Past Events

Lecture cancelled - we will endeavour to include it in a future programme

Sumptuous Veronese - The Depiction of Luxury Goods in 18th Century Venice

21st May 2020 - 2.30pm

Venice: the Serenissma, but also the Luxurissima. Venice was the port for Europe through which all the glamorous and luxurious products of India, the Middle East and the Far East passed, and she certainly made sure that the best pieces remained in Venice. Indian jewellery, silks and porcelains were given a starring role in the paintings produced by any Venetian artist from the 15th of 16th century - Bellini and Cima through to the trio of great Venetian artists, Titian Tintoretto and Veronese. But of all of these, it is Veronese who delighted most in depicting the textures and colour effects of luxury goods.

This lecture explores how he deployed his luxury props, and what it was in his style of painting that makes them such a feast for the eye.

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

Lecture cancelled - we will endeavour to include it in a future programme

Art Crime in Cinema

16th April 2020 - to begin promptly at 1.45pm

This lecture will be preceded by our AGM which begins promptly at 1.45pm for members. The actual lecture begins at 2.30pm and non-members may join us in the hall then.

Whenever a major museum is robbed of its treasures, the BBC website reports the event under the heading ‘Entertainment’. The implications of this are more interesting than they at first seem. Art thefts have been a constant presence in the news media since the early decades of the twentieth century and Hollywood and international cinema were never slow to catch on to the general public's fascination with these dark developments.

This talk seeks to draw connections between three strands — the rise of the international art market from 1900, the theft of major works of art from museums and private houses in the twentieth century, and the emergence of cinema as an art form in the early twentieth century. All three can be seen to feed off one another. Criminals noticed the extraordinary prices being paid for masterpieces and responded accordingly, while cinema latched on to these real-life thriller crime narratives, turning art thieves into glamorous anti-heroes such as Thomas Crown. More recently, art collectors have sought ever more secure locations in which to store their art, with ‘freeport’ warehouses now holding billions of dollars of the world’s masterpieces. This talk traces the connections between some of the most popular art heist movies and the reality of the art market and reveals one or two little-known examples of early ‘art crime cinema’.

Dr Tom Flynn is a UK-based art historian, writer and art consultant. He holds a BA Honours degree (First Class) in Art History from the University of Sussex, a Masters in Design History from the Royal College of Art and a doctorate from the University of Sussex. His interests include contemporary art; sculpture history; museology and the history of museums; art crime; issues in cultural heritage; and the historical development and professional practice of the European art markets. He is a visiting Senior Lecturer at Kingston School of Art, visiting lecturer at Christie’s Education and teaches at a number of other UK universities. For the past seven years he has lectured on the summer Post-Graduate Certificate in Art Crime and Cultural Heritage Protection Studies at the Association for Research into Crimes Against Art (ARCA) in Amelia, Umbria, Italy.

A former Henry Moore Foundation post-doctoral research fellow at the University of Sussex, he has written for numerous international art publications and is the author of The Body in Sculpture (Everyman Art Library, 1998), and co-editor (with Dr Tim Barringer) of Colonialism and the Object: Empire, Material Culture and the Museum (Routledge, 1997). He has written monographs on a number of British contemporary sculptors, including Sean Henry, Terence Coventry and Charlotte Meyer. His most recent book, The A to Z of the International Art Market was published by Bloomsbury Press in 2016.

Tom is a member of the International Association of Art Critics (AICA) and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (RSA).

Lecture cancelled - we will endeavour to include it in a future programme

Fashionable Kent : Life at the Victorian Seaside

19th March 2020 - 2.30pm

Jacqui read History of Art and Theory at the University of Essex before going on to gain an MA in History of Dress from the Courtauld Institute. Formerly an Education Officer at the National Gallery, London, and a tutor and writer for the Open University, she has a wide range of teaching experience. She continues to lecture regularly on the public programmes of the National Gallery and National Portrait Gallery and to publish on court dress, Grand Tour portraiture and Welsh Costume as well as dress as a cultural marker and indicator of class, gender, national and professional identity.

Jacqui is a senior lecturer at Christie's Education, London.

Pearls, Pomegranates, Peacocks and Pipes : The Hidden Language of Renaissance Art

20th February 2020 - 2.30pm

It is sometimes difficult for us to understand the full meaning of a painting from the past due to the wealth of symbolism it contains, much of it obscure to us today but instantly recognizable to contemporaries. This lecture aims to peel back the layers of Renaissance art by deciphering the meaning of some of these symbols - spiritual and secular, virginal and vulgar – and so enable us to read these paintings as had the people for whom they were intended.

Shirley graduated from the University of East Anglia with a first class honours degree in the History of Art, specialising in the Italian and Northern Renaissance. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and a part-time lecturer for the University of East Anglia and for the Department of Continuing Education of the University of Cambridge. She has run study days and certificate courses as well as residential weekend courses and also lectures to the Art Fund and individual clubs and societies.

She is particularly keen to set the art and architecture of the period in the context of the society for which it was produced.

Lawrence of Arabia - Excavating the Legend

16th January 2020 - 2.30pm

On the basis of sensational new evidence from archaeological fieldwork, this lecture will contrast the legend of Lawrence of Arabia with the true story of what happened in the famous desert war of 1916 to 1918. Is the legend a myth? Was Lawrence, as some claim, a liar and a charlatan? Or does legend reflect reality? Was he, in fact, a brilliant military commander and a sincere advocate of the Arab national cause?

‘Lawrence of Arabia’ is an early 20th century instance of celebrity culture. We will analyse the invention and re-invention of the legend from 1919 onwards through memoirs, photos, films, paintings, biographies, and documentaries. We will then contrast the legend with the biography of the man himself, focusing on key aspects of his early years and his character, and using archaeology as the basis for a detailed examination of the role which made him famous – his participation in the Arab Revolt of 1916 to 1918.

Neil was educated at King's College Cambridge and Institute of Archaeology UCL and works as lecturer, writer, archaeologist and occasional broadcaster. He is a Research Fellow, University of Bristol. Editor, Military History Monthly. Director, Sedgeford Historical and Archaeological Research Project. Director, Great Arab Revolt Project. Author of The Decline and Fall of Roman Britain, Apocalypse, Hidden Treasure, Rome: Empire of the Eagles, and The Ancient Greek Olympics: a visitor's guide. Author of forthcoming Lawrence of Arabia's War. Major TV appearances include Channel 4's Time Team, BBC2's Timewatch, Channel Five's Boudica Revealed and Sky Atlantic's The British.

A Very British Art Form - The Story of Pantomime

5th December 2019 - 2.30pm

Sometimes called Britain’s greatest ‘Art Form’, pantomime has been a popular form of entertainment for over 300 years. In the early 18th century the word was used to describe the performances at Drury Lane Theatre based on the Italian Commedia dell’arte. In the 18th century it was often seen as an opportunity for political satire but it is through the 19th century that the fairy-tale story plots were established and the extrovert Music Hall entertainers created the traditions that we know as pantomime today.

Malcolm Jones studied at University of London and King’s College, London & RADA. He has worked as an actor, director and teacher and even backstage at the Royal Opera House. He was Workshop and Events Manager at the V&A Theatre Museum in London for 10 years. Since 2009 he has lectured on the V&A Short Course and Year Course Programme on Theatre and has worked on the Art and Expression Programme. He has taught at Rose Bruford College, Mountview Theatre School, The Actors Centre and RADA. He has written material for The National Theatre Education Department and contributed as a speaker on theatre to television programmes while working at the Theatre Museum. He lectures for Road Scholar USA for Theatre groups visiting London and has lectured in America.

Free refreshments available or mulled wine and mince pies with a small charge.

William Morris at Home

21st November 2019 - 2.30pm

William Morris considered a beautiful home to be “the most important production of Art” and much of his working life was devoted to the production of household goods that were intended to bring art and beauty into a wide range of homes. He also expended enormous time and energy on beautifying his own homes, creating first at Red House in Bexleyheath, and then at Kelmscott House in Hammersmith, and finally at his country home, Kelmscott Manor, a series of interiors that exemplified his ideas about art and design. This lecture explores not only the decoration, but also the relationships and lifestyles associated with each of these very different homes.

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

Eric Ravilious and the Lure of the Everyday

17th October 2019

Ravilious has been described as the greatest English watercolourist of the 20th century and his images of the landscape and of everyday objects attract passionate devotees. A prolific painter, printmaker and designer, he became an Official War Artist in 1939, and was killed in 1942 but his legacy is a body of work reflecting deep delight in the world in which he lived. This talk looks at his work and that of some of his contemporaries working on the Home Front in the Second World War.

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

Convents and Courtesans - Women's Lives in pre-modern Venice

19th September 2019

This lecture is based on extraordinary research showing how thousands of women were forced to enter convents against their will in order to save their families the cost of their dowries. This was matched by huge growth in the number and wealth of Venetian Courtesans, who flourished in this distorted society and who were notorious throughout Europe. Illustrated with paintings by Pietro Longhi, Gabriel Bella, Francesco Guardi and others.

Brought up in Italy, France and Switzerland, Patricia holds a first class degree in Italian from Trinity College, Dublin and a Masters degree in Imperial Russian history from Edinburgh University. She ran her own business for many years, finishing with a 5 year contract teaching at a US university. Now back in the UK, she lectures widely to history societies, university groups, special interest associations and on cruises. Her interests are the society, art and architecture of Imperial Russia; Italian history, art and culture; the English eighteenth century.

Outing
William Morris Museum - A Ride Through Epping Forest - Boat Trip on the River Lee
Including a Cream Tea

5th July 2019

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Sex and the City - Hogarth and 18th Century London

20th June 2019

This lecture examines Hogarth’s Marriage à la Mode other ‘modern moral subjects’. It looks at how the artist used his work to wage war against London’s sex trade and child poverty as part of his personal crusade to establish modern urban life as an appropriate subject for high art. Insights into the darker side of life in 18th century London are blended with the story of how Hogarth worked his way up from an apprenticed engraver to successful painter and philanthropist.

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 is currently working towards her Ph.D. at the University of York the involvement of Roger Fry and the Bloomsbury Group in the development of the Contemporary Art Society from 1910 to 1937. She is a lecturer in Art History at the City Literary Institute (City Lit).

Strawberry Tea and Recital at Salmestone Grange  

13th June 2019

Salmestone Grange is an eight hundred year old building with a fascinating history and a beautiful chapel with magnificent stained glass windows by John Trinick, the Australian stained glass artist who was influenced by Edward Burne-Jones.

The committee and generous members of the society made scones which were served with cream and jam and also baked a selection of delicious cakes. In addition we had freshly picked strawberries with more cream! It was a perfect event for all of us to chat and get to know each other better.

Music was provided by Aurelian Consort, a group of musicians who played different recorders, whose style of music is perfectly suited to period houses.

Mad Men and Artists - How the Advertising Industry Exploited Fine Art

16th May 2019

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 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. More recently he has completed a sanitation project in Haiti after it was devastated by Hurricane Matthew in 2016. 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.