrangements allow.

The speaker on this occasion is Chloe Sayer.

She has made collections in Mexico and Belize for the British Museum, and is Research Associate in the Department of World Cultures at the Royal Ontario Museum. In 2016 she was awarded the prestigious Ohtli medal by the Mexican government for her long-standing commitment to Mexican culture. She is an independent scholar and curator, specializing in Mexican art and culture. Based in London, she is a Fellow of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain

This lecture will be given on line by Zoom

From the early sixties, when he left the Royal College of Art more famous than his teachers, Hockney’s paintings have shown a charm and humour that sets them apart from others of his generation. A naturally gifted draftsman, his love of ingenious visual devices has led him to experiment with a whole range of techniques, from stage design to coloured paper making. From the early abstract expressionist images, through his famous Californian scenes of swimming pools to the photo-montages of the mid eighties, this lecture follows the career of an artist whose wit and imagination has never faltered.

The lecturer on this occasion is Douglas Skeggs. 

He is an art historian with an international reputation, specialising in the Impressionists. He has written an appreciation of Monet and four novels of suspense. He is in great demand as a lecturer and is rather good at ‘painting’ Old Masters himself. He read fine art at Magdalen college, Cambridge

This lecture will be given at 1045 by zoom

Art history is replete with myths. Among them is the idea that outdoor painting – or painting en plein air – was invented by the young Impressionists during the 1860s and 1870s. This lecture considers artists who were painting outside from the motif well before that point. John Constable, Camille Corot, Charles Daubigny and Frederic Edwin Church are just some of the artists who led the way during the early and middle years of the 19th century, laying the groundwork for the later achievements of Impressionist painters like Renoir and Monet. This lecture considers the motivations for artists to paint en plein air, the emergence of an international vogue for naturalist landscape, as well as the techniques and materials used in outdoor painting.

Kathleen McLauchlan is the speaker for this lecture.

She graduated at Oxford University (Modern History) and the Courtauld Institute (MA in 19th century French and British painting). She completed her PhD, ‘French painters in Rome, 1815–1863’ in 2001, and has taught for numerous institutions including Birkbeck College, Sotheby’s Institute, Newcastle University, Oxford University and the OU. Publications include articles and exhibition catalogues on academic and Orientalist art. She was head of the Art Department at Morley College until 2014, and for the last few years has been a course director at the Victoria & Albert Museum, where she organises courses and gives lectures on the history of European art.

This lecture will be given by Zoom on February 11th at 1045

Toby Faber was formerly Managing Director of the publishing house Faber & Faber. He was born in Cambridge in 1965, and now lives in London with his wife and two daughters. He is the author of Stradivarius and Faberge’s Eggs, ‘Faber & Faber: The Untold Story’ and ‘Close to the Edge’ (a novel).

 “I have always been interested in Stradivari since my days as a schoolboy violinist. There is a central mystery to him: how come his violins are still the best in the world, despite three centuries of technological progress. There and then I had the idea for a book that addressed that central mystery by following the fortunes of five of Stradivari’s violins from his workshop to the present day.”

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

The lecturer on this occasion is Linda Smith

Linda Smith is a well-qualified art historian with a special interest in British art since 1550, and Modern Art.

She is an accredited Arts Society lecturer, and an experienced gallery guide and lecturer at Tate Britain, Tate Modern, and other public galleries. She is also a regular contributor to the London Art Studies website, an award-winning online learning platform specialising in art and art history.

Fine art has provided advertisers and their agencies with a great deal of material to use in their creative campaigns. Tony describes some of the processes by which these advertisements have been created and why the works of Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael and Michelangelo have been a particularly rich source. From the Renaissance through to the present day fine art continues to provide opportunities to enhance Brand imagery with admiration, humour, satire and irony. In an entertaining and informative lecture Tony uses a wide range of visuals and video to show examples of the original works, the creative process and the (not always entirely successful) advertisements that are the end result

TONY RAWLINS is the lecturer for this occasion

Tony was educated at Highgate School, starting his career in advertising in 1965 as a mail boy in J. Walter Thompson. He graduated through the training system there to become an account director and subsequently worked in a number of agencies before setting up on his own in 1985. There he handled primarily Guinness advertising in Africa and the Caribbean, where he produced many commercials and print ads for them over a period of 15 years. He remains active as a consultant in the industry, but now concentrates on more philanthropic projects – producing a film in the rural villages of Nigeria for the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. 

He has been a member of The Arts Society for many years. His earlier lecturing experience includes presenting to client groups, sales conferences and students of creative advertising in the UK and overseas. More recently he has been lecturing to Arts Societies in the UK and Europe.

The society’s first zoom lecture viewed on October 8th at 10 45 a.m.

John Osborne graduated in classics at Cambridge University and taught classics at Marlborough for over thirty years, where he was Senior Master.

He worked for several years for the British Council in Iran and Turkey which gave him a long standing interest in Islamic culture. He has lectured regularly for NADFAS , now the Arts Society, at home and abroad since 2005, has lectured on Ancient Rome and on Islam at the University of Bath, he runs an annual course on mediaeval Parish Churches at Marlborough College Summer School, and he works as a guide at Salisbury Cathedral.

He leads and lectures on specialist tours to various countries in SE Europe, the Mediterranean and The Middle East. He has taken groups to Turkey, Greece, Italy, Georgia, Romania, Croatia and has a special interest in Bulgaria.

This lecture will be given under covid restraints on September 10th at 10. 15 and at 11.45 a.m. on the Matthews Hall