30/09/10: THOMAS CHIPPENDALE with Janusz Karczewski-Slowikowski.

No cabinetmaker's name is better known than Thomas Chippendale's. This lecture examines the basis for his fame and concludes that he was to English Furniture what Shakespeare was to English Literature.! It was Chippendale's creative design talent together with his traditionally skilled craftsmanship which enabled him, through his cabinet making business, to design and produce some of the finest and most innovative examples of 18th Century English furniture in the Rococo, 'Chinese', Gothic and Neo-Classic style, as the slides used in this lecture will show.

28/10/10 : THE DEVELOPEMENT OF THE ST. IVES COLONY Pre -1914
with David Tovey.
St Ives has always attracted artists because of its splendid position, quaint houses, busy harbour and special light. Whilst figure painters delighted in the activities of the fisher menfolk, the town's north-facing situation was a boon for marine and landscape painters, who could paint light effects on the waters of the Bay from dawn till dusk. As a result, a number of Art Schools were established in the town and, in the period prior to the First World War, St Ives became recognised world-wide as a centre for both the practice and teaching of marine and landscape painting. From the outset, the St Ives colony was an iInternational community ensuring it gained a reputation far in excess of any other British art colony. Indeed, many highly-regarded foreign artists experienced career-changing influences whilst in St Ives. This talk discusses why artists, who had been visiting the town since the 1860s, decided to settle in the late 1880s. It also explores the figure painting section of the colony and and its relationship to the Newlyn School, and the landscape section of the colony the meaning of St Ives Tonalism.

25/11/10: POSTERS OF THE BELLE EPOQUE with Charles Harris.

The lecture relates to the technical innovations in printing with creative genius and remarkable craftsmanship that enabled the poster to become the world's first effective method of mass communication. From Manet's "Les Chats" to Cheret's "Electrine" and Lautrec's "Moulin Rouge", you will see inspirational work by artists who made the poster great: magnificent Mucha, socially-conscious Steinlen, idealistic Grasset, and many more. Learn how an effective poster is designed and how it plays on the mind; and why most posters today go unnoticed.

27/01/11: THE ORIGINAL OLYMPIC GAMES with Dr Ann Birchall
. No further information is available at time of printing about this lecture.

17/02/11: LEE MILLER & ROLAND PENROSE with Anthony Penrose.
Roland Penrose was the third of four brothers. He grew up in a strict Quaker family and attended Leighton Park School, Reading. After studying Architecture at Cambridge, Penrose switched to painting and moved to France where he lived from 1922 with his first wife the poet Valentine Boué. During this period he became friends with Picasso, Paalen and Max Ernst, who were the strongest influence on his work. His second wife Lee Miller, born in Poughkeepsie, New York in 1907, was a successful fashion model in New York City in the 1920s before going to Paris where she became an established fashion and fine art photographer. During the WW2, she became an acclaimed war correspondent for Vogue magazine covering events such as the London Blitz, the liberation of Paris, and the concentration camps at Buchenwald & Dachau. This is an intimate, witty account using illustrations that draw on many of Lee Miller's photographs and paintings by Roland Penrose, as well as works by the many friends of the family now held by the Penrose Collection.

31/03/11: "MEET ME AT THE WALDORF" with Mary Alexander.
Few realise that the glamorous art deco Waldorf-Astoria hotel on Park Avenue, had an equally iconic predecessor, the old Waldorf-Astoria on Fifth Avenue, where liveried footmen wore 18th century style breeches. Built by the feuding Asters at the height of the Gilded Age, it was demolished in true New York fashion style to make way for the Empire State building. In its day, it had been the place to meet and be seen, where high society paraded in the latest Parisian fashions in Peacock Alley. Art collectors, business tycoons and entrepreneurs such as J P Morgan and Henry Clay Frick met there to 'do deals' - finance or art.. This is the intriguing story of the two iconic Waldorf-Astoria hotels and the creators, designers, celebrities who met, feasted and lived there. The glittering interiors of the 'Jazz Age' Waldorf-Astoria, Park Avenue, were created by leading European designers, artists and sculptors. At Christmas &and New Year, the world tuned into the celebrations from the famous Starlight Room with its roof open to the skies

28/4/11: BENIN BRONZES: NIGERIAN MASTERPIECES with Clare Walsh.
Among the most valuable works of art from Africa, these antique bronze sculptures from the West- African kingdom of Benin astounded and amazed critics when they were first seen in Europe in the late 1890s. It was thought incredible that such technically gifted sculptures were created by African artists. The superb workmanship and outstanding aesthetic quality of Benin's royal sculptures rivals the very best work of the Italian Renaissance. This lecture reveals the urbane production processes, the symbolism and ritual use of the bronzes, as well as investigating the response of avant-garde artists of the early 20th century, such as Picasso &and Matisse, who struggled to place them within their category of 'the primitive'. One of the richest collections of the Benin bronzes is in the British Museum.

26/5/11: "LIVING PEOPLE WHO BREATHE AND FEEL…." THE ART OF EDVARD MUNCH with Valerie Woodgate.
Edvard Munch was a very competent man. He was born on December 12,in 1863 in Loton, Norway, the second son of an Army Medical Corps doctor, Christian Munch. In 1864, the family moved to Oslo where he began his art training. His mother died of tuberculosis in 1868 and his aunt, Karen Bjolstad, took over running the household. T then, in 1877 to his despair, in 1877 , his fifteen year old sister Sophie also died of tuberculosis. In the early 1800's, Edvard Munch became influenced by two of his older comrades, Christian Krohg and Frits Thaulow. They who were part of the Norwegian art scene and whose work was based on the French Naturalism movement. Munch, is the most well-known and admired Scandinavian artist whose works, like The Scream, have become icons of the modern world. Through his expressive use of colour and line in a series of wonderful paintings, etchings and woodcuts, he explored universal themes of psychological disturbance, love and jealousy. In the words of Robert Cumming, "He made anxiety beautiful".."

30/6/11 "GREENERY-YALLERY GROSVENOR GALLERY": VICTORIAN ART & AESTHETICISM with Justine Hopkins.
The Grosvenor Gallery opened its doors in 1877, the inspiration of Sir Coutts Lindsay, amateur painter, minor aristocrat and ardent collector. He, who designed his the impressive building for an élite selection of exhibitors whose work he found exciting, dynamic and modern, albeit condemned by the stalwarts of the Royal Academy. The result was the most celebrated private gallery of its time, where high society and the Bohemian met. The reputations of artists including Burne-Jones, Watts & Whistler were made here before they went on to gain iinternational fame. The first exhibition was attended by the Prince and Princess of Wales and the art world's leading figures. Eventually in 1890 the gallery closed, hopelessly in debt, but having achieved its aim of breaking the monopoly of the Royal Academy and spreading the Aesthetic perception of life. This lecture explores the Grosvenor phenomenon: the artists and their works, the heady years of its success and the reasons for its eventual failure, which reflect the changes in Victorian society.

Acknowledgements: The viewer is looking at the images on the websites listed below. In some cases these indicate the ownership of the artifact on display.
Painting of St Ives : The Hayle Gallery
Moulin Rouge poster : t1.gstatic.com
Roland Penrose painting : The National Galleries of Scotland
Benin Bronze : The British Museum
Munch, The Scream : romanjester.com