How did a man who grew up in the back streets of Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent become an iconic name in the global world of pottery?

The impact of history, culture and an unfailing creativity in the Ukraine are shared in this most timely of lectures.

This Rennaissance shopping exxperience is brought to life as the utterly unique experience it provided.

Artists, Illness and Creativity explores the links that so often produce startling results.

Review by Liz Nicol of Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge lecture by Sarah Burles in April’26.

Kettle’s Yard: The House That Reimagined the Art Gallery

Sarah Burles really opened up for us this unique collection in its own particular setting together with the life of founder Jim Ede, who bought the property in 1956.

I wonder how many of us had already visited or knew anything about Kettle’s Yard. Not knowing so much about 20th century art I wasn’t sure what to expect but found it utterly fascinating. Every university should have a Kettle’s Yard, Sarah emphasised. Because in 1966 Jim Ede, the creator of Kettle’s Yard, gave the gallery to the University of Cambridge.

Jim Ede himself is such an intriguing character. Though he went to art school, he didn’t paint himself but after WW1 he worked in the Tate Gallery as a curator. He really wanted to write about and encourage more avant-garde and lesser-known modern artists. Although he certainly wasn’t a millionaire, they would send him their works which he promoted in London. A large part of his life, until he established Kettle’s Yard, was spent lecturing and writing while living in France and Morocco.

And what is Kettle’s Yard? Four dilapidated cottages on the edge of Cambridge bought by Jim Ede in 1956 and converted into a delightfully spacious and comfortable house full of paintings and sculptures arranged such a way you wouldn’t feel overwhelmed. Pictures under windows. Arrangements of pebbles according to tone. And no labels. Somehow you get drawn into the place. So relaxing. No pressure.  Not a museum or a gallery, Sarah reminded us as she guided us around the house.

We were also introduced to some of the artists whose works are displayed there, such as David Jones, Ben Nicholson, Henri Gautier Brzeski, Christopher Wood, Alfred Wallis. Had we ever heard of these? If not, now we have, thanks to Kettle’s Yard. Any of them would be worthy of a lecture on their own.

Yes, every university should have a Kettle’s Yard. Sarah Burles introduced the history and spirit of Kettle’s Yard and its founder, Jim Ede, whose vision was to create a calm, welcoming home for modern art. Once four derelict cottages, the house displays paintings, sculptures, and objects without labels, encouraging relaxed engagement rather than instruction. Featuring artists such as Ben Nicholson and Alfred Wallis, Kettle’s Yard feels neither museum nor gallery, but a place to be quietly absorbed—proof, as Burles suggested, that every university should have one.

And so now Kettle’s Yard is definitely on my bucket list.

Magic Circle archivist Ian Keable explains the role of magicians in the art of trickery.

Our review by Liz Nicol:

Ian Keable is not only an academic and a chartered accountant, he’s a Professional Magician and as such is a member of The Inner Magic Circle.  

His talk was on how magicians have appeared in art throughout the centuries, whether in paintings, or satirical prints and cartoons from before 2000 BCE up to the present day. Two for the price of one: a lecture and a magic show. Throughout we were treated to some simple but cunning tricks showing how to be fooled by sleight of hand and misdirection of our attention, all accompanied by Ian’s sardonic sense of humour.  

First we were shown ancient manuscripts dating back to before 2000BCE of magical illusions; and at the same time how photographic “trickery” could be used to replace parts of the image with photos of modern magicians like Tommy Cooper.

Jump to 1475 AD when we have prints by Hieronymus Bosch showing the famous “cup and balls” trick performed in market squares, often to distract passersby who could then become prey to pickpockets. This trick was not easy, as Ian demonstrated using just one ball and cup.

From Bosch to Breugel, who also knew his magic, to Hogarth and his dog Trump, which becomes Donald Trump! Engravings by Hogarth and Rowlandson portrayed street performers at fairs, panning in to show the extra details. It was a tough life but rewarding if you got it right, like Isaac Faux who died worth £10,000!

Up another century via Charles Dickens to the 20th and 21st centuries with cartoonists now picking up on tricks to make a political point with politicians from Gladstone up to the present day continuing to be depicted as would-be magicians, often performing the famous rabbit out of a hat trick.

Unsurprisingly, there were lots of questions afterwards. And yes, the Magic Circle is still thriving with over 1500 members. There are no secrets, it’s all out there. It’s how you put it over that matters more.

The eclectic life of author Chris Aslan promises a unique insight into the significance and revival of the 15th century carpets of Khiva.

The new Year starts with sombre but inspiring true story from Auschwitz.

In 1943, the German SS officers in charge of Auschwitz-Birkenau ordered that an orchestra should be formed among the female prisoners. Forty-seven women and girls were drafted into a hurriedly-assembled band that would play to other inmates as they left each morning and as they returned at the end of the day. They were made to give weekly concerts for Nazi officers, and members were sometimes summoned to give individual performances of an officer’s favourite piece of music. For almost all of the musicians chosen to take part, the orchestra was to save their lives. 

Our Review by Liz Nicol

The Women’s Orchestra of Auschwitz

In her intriguing lecture Anna Sebba brought to life for us her recent book The Women’s Orchestra of Auschwitz: A Story of Survival - without pulling any punches. Talking to survivors and their relations whose memories were so varied and “riddled with absurdities” she found that to make sense of it all would be to undermine the Holocaust.

The name Auschwitz is enough to send shivers down your spine so the existence of an orchestra, a women’s orchestra, seems inconceivable. I was wondering if the female prisoners, segregated as they were, had decided to form an orchestra themselves to keep up their spirits. But if so, ingenious as prisoners often were at devising ways and means, how would they obtain the instruments?

Auschwitz was not the only concentration camp to have an orchestra. The Germans were fond of music. To create the illusion of a military camp prisoners were often forced to sing as they marched; in Dachau loud music was blared out by speakers at night so keeping prisoners awake.

In 1943, Maria Mandl, a female guard, decided to create a female orchestra to impress her Nazi lover. Although there were no photos of this women’s orchestra, comprising many skills and different nationalities and an incongruous mix of violins, flutes, mandolins and accordions, Anna still managed to illustrate her lecture with numerous photos of the participants from before and sometimes after their imprisonment. Though they were consigned to indoor jobs rather than dredging swamps or wrecking and other prisoners regarded them with understandable jealousy and contempt their lives were still tortured, and any mistakes brutally punished.

The orchestra leader, Hilda Grünebald, having taken their music to Belsen to prove what had happened, in May 1945, the Red Cross organised a concert at Belsen, possibly attended by Anna’s own father who was overseeing the liberation of the camps.

Maria Mandl was captured and hanged in 1948.

But go and read Anna’s book. It may be harrowing but it is the achievement of these women “the triumph of the human spirit” that will uplift us, despite the terrible conditions.

The Topsy Turvy world of Gilbert and Sullivan

What a fantastic lecture! Jamie Hayes introduced us to two very different, disparate characters. WS Gilbert came from a well-to-do background, nearly served in the Crimean war then became a barrister, before switching to writing for the theatre which he really wanted to do, a “Victorian Ian Hislop”, his satire kindly, not malicious or spiteful.

Meanwhile, Arthur Sullivan, coming from a much poorer background, was something of a musical prodigy having already written some serious music – he was said to be the best British composer since Purcell – before teaming up with Gilbert. A most unlikely pair who ended up being major if not the major celebrities of the age, in America even more than in Britain and leaving their mark in the later music of Jerome Kern and Cole Porter. Their sheet music sold in barrel loads. Relatively short works like Box and Cox, Trial by Jury headed the way before HMS Pinafore, Pirates of Penzance, The Mikado and more.

There was so much to pack into this lecture. So much we thought we knew but didn’t. About the private as well as the public lives of these two huge Victorian celebrities. The operas were so popular they earned Gilbert and Sullivan huge amounts of money and when the thoroughly up-to-date Savoy theatre was built by the theatrical agent D’Oyly Carte, they became known as the Savoy operas.

Not requiring the highest standards of professional musicality these operas could be, and still are, performed by many amateur as well as by professional operatic companies. In Aberystwyth, where I grew up, there used to be a “town and gown” Gilbert & Sullivan society, whose annual productions were eagerly anticipated. Although, according to my husband who often performed in them, the rehearsals were rather shambolic, things always turned out all right on the night!

Reviewed by Liz Nicol

This lecture explored the significant yet often overlooked contributions of early and contemporary Black dressmakers and designers in America and England. Despite facing persistent racial barriers, talented individuals such as Ophelia Devores, Annie Lowe, Jay Jaxon, Stephen Burrows, Willi Smith, Edward Boateng, and Naomi Campbell have gradually gained recognition for their achievements in fashion. The talk highlighted their struggles, remarkable work, and influence and the potential for a talk that provided deeper insights into individual stories and Scott’s curatorial experience in Preston. Notable surprises included the fact that Black designers created wedding dresses for Jacqui Kennedy and Princess Diana. Thanks for broadening our horizons Scott.

Reviewed by Sandra Cavey

The Golden Age of Comedy - reviewed by Liz Nicol (Membership Secretary)

Where to start? With a laugh of course, as we watched an extract from Don’t Lose Your Head in which Peter Butterworth plays Citizen Bidet. I was rather expecting we were going to hear more about the Carry-On films,remembering Tyler Butterworth’s talk about his father two years ago. What an inspiring lecture that was and were we disappointed this time? No, certainly not! But this time we ventured into theatre then television.

Back in the nineteen fifties and sixties summer resorts like Brighton and Blackpool boasted theatres that were full to the gunnels with 12 performances a week. Tyler’s mother – remember Janet Brown and her Margaret Thatcher? - would also be performing twice daily throughout the summer like so many comedians of the time. This was a golden age of theatre comedy.  (Who can forget the Egyptian dance sketch from The Red Shoes?) Actor comedians like Max Miller, Laurel and Hardy were famous for their exquisite timing – an art which didn’t die but was transferred to the tv screen by the likes of Arthur Lowe, Michael Crawford, Dick Emery.

As cheap flights and holidays abroad became popular, resorts became quieter, and their theatre attendance positively withered. But then television was coming alongside, with writers and comedians adapting to this new medium. Radio comedy was already going strong withTony Hancock and Kenneth Horne leading the charge.

Throughout his talk Tyler regaled us with frequent extractsfrom Steptoe and Son, Some Mothers Do Have ‘em, Fawlty Towers and of course Dad’s Army, including a memorable clip of Tony Hancock in The Blood Donor (“A pint? That’s nearly an armful!”) and culminating with the famous “Don’t tell them, Pike!” scene. We gained insights as to why some series like Last of the Summer Wine ran for years, others like Fawlty Towers, scarcely three or four. 

When then was the Golden Age of Comedy? The Forties and Fifties, Sixties and Seventies? Eighties and Nineties? Not forgetting the Noughties perhaps, the list goes on.  Or all the American comedy series which also invaded our screens: Friends, Bewitched…

No, quite simply, the Golden Age of Comedy is whenever families sit down together and discuss their favourite comedies.

Altogether another fascinating lecture which not only kept us laughing but revived many precious memories.

On her first visit to our society Gillian gave us an excellent lecture on new archaeological developments at Pompeii.

This talk will take us to a number of Roman villas in Britain and Europe to look, particularly, at ceramics, but also to consider what we are really looking at when we visit these Roman houses.

Gavin Plumley speaks and writes widely about the culture of Europe in the 19th and 20th centuries on radio, in theatre and opera  programmes and in magazines.  On his previous visit he spoke about Gustav Klimt. His talk this time will be about John Singer Sargent, the American virtuoso portrait painter who settled in London and painted high society in the late 19th and 20th centuries.

Gavin’s book about his home in Herefordshire, ‘A Home for All Seasons’, is a very good read.

This is Jane’s fifth visit to Lichfield. In the past she has spoken to us  about Deltware, Venetian glass and Meissen porcelain as well as about fauna and flora depictions on pottery and porcelain.

On this occasion she will tell us about the great chateau of Versailles created by Louis XIV in the 17thC. We will be shown the state apartments, the vast gardens and the pleasure pavilions. She will also refer to the spectacular entertainments and the royal collections.

There is no lecture in May.

Details of the Special Interest Day can be found under the SPECIAL INTEREST DAYS tab.

Deborah Jenner is an American-born art historian residing in Paris. She lectures and writes on USA art links with both Europe and Asia. Her doctoral thesis dealt with western influences on Georgia O’Keefe’s art. She is also fascinated by Picasso and he is the subject of her talk to our society.

Picasso copied any number of stylised facial features, colour palettes, symbols and costume details to remake his own genre scenes and portraits using his own unique style.  As he confessed: “Good artists copy, great artists steal”. An example of this can be seen in Les Demoiselles d’Avignon, the inspiration for which came from African art.

Suggested reading: ‘A Life of Picasso’ by John Richardson

On Tuesday 4th March at 2.30pm, the BBC Antiques Roadshow specialist of 25 years standing and self-proclaimed William Hogarth 'nut', Lars Tharp, will share his personal spectrum of ceramic likes and dislikes and invite audience views. 

In the words of Lars Tharp - "After over forty years specializing in Ceramics from all over the globe and across thousands of years, I offer you my pick from both ends of my personal spectrum of likes and dislikes. But which is Good, which Bad? Will you agree?

Here’s a talk to encourage Audience participation. I hope I can change some minds –in either direction. De gustibus non est disputandum (‘in matters of Taste all argument is futile’). Or perhaps not?"

"Plants too are silent witnesses to crimes. Their presence in many crime scenes can help an investigator identify a suspect or locate a victim. Apparently mundane plants such as brambles and nettles can provide valuable insights into when a crime was committed. Fragments of leaves and seeds embedded in soil on the footwear of a suspect can place them at the scene. An understanding of landscape history and land-use helps an investigator discriminate between a clandestine burial and a mediaeval feature in a woodland. Forensic botany is not new science, plants have played a role in solving major cases for decades, including the infamous murder of aviator Charles Lindbergh’s infant son."

Originally a horticulturist, Mark Spencer is now a forensic botanist, public speaker and radio and television presenter.

A specialist in the history of 20thC fashion and its powerful legacy with both the most influential fashion publications internationally and in the great couture houses of Paris, London and New York, Connie Gray curates specialist fashion exhibitions, for example at Claridges Legends Only and on the Queen Mary 2.

Her lecture will cover the period from the late 19thC to the mid 20thC when the promotion of fashion allowed it to reach a much wider audience.

This talk will consider the reasons why the Festival was held, at a time when money was non existent and materials impossible to source, the centenary could so easily have been overlooked, and on many occasions excuses could have been found to cancel the proposed events. The Labour government were not put off by the many problems and an event was held that the nation could be proud of. We will consider some of the characters involved, what motivated them and the resulting events and the wonderful design, art and architecture that flourished during the Festival year and had an impact for many years to come.

Matthew Denney is an auctioneer, valuer, lecturer, writer and educationalist.

New to our society, Paul writes articles on archaeology, takes tours to places of archaeological interest and was a consultant on the BBC’s ‘The Making of Mankind’.

On this occasion he will be talking about new rock art discoveries in remote parts of Australia, as well as pointing out the major regional differences in rock paintings and engravings. He will also look at the meanings of this art in relation to Aboriginal creation myths.

Anne will be familiar to those who were members before the pandemic, having spoken to us on four previous occasions on subject ranging from Scandinavian Design to the 200th anniversary of Queen Victoria’s birth.

This lecture is on Art Nouveau, the fashionable style of design and interior decoration in Europe and America from about 1890 to 1914.

Suggested reading: ‘Art Nouveau 1890 to 1914’ by Paul Greenhalgh

Jacqueline Hyman has an amazing story to tell us about Bolton’s connection to Ancient Egypt. It started in 1860when Annie Barlow, a mill owner’s daughter from Bolton met the archaeologist Flinders Petrie in the Nile Delta. This eventually resulted in the Bolton Museum housing the most important collection of Egyptian artefacts in the UK.

An experienced conservator and lecturer, Jacqueline has appeared on BBC4 and Channel 4 and has documented and preserved many of these artefacts.

Photo: Annie Barlow. (Thanks to Bolton Library and Museum Services.)

A big welcome back to Stella Grace Lyons! Grace did a lecture about snow scenes in art for us on Zoom during the pandemic and more recently a live lecture on Fra Angelico, the most celebrated painter in the Early Renaissance.

On this occasion her subject is the American artist Andrew Wyeth (1917 – 2009) who painted people almost exclusively from the places he knew best – the Brandywine Valley in Pennsylvania and the area near Cushing, Maine. He is particularly famous for Christina’s World, which can be seen in the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

Reading suggestion: Andrew Wyeth: a Secret Life by Richard Merryman (Harper Perennial 1998)

Famous for books like ‘Murder on the Orient Express’, ‘Death on the Nile’, ‘The Murder of Roger Ackroyd’ (considered her most ingenious novel) and many other Miss Marple/ Hercule Poirot stories, Agatha Christie’s works still sell in big numbers.

Our speaker will of course consider why the ‘Christie Phenomenon’ has lasted so long. Jane is well known to our society. Back in 2012 she entranced us with her talk on Charles Dickens, 200 years after the year of his birth. She has also spoken to us about food in Georgian England and the history of the Christmas table and customs.

Dr Oosterwijk is an academic who has taught in her native country, the Netherlands, as well as in Britain. On her last visit to our society she spoke about Dutch art in the seventeenth century. On this occasion she is going even further back to the fifteenth century. She will concentrate mainly on the work of Jan van Eyck, the man who painted one of Northern Europe’s most famous pictures – the Arnolfini portrait, which is full of intriguing illusion.

Reading suggestion: Simone Ferrari’s Van Eyck, Master of Art (Prestel 2013)

Czech emigrees Zika and Lida Ascher left Prague on Honeymoon in 1939 never to return. Fleeing to London they were initially under the wing of designer Edward Molyneux. Post War, the Aschers modernist aesthetic was set to take London by storm. From Henry Moore to Felix Topolsky, from Andres Derain to Henri Matisse, Asher was at the cutting edge of Modern Artist Textiles. The famous Asher Squares became a modernist and fashion phenomenon and were exhibited in both luxury stores and prestigious galleries word wide. Through Ascher, Modern Art was literally stepping out into the street.

Van Dyck’s paintings have given us the best view of Charles I’s court in the years before the English Civil War. He seemed to capture the style and colour and the sense of entitlement prevalent amongst its members.

This talk will look at the painter’s mastery of light, detail and composition as well as the influence of great artists like Titian and Rubens on his work, and the influence he himself had on 18thC British portrait artists of the calibre of Reynolds and Gainsborough.

Duncan’s first encounter with Van Dyck came in a sixth form history lesson in the late 1960s. As a complete failure in school art lessons, he believes that it was the first time he really paid attention to the enjoyable  possibilities of great art.

Suggested reading: ‘Anthony van Dyck & the Art of Portraiture’ by Christopher White (2021)

It’s good to welcome back Barry Venning, who gave us a very good lecture on the Beatles on his last visit.

Giles provided many of us with forty-six years of timeless humour with subtle digs at the behaviour of the British people and the people in charge of us.. You will remember that the family remained the same age although fashions were allowed to change.

Women have been poorly represented in our art galleries and Tate Britain’s 2024 exhibition on Women Artists will try to right the balance. Our speaker, Amy Lim, will be telling us about how the exhibition has been set up and the research she has been doing for it

Amy Lim is curator for both the Faringdon Collection at Buscot Park in Oxfordshire and the Stanley Spencer Gallery in Cookham. She also has a wide range of lectures on fine and decorative arts from the 17thC to the 20thC and is new to our society.

James Campbell has always had a particular interest in the work of the artist, illustrator and cartoonist E. H. Shepard. He lectures on the subject and has also and has written a number of books (see below). His lecture examines the collaboration between A.A. Milne and E.H. Shepard and the way that the author and illustrator managed to create one of the world’s all-time favourite children’s books.

Reading- two books by James Campbell:

Shepard’s War

The Art of Winnie-the-Pooh

Please note that this is a change to the programme advertised on your membership card.

Russell Nash is a London Blue Badge Guide (winner of The Travellers’ Choice Award 2021) who devised thirty different virtual tours and lectures during the Covid lockdowns.

This lecture tells the story of men’s tailoring over the past 200 years in areas such as London’s Saville Row and Jermyn Street. He will look at men such as Beau Brummell, the Duke of Windsor, Montague Burton, Alexander McQueen and others who created signature looks for men.

Antique treasures for the New World

Following the turbulent political period between 1870 and 1929, and the collapse of the Russian and European monarchies, many glorious art and jewel collections were looted or sold. But as the great families of Russia and Europe foundered, the power and wealth of America soared. Its new millionaires were intent on creating palaces of their own, filling them with the finest art and furniture, and weighing down their wives and daughters with the most opulent royal jewels.

These fabulously wealthy heiresses married into the British aristocracy, bringing many of their newly acquired treasures with them. This lecture explains how, with the decline of aristocratic power in Europe, the legendary jewels have once again been sold off.

2023 marks the seventieth anniversary of the last coronation, the first – and only – such event in Britain to be widely witnessed by the people by the new medium of television.

Barbara Askew, a Blue Badge guide and an acknowledged expert on Royalty and Windsor Castle, will look at the coronation ceremony from the earliest times to the present, examining the different stages of the ceremony and explaining the significance of different items of the coronation regalia.

Fans of the Antiques Roadshow will instantly recognise Clive Stewart Lockhart. He worked on the show from 1991 to 2016. He has run an auctioneering firm for even longer; forty-seven years, in fact.

In the late 18thC George Chinnery ran away from debt and his wife (‘the ugliest woman I have ever seen’) and settled in India for twenty-three years. He painted a number of the leading figures in the East India Company and their families as well as many scenes of everyday life in India.

Book: White Mughals by William Dalrymple, an excellent account of the life and work of Colonel James Achilles Kirkpatrick and of his Indo-Persian wife, Khair-un-Nissa.

Tyler Butterworth has spent his working life in film, television, theatre and radio. More recently he has been recording audio books and documentary voiceovers.

This lecture is about the work of his parents. His father, Peter Butterworth, took part in many Carry On films; while his mother, Janet Brown, was the first female impressionist, famous for doing Mrs Thatcher. Tyler reveals the private story behind his parents’ very public lives.

Peter has visited us on a number of occasions, most recently when he spoke about The Musical World of Venice. He is a mine of musical knowledge and an incredibly talented musician.

This time his subject is the nocturne, which had its origins in the 18thC (when it was intended it should be performed at night time), but had become very popular by the 19thC. The most famous creator of nocturnes was Frederic Chopin who composed twenty-one of them.

From great public collections to parish churches and from cathedrals to country houses, there is a whole range of astounding art that we can see and appreciate through the counties of the West Midlands. Artist, curator and Vice Chairman of Arts Society Wolverhampton, Ed Isaacs will share some of that art, taking examples from the many places accessible to the public. He will tell the stories about the artworks and the artists and what they mean to him. 

Ed will be delivering this lecture at no charge to our society. Our chairman, Duncan, will do the same to Ed’s society in due course.

Image:

Elizabeth Throckmorton by Nicolas de Largilliere (Coughton Court, Warwickshire - NT)

Colin Shindler regards Frank Capra as one of America’s greatest film directors. He won Best Director at the Oscars for films like ‘It Happened One Night’ (1934), ‘Mr Deeds Goes to Town’ (1936) and ‘You Can’t Take It With You’ (1938). These films all celebrated the common man.

‘It’s a Wonderful Life’(1946) got plenty of nominations, but no Oscars. It was in competition with ‘The Best Years of Your Life’ and ‘Great Expectations’, though. Capra’s film has stood the test of time as shown by the number of times it has been shown on the TV at Christmas in recent years. The theme of ‘Wonderful Life’ is the goodness of ordinary people, a winner in anybody’s book.

Having worked as a TV producer, a lecturer in film at Cambridge University and the author of books about Hollywood, Colin knows a thing or two about the subject of his lecture!

Reading:

Two books by Colin Shindler

Hollywood in Crisis: Film & American Society (1929- 1939)

Hollywood Goes to War: Films & American Society (1939 – 1952)

Stella Grace Lyons last spoke to us on Zoom during the worst times of the pandemic. Her ‘Art in Winter’ certainly cheered us up. This time she is heading for the Renaissance and one of its greatest artists. Fra Angelico was a Dominican friar who eventually became the prior of S. Domenico in Fiesole near Florence. Ruskin regarded him as ‘not an artist properly so-called, but an inspired saint’. Recent opinion gives him a lot more credit than that, regarding him as a proper professional artist - as his frescoes in the friars’ cells and his wonderful Annunciation at San Marco in Florence testify. He used brilliant colour and paid meticulous attention to detail.

Barry Venning is an historian of British art and is particularly interested in Barry Venning

Turner and Constable: but on this occasion he is going to take us on a more modern trip through the 1960s. His sources range from the ‘fifth’ Beatle, Stuart Sutcliffe, who was also a talented artist. Photographers followed the Fab Four’s rise to fame and album covers for such releases as Rubber Soul, Revolver, The White Album and Sgt Pepper turned the album cover into an art form.

Gillian has a degree in Latin and Ancient History. After a spell working in front of the cameras on a variety of programmes for the BBC she moved to North Yorkshire where she immersed herself in archaeology.

 She has been involved in archaeological exploration at home and abroad ever since, including at Pompeii, the subject of this talk. She also lectures widely on subjects relating to the Ancient World and often heads tours to sites in Europe.

Reading: 

Mary Beard, Pompeii: The Life of a Roman Town 

Mark will be familiar to members both for his TV work, especially The Antiques Roadshow, but also for his visit to us when he ‘Undressed Antiques’.

He has worked at Bonhams, Sotheby’s and thereafter to icollectod.com where he became Director of Auction House Services. 

In this lecture Mark will show how the antiques market has changed in the last fifty years. He will look at furniture, ceramics, glass, lighting, metalwork and identify key designers and designs.

Nudge-nudge, wink-wink: prepare to be prepared for the potential licentiousness in the works covered by this lecture!

Dr. Sophie Oosterwijk is a well-known lecturer on the artworks and artists of her native Holland. She holds degrees from Leiden and York universities in the History of Art. Furthermore, she regularly teaches at a number of universities and societies in the UK and contributes to a number of publications.

Reading:

Irene Nesta, Vermeer’s World, Prestel (2004)

Picture: The Girl with a Wine Glass by Vermeer 1659-1660

You may recognise the name of the lecturer and the subject!

Since finishing a very enjoyable career as a teacher Duncan has been a volunteer at Sudbury Hall, a place that he has come to know very well and to love. The Hall is a veritable treasure house, full of works of art with stories to tell. Equally fascinating is the history of the Vernon family who built, and lived in, the Hall for three hundred years.

Peter gave us a fascinating lecture on English Silverware two years ago. On this occasion he looks towards the East.

For last three centuries the West has been fascinated by the architecture, gardens and court rituals of the Far East. These will be discussed in this lecture, as well as other things that caught the Western eye such as the meridian line of the Forbidden City, double hip roofs and the importance of the number 9.

Reading:  Chinese Art by Mary Tregear  Thames & Hudson (1997)

                Art in China by Craig Clunes Oxford University Press (2002)

Caroline Holmes is a garden historian, author, broadcaster and lecturer. This is the 30th anniversary of Cedric Morris’ death. In our lecturer’s opinion Morris is one of a handful of true artists of botanical importance. He wasn’t just interested in painting flowers: he was responsible for creating ninety new species of iris. Furthermore, he co-founded the East Anglian School of Painting and Drawing in Dedham and it rapidly became an artistic hub. Members who went on Leila’s terrific trip to Suffolk will remember visiting Sir Alfred Munnings’ gallery in Dedham. Suffice it to say, at this point, that Morris and Munnings did not always see eye to eye about a number of issues.

Reading: Cedric Morris: a life in Art and Plants by Janet Waymark.

Caroline Holmes herself has written a number of books, including:

Why do Violets Shrink? Answers to 280 Thorny Questions on the World of Plants

The Not So Little Book of Dung

Impressionists in their Gardens

Andrew Prince says that his consuming passion for jewellery began when as a child of three he swallowed one of his mother’s pearl earrings. Having survived that ordeal he has devoted his career to producing fine jewellery, most notably for clients like Michael Jackson and TV characters like Miss Piggy and the cast of Downton Abbey.

This lecture will cover the period from the fin de siècle 1890s, through the Great War and the Roaring Twenties to the ruin caused by the Wall Street Crash.

THIS IS AN EXTRA LECTURE VIA ZOOM

Linda, a native of London, a graduate of the London College of Dance, and our Community Arts Organiser, has volunteered to give this lecture on Zoom.

Her talk is about how the Ballets Russes , originally an all-Russian affair, began to use French composers and European dancers. She will concentrate on the early period (1909 – 1913) when Stravinsky produced important works for the company (and Fokine and Nijinsky choreographed works to his music).

Linda also says that without Diaghilev it is doubtful that Britain would have three world class ballet companies – the Royal Ballet, the Ballet Rambert and the English National Ballet – as all three founders had been dancers with the Ballets Russe.

PLEASE NOTE CHANGE OF DATE!

Members will remember Charles Harris’ Christmas lecture in 2019. It featured the iconic American artwork of Norman Rockwell – fabulously large turkey dinners, happy (and sometimes cheeky) children and jolly Santas.

Charles had a very successful career as a creative director in advertising and as a lecturer on design. This lecture is about a piece of very effective advertising. It features the colourful posters used by the British railway companies to sell beautiful destinations enjoying marvellous weather and beaches with impossibly golden sand. Apart from being very beguiling, they are in themselves excellent works of art.

Denise Heywood is an author, lecturer and journalist specializing in the art and culture of South East Asia.

This lecture tells the story of Jim Thompson, an American army officer who arrived in Bangkok in 1945 and decided to stay. He did much to resuscitate the Thai silk industry. He created robes for the Thai royal family, costumes for films (like ‘The King and I’), and silk fabrics for temples and for his own teakwood house. In twenty years of living and working in Thailand he became very famous…but then, in 1967, he mysteriously disappeared and has never been seen since.

Reading: ‘Jim Thompson – the unsolved mystery’ by William Warren  ( Archipelago 1998)

This Lecture was previously scheduled for June 2020 but was cancelled.

An official guide at both Tate Britain and Tate Modern as well as at St Paul’s Cathedral, Ian is a Londoner with a passion for art and architecture. This lecture discusses and illustrates the development of the Royal Academy from modest beginnings in the 1760s under the presidency of Joshua Reynolds to its current home at Burlington House in the heart of the capital. With its annual exhibition and many other exhibitions the RA has often been regarded as ‘the essential testing-ground of quality, critical recognition, public reputation and financial success’. As Ian will show, not everyone has agreed with this statement over the years.

ZOOM LECTURE

Shirley gave us a fascinating talk about Leonardo’s women on her last visit to Lichfield. This lecture is about the creation of one of the most astonishing pieces of art in the Western world by one of the world’s greatest artists. Michelangelo was commissioned by Pope Julius II at a time of religious ferment. The Reformation was just about to begin in earnest and the Catholic Church was eager to remind its flock that it was still a great force, able to deal with the rising Protestant challenge. Shirley will take us through the decoration of the Sistine Chapel and the painting of ‘The Last Judgement and set the story in the context of the turmoil unleashed in the early sixteenth century.

Reading:

Michelangelo & the Sistine Chapel by Andrew Graham Dixon   Weidenfeld & Nicholson (2008)

Picture: – Sistine Chapel. ‘The Creation of Eve’.

Jane’s welcome fourth visit to our society explores the way in which artists have included transparent glass objects in their paintings, capturing the shadows and reflections in addition to displaying what is behind. Her lecture will include Roman wall paintings, pictures by the giants of the Renaissance and, of course, the many drinking vessels to be seen in Dutch still-life paintings.

Picture: Pieter Claesz, Still life with salt tub

Dr. Helen Doe is a Fellow of the University of Exeter, where she teaches part-time and supervises postgraduates. She has written a number of books about Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s three great liners, as well as one about the Battle of Britain (in which her father fought). She will be dealing with the paintings, drawings and photographs of the battle to see how far they match up to the reality of the fighting.

Reading:

Fighter Pilot: the Life of Battle of Britain Air Ace Bob Doe by Helen Doe  Amberley Books (2015)

The Battle of Britain by John Reay Cassell (2000)

Why do certain paintings have the power to move us to joy, knowledge or to tears? From a handprint on a cave wall to the sumptuous paintings of Bonnard or Matisse, this lecture will trace the development of painting through a number of key works and offer a ‘ tool kit’ of sorts that can be taken into any gallery, helping you to unlock the sometimes hidden treasures that paintings contain.

Ghislaine Howard is a painter of powerful and expressive means whose works chart and interpret shared human experience. Named as a Woman of the Year 2008 for her contribution to art and society, she has published and exhibited widely and has work in many collections including the Royal Collection. 

Solo exhibitions of her work have taken place at many prestigious venues including Manchester Art Gallery, Canterbury Cathedral, Imperial War Museum North and the British Museum. 

She is currently working on a major initiative with Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce that will  include a permanent exhibition of her work.

She lives in the beautiful Derbyshire Peak District with her husband Michael, who as well as being an art historian and artist, is also an Arts Society lecturer.

From an Iraq beach to lenses, architecture, fibre optics...... Mankind's greatest discovery and tool .  We'd be lost without glass.

Andy was the first expert on the Antiques Roadshow who specialised in glass.

Andy started buying and selling antiques when he was 14 and he is now a specialised glass dealer, running Britain’s largest antique and vintage glass shops in his home town of Rye in East Sussex. He has written several books about glass including The Decanter: An Illustrated History of Glass from 1650 and 20th Century Glass, which covers the more recent past. He is currently researching a new book about Swedish glass. Andy lectures widely and writes for journals as diverse as The Times, Country Life, and Glass Circle News. His passion for his subject is reflected in his personal collection of over 30,000 pieces of glass.

Andy joined the Antiques Roadshow in 2005 as the first specialist to deal solely with glass. He regularly keeps visitors entertained with his unique style and passion. Before working in the antiques business full-time, Andy had a successful career as a music journalist.

Anne Sebba is the author of biographies on Laura Ashley, Mother Teresa, Jennie Churchill and Wallis Simpson. Her latest book is ‘Les Parisiennes’ and it is on this subject – how the women of Paris lived, loved and died during the occupation of France from 1940 to 1944 – that she will be lecturing to us. She will tell us about how celebrated Parisiennes like Coco Chanel, Irene Nemirovsky and Elisabeth de Rothschild endeavoured to survive in the stifling and terrifying atmosphere of the Nazi occupation and how all the women were faced with stark choices. Should they collaborate or should they resist?

Reading: Les Parisiennes by Anne Sebba (Weidenfeld & Nicholson 2016)

THIS LECTURE WAS ORIGINALLY SCHEDULED FOR APRIL 2020 AND WAS CANCELLED DUE TO Sars-coV-2

Bertie, who is a member of the Inner Magic Circle, has amazed and amused us on two previous occasions: firstly with his magic tricks, and then with his Punch and Judy show. On this occasion he will take us on a journey through art that will deceive and confuse his audience. He will be looking out for works by Magritte, Banksy, Bridget Riley and Escher in particular. So, as Bertie says, ‘Hold on to your seats and be prepared to be visually fried!’

Picture: Ascending and Descending by M. C. Escher 

Sarah has spoken to us on two previous occasions, mostly recently on the subject of sublime and ridiculed architecture. Her subject in this lecture is Thomas Tresham, the father of Francis Tresham the Gunpowder plotter. He was a Catholic, living in difficult times in the late Tudor period. He decided to express his Catholicism in the design and decoration of two buildings on his Northamptonshire estates. These were Rushton Triangular Lodge (now English Heritage) and Lyveden New Bield (now National Trust). Both are most unusual and fascinating buildings. The Triangular Lodge, for example, symbolizes the Holy Trinity: it has three sides, three floors, trefoil windows and three triangular gables on each side.

Picture: Rushton Triangular Lodge

THIS LECTURE WAS PREVIOUSLY SCHEDULED FOR JULY 2020 AND CANCELLED DUE TO COVID 19

Stella Grace Lyons, new to our society, will be giving our Christmas lecture. Hopefully, no snow will have fallen at this point in the year. Nevertheless, snow and ice are great subjects for artists. From Brueghel’s ‘Hunters in the Snow’ to Raeburn’s ‘The Rev. Robert Walker skating on Duddingston Loch’ (via Turner, Friedrich, Monet and many others) there is a wealth of dramatic material to enjoy in this subject.

Online lecture via Zoom
 

We remember Angela from her wonderful lecture about German Memorials and Counter Memorials. She is herself a renowned artist. About this lecture, Angela says, ‘We all use the Empty Chair daily. But, over the past 150 years artists across the world have used the humble chair as a conduit for profound ideas on themes from protest, absence and memory to observations of everyday life’. She has selected a number of images from Van Gogh’s famous chair to the present to bring the subject to life.

This is a change to our original programme. Charles Harris (‘Romancing the Rails’) will be coming in late 2021. A big thank you to Simon who is returning at short notice to give us a lecture on the Duchess of Devonshire, with whom he worked for many years. He has written the following about her:

‘In the second half of the 20thC, in partnership with her husband, she imbued Chatsworth with a spirit of elegance and sense of welcome that transformed it from being the worn-out survivor of decades of taxation, war and social change into one of the best-loved, most-emulated and heavily-visited historic houses, gardens and estates in the country. With responsibility for Lismore Castle and Bolton Abbey as well, no wonder her passport stated her profession as ‘housewife’.’

She was also a best-selling author. great public speaker and champion of the countryside. She had met Hitler and Churchill, was a trusted confidant of the Prince of Wales and knew well people like Evelyn Waugh, John Betjeman, Lucien Freud, Patrick Leigh Fermor, Ronnie Barker, Alan Bennett and many others. In short, she lived an astonishing life.

Reading:

 Wait for Me! Memoirs of the Youngest Mitford Sister (2010)

In Tearing Haste: Letters between Deborah Devonshire and Patrick Leigh Fermor (2008)

Zoom Lecture

Our members will remember that Dr. Norgate gave us a fascinating Study Day on the poetry of Wilfred Owen. This lecture is also related to the Great War. Thousands of war memorials were created after the war in what was probably the biggest public art project ever undertaken. Little is known now, a hundred years on, of the many craftsmen who made them. However, Dr. Norgate has done extensive research on one of these forgotten sculptors, William Storr Barber of Leominster, whose war memorials are found in Herefordshire, Shropshire and beyond.

How did Leonardo transform the ordinary housewife and mother of two into the icon of mystery which is the Mona Lisa, when other women, more distinguished and beautiful than her come across as just virtuous, shrewd or marriageable?  How did unpopular or undistinguished men come down in history as figures of valour, status and importance?  What do marriage portraits tell us about the perceived place of men and women in society? We will look at the subtle ways in which artists manipulate likenesses to respond to the ideas and values of their times and the whims and vanity of their patrons.

Lydia Bauman ran Lydia Bauman Studio in Lincoln's Eastgate from 2003 to 2011. She now lives and works in London. She is a Polish born artist and art historian. Educated at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne (BA in Fine Art) and the Courtauld Institute of Art, London (MA in Art History, Distinction), she is now a passionate educator herself with very wide experience of teaching at the Tate Gallery, National Portrait Gallery and the National Gallery in London, also as guest speaker in Boston Museum of Fine Arts, the Arts Club of Chicago, Noble Caledonia cruises, Martin Randall Tours and The Arts Society.

THIS LECTURE HAS BEEN CANCELLED

Sarah has spoken to us on two previous occasions, mostly recently on the subject of sublime and ridiculed architecture. Her subject in this lecture is Thomas Tresham, the father of Francis Tresham the Gunpowder plotter. He was a Catholic, living in difficult times in the late Tudor period. He decided to express his Catholicism in the design and decoration of two buildings on his Northamptonshire estates. These were Rushton Triangular Lodge (now English Heritage) and Lyveden New Bield (now National Trust). Both are most unusual and fascinating buildings. The Triangular Lodge, for example, symbolizes the Holy Trinity: it has three sides, three floors, trefoil windows and three triangular gables on each side.

Picture: Wikipedia – Rushton Triangular Lodge

THIS LECTURE HAS BEEN CANCELLED

Denise Heywood is an author, lecturer and journalist specializing in the art and culture of South East Asia.

This lecture tells the story of Jim Thompson, an American army officer who arrived in Bangkok in 1945 and decided to stay. He did much to resuscitate the Thai silk industry. He created robes for the Thai royal family, costumes for films (like ‘The King and I’), and silk fabrics for temples and for his own teakwood house. In twenty years of living and working in Thailand he became very famous…but then, in 1967, he mysteriously disappeared and has never been seen since.

Reading: ‘Jim Thompson – the unsolved mystery’ by William Warren  ( Archipelago 1998)

THIS LECTURE HAS BEEN CANCELLED

For the series ‘Downton Abbey’ Andrew was commissioned to make many of the jewels for the main characters. His lecture will take us through a period of immense change, in which the great couturiers collaborated with the finest jewellers to produce items of real quality in a marriage of jewellery and fashion. He will also discuss the clients and the patrons who commissioned these jewels and will show how they were worn with the fashionable gowns of those times.

THIS LECTURE HAS BEEN CANCELLED AND WILL BE RE-SCHEDULED 

Anne Sebba is the author of biographies on Laura Ashley, Mother Teresa, Jennie Churchill and Wallis Simpson. Her latest book is ‘Les Parisiennes’ and it is on this subject – how the women of Paris lived, loved and died during the occupation of France from 1940 to 1944 – that she will be lecturing to us. She will tell us about how celebrated Parisiennes like Coco Chanel, Irene Nemirovsky and Elisabeth de Rothschild endeavoured to survive in the stifling and terrifying atmosphere of the Nazi occupation and how all the women were faced with stark choices. Should they collaborate or should they resist?

Reading: Les Parisiennes by Anne Sebba (Weidenfeld & Nicholson 2016)

Please note the change in venue to Wade Street Church for this meeting.                                                                

Chippendale’s Workshop

Many of our members will remember the 2017 Christmas visit to Weston Park where some of the group were given an excellent guided tour by Gareth Williams, the person who oversees Weston’s internationally important collections. In this, his first lecture to our society, he will survey the work of Thomas Chippendale, the greatest cabinet maker of the 18thC. He will refer especially to two major Yorkshire commissions at Nostell Priory and Harewood House.

Reading: The Art of Thomas Chippendale, Master Furniture Maker, edited by Jane Sellars (2000)

Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun: femme extraordinaire

One of the most accomplished of all women portrait painters, Vigée Le Brun was painter to Queen Marie Antoinette until she was driven out of France by the Revolution of 1789. She then went on a long tour of Europe visiting all the great capitals and painting their inhabitants before returning much later to live, work and die in her native France. A most engaging portrait by Vigée Le Brun of the Countess Golovina can be seen in Birmingham at the Barber Institute.

Lucrezia Walker lectures in London at the National Gallery and is the author of twelve books on 19thC artists. This is her first visit to our society.

PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS LECTURE IS BEING HELD ON MONDAY, 2ND DECEMBER AT THE GUILDHALL 

New to our Society, Dr. Rosamund Bartlett holds a first degree in Russian from Durham University and also a doctorate from Oxford University. She is the author of two widely-praised biographies of Tolstoy and Chekhov and also translates from Russian for Oxford World Classics.

Her lecture will cover the old Christmas traditions of pre-Revolutionary Russia through the media of art and music.

Reading: Natasha’s Dance, a Cultural History of Russia by Orlando Figes (2002)

Elisabeth Frink – The Expressive Power of Bronze

Elisabeth Frink was one of the 20thC’s most outstanding sculptors. Her first small sculpture was acquired by the Tate when she was only 21 (and still a student). Her bronzes varied in scale from small birds to large figures like The Walking Madonna at Salisbury Cathedral and The Risen Christ at Liverpool Anglican Cathedral. Sadly she died in her early 60s. Frank Woodgate, who has spoken to us about 20thC art on a number of occasions, will examine Frink’s work in the context her great British and European predecessors.

Reading: Frink, a Life of the Sculptor Elisabeth Frink by Stephen Gardiner (1997)

Simon Seligman worked for both the 11th and 12th Dukes and Duchesses of Devonshire. Indeed, he gave us a most interesting lecture about these people and their home, Chatsworth in 2017.

On this occasion his subject is John Ruskin, his work as champion of Turner and of the Pre-Raphaelites, and how his ideas inspired the Arts and Crafts Movement, the founding of the National Trust, the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings and the Labour Movement. Ruskin was probably the most complete polymath of the 19thC.

Marilyn Elm is an experienced garden and landscape designer, a founder member of the Yorkshire Gardens Trust and a member of the Garden Media Guild. This lecture explores our relationship with flowers. They play a large part in our lives as statements of fashion and status and they have always been enjoyed. Her talk will range from the perfumed varieties of flowers in medieval and Tudor times, ‘Tulipmania’, Victorian flowery exotics from all corners of the world, the Arts and Crafts garden to the modern garden designs we most obviously see at our flower shows.

Lizzie Darbyshire spoke to us a couple of years ago about the conflict between Ruskin and Whistler in 1877 over the latter’s painting entitled’ Nocturne in Black and Gold. On this occasion she will show us how Millais’ reputation was saved – despite Dickens’ savage criticism of his painting ‘Christ in the home of his parents’ – by Ruskin’s intervention. Millais was one of the founders of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, a group that had a revolutionary effect on British painting. Yet Millais later developed into the very opposite of a revolutionary by becoming a fashionable painter and eventually becoming President of the Royal Academy. And… he also repaid Ruskin’s support by running off with his wife, Effie. It’s a great story!

Reading: Paul Barlow, Time Present and Past, the Art of John Everett Millais (Ashgate, 2005)

Bertie Pearce amazed and amused us when he lectured to us on the Art of Illusion. Our Outings organiser, Leila, still cherishes the state of art handbag and hat he made for her, entirely out of torn newspaper, on that occasion.

It’s summer, and so it is time to look at Punch and Judy, the origins of their altercations and how young and old have always enjoyed their antics.

The influx of Huguenot immigrants fleeing from religious persecution at the end of the 17thC had a huge effect on the English silver trade. Before they came England was an importer of precious metal wares. Dr. le Rossignol will show us how, within a short period of time, England had so raised standards of production that she became an exporter of high quality silverware, supplying the royal courts and aristocracy of Europe and Russia.

This is the third time Shirley Smith has visited us. She is a Renaissance art historian, who has spoken to us about Botticelli and Caravaggio on previous occasions. This year marks the 500th anniversary of Leonardo da Vinci’s death, so it is fitting that we should look at some of his most famous images – women – Madonnas, wealthy members of society, mistresses; and including of course probably the best known portrait ever painted.

Reading: Martin Kemp, Leonardo (Oxford University Press, 2004)

Please note that this meeting will be held at The Methodist Church in Tamworth Street, Lichfield.

Peter Medhurst gave an engaging and tuneful lecture on Carols a few Christmases ago. He is a very talented musician, specialising in the piano and bass singing. This talk will show how Venice reinvented itself after a marked decline in its fortunes as a result of the discovery of new routes to the East and after the huge reduction in its population in the plague of 1630. The city became a prime destination for aristocrats on the Grand Tour, attracted all sorts of musicians and new types of music developed – as we shall see.

2019 marks two hundred years since the birth of Queen Victoria. Anne Anderson, who has spoken to us on a number of occasions, will show how the monarchy revived under Victoria. Indeed, when she ascended the throne in 1837 at the age of eighteen, the sons of George III (George IV and William IV) had left the monarchy in a state of some disrepute. By the end of her reign in 1901 it had recovered and the British Empire was at its height. We will be taken through the highs and the lows of a sixty-four period of enormous change in Britain, particularly with regard to Victoria herself – her marriage and children, Albert’s death, the Great Exhibition, the Delhi Durbar, the Jubilee and her funeral.

Reading:

‘Queen Victoria’ by Juliet Gardiner (Collins & Brown, 1997)

‘Victoria: a Life’ by A. N. Wilson (Atlantic, 2014)

Something to put you in the Christmas mood! Charles Harris, formerly Creative Director in a number of international advertising agencies and responsible for posters advertising major brands like British Airways, Nestle, Sony, General Motors and Shell, as well as producing hundreds of TV and radio commercials, will talk to us about his fellow American, Norman Rockwell. Rockwell was a fine painter of American culture from the 1920s to the 1970s. Amongst the 4000 pictures he painted, the Freedom Series (1940s) and those of presidents like Roosevelt, Eisenhower and Kennedy particularly stand out. He was the archetypal ‘American Dream’ painter. No other artist of his time managed to produce pictures depicting American occasions such as Thanksgiving and Christmas with such a sense of festivity.

Jane Gardiner has given us some very interesting lectures in the past on Dutch and English Delft, Venetian glass and Meissen porcelain. This time she will be looking at the way potters have sought inspiration from the natural world. It is a story that will take us from horses of the 7thC Tang Dynasty, the great animal and bird figures made for Augustus the Strong of Saxony, the life-like bunches of flowers carried by the ladies of the court of Louis XIV, and, finally, to the botanical plates made in Derby in the early 19thC.

We are starting the new season of lectures in familiar territory. Jonathan Foyle is an architectural historian, who writes for the Financial Times and has produced cathedral monographs on Canterbury, Lichfield, Lincoln and Peterborough. Many of you will be familiar with his face (although he hasn’t lectured to us before), because he has presented numerous television programmes including ‘Climbing Great Buildings’ on BBC2 and quite a few ‘Time Team Specials’ for Channel 4.

Brian Stater likes to use a pre-war Leica camera when readying himself for exhibitions of his photographs and for use in his lectures. He says that he is more interested in showing photos about optimism and renewal rather than dealing with the great events of recent history. So he will show us pictures like Robert Doisneau’s ‘The Kiss’ and Bert Hardy’s ‘Girls in Blackpool’. His favourite photographer has always been Henri Cartier-Bresson and he will show us some of his famous photos of people in Paris and elsewhere.

Photograph courtesy of Les Hotels Paris Rive Gauche - AlainB - Flickr: Cartier-Bresson's first Leica, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4406115

Mark Hill is a TV presenter (Antiques Roadshow, Cracking Antiques, Antiques Uncovered, Collectaholics) and an author of several books, including, as co-author, of Miller’s Collectables Price Guide.

His lecture will show us how to buy antiques and how to integrate them into today’s modern homes. He will also look at the state of the antiques market and what future generations of collectors will be buying.

Reading: Cracking Antques by Mark Hill and Kathryn Rayward (Mitchell Beazley, 2010)

Members will remember the enjoyable talk Sarah gave us about the architectural successes of Federigo da Montefeltro in medieval Urbino.  On this occasion she will be taking us on trip from the Seven Wonders of the World to our modern high rise cities and she will show us how technological advances have allowed sudden leaps forward. She will also be looking at some quite extraordinary examples of novelty architecture.

Reading:

The Seventy Architectural Works of Our Modern World by Neil Parkyn (2002)

Architecture: a very short introduction by Andrew Ballantyne (2002)

Former Managing Director of Faber & Faber (the last of the great publishing houses to remain independent) Toby Faber will speak to us about the powerful, if not romanticised, perspective taken by artists such as Bierstadt  and others to the great changes in Mid- West America after 1840 . He will also tell us stories about Buffalo Bill, George Custer and Gen. Philip Sheridan (the man who initiated the final extermination of the buffalo and who thus killed the spirit, culture and resistance of the Plains Indians).

Reading: The American West by Dee Brown (Scribners, 1994)

Please note that Easter falls in the first week of April 2018 so our lecture will be on the second Tuesday

Angela Findlay is a professional artist and lecturer and has Anglo-German roots. She has taught art in prisons and young offender institutes in both Germany and England. She says that we know little of Germany’s post WW2 process of remembrance and that since the 1980s there has been a counter-memorial movement which has seen German artists looking to respond to questions of apology and atonement for victims of German aggression in the Second World War.

Ghislaine Howard  gave us a very enjoyable lecture in 2016 on art, artists and food. This time she is interested to ask the question: is there a feminine way of seeing the world? She says, ‘This means that simple images such as a mother and child…create fascinating conversations with similar images painted by men. This simple fact will allow us to look at women’s paintings in a new way – such great names, some familiar, some unfamiliar, some famous, some infamous!’

She will be looking at the works of artists like Artemesia Gentileschi, Berthe Morisot, Kathe Kollwitz, Eileen Cooper and, of course, at her own paintings. In February 2017 a large and very interesting book on Ghislaine’s life and art written by her husband was published (see below).

Reading: Ghislaine Howard, the Human Touch by Michael Howard (2017)

Working at Chatsworth for twenty years for both the 11th and 12th Dukes of Devonshire Simon Seligman came to know a great deal about the house, the grounds and the family and he will give us an interesting account of the unlikely way in which a bill for 80% death duties in 1950 spurred a renaissance in the fortunes of the Derbyshire treasure house.

Reading: Two books by Deborah Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire.

The Treasure of Chatsworth (1991)

The Garden at Chatsworth (1999)

Pantomime developed from Greek and Roman roots, but then had a part to play in Medieval religious plays and the Italian Commedia del Arte. Thereafter it was seen in Music Hall, and today, of course, nearly all theatres in this country have a Christmas pantomime. Jane Tapley who spoke to us about Dickens in his bicentennial year and about food in Georgian times will entertain us with shots of Victorian playbills and prints, paintings by Beryl Cook, and much else besides.

Members will remember Susie Harries’ enjoyable talk on Pevsner (The Buildings of England) in Staffordshire and Derbyshire two years ago. On this occasion she will be investigating the stories we find in stained glass and the way that it has been used to play politics, recruit soldiers,tell jokes and to describe miracles. Churchill’s cigar may well get a mention, as will the Herkenrode Window, newly restored at the east end of Lichfield Cathedral.

Our new season begins with a lecture by Gavin Plumley, who specialises in the culture of the 19th and 20th centuries in Central Europe and who may be well known to those of you who tune into Radio 3 and Radio 4. His subject, Gustav Klimt, was a controversial Austrian painter in the Viennese Secession group and chiefly remembered for his ‘golden phase’paintings, many of which included gold leaf. ‘The Kiss’ is probably his best loved masterpiece.

Reading: Klimt by Frank Whitford, Thames & Hudson (1990)

Caravaggio was the great early user of light and shade to heighten the emotional intensity of the subjects he painted. He was also a violent man, who became involved in many brawls and is believed to have murdered someone.

Shirley Smith lectures on Renaissance subjects and gave us a fascinating talk on Sandro Botticelli when she last visited us.

Reading: Caravaggio; a Life Sacred and Profane by Andrew Graham-Dixon (2010)

Nicholas Watkins spoke to us some years ago about modern artists like Nicholson and Bacon. In this lecture he will cover many artists – such as Stubbs, Munnings and, more recently, Wallinger. He will also look at how to the Fascists and the Nazis the horse symbolised authority; and how Picasso produced ‘Guernica’, the greatest protest painting of the 20thC, showing a horse in its final agony as the central figure.

A Fellow of the Gemmological Association and an Associate of the British Institute of Professional Photography Maggie Campbell Pedersen is a specialist in organic gem materials such as amber, jet, horn, tortoiseshell, pearl, shell, ivory and bone which have been used for centuries as adornment. She will be speaking about these and particularly about the controversy surrounding ivory.

Anthony Peers is an architectural historian trained in building conservation, a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries and Deputy Chairman of the Ancient Monuments Society. He has worked on a number of important schemes of work, most notably the restoration of such notable buildings as The Workhouse in Southwell, Aston Hall, Kedleston Hall, Winchester Cathedral and, of course, Birmingham Town Hall, the subject of this lecture.

Reading: Birmingham Town Hall by Anthony Peers (2012)

As the landscape became increasingly industrial in the 19thC Victorians began to regard the countryside with a fair measure of nostalgia. At first artists like Helen Allingham (born in Swadlincote) painted idyllic pictures of country folk against the background of their cottages. Later, in Edwardian times, the focus had moved to more formal gardens, which included topiary, architectural features and old English plants. The best remembered of these gardens were often the work of Lutyens and Jekyll.

Members will remember Anne Anderson from a series of lectures she has delivered to us on Scandinavian subjects – IKEA and Scandinavian design, and figures like Munch, Grieg and Ibsen.