8 September 2010
Holkham and Houghton, Great Norfolk Houses
This lecture will look at two of our famous Norfolk houses and their relationship to each other. We are organising a visit to Houghton (shown in the photo) as a follow-up.
Lecturer: Caroline Knight is a lecturer in the history of art and architecture with a BA in History & History of Art, and MA from the Courtauld Institute. She is Course Director on the V & A course "The Visual Arts in Europe: High Renaissance to Baroque 1500- 1720" and has lectured widely for NADFAS and in the States. She has written a history of Kensington Palace as well as numerous articles, and her book on country houses around London is about to be published.
Links: Holkham Hall and Houghton Hall
13 October 2010
From Japanese Prints to Art Deco. How Japonisme Transformed Western Art
When Japan was forced to open to the outside world in 1854 after over two centuries of isolation, the fashion and passion for everything Japanese gripped Europe. In particular, ukiyo-e prints, images of the "floating (i.e. impermanent) world" of pleasure were imported by the thousands and collected by amateurs and artists such as Manet, Whistler, Degas, Lautrec, Bonnard, and Klimt, to name but a few. The innovative treatment of space, line and colour found in these cheap popular prints had a revolutionary impact on Western art and inspired such movements as Art Nouveau and Art Deco.
Lecturer: Marie Therese Barrett has a BA and MA in English, Toulouse University, a BA in Oriental Art, Sophia University, Japan, and an MA in Art History, Maryland University, USA. She is a course organizer and tutor in Japanese Art History, Temple University Japan (1990-1999). She is a guest lecturer for the College Women's Association of Japan, Sotheby's, Christie's, V&A, Asia House and the Japan Society, chair of the Japan Society Art Circle (2003-2007) and a course tutor for the Diploma in Asian Art, British Museum (2002-2007), School of Oriental and African Studies (2008-).
The photo shows a miniature Japanese print measuring 116x174 mm.
Link: illustrated article, with many links, on Japonism(e) on Wikipedia
10 November 2010
Hockney
Over the last decades Hockney has
consolidated his position as perhaps the best-known and most highly-regarded British artist of his generation. He is considered one of the main contributors to the British Pop Art movement of the 1960s, although his work includes expressionist elements too. As well as painting, his work includes photography and theatre set design. Born in Bradford, Hockney now divides his time between Yorkshire and California, where he has found inspiration for some of his best known paintings.
Lecturer: Douglas Skeggs studied Fine Arts at Cambridge and has lectured at many London art courses. He is the Director of the New Academy of Arts. He has collaborated and presented various TV documentaries notably on Whistler and William Morris. As well as being an artist with three solo shows, he is the author of six novels, and an acclaimed book on Monet entitled River of Light. We welcome Douglas back to speak to us. He gave us an outstanding talk on Klimt and the Viennese Secession.
Link: Hockney has a well illustrated authorised site
8 December 2010
From Yuletide to Nativity, Christmas in Early England
This lecture will rediscover the magic of Christmas with an exploration of the significance of the great midwinter festival in early England. This will include a look at the Old English calendar, which reveals how the pre-Christian year was structured, and a consideration of how this calendar was transformed into the Christian year - how, for example, did Modra Niht, "Mother's Night", become Christmas Eve? We shall also look at references in Old and Middle English literature and related art.
Lecturer: Dr Sam Newton is a very popular NADFAS lecturer, especially in the eastern region. "After early experiences in archaeology and woodturning, I graduated from the University of East Anglia with a first in English Literature in 1983 and went on to research into the Old English epic of Beowulf. I was awarded my PhD in 1991. Since 1986 I have been working as a free lance tutor in Wuffing and Early Medieval Studies (Old English Literature, Language, History, & Archaeology), running courses in and around East Anglia. I have also conducted guided site-tours to Sutton Hoo, Rendlesham, and sites throughout eastern England. More recently I have been contributing to Radio and Television programmes, including Time Team. In 2002 I was a co-founder of Wuffing Education, and we have been running study-days at Sutton Hoo ever since."
Links: the author has his own Wuffings' website and there is an article on the winter solstice on Wikipedia.
12 January 2011
Annual lunch at The Dolphin, St Ives.
12 noon for 12.30pm.
9 February 2011
1925 Paris Arts Decoratifs Exhibition
The international 1925 Paris Arts Decoratifs exhibition marked the culmination of an exciting style ‑ the streamlined elegance of Art Deco and its transmission to a new generation of artists and designers. Using contemporary photographs and accounts of the stunning showcase pavilions, we will act as spectators of the wide range of work and media on display, including Baccarat crystal, Cartier jewellery, fashion by Poiret, furniture by Ruffirnann, metalwork by Brandt and the leading French magasins exhibits, Bon Marche and Primavera. We will ask such questions as ‑ Why Paris? What would it have been like to be there? Was there a distinctive style? And how was its influence felt at the time? A true visual feast to delight the eye.
Lecturer: Mary Alexander has given an outstanding lecture to us before, Scandal in Paris, about Whistler's painting of Madame X. She holds a BA in History and History of Art, and a MA with distinction in History of Art from University College London. She has thirty years' experience as a lecturer in History of Art & Design, including public lectures in museum galleries and as a summer school tutor for the Open University. She is also former Assistant Curator at Platt Hall, the Gallery of English Costume, Manchester and a freelance lecturer to various antiquarian societies and organisations, including Christie's Education in London since 1996. Her publications and lectures explore the aesthetic, cultural, and social history of dress and the relationship to art and design, using contemporary journals, correspondence and the visual arts.
Link: there is a very informative virtual visit to the exhibition on Retropolis, an Art Deco site
9 March 2011
From Posset Pots to Pew Groups, the Fashion for Collecting Early English Pottery
This lecture will look at the vitality and diversity of
early English pottery from the first English delftware of the early 17th century to the development of Staffordshire white salt glazed stoneware. It will include curious objects such as posset pots, barbersí bowls, slipware owl jugs, bell-ladies and pew groups and will attempt to explain the enormous popularity of these pieces for modern day collections.
Jane Gardiner trained at the Victoria and Albert Museum and went on to be a lecturer in the V&A Education Department. She was invited to join Sotheby's Institute as a tutor, going on to become a Deputy Director of Sotheby's UK. She continues to lecture for both organisations. She has as well lectured for the National Trust, the University of London, the National Art Collections Fund and the Wallace Collection amongst others. Her specialisms are early European Ceramics and Glass and eighteenth Century European Design.
The photo shows an English Delft posset-pot and cover, c.1710-30
13 April 2011
Misericords, the Medieval World Upside Down
In the Middle Ages fear o
f disorder coupled with a belief in evil dragons and scary monsters gave rise to the nightmare imagery of Bosch & Breughel. Bestiary books, with their illustrations of fabulous creatures, such as the unicorn and mermaid acted as models for carvings beneath choir seats. Indeed, misericord artists carved scenes of folly, where men put the cart before the horse: of the social order inverted, where wives bash husbands; and of the natural order turned on its head, where rabbits roast the hunter and monkeys grasping urine flasks masquerade as doctors! It is a hilarious but sinister vision of a topsy-turvy world: a world upside down.
Lecturer: David Bostwick is a lecturer and consultant in the Cultural History of the Medieval, Tudor and Stuart periods. He specialises in medieval imagery and interior furnishings and decoration 1400‑1700. He is a tour leader, a former keeper of the Social History Collections, Sheffield City Museums and consultant on historic buildings and their interpretation to The National Trust, English Heritage and Historic Scotland He has made lecture tours to USA and Australia.
The photo comes from a church in Eastern France.
Link: there is a very comprehensive and well illustrated, if fussily arranged, site, Misericords of the World
11th May 2011
Tate Ancient, the Earliest Art
Lecturer: Dr Ben Roberts is responsib
le for the European Bronze Age collections. His research interests include approaches to archaeological cultures and cultural transmission; the appearance and early development of metal in Europe and the Middle East; the roles of jewellery in prehistoric societies; and the production, circulation and deposition of metal objects in prehistoric Europe. Before joining the department of Prehistory and Europe, Ben studied at the universities of Sheffield and Cambridge and worked for nearly two and a half years on numerous archaeological field projects throughout Britain, Europe and Central America.
The bronze head in the photo comes from Mycenae.
8 June 2011
An Evening with Lord Byron, Monsters, Vampires and the Gothic Imagination
The date is June 18th 1816; the ve
nue is the Villa Diodati beside Lake Geneva and the dramatic Jura mountain range. Byron's guests are his secretary Dr Polidori and Percy Bysshe and Mary Shelley. Outside, the rain is beating down and thunder and lightening flash across the lake from the montains. Inside, each of the four tries to intensify the gothic atmosphere by telling a ghost story. Mary's creation is Frankenstein which was to be the most enduring result of that stormy night.
This talk explores the artistic origins of the Gothic revival and the fascination with vampires, monsters and other horrors which found their expression in those stories. We look at some of the weird, supernatural and fantastic subjects pictured by arrange of artists including Fuseli, Blake, Wright of Derby and others, and some depictions of Prometheus to explain Mary Shelley's subtitle to Frankenstein: "The Modern Prometheus".
The lecturer: Elizabeth Merry BA, MA, PGCE has over 20 years experience lecturing to adults in the UK and Germany on various subjects including literature and poetry, classical art and architecture, and aspects of the visual arts. Elizabeth is a lecturer for NADFAS and is also available on a freelance basis to deliver lectures, study days or guided visits on a wide range of topics.
The photo shows Boris Karloff as Frankenstein's monster.
Link: an article about Byron and the Villa Diodati is, rather surprisingly, on the Bargain Travel Europe site
This lecture will be followed by our Annual General Meeting. Nominations and Resolutions for the AGM must be given to the Secretary before the end of April.
