The Story of Lustreware in the Islamic World

The art of putting a golden surface onto a ceramic glaze was first developed in Iraq in the 9th century AD, and from there spread both eastwards to Iran, and westwards to Egypt, North Africa and to Muslim Spain. The technology was constant, but the decoration was rich and varied, and Islamic lusterware is represented by a host of magnificent objects with golden surfaces, paralleling the widespread Islamic taste for silver gilt, and inlaid brass. The unexpected result of this tradition, however, was nothing less than a revolution in European taste, for 15th century Spanish lustreware was the inspiration for Maiolica, the first great decorative ware in European ceramics.

Isfahan and the History of Persian Tilework

This lecture explores the history of Persian tilework primarily through the monuments of Isfahan, though it will also make reference to buildings elsewhere in Iran. From simple monochrome, turquoise inlays, in the 12th century, tilework in Iran developed in both polychromality and decorative complexity, until, by the 17th century, enormous architectural surfaces were covered with brilliant ornament.  But then comes the surprise, for in the 19th century tiles are used for the first time to tell a story…!  

Linking China with Europe

Blue-and-white in the Middle East - Granny may have had a blue-and-white tea-pot which we remember as children, but where did the idea come from, and the technology? The history of blue-and-white is fascinating. It began in Basra in Iraq, was adopted by the Mongols, for whom it was made in Ching-te Chen in China, and was re-adopted in the Middle East, where Chinese blue-and-white was widely collected and copied. It became a major item of trade with the Portuguese in the 16th century, and the Dutch in the 17th century: as a result the technology spread to Europe, where the ultimate expression of blue-and-white was to be found in the Delft factories.  

This will be held at The Wokingham Theatre with the following format:

10.00    - Arrival and coffee

10.30   - The Story of Lustreware in the Islamic World

11.30    - Coffee

12.00   - Isfahan and the History of Persian Tilework

13.00   - Sandwich Lunch

14.00   - Linking China with Europe: Blue-and-white in the Middle East

15.00   - Close

James Allan was curator of the Islamic collection and Keeper of Eastern Art at the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford University until his retirement. He also set up an inter-faith exhibition service and taught Islamic art and architecture. He leads tours in the Middle East and has published numerous articles and books on Islamic art, the most recent being, 'The art and architecture of Twelver Shi'ism: Iraq, Iran and the Indian Subcontinent'.

Cost: £40 to include tea/coffee and a sandwich lunch

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Bathed in sunlight this Special Interest Day is themed around the colour yellow, as it weaves its way through, pigment, plants and painting.  We will commence our exploration by tracing the use of yellows in art and textiles from the ancient ochre pigments of cave art to through sacred yellow jades. Egyptian orpiment, and Georgian silks, through to the yolk-coloured interiors of Victorian fashions.  The Sunflower will take us on our next journey tracing its divine arc through art and culture from the Aztecs, to Apollo, to the canvases of van Dyke and van Gogh, a symbol of the divine and the cycle of life. Bringing heaven to earth will be the topic of the final part of our day as we expand our colour palette and weave the threads of painting, planting and Impressionism - reaching back into the earth where we started. 

This will be held at The Wokingham Theatre with the following format:

10.00    - Arrival and coffee

10.30   - Sunlight

11.30    - Coffee

12.00   - Sunflowers

13.00   - Sandwich Lunch

14.00   - Cultivating Colour

15.00   - Close

Twigs Way is a professional researcher, writer and speaker, fascinated by the past and intrigued by the role of flowers, gardens and landscape in art and culture of all kinds.  Having originally trained as an archaeologist, she brings a wealth of knowledge from the various disciplines of history, art, literature and horticulture together. Twigs lectures for the Cambridge University Botanic Gardens, and is a guest lecturer for the MA in Art and Visual Culture for the Institute of Continuing Education. Publications include the portrayal of specific flowers in art and culture and her book on the Chrysanthemum in Art and Culture by Reaktion Press in 2020. Twigs is currently working on the life of Frances, Viscountess Wolseley, the founder of Gylnde School of Gardening for Ladies in 1902.

 Cost: £40 to include tea/coffee and a sandwich lunch

Booking now closed

We all think we know Jane Austen, but do we?  Beyond the bonnets and romance of the film and TV adaptations, there is so much more to be discovered about her work.  This special interest day will highlight aspects of her life and writing with which you may not be so familiar. 

We start with the material culture of Austen’s life by focusing on selected artefacts from the period which tell us more about Austen as a woman, as a writer and as a literary celebrity.  Each object will reveal an aspect of Jane Austen’s story, giving us insights into her life, her times and her work.  Annalie will use items from her own collection and these will be on view during the day. 

In the next two lectures, we look more closely at Austen’s writing.   First, we’ll focus on Austen’s use of social satire by exploring links between her work and that of visual artists of the period, including Thomas Rowlandson and James Gillray.  We’ll explore to what extent Jane Austen may have enjoyed - and been influenced by - their work.   After lunch, we’ll spend an hour in the company of Jane Austen’s fictional women and  explore how far Austen subverted her readers’ expectations in depicting badly behaved women; from the riotous and rebellious girls that populate her teenage writings to the more famous heroines of her mature works. 

Join us for this in-depth look at one of our best loved writers; it promises to be an enlightening day. 

Please note: bonnets not required.

This will be held at The Wokingham Theatre with the following format:

10.00    - Arrival and coffee

10.30   - Material Girl

11.30    - Coffee

12.00   - The Art of Satire

13.00   - Sandwich Lunch

14.00   - Wicked Women

15.00   - Close

Annalie Talent has worked on education programmes at a variety of literary houses and museums across the UK, including several years at Jane Austen’s House in Chawton and, more recently, at Chawton House, the Elizabethan manor that was home to Jane Austen’s brother.  She has won the Sandford award for excellence in heritage education and worked with the British Library and the Bodleian Library in promoting Austen’s work to young people.  Before her venture into Austen-land, Annalie spent time working at Dove Cottage in Grasmere, Wordsworth House in Cockermouth and the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford.  She is particularly interested in the material culture of writers’ lives and is fascinated by the stories these objects tell.

Cost: £40 to include tea/coffee and a sandwich lunch.

Booking closes on December 1st.

Click here to access the online booking form.

This is a new booking system, enabling you to complete the form online, avoiding the need for postage.

City of Kyoto and the Cult of Beauty

Truly one of the most beautiful cities in the world, this is an overview into the most stunning monuments and sites found in Kyoto, the old capital of Japan. Kyoto not only has magnificent shrines, temples and gardens, but also is famous for its array of marvellous, colourful and seasonal festivals.   

 Machiya - The delicate townhouses of Kyoto

One of the examples of a traditional form of Japanese architecture, Machiya were and sometimes still are combination residence and business spaces for the merchants of Kyoto. These buildings have certain charming characteristics and features unique to them.   

 Kyoto - Shrines & Temples

Japan is a country where many religions are tolerated and practiced nowadays. Considered by many Japanese to be a sacred centre of the country, its old capital of Kyoto boasts hundreds of beautifully kept shrines and temples with certain kinds of shrines having very specific purposes as well as images, symbols and guardians.   

This will be held at The Wokingham Theatre with the following format:

10.00    - Arrival and coffee

10.30   - City of Kyoto and the Cult of Beauty

11.30    - Coffee

12.00   - Machiya - The delicate townhouses of Kyoto

13.00   - Sandwich Lunch

14.00   - Kyoto - Shrines & Temples

15.00   - Close

Pauline Chakmakjian is a lecturer on a variety of subjects related to the history, fine arts and culture of Japan as well as unusual topics such as Freemasonry.  An Arts Society lecturer since 2011, she has also completed lecture tours in Australia and New Zealand.  She holds a BA in English Literature, a Diploma in Law, an MA in Modern French Studies and is a member of the Honourable Society of the Inner Temple. Pauline was elected onto the Board of the Japan Society of the United Kingdom from 2008–2014 and the Japan Society of Hawaii from 2015–2017. In 2014, Pauline was appointed a Visit Kyoto Ambassador by the Mayor of the City of Kyoto and in 2018, she became a Freeman of The City of London.  She is the author of The Sphinxing Rabbit trilogy. 

Cost: £40 to include tea/coffee and a sandwich lunch.

Fully booked - booking closed

This is a new booking system, enabling you to complete the form online, avoiding the need for postage.

Throughout the history of art particular places at particular times have inspired intense periods of creativity.  From the late 19th century, Cornwall became a focus for a number of artists who challenged conventions, beginning with the artists’ colonies at Newlyn and then Lamorna. In the 20th century, St Ives was home to British modernists such as Bernard Leach, Barbara Hepworth and Ben Nicholson who in turn inspired and were challenged by a younger generation of avant-garde artists that included Peter Lanyon, Roger Hilton, Patrick Heron and Wilhelmina Barns-Graham. This study day will look at the work of these artists and others who lived and worked in Cornwall from the 1880s to the 1970s and explore their artistic influences, relationships and legacy.

Newlyn and Lamorna

This lecture sets the scene for the arrival of the first generation of artists to Newlyn in the 1880s and looks at the work of artists such as Stanhope Forbes, Walter Langley, Edwin Harris and Henry Scott Tuke. Stanhope Forbes married the Canadian born artist, Elizabeth Armstrong and in 1899 they established the Forbes School of Art which helped to attract a younger generation of artists to Newlyn and the nearby village of Lamorna. These included Harold and Laura Knight, Dod and Ernest Proctor, Samuel 'Lamorna’ Birch, Frank Gascoigne Heath and Alfred Munnings

St Ives and the arrival of the Modernists

Artists were also attracted to St Ives from the late 19th century onwards and it may have been the presence of so many artists in the town, which encouraged the selftaught artist Alfred Wallis to begin painting in the 1920s, using household paint on scraps of cardboard. His work was championed by modernists such as Ben Nicholson and Christopher Wood who admired Wallis’ authenticity. With war on the horizon in the summer of 1939, Nicholson and his second wife, Barbara Hepworth, moved to St Ives, together with Naum Gabo. They challenged the traditionalists and inspiring the next generation of artists in Cornwall.

The Triumph of St Ives 1945-1975

This final lecture will chart the rise of St Ives as a centre for modern art after the war and show that it was not only Nicholson, Hepworth and Gabo who achieved international success but other artists such as Peter Lanyon, Patrick Heron, Terry Frost and Wilhemena Barns Graham. This success led to the town becoming a focal point for post-war avant garde art which led the eyes of the modern art world to focus, for a brief period, on St Ives.

This will be held at The Wokingham Theatre with the following format:

10.00    - Arrival and coffee

10.30   - Newlyn and Lamorna

11.30    - Coffee

12.00   - St Ives and the arrival of the Modernists

13.00   - Sandwich Lunch

14.00   - The Triumph of St Ives 1945-1975

15.00   - Close

Sarah Burles studied History of Art at Cambridge University before doing a master’s degree at University College London. She went on to have a career in museum and gallery education, establishing new services in three different museums before working at the Fitzwilliam Museum for many years.  Sarah is the founder of Cambridge Art Tours which runs tours and courses in East Anglia and also leads tours to Europe and America as tourdirector for a travel company. Since 2021, Sarah has been lecturing for the Arts Society in the UK and Europe and last year toured New Zealand for them.

Cost: £40 to include tea/coffee and a sandwich lunch

Click here to complete the onlne booking form

Fully booked

Email studydaystheartssocietywham@gmail.com to add your name to the waiting lst

Blackberry Gathering, 1912, by Elizabeth Forbes (1859-1912) Walker Art Gallery

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The much-loved paintings of Carpaccio and the Bellini brothers, Giovanni and Gentile, offer a window onto the world of Renaissance Venice – a city no less remarkable in 1500 than it is today. 

Venice

Another world - Exploring Venice through the art and architecture of Bellini’s era, we begin by thinking about what makes the city unique: its topography and self-image, its power and wealth, and links with the Byzantine and Islamic East.

Sacred and Secular Spaces

We look at masterpieces by Bellini and his pupils Giorgione and Titian, from great altarpieces for churches to new types of domestic imagery, notably the female nude, with which Venetians decorated their luxurious homes.

Charity and Civic Pride: Art for the Scuole

The distinctive canvases which Bellini and Carpaccio produced for the charitable confraternities known as Scuole, offer fascinating glimpses into contemporary Venetian life and socety.

This will be held at The Wokingham Theatre with the following format:

10.00    - Arrival and coffee

10.30   - Venice: Another world

11.30    - Coffee

12.00   - Sacred and Secular Spaces

13.00   - Sandwich Lunch

14.00   - Charity and Civic Pride: Art for the Scuole

15.00   - Close

Dr Paula Nuttall is a specialist in Renaissance art, both Italian and northern European, on which she has published widely and is former Director of the V&A Medieval and Renaissance Year course.  She has collaborated on major exhibitions including Jan van Eyck: an Optical Revolution (Ghent, 2020) and has lectured at the Courtauld Institute the British Institute of Florence as well as The Arts Society Wokingham twice, so we welcome her back!

Cost: £40 to include tea/coffee and a sandwich lunch.

Booking will open on 17th February

Email studydaystheartssocietywham@gmail.com to add your name to the waiting list

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This day of lectures will explore the distinctive artistic characters of three vibrant Nordic countries.  We will range from the pathbreaking canvases of the Golden Age of Danish painting to the uniquely national sounds of Grieg and Sibelius, and the masterpieces of modern Danish, Norwegian and Finnish architecture and design.

1. From the Golden Age to Danish Modern

This lecture considers the nature of Danish artistic genius, and its relationship with Denmark's democratic, under-stated values.  As well as discussing 19th-century painters based in Copenhagen such as Eckersberg, Købke and Hammershøi, it explores the groundbreaking work of Georg Jensen, Arne Jacobsen, Hans Wegner, Jørn Utzon and others who brought Danish design into the international arena in the 20th century. 

2. Born of the Landscape: Norwegian Arts from Stave Churches to Snøhett

From Viking-era stave churches to the music of Edvard Grieg, the Norwegian arts have always had a close relationship with nature. This lecture explores how Norway's dramatic geography has inspired the work of painters such as J. C. Dahl, Peder Balke and Edvard Munch, as well as the ultra-modern design of architectural practices such as Snøhetta, which designed the Oslo Opera House to look like an iceberg you can walk on.

 3. Sibelius and the Birth of Finland  

This lecture explores the crucial role played by the music of Sibelius in forging Finnish cultural identity prior to the country's independence in 1917.  As with so many Finnish artists, including the painters Eero Järnefelt  and Akseli Gallen-Kallela, Sibelius found inspiration in the ancient runes of the Kalevala, the national epic. Iconic works such as Finlandia will be discussed in the context of the emergence of a National Romantic style in Helsinki, and the architecture of Eliel Saarinen and Alvar Aalto.

This will be held at The Wokingham Theatre with the following format:

10.00     - Arrival and coffee

10.30     - From the Golden Age to Danish Modern

11.30     - Coffee

12.00     - Born of the Landscape: Norwegian Arts from Stave Churches to Snøhetta

13.00    - Sandwich Lunch

14.00    - Sibelius and the Birth of Finland

15.00    - Close

Rosamund Bartlett is a writer, lecturer and translator whose work ranges across the arts, and across the cultures of Eastern and Northern Europe. She completed her doctorate at Oxford, and has published several books, including biographies of Chekhov and Tolstoy, as well as a collection of articles about Shostakovich. Her new translation of Anna Karenina for Oxford World’s Classics was published to acclaim in 2014.   She has written on art for publications such as Apollo and The Burlington Magazine and received commissions for articles and programme notes from institutions such as the Tate, Covent Garden, the RSC and the Salzburg Festival.  She is currently writing a book about the revolution in the arts which took place in the early 20th century in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Odesa and Kyiv, and its connection to European modernism.

She has led art, architecture, design and music tours throughout Europe, including to Finland, Norway, Denmark and Iceland, and contributes regularly to Proms events and opera broadcasts on the BBC. Her lecturing work has taken her from the V&A in London to the Art Gallery of New South Wales in Sydney. 

Cost: £40 to include tea/coffee and a sandwich lunch

THIS STUDY DAY IS NOW SOLD OUT

Over the course of 3 lectures, we trace the extraordinary story of how the National Gallery evolved to truly become the home of the world’s greatest paintings!

LECTURE ONE - 1824-1838

In 1824, following increasing public pressure, Lord Liverpool’s government bought 38 Old Master paintings from the collection of John Julius Angerstein and thus the National Gallery was born.  In this first lecture, we examine some of the “Angerstein 38” (including a fearsome Pope along with paintings bequeathed by Sir George Beaumont) and discover where the paintings were displayed before they found a purpose built home in Trafalgar Square.

LECTURE TWO - 1838-1914

Now in its new location, pressure builds to create a ‘survey’ collection telling a much wider story of Western European art.  We meet the first Director, Sir Charles Eastlake and some of his often controversial acquisitions (including the oldest painting in the collection).  We tell the story of the Art Fund and how it saved numerous works, including a Velazquez Venus that was the focus of one of the National Gallery’s most infamous security breaches!

LECTURE THREE - 1914-today

The final lecture sees the National Gallery under attack in two World Wars, leading to the creation of the ‘Picture Of the Month’.  We discuss the danger posed to a Duchess, and a Duke that was the subject of the only successful theft in the gallery’s history!  We conclude with the much derided design of the Sainsbury Wing expansion of the gallery, and look ahead to the next chapter in the story of the gallery’s extraordinary history.

This will be held at The Wokingham Theatre with the following format:

10.00   - Arrival and coffee

10.30   - 1824-1838

11.30    - Coffee

12.00   - 1838-1914

13.00   - Sandwich Lunch

14.00   - 1914-today

15.00   - Close

Simon Whitehouse is a (recovering) actor, lecturer, presenter, Alexander Technique & voice teacher, and award winning London Blue Badge Guide.  He regularly guides for Arts Society groups on their Visits in addition to his lecture offerings.  He has worked as a guide lecturer in house at Shakespeare’s Globe, the Royal Opera House, the BBC & the National Gallery, guiding a wide variety of public & private tours.  He is on the faculty of Ithaca College and also lectures for the Blue Badge Guide training course on the performing arts & English literature modules.  Simon’s specialisms and passions are theatre, literature, fashion & art history, but whatever the subject, Simon will weave a wonderful story from it!

Cost: £40 to include tea/coffee and a sandwich lunch

Please note that you will need to have renewed your membership in order to be able to book a place.

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SOLD OUT

Email studydaystheartssocietywham@gmail.com

to add your name to the waiting list

The Glasgow Boys and their triumph over the Edinburgh ‘Glue-Pots’

During the 19th Century, Glasgow was known as the ‘Second City of the British Empire’. It was a vibrant place, a city which was growing – both industrially and culturally. It was within this innovative environment that the Glasgow Boys were born. The ‘Boys’ were a group of around 20 young artists who revolutionised Scottish painting by bringing it into the mainstream of European art. They carved their own, distinctive path rebelling against the elitist, Edinburgh dominated art scene and the artists they termed the ‘Glue Pots’. This talk explores their diverse, modern and inventive work.

Charles Rennie Mackintosh – more than just a tea room!

Did you know that when Charles Rennie Mackintosh died, his entire estate was valued at just £88? Glaswegian-born Mackintosh, a designer, architect and artist, was the foremost Celtic exponent of Art Nouveau and had a considerable influence on European art. But he is an even more enigmatic figure today than when he was alive. Both Mackintosh’s and his wife Margaret Macdonald’s work has a distinctive character, one that captures the transition between the Victorian era and the Modern age. This talk will consider both Charles and Margaret’s life, work and legacy.

The Scottish Colourists – Bringing Paris to the Highlands and Islands

In the early years of the 20th Century four Scottish artists brought Post-Impressionism to Scotland, painting island landscapes, Edinburgh interiors and fashionable models with the vibrant colours of Matisse and the Fauves. They studied in France but their works burn bright on the walls of galleries across Scotland and are much sought after by collectors.  This talk explores the work of Cadell, Fergusson, Hunter and Peploe and their position in the history of British art.

This will be held at The Wokingham Theatre with the following format:

10.30    - Arrival and coffee

11.00   - The Glasgow Boys

12.00    - Coffee

12.30   - Charles Rennie Macktintosh

13.30   - Sandwich Lunch

14.30   - The Scottish Colourists

15.30   - Close

Stella Grace Lyons is a freelance Art History lecturer, speaker and writer who has lectured across Europe and will soon embark on a tour in Australasia.   Stella gained her History of Art degrees at Bristol and Warwick Universities and also studied in Florence and Venice. In addition to her lecturing work for The Arts Society, the University of South Wales and the National Trust, amongst others, Stella also works as an artist’s model for the internationally renowned figurative artist, Harry Holland.

Cost: £40 to include tea/coffee and a sandwich lunch

Booking opens on Friday 26th April

Booking is now Closed

The Art Deco period of the 1920s and 1930s represented one of the most alluring and enduring of styles and as we look at objets d’art, silver, jewellery, furniture, ceramics, posters and paintings we will consider the social and economic environment of the time.

We will also explore the range of iconic Art Deco architecture in Britain from apartment blocks and hotels to picture houses and lidos, before touching upon key art deco buildings abroad to confirm the full global reach of Art Deco.

After lunch we will study the work of Tamara de Lempicka, whose striking portraits have come to personify the age of Art Deco and a selection of original Art Deco objets d’art will be brought in for members to handle during the day.

This will be held at The Wokingham Theatre with the following format:

10.00    - Arrival and coffee

10.30   - The Art of Art Deco

11.30    - Coffee

12.00   - Britain’s Art Deco Architecture

13.00   - Sandwich Lunch

14.00   - Tamara de Lempicka

15.00   - Close

Pamela Campbell-Johnston has an honours degree in Art History from St Andrew's University and over 30 years experience lecturing as part of the  Royal Academy’s Adult Education Department where she had a permanent career for 12 years. She has conducted numerous guided tours, residential trips and gallery talks specialising in British architecture and modern British art - with a particular love for the 1920s and 1930s and is now a freelance art consultant and lecturer.

Cost: £40 to include tea/coffee and a sandwich lunch.

Booking closes on 31st October

From Dead Trees to Living Trees

Trees made their appearance in Medieval and Renaissance art in subjects such as the Garden of Eden, the Crucifixion and Resurrection, assuming symbolic meaning within the Christian faith. Trees were also used as key components of a composition and artists began to explore the atmospheric and more natural possibilities of groups of trees and painting identifiable species.

The Tree Triumphant

The 16th and 17th centuries saw the invention of landscape painting by Flemish and German painters who defined the trees typical to their areas. Dutch artists used trees to create the specific nature of the flat quintessentially Dutch landscape, while the next generation saw the dramatic power and melancholy of trees, often suggestive of a symbolism of the transitory nature of life.

The Diversity of the Tree

In the 18th and 19th century, artists exploited the tree in a myriad of different ways throughout Europe. We will look at trees painted with elegant simplicity by Scandinavian painters, how they were portrayed by Impressionist and Post-Impressionist artists and the tree forms made by art nouveau painters, sculptors and architects.

This will be held at The Wokingham Theatre with the following format:

10.00    - Arrival and coffee

10.30   - From Dead Trees to Living Trees

11.30    - Coffee

12.00   - The Tree Triumphant

13.00    - Sandwich Lunch

14.00   - The Diversity of the Tree

15.00   - Close

Clare Ford-Wille has an Honours degree in History of Art, Birkbeck College, University of London. Her regular commitments include Centre for Lifelong Learning, London University, National Gallery, V&A Museum, WEA, Morley College, the City Literary Institute, the Art Fund and National Trust. She also takes study tours abroad.

Cost: £40 to include tea/coffee and a sandwich lunch

Please email  studydaystheartssocietywham@gmail.com to book your place

Looking with the Eyes Wide Open 

We can stand for minutes in front of a painting and think we are seeing it, but how much have we actually noticed? How much more could we take in if we have a mental check list of things to look for.  In this first session, we will consider many of the basic stylistic features of a painting, from colouring to the uses of lighting, to analyse how different artists tend to use them at different times and in different art centres.

Looking More Closely

When we receive a letter from someone we know well, we can often identify the writer from the handwriting on the envelope. Such instant recognition of an artist’s hand is the goal of a connoisseur, but how can the novice start to do this? This lecture will unpick some of the ways in which artists give away their identity, and demonstrate methods for learning to identify the hand of different artists.  

Spot the Artist!

After lunch we will examine a specific group of artists, and give you a chance to try out your budding connoisseurial skills of recognition.

This will be held at The Wokingham Theatre with the following format:

The format of the day will be as follows:-

10.00    - Arrival and coffee

10.30    - Looking with the Eyes Wide Open 

11.30    - Coffee

12.00   - Looking More Closely

13.00    - Sandwich Lunch

14.00   - Spot the Artist!

15.00   - Close

Chantal Brotherton-Ratcliffe started her career by training as a paintings conservator, but then moved into art history and began working for Sotheby’s auction house in their teaching department. She has been a lecturer in old Master Paintings at Sotheby’s Institute of Art for over 30 years, training over 1,000 students. She has also lectured for a number of institutions in London and elsewhere, including the National Gallery, the Royal Academy and the Art Society.

Cost: £40 to include tea/coffee and a sandwich lunch

Booking closes on 9th September

Email studydaystheartssocietywham@gmail.com on this date to reserve a place

Book your place before 22nd June

Click here

Australian art is magnificently rich and varied and tells us many fascinating stories of the peoples who have inhabited this great continent from more than 50,000 years ago up to the present day.

Telling Stories – Australian Indigenous Art - From the extraordinary ancient rock and cave art to the modern Hermannsburg and Western Desert art movements, these artists are great storytellers, passing their mystic culture and sense of the sacred nature of the landscape down the generations.

Describing a ‘New’ Country – Australian Landscape Art - Settlers of the mid 19th century were astonished by the exotic landscape and artists set about depicting the new land, creating engaging images of rugged landscapes, big skies, windswept coastlines, the drama of bushfires, and finally of towns being built and homesteads created.

Modern Times – Australian Impressionism to Contemporary Art - The last lecture traces the development of Australian modern art, from exploration of the new ideas and ambitions of French Impressionism, the Heidelberg school who developed an distinctive Australian artistic form that was more than simply a version of European art to celebrated Australian contemporary artists working today

Venue: Wokingham Theatre

The format of the day will be as follows:-

10.00    - Arrival and coffee

10.30    - Telling Stories – Australian Indigenous Art

11.30   - Coffee

12.00   - Describing a ‘New’ Country – Australian Landscape Art

13.00    - Sandwich Lunch

14.00   - Modern Times – Australian Impressionism to Contemporary Art

15.00    - Close

Georgina is an art historian specialising in South Asian and Australasian art who has lived and worked in the UK, USA and Singapore.  She is Consultant Art Historian at the Oriental Club in London, an official tour guide at Tate Modern and a guest speaker on luxury cruises. She lectures widely and holds three art degrees, is a Freeman of the Worshipful Company of Art Scholars and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and the Royal Asiatic Society.

Cost: £40 to include tea/coffee and a sandwich lunch

Please email  studydaystheartssocietywham@gmail.com to book your place

SOLD OUT !

The Huguenots came to England in huge numbers in the late 17th century bringing a wide variety of skills - as silk weavers, silversmiths, clock makers, opticians, bankers, gilders, ironworkers, horticulturists etc.  

This talk will examine their legacy and the impact the Huguenot craftsmen had on consumers and society itself.  In the second lecture we will look in more depth at the silk industry and the story of the Spitalfields weavers as the trade waxed and waned and finally we will examine the impact Huguenot goldsmiths had on the fashion for drinking tea, chocolate and coffee which led to a social revolution in customs and etiquette which can still be seen today.  

Venue: Wokingham Theatre

The format of the day will be as follows:-

10.00    - Arrival and coffee

10.30    - The Cultural Heritage of the Huguenots

11.30   - Coffee

12.00   - The Huguenot Silk Weavers of Spitalfields: from riches to rags

13.00    - Sandwich Lunch

14.00   - Tea, Chocolate and Coffee and the English Social Revolution

15.00    - Close

Originally in academic art and design publishing, Sue Jackson is also a Fellow of the Huguenot Society, a Freeman of the City of London, a tutor at the City Literary Institute and a Blue Badge guide, conducting a variety of walks and visits.

Cost: £40 to include tea/coffee and a sandwich lunch

Booking is now closed

This wonderful river in France, often referred to as the River of Light, was a great influence on the 19th century artists and the development of Impressionism. From the luminescent estuary which first attracted them, to the area west of Paris which became known as the Cradle of Impressionism they came to seek inspiration. This series of three lectures follows the course of the river and the exploits along it and will aim to uncover new revelations!

Lecture 1  The Seine Estuary  - Capturing the 19th century imagination

The ever changing sky and sparkling Seine estuary where sky, sea and earth seem to fuse, attracted 19th century artists, writers and musicians. Through the guidance of the “Master of the Skies,” painter Eugene Boudin, Monet took his first ever painting lesson in the open air here. A new way of approaching art was opened up resulting in Impressionism. This lecture will look at the host of artists who flocked to the picturesque harbour of Honfleur and its surroundings to capture, in Baudelaire’s words “this green and rose vastness which goes to my head like an intoxicating drink”.

Lecture 2  Belle Epoque Paris and the Cradle of Impressionism to the West

In this second lecture we first look at the Capital which Haussmann had revitalised into one of the most elegant and outwardly prosperous cities in Europe, and then at the context in which the artists worked. “The Modern Age”!  From there we move onto a tiny loop of the Seine nicknamed the cradle of Impressionism where our artists struggled to make a living and gain recognition; a far cry from the universal popularity they have today.

Lecture 3  The Path to Success  - collectively or independently…

In this the last  lecture I want to explore how our artists came to terms with a radically changed and depressed art market and economy following the Franco Prussian War and how they continued nevertheless to grow their careers in art. They gradually started to drift away from each other often following the course of the Seine to pastures new, sometimes even a tributary of the Seine in search of that ever special motif; and in their wake a new wave of artists would follow hot on their heels.

Venue: Wokingham Theatre

The format of the day will be as follows:-

10.00      - Arrival and coffee

10.30      - The Seine Estuary - Capturing the 19th century imagination

11.30      - Coffee

12.00      - Belle Epoque Paris and the Cradle of Impressionism to the West

13.00      - Sandwich Lunch

14.00      - The Path to Success  - collectively or independently…

15.00      - Close

Carole Petipher has worked as a guide/ lecturer in and around Paris using converted barges as her base. She has in depth knowledge of the Seine river having worked on a number of vessels along its course; hence the inspiration for this series of lectures.

Cost: £40 to include tea/coffee and a sandwich lunch

Booking open online from 7th October

Click here to download the booking form

Employing his distinctively light, humorous and spontaneous approach, Andy will guide us though the history of glass - how it was first made in the Middle East, glassblowing, the spread of glass to Venice, the growth of fine glassmaking in Britain and the rise of fancy glass.

We will be able to handle examples from Andy’s 3,000-piece collection but the afternoon session will really come alive if you bring glass for appraisal – maybe a quirky car boot find or a vase left to you by an auntie or something you picked up for a song in the 60’s and you’ve always loved.  You never know what you may have till you bring it along!

Venue: Wokingham Theatre

The format of the day will be as follows:-

09.30    - Arrival and coffee

10.00    - Introduction – The Dawn of Glass to Glass Blowing

11.30    - Coffee

12.00    - Georgian, Victorian & 20th Century Glass, Europe & Britain

13.15    - Sandwich Lunch

14.15    - Appraisal of members’ glassware

15.00    - Close

Andy McConnell is one of Britain’s leading authorities on glassware of all types & his books have covered the subject from ancient to modern. He was the first glass specialist recruited to BBC TV’s Antiques Roadshow for which he has now recorded 14 series.  He also lectures widely, writes for journals and has Britain’s largest antique and vintage glass shop, Glass Etc in his hometown of Rye. Having re-worked his opus on glass The Decanter, Ancient to Modern was published in 2018.

Cost: £40 to include tea/coffee and a sandwich lunch

Booking online from Monday 18th July - booking closed on August 5th

Click here to download the booking form

A relatively new Arts Society lecturer, Dr Chantal Brotherton-Ratcliffe trained as a painting conservator and worked for 30 years at Sotheby’s Institute of Art, teaching on the MA in Fine and Decorative Arts.

In our third specially constructed Study Day, Chantal will talk to us about how the social and political context in which European Art was produced both influenced the artists and defined perceptions of value.

She will also explain how experts can tell the difference between one artist and another and discuss the role of assistants and copyists within the studio of a master painter.

Chantal will additionally examine how the value of workshop pieces, collaborative works and straightforward  copies has fluctuated from art centre to art centre, and from century to century.

Venue The Headley Lecture Theatre, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. (10.30am - 3.30pm)

Price £38 per day or £114 for the series. Includes coffee and sandwich lunch.

Open to both The Arts Society members and non-members

Click here for the full synopsis.

Click here for the booking form.

Suzanne Perrin has constructed a unique Study Day that will examine aspects of truth and beauty in Japanese art, focusing on the role of Japanese women in art. The fortunes and status of women in Japanese society have risen and fallen with changing times and Suzanne will take us on a journey of reverence, beauty, realism and fantasy, from the 18th Century woodblock prints of ‘beauties’ that were exported to the West, through to the portrayal and role of women in contemporary Japanese counter-culture.

This Study Day will provide an interesting contrast to Day One. An experienced Arts Society Lecturer, Suzanne Perrin B.A. M.A is an expert on Japanese history, art and culture.

Venue The Headley Lecture Theatre, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. (10.30am - 3.30pm)

Price £38 per day or £114 for the series. Includes coffee and sandwich lunch.

Open to both The Arts Society members and non-members

Click here for the full synopsis.

Click here for the booking form.

Throughout the 2000 year history of imperial rule the Chinese Emperors utilized the visual arts to not just enhance the culture of the Empire but also as a tool that defined their power and intellectual status.

David Rosier has prepared a special Study Day for Wyvern, which will take us on a journey through the costumes devised to define rank, court paintings and portraiture and the fine art collections of the Emperor Qianlong (1735-1796).

David Rosier is an accredited Arts Society lecturer and a well-known expert on the costume, culture and art of the Chinese Imperial Court.

Venue The Headley Lecture Theatre, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. (10.30am - 3.30pm)

Price £38 per day or £114 for the series. Includes coffee and sandwich lunch.

Open to both The Arts Society members and non-members

Click here for the full synopsis.

Click here for the booking form.

Matthew Williams will be taking us to Wales for the day and will start by sharing his love of Cardiff Castle where he has been Curator since 1998. The castle was originally Roman but was completely transformed in the 1870s by the Marquess of Bute and his eccentric genius architect William Burges who created a ‘Feudal extravaganza’ in fifteen highly imaginative interiors, including an Arab room, a Pompeian roof garden and rooms with an astrological theme.

After coffee, we will move on to Castell Coch, another creation of the Marquess of Bute and William Burges which was designed to be a re-creation of a C13th castle, complete with elaborate interior decorations, a working drawbridge and a portcullis, and intended as an amusing ‘holiday home’ for the Bute family and their guests.

In the afternoon, we visit Portmeirion, a colourful Italian fantasy village on the coast of north Wales created by Sir Clough Williams-Ellis, as a personal defiance against what he saw as the increasing ugliness and despoilment of Britain. By the 1940s it had become the playground of artists, aristocrats and intellectuals  including H G Wells, Bertrand Russell and Noel Coward.  We will look at the place, its architecture and associations as well as at Portmeirion Pottery while Matthew  draws upon some very personal memories as his uncle was Resident Director of Portmeirion for many years.

Venue: Wokingham Theatre

The format of the day will be as follows:-

10.00    - Arrival and coffee

10.30    - Cardiff Castle - A Welsh Victorian Camelot

11.30    - Coffee

12.00    - Castell Coch – A Welsh Rhine Castle

13.00    - Sandwich Lunch

14.00    - Portmeirion – An Italianate fantasy village in Wales

15.00    - Close

Matthew Williams trained as an Art and Architectural historian and was appointed as Keeper of Collections of Cardiff Castle in 1990, becoming Curator in 1998.  He has since become a recognised expert on the work of the Gothic revival architect William Burges and lectures widely on the subject of Victorian design.  His new book on ‘Cardiff Castle and the Marquesses of Bute’ is being published by Scala in 2019.

Cost: £33 to include tea/coffee and a sandwich lunch

There are still places available and we can also take bookings from family and friends if you know anyone who is interested. Booking will close on 10 November 2019.

Click here to download booking form

Before the Spanish Conquest of 1519, numerous civilisations rose and fell.  The great cities of the Maya, the Aztecs, the Zapotec and the Mixtec were peopled by muralists, sculptors in stone, ceramic artists, feather and gold workers, jewellers, weavers, and painters of sacred books.

During the twentieth century, artists Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera helped to shape the cultural identity of modern Mexico by fusing pre-Conquest and European traditions. As a muralist, Rivera produced some of the greatest public art of the last century, combining social criticism with a faith in human progress. By contrast, Kahlo’s small-scale and highly personal paintings reflected her experiences, dreams, hopes and fears.

The Mexican sense of colour and design is dazzling and contemporary craftsmen create splendid weavings, rich embroideries, shimmering beadwork, jewellery of silver and gold, ingenious toys, imaginative figures of papier mâché, pottery, and finely carved wooden dance-masks for religious festivals. Chloë Sayer will display museum-quality textiles and other items from her extensive collection.

Venue: Wokingham Theatre

The format of the day will be as follows:-

10.00    - Arrival and coffee

10.30    - Lecture 1 – Ancient Mexico

11.30    - Coffee

12.00    - Lecture 2 – Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera: The Golden Age of Mexican Painting

1.00      - Lunch

2.00      - Lecture 3 – The Arts and Crafts of Modern Mexico

3.00      - Close

Chloë Sayer is a freelance specialist in the art and culture of Latin America. She leads cultural tours to Mexico, and has lectured for galleries and museums at home and abroad.  She has made ethnographic collections and carried out fieldwork in Mexico and Belize for the British Museum and curated several exhibitions of Mexican folk art, including ¡Viva México! Clothing & Culture for the Royal Ontarario Museum in 2015. She has also worked for the BBC and Channel 4 and published extensively. In 2016 the Mexican Government awarded her the prestigious Ohtli medal, in recognition of her long-standing commitment to Mexican culture.

Cost: £33 to include tea/coffee and a sandwich lunch

Booking will open at 7pm before the lecture on Thursday 23rd May 2019

Click here to download the booking form

Click here to download a synopsis and suggested reading list

Cross Cultural Influences in the Arts: An Exploration of how other cultures have influenced the Arts in Britain

Wyvern Area Study Day 3        Cultural Legacies - Romans in Britain

Led by well-known Arts Society lecturer Guy de la Bédoyère, this Study Day looks at three different ways in which Roman art, history and culture has impacted on later ages and our own era. Praetorian is not just the story of how the emperors protected themselves with a dangerous and volatile body of specialist troops. It covers the dramatic occasions when the Guard toppled emperors, which stimulated the imagination of artists in the 1800s and 1900s who were fascinated by the challenges facing imperial power in their own time. Domina tells the remarkable story of how Rome's two greatest dynasties were in fact passed down the female bloodline and how women came to form an essential part of the image of the Roman state. But Rome's male and very biased historians established a negative image of powerful women that inspired medieval historians to depict queens of their own eras in the same way. Finally, 'What did the Romans really do for Britain?' examines the surprising truth of the cultural legacy left by the Roman Empire in Britain, not just from the Roman Britain era but also during centuries since when Roman influence has arrived by different routes.

Venue: Headley Lecture Theatre, Ashmolean Museum, Beaumont Street, Oxford OX1 2PH

Time: 10.30am - 3.30pm

Cost: £35 per Study Day (includes coffee and a sandwich lunch)

NB Open to both members of The Arts Society and non-members.

BOOKING: Click here to download a booking form

or contact Hilary Reid Evans Tel: 07736 670534    Email: wyvernsd@gmail.com

The feast of the Annunciation is an ancient church festival traditionally celebrated on March 25th which commemorates the visit of the archangel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary.

This study day will explore how this event has been represented by artists in many different media from the 5th to 15th centuries, culminating in a close study of some iconic examples by artists such as Simone Martini, Robert Campin and Rogier Van der Weyden. One of the highlights will be the magnificent Merode Triptych which is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, pictured to the right

Dr Cathy Oakes is an Associate Professor of Art History at the University of Oxford and lectures regularly at the Victoria and Albert Museum.  She has been an Arts Society lecturer since 1982 and specialises in art and architecture of the French and English Middle Ages.

Venue: Wokingham Theatre

Booking opens at 7pm before the lecture on 24th January

Click here to download a booking form

The format of the day will be as follows:-

10.30    - Lecture 1 - Early Christian to Romanesque

11.30    - Coffee

12.00    - Lecture 2 - Gothic

1.00      - Sandwich Lunch

2.00      - Lecture 3 - Renaissance

3.00      - Close

Cost: £33 to include tea/coffee and a sandwich lunch

Cross Cultural Influences in the Arts: An Exploration of how other cultures have influenced the Arts in Britain

Wyvern Area Study Day 2        The British Empire and Imperial India

Images, Architecture and Arts - This study day explores a range of images, buildings, objects and art forms from across the British Empire. Beginning with a broad view of the empire and imperial art in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, we will go on to focus more closely on Imperial India. We will consider the arts and architecture of the vibrant capital city of Calcutta, the 'second city' of the British Empire throughout the nineteenth century. We will then take a detailed look at the life and art of one of India's cultural giants, Rabindranath Tagore. An experienced Arts Society Lecturer, John Stevens is an expert on the cultural history of India and the British Empire.

Venue: Headley Lecture Theatre, Ashmolean Museum, Beaumont Street, Oxford OX1 2PH

Time: 10.30am - 3.30pm

Cost: £35 per Study Day (includes coffee and a sandwich lunch)

NB Open to both members of The Arts Society and non-members.

BOOKING: Click here to download a booking form

or contact Hilary Reid Evans Tel: 07736 670534    Email: wyvernsd@gmail.com

Cross Cultural Influences in the Arts: An Exploration of how other cultures have influenced the Arts in Britain

Wyvern Area Study Day 1        The Normans in England 1066-1215

It is 950 years since the Normans invaded England. The roughest of company, they came not to civilise, but to seize. There followed an orgy of building in what was described as 'a new manner' - castles, churches, monasteries and cathedrals - that all but effaced the fabric of Saxon England. In advance of the Bayeux Tapestry's UK exhibition, Rupert will also 'unravel' the mysteries of this landmark in the history of Western art. To conclude, Rupert will tell us about William the Marshal, the knight errant, who made a fortune in ransoms on the tournament circuit in Northern France. Rupert evokes a world in which the knights were dominant and were 'the angels men complain of, who kill whatever they come upon'. Rupert Willoughby has been an Arts Society Lecturer since 2011 and specialises in the domestic and social life of the past.

Venue: Headley Lecture Theatre, Ashmolean Museum, Beaumont Street, Oxford OX1 2PH

Time: 10.30am - 3.30pm

Cost: £35 per Study Day (includes coffee and a sandwich lunch)

NB Open to both members of The Arts Society and non-members.

BOOKING: Click here to download a booking form 

or contact Hilary Reid Evans Tel: 07736 670534    Email: wyvernsd@gmail.com

Please note that this Study Day is now fully booked.

Venue: The Wokingham Theatre.

The Silk Road extended for over 8,000 kms, acting as a highway for beliefs, ideas, inventions and art, whilst silk was just one of the many products traded for 1,400 years. Buddhism spread throughout Central Asia and there are wonderful paintings from the Magao Caves at Dunhuang and the 'Caves of the Thousand Buddhas' at Bezeklik. Samarkand and Bukhara are the beginning of the great Islamic buildings that continue through Persia and Syria. Along the way we see traditional murals, ceramics, statues, carpets, architecture, mosaics, tile-work, rock carvings and of course, silk itself. 

Christopher Bradley is a writer photographer, film-maker, lecturer and tour leader specialising in the Middle East and North Africa. He has written and photographed the Berlitz Guides to Oman, Abu Dhabi, Libya, Cairo, Egypt Red Sea and Nile Cruising. He has contributed to the Insight Guides to The Silk Road and Egypt.

As a cameraman and producer for his own production company, he has made television documentaries for the BBC, Channel 4 and National Geographic TV.

Click here to read the synopsis

Click here to download the booking form 

Venue: Wokingham Theatre

The format of the day will be as follows:-

10.30 Lecture 1: Art Nouveau as ‘a New Art for a New Century’
11.30 Coffee
12.00 Lecture 2: Paris in 1900
1.0 Sandwich Lunch
2.00 Lecture 3: Vienna 1900
3.00 Close

Click here to see further details

Click here to download the Booking Form

Cost: £33 to include tea/coffee and a sandwich lunch

There are a few places left for this visit

Peter Medhurst who gave us a fascinating lecture in April 2016 on 'Paintings in spired by Music; Music inspired by Paintings' is returning.  As before he will use a piano to illustrate his lectures; he also hopes to be able to use the organ in the Salisbury Hall  in the afternoon. 

The format of the day will be as follows:-

10.30 Lecture 1: A general background to the life and music of J S Bach
11.30 Coffee
12.00 Lecture 2: An exploration of Bach’s musical language
1.0 Sandwich Lunch
2.00 Lecture 3: This will focus on Bach’s vocal music
3.00 Close

For more details click here

Venue: Newbold College (Moor Close and then Salisbury Hall)

Cost: £33 to include tea/coffee and a sandwich lunch

Booking will open at 7pm before the lecture on 25th January 2018

Click here to download the booking form 

Peter appears in the UK and abroad as musician and scholar, giving recitals and delivering illustrated lectures on music and the arts.  He studied singing and early keyboard instruments at the Royal College of Music and at the Mozarteum in Salzburg.  He takes groups to Europe. Lectures are illustrated and include live music sung and played on piano, virginals or clavichord.

2018 marks the bicentenary of the birth of Charlotte Bronte. The Brontës were all imaginative, creative and gifted. As children they created histories, political structures, enormous casts of characters and dramatic events, which they chronicled in prose, poetry and pictures. This Study Day will explore the influences of the art works that surrounded the Brontës on their own art and literature and is conducted by experienced lecturer Elizabeth Merry.

Venue The Headley Lecture Theatre, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. (10.30-3.30pm)

Price £32 which includes coffee and sandwich lunch.

Open to both Arts Society members and non-members.

Click here to download the booking form.

This study day takes participants on a journey from the Restoration drama of Charles II and the emergence of the first English actresses, through the rise of great actor managers such as David Garrick in the 1700's up to the perfection of the English comedy of manners with Oscar Wilde's "The Importance of Being Earnest" in 1895 and will feature aspects of the visual arts as applied to the theatre. Giles Ramsay is an independent theatre director and Course Leader in Theatre at The Victoria and Albert Museum.

Venue The Headley Lecture Theatre, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. (10.30-3.30pm)

Price £32 which includes coffee and sandwich lunch.

Open to both Arts Society members and non-members.

Click here to download a booking form

100 years ago a group of American musicians docked in London, bringing with them one of the 20th Century’s most important musical genres. To tie in with The Age of Jazz exhibition, a collaboration between The Arts Society and The Bulldog Trust at London’s Two Temple Place, which runs from January to April 2018, this study day, conducted by musicologist and broadcaster Sandy Burnett, covers the early years of jazz from its beginnings through to the start of the Second World War and places it in the context of its time.

Venue The Headley Lecture Theatre, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. (10.30-3.30pm)

Price £32 which includes coffee and sandwich lunch.

Open to both Arts Society members and non-members.

Click here to download the booking form

Lecture 1 The emergence of religious drama during the Middle Ages and its transformation into Tudor Theatre

Lecture 2   The social and political era of Shakespeare's time

Lecture 3   Shakespeare's career both as playwright and businessman

Venue: Wokingham Theatre, Cantley Park

Click here for further details of each lecture

Click here to download a Booking Form

Giles Ramsay is an independent theatre director and producer who specializes in creating new work with artists in developing countries. He is the Founding Director of the charity Developing Artists (www.developingartists.org), a Fellow of St. Chad’s College, Durham University and Course Leader in Theatre at The Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

Giles has run theatre projects in Botswana, Cape Verde, Equatorial Guinea, Kenya, Kosovo, Palestine, Mexico, Thailand and Zimbabwe and given numerous talks for institutions ranging from The Foundation for Mexican Literature in Mexico City to The Royal College of Physicians in London. He regularly lectures on the history and practice of theatre on the Queen Mary 2 as it sails from New York to the UK.

Giles combines academic analysis with hands on experience to bring a unique insight to the world of the theatre.

Lecture 1   Great Beginnings: Manhattan and the Dutch; the grid pattern of 1811; Central Park; the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island; St Patrick's; Brooklyn Bridge

Lecture 2   The Age of the Skyscraper: Flat iron and the Woolworth Building; Rockefeller Centre; Chrysler Building; Empire State

Lecture 3:   Modern New York and its Art: the 'Met'; the Frick Collection; Guggenheim; Lincoln Centre

Venue: Wokingham Theatre

Price: £33 which includes coffee, tea and a buffet lunch

Booking opens at 7pm Thursday 25th May

Download the booking form from this link

http://www.wokinghamdfas.org.uk/DocumentStore/NEW%20YORK%20-%20Booking%20form%20revised.pdf

Behind the Scenes at the Museums:

Conservation and Restoration in Oxford

Day 3   Buildings

Thursday 30 March 2017

 NADFAS lecturer Philip Venning will consider the history and philosophy of buildings conservation before we focus on two local examples.  Toby Kirtley of Bodleian Libraries will cover the restoration of the New Bodleian Library (now Weston Library) and how its heritage was taken into account through the briefing and design process and a balance struck between its needs and those of the collections it now houses. The final session will consider the Ashmolean Museum’s major transformation in 2009, when a new wing, designed by award winning architect Rick Mather, was added; interlinking the galleries with one theme: Crossing Cultures, Crossing Time.

Venue: Headley Lecture Theatre, Ashmolean Museum, Beaumont Street, Oxford OX1 2PH

Time:10.30am – 3.30pm

Cost: £32 per Study Day  (includes coffee and biscuits and light lunch)

NB Open to both NADFAS members and non-members

BOOKING:  Download the Booking Form from http://nadfaswyvernarea.org.uk/StudyDays.html

or contact Susan Williams Tel  01235 522898  wyvernsd@gmail.com

This study day focuses on three famous Italian cities – Assisi, Siena and Florence – and the artistic interaction between them as the Middle Ages were transformed into the Renaissance 

Venue: Wokingham Town Hall, Market Place, Wokingham RG40 1AS

10.00   Arrival  

10.30    Lecture 1:  Assisi

11.30    Coffee  

12.00   Lecture 2:  Siena 

1.00  Sandwich Lunch

2.00   Lecture 3:   Florence    

3.00    Close 

Cost: £33 to include coffee/tea and sandwich lunch

Janet Robson is an independent art historian with a BA in History from UCL, an MA in Early Sienese Painting and a PhD in History of Art from the Courtauld Institute of Art. She has over a decade of lecturing and teaching experience, including summer schools and public programmes, for the Courtauld, Birkbeck (University of London) and Christie's Education, as well as private study groups.  She has published extensively on thirteenth and fourteenth-century Italian art. 'The Making of Assisi: the Pope, the Franciscans and the Painting of the Basilica', her book on the frescoes of the Upper Church of San Francesco in Assisi (co-written with Donal Cooper) was published in August 2013 by Yale University Press. She has also published numerous book chapters, essays and articles in journals including the Burlington Magazine, Apollo and Art Bulletin.  She has travelled and studied extensively in Italy and now divides her time between Assisi and London. 

Behind the Scenes at the Museums:

Conservation and Restoration in Oxford

Day 2   Paper, Painting and Inscriptions

Tuesday 21 February 2017

 Concentrating on three specific areas of conservation: the conservation of paintings and drawings by the Western Art Print Room, the use of technology by the Ashmolean Latin Inscriptions Project to decipher inscriptions on stone and metal objects and, finally, painting conservation, considering the restoration of the Ashmole portrait and its frame by Grinling Gibbons plus the investigation of Burges’s painted C19th Great Bookcase.

Venue: Headley Lecture Theatre, Ashmolean Museum, Beaumont Street, Oxford OX1 2PH

Time: 10.30am – 3.30pm

Cost: £32 per Study Day  (includes coffee and biscuits and light lunch)

NB Open to both NADFAS members and non-members

BOOKING:  Download the Booking Form from http://nadfaswyvernarea.org.uk/StudyDays.html

or contact Susan Williams Tel  01235 522898  wyvernsd@gmail.com

Behind the Scenes at the Museums:

Conservation and Restoration in Oxford

Day 1   Conservation Stories

Wednesday 25 January 2017

 A short introduction to the history of current thinking on conservation techniques and ethics followed by three ‘Conservation Stories’ - preparing Raphael‘s drawings for a major exhibition, techniques in textile conservation and conserving the Wellby Collection of silver gilt. We conclude with guided group visits to specific galleries, making reference to elements covered earlier in the day. 

Venue: Headley Lecture Theatre, Ashmolean Museum, Beaumont Street, Oxford OX1 2PH

Time: 10.30am – 3.30pm

Cost: £32 per Study Day  (includes coffee and biscuits and light lunch)

NB Open to both NADFAS members and non-members

BOOKING:  Download the Booking Form from http://nadfaswyvernarea.org.uk/StudyDays.html

or contact Susan Williams Tel  01235 522898  wyvernsd@gmail.com

The Romanovs

Tyrants and Martyrs of Imperial Russia: A Study Day with Douglas Skeggs

This study day follows the course of this hard, determined, often brutal dynasty who ruled Russia for over three hundred years, from Peter the Great, the founder of St Petersburg, through his eccentric daughter Elizabeth, to Catherine the Great, the most powerful of all the Empresses of Russia who had no real claim to the throne, and on to the tragic figure of Nicholas II, the last Tsar and one of the most poignant figures in history whose death in a cellar in Ekaterinburg ended the reign of this turbulent and ill-fated family.

Lecture 1: “The Blaspheming Bear”

Lecture 2: “The New Byzantium”
The life of Peter the Great Russia at the time of Catherine the Great

Lecture3: “The Last Romanovs”
The life and death of Nicholas and Alexandra

Douglas Skeggs read History of Art at Magdalene College Cambridge and has been a lecturer on paintings since 1980. In that time he has given over 7000 lectures to universities, colleges and art societies. He was the director of 'The New Academy of Art Studies' for three years and is presently a regular lecturer at 'The Study Centre', 'Christie's' course 'The History of Art Studies' and other London courses. Among his more improbable venues for lectures are the bar on the QE2, MI5 headquarters, the Captain's Room at Lloyds, and an aircraft hanger in a German NATO base. Overseas he has lectured in Belgium, France, Germany and Spain, and has taken numerous tours around Europe. He helped set up the Abercrombie & Kent “Private Label tours” and is presently cultural adviser to Ultimate travel. He has written and presented various TV documentaries, notably the Omnibus programme on 'Whistler' and the exhibition video on 'William Morris.' Three one-man exhibitions of his paintings have been held in England and Switzerland. He has published five novels, which have been translated into 8 foreign languages, and his book on Monet, 'River of Light', has sold 30,000 copies in England, America and France.

The venue for the day will be Wokingham Theatre.

Booking forms are available at About Us (Document section). Further information about the day can be found on the booking form.

Booking will open at the meeting on Sept 22nd.

DESIGN, INVENTION, CREATION:
THE MULTIPLE LIVES OF LEONARDO DA VINCI

A study day in three one hour parts exploring the life, work, interests and legacy of a Renaissance icon.

Speculations regarding the true life and meanings of Leonardo’s works have been rife for centuries; culminating in recent times with books such as the Da Vinci Code, which only serve to confirm this continued interest while shedding no light on the man himself or his works. Indeed, what do we really know about this enigmatic Renaissance icon? This study day aims to provide the participant with an insight into the life of the great Renaissance master and ultimately an understanding of his works through the historical and social context within which this artist worked. This will be achieved by looking at his early career and influences including his training and working methods, and the stylistic similarities or differences in his works. Emphasis will also be put on his reasons for the choices he made in mediums, such as chalk, charcoal, silverpoint and painting methods.

Part one: Here we will begin by focusing on Leonardo’s early life and tutelage in the workshop of Andrea del Verrocchio. We will also look at the methods taught in the Verrocchio workshop and how Leonardo might have employed these in his own and subsequent work. This will lead us neatly on to examining his earliest commissions and how these might have shaped his future work.

Part two: In this section of the study day will look at Leonardo’s patrons and his fascination with the Madonna and Child grouping and portraits. This subject would be constant throughout Leonardo’s life, something he returns to time and time again up to the end of his long life. And finally part two will also look at Leonardo’s association with particular noble families, the interaction between these families and the female portraiture that was produced as a result of the associations with these families.

Part three: And finally part three will look at Leonardo’s life of invention and fascination by all living things including the mechanics generally and the mechanics of flight. Part three will also look at his major projects and how these coincided with Leonardo’s peripatetic existence, which finally brought his life to an end in France.

Short Bibliographic Reading List:
Brown, David Alan, Leonardo Da Vinci: Origins of a Genius (Yale University Press, 1998)

Franklin, D, Leonardo Da Vinci, Michelangelo, and the Renaissance in Florence (National Gallery of Canada, 2005)

Kemp, Martin, and Kenneth Clark, Leonardo Da Vinci (Penguin, 1993)

Kemp, Martin, Leonardo Da Vinci: The Marvellous Works of Nature and Man (Oxford University Press, 2006)

Kemp, Martin, Leonardo da Vinci: Experience, Experiment and Design, (V&A Publications, 2006) 

Event will be held at The Oak Room, Cantley House Hotel, Milton Road, Wokingham RG40 5QG

Cost: £35 to include coffee/tea and sandwich lunch 

Our first Study Day An Introduction to Modern Art will be held on Monday 7th March 2016.

Linda Smith who will be our tutor for the day is a highly qualified Art Historian with a broad range of knowledge and a special interest in British Art and Art of the Twentieth Century.

She is an experienced guide and lecturer at Tate Britain, Tate Modern and Dulwich Picture Gallery.  She also lectures to schools and independent art societies.

Synopsis of the sessions

Session One: 1900-1930: 

The day starts by covering all the key early developments in painting and sculpture including Fauvism, Expressionism, Cubism, Futurism, Vorticism, Neue Sachlichkeit, Dada, Primitivism, and ‘Call to Order’ Classicism. Links between painting and sculpture are explored, and how it all relates to major social change and historical events of the period. It is chiefly concerned with art in Europe and Britain.

Session Two: 1930-1960: 

This session starts with Surrealism, and the tensions created between it and different kinds of abstraction. It then moves on to look at art produced by the totalitarian regimes of the thirties and how that affected ideas about art after the war. The focus then shifts from Europe to the United States to look at Abstract Expressionism, Pop and Minimalism. British art, which was particularly strong in figurative painting in the post-war period, is also covered.

Session Three – art since the 60s: 

This section explains the likes of Land Art, Body Art, Performance Art, and how they relate to the counter-cultures of the 60s and 70s, and demonstrates how those artists were reviving techniques used by the early avant-gardes before the First World War. It also looks at the impact of feminism, the rise of film and video techniques, neoexpressionist painting of the 1980s, the Turner Prize and Young British Artists of the 1990s.

The Study Day will take place in the Oak Room at Cantley House Hotel and the cost is £35.00. This includes coffee and biscuits between the first two lectures and a sandwich lunch between the second and third.

This Study Day is initially open to members of Wokingham DFAS only.  Should there be places available nearer the date, it will be open to guests.

Booking will commence at the meeting on Thursday 26 November. Booking forms can be downloaded from Documents page.