The contrasting views of French and British artists: conflict beyond the battlefield?

How the brotherhood shocked the respectable Victorian public with their art and lifestyles: discovering the rebels of the Royal Academy.

How did jewellery respond to the fashions and colours of the 1920s and 30s? The years between the wars saw an explosion of creativity and innovation.

This talk looks at the glamour, invention and style of the Art Deco period through the creations of the great jewellery houses of Cartier, Lacloche, Chaumet and the modernist jewellers like Marchak or Raymond Templier. We will also look at some of the fabulous jewellery made for society heiresses like Daisy Fellowes. 

Our lecturer, Rachel Church, developed a love of history as a student in Cambridge. After a Masters in Museum Studies, she went on to work as a curator at the Victoria and Albert Museum. She became an expert in jewellery by cataloguing and researching the collection, and as part of the team which redisplayed the William and Judith Bollinger Jewellery Gallery in 2011. Her books Rings (V&A / Thames and Hudson, 2011 and 2017) and Brooches and Badges (V&A / Thames and Hudson, 2019) look at the human stories behind some of our most beautiful jewels. 

Henry Moore is one of the most popular and important British sculptors of the twentieth century, revolutionising the way people thought about the human figure and sculpture, and making beautiful forms that grew out of his love for the landscape. He was often inspired by the art of the past and of other cultures, but he was also at the forefront of modernism – creating a new language of sculpture, full of abstract shapes, holes and magisterial forms. This talk explores his life and works, as well as the vibrant artistic world of mid-twentieth century Britain.   

Our lecturer is Jo Walton who has combined teaching and lecturing with a career in art bookselling and has been a volunteer guide at both Tate Britain and Tate Modern. Now a freelance lecturer for The Arts Society, The National Gallery, The Art Fund, and local art societies.

This lecture examines the emergence of Pop Art in the Britain and the USA as a reaction to the dominance of Abstract Expressionism and the rise of consumer culture in the post-war period. It looks  at both the celebratory and critical aspects of Pop Art.

Here was a new art inspired by the popular artefacts generated by a new consumer culture of: cars, home appliances, comic books, the celebrity glamour of pop stars and film stars, science fiction, the junk we throw away, and the junk we eat: hamburgers and American pie. 

Our lecturer, Colin Pink has a BA in Philosophy and Politics from the University of Southampton and a MA in the History of Art from Birkbeck, University of London. He specialises in twentieth century and contemporary art in Europe and North America. Colin lectures at Morley College Londonand has also curated exhibitions of contemporary art and has published four books of poetry.

This talk combines the lives of the Astors, the Sackville Wests and the Rothschilds and their family history with the story of the gardens they have all created, despite their very different backgrounds, here in the English countryside.

The lecturer Caroline Rayman has lectured for many years to universities and art organisations in America and on cruise boats. She was an official guide at the British Museum and has published articles on samplers. Her lectures range from the role of the royal mistress in history to more scholarly lectures on Frederick the Great of Prussia.  The story of Caroline's lecture The Mysterious Disappearances of the Ghent Altarpiece is to be told in a new film in 2025, entitled The Bold Thief.

This lecture explores the way in which the East India Company developed its methods of trade and facilitated the increasingly sophisticated and profound exchange of ideas between East and West.

It focuses on textile design as the vehicle for this analysis, but also includes other works, such as wallpaper, porcelain and furniture, as well as the vast commercial trade in spice and tea.  The currency and balance of trade with China is examined, and methods of production are illustrated with a number of Chinese export pieces, predominantly Chinese painted silks but also including furniture and porcelain. The distinction is then drawn between Chinese export and Chinoiserie, a fantasy style produced by Western artists and designers based on the exoticism of China – known to Westerners as ‘Cathay’ – and combining with the prevailing Baroque and Rococo styles in Western design.

Vivienne is an art historian, curator, author and journalist with over 25 years’ experience in the art market.  

Her articles, essays and reports have been published in numerous specialist journals, newspapers, catalogues, handbooks and websites, aimed at both the academic and general readership in print and online. 

Since 2011 she has been Senior UK Consultant to Singapore gallery One East Asia and has co-curated many exhibitions of Southeast Asian modern and contemporary art in London and Singapore. 

It wasn’t just L S Lowry who was inspired to paint Manchester, the northern powerhouse that burst onto the world stage as Cottonopolis during the Industrial Revolution. This lecture explores the history of the city as seen through the eyes of artists, from George Cruikshank, a Londoner who was moved to put pen to paper by a great event which unfolded here - the Peterloo Massacre – to Adolphe Valette, the Manchester Impressionist, and ending with Halima Cassell, a contemporary sculptor whose fascination with the buildings of the city began with childhood visits here and inspired her later work. 

Julia  Marwood  became a tour guide at Manchester Art Gallery in 2015 and after leaving language teaching in 2018 she has loved spending all her time sharing her passion for art as a speaker to many different groups - apart from when she is wild swimming or learning Scottish Gaelic!  She became an Accredited Lecturer of The Arts Society in 2020, specialising in Scottish art from 1880 and the art of Manchester. She and her astronomer husband love to travel around Europe and take every opportunity to visit art galleries wherever they go, but Scotland has always been their favourite destination!

An amusing lecture taking a look at the famous names, the greatest Dames and the old routines that we all remember –this most precious of British traditions will always endure, and why, surprisingly, every actor wants to do it. This is a revealing look at professional panto, from someone who was born into it. 

Tyler Butterworth grew up in a theatrical family and spent twenty five years as an actor working extensively in film, television, theatre and radio. He then worked as a development producer in television documentaries. Now, he produces walking audio guides to cities across Europe for private clients. He lives in Sussex where he walks on the South Downs and the South Coast.

The dramatic story of how the Hermitage came to acquire its collection of modern French painting, and the electrifying impact it made on Russian art and society after the death of Stalin. 

Rosamund Bartlett is a writer, lecturer and translator whose work ranges across the arts, and across the cultures of Europe, from Italy to Norway.  

The author of several books, including biographies of Chekhov and Tolstoy, and a study of Wagner's influence in Russia, she is also well known as a translator - her publications include acclaimed editions of Anna Karenina and Chekhov's stories for Oxford World’s Classics.  She has written on music and literature for institutions including the Royal Opera House, the National Theatre and the Salzburg Festival, and about art for Apollo and The Burlington Magazine.  She is currently writing a book about the revolution in the arts which took place in early 20th-century Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kyiv and Odesa, and its connection to modernist developments in Paris, Munich and Milan. 

This lecture explores the story of the suffragettes and suffragists through their ‘pro and anti’ portrayals in cartoons, postcards and paintings -. It will also consider their impact on the Houses of Parliament itself and how the Parliamentary Art Collection at Westminster has responded to criticism that its own collection is too ‘male, pale and stale’.

Our lecturer is Dr Caroline Shenton who is an archivist, historian and an award-winning writer. She was formerly Director of the Parliamentary Archives in London, and before that was a senior archivist at the National Archives. Her books, lectures and study days focus on political art and heritage in peril. Caroline was Political Writer in Residence at Gladstone’s Library in 2017, has appeared at many literary festivals and on radio and TV. In 2023 she was appointed by the government to the Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art and Objects of Cultural Interest (RCEWA), which considers whether national heritage destined for sale overseas should be saved for the nation.

William Moorcroft 1872 – 1945 was brought up in the back streets of Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent. Perhaps it was this tragic upbringing that helped develop his strength of character and resilience that saw him establish himself as the most accomplished studio potter of recent times. 

International gold medal awards, a supplier to renowned retailers Liberty and Tiffany, a successful global export business and a Royal Appointment to Her Majesty were all achieved by him. 

Our lecturer is James Smallwood who  has an established and successful lecturing career speaking to gardening and horticultural groups . He has been a keen collector of Moorcroft pottery for over 30 years  and is a member of the Moorcroft Collector's Club. 

For many people, Kashmir conjures up a beautiful valley surrounded by the snow-capped peaks of the Himalayas, for others it is a land of conflict. But what is less well known is that it has been of historic artistic importance for nearly 2000 years. This lecture introduces the astonishing diversity of arts and crafts produced in this tiny area, influenced by Buddhist, Hindu and Islamic cultures. It explores Buddhist sculptures, Hindu temples, great Islamic gardens, paintings, calligraphy, Moghul carpets and Kashmir shawls. Despite its troubled history, Kashmir has fostered a unique environment of artistic diversity and religious co-existence.

 Our lecturer is Zara Fleming who is a freelance lecturer, art consultant and exhibition curator specialising in the art and culture of Tibet, the Himalayan areas and Mongolia. Initially based at the V&A, she has also worked with the Central Asian Department of Bonn University, the Orient Foundation, the Royal Academy, Tibet House, the National Museums and Galleries on Merseyside and Asia House. In addition to lecturing for The Arts Society, she lectures for museums, universities, Asian art societies, and private associations. Zara has been a guest lecturer and tour guide on numerous trips to the Himalayas. She has edited the Masterpieces of Mongolian Art: Vol 1 and has published many articles in the field of Buddhist art and culture.

David Rosier

David was a Chartered Insurer by profession and a Fellow of the Assurance Medical Society, with extensive international experience as an author and lecturer in Medical Risk Assessment. David has in excess of 30 years of working and living in East Asia. Whilst living in Hong Kong (1991-2004) he, and his wife Wendy, assembled a collection of approximately 500, predominately Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), Imperial Court Costume and related textiles/dress accessories. In late 2019 the Collection of Imperial Court Costume was acquired, in its entirety, by The Shanghai Museum, Peoples' Republic of China, to be displayed in a new annexe of the museum which will opened in 2025. A Past Committee Member of the Hong Kong Textile Society and regular contributor to a range of Oriental Art publications. David is an expert lecturer on Chinese Imperial Court Costume, plus all aspects of Imperial Court life, art and culture together with studies of China's greatest Emperors and Empresses. David has lectured for The Arts Society, and a wide range of other organisations, around the UK and within Europe. In addition he has carried out 4 lecture trips to Australia, plus New Zealand and SE Asia. He has organise and lead Imperial Art Tours to China for a wide variety of organisations.

The Emperor Qianlong (1736-1796) 'Son of Heaven, Man of the World'

The Emperor Qianlong was arguably the greatest of all the Qing Emperors as he guided China through a period of unquestionable political, economic and cultural prosperity which rivalled any comparable period of high achievement in Chinese history. Territorially Qianlong added more than 30 per cent of landmass to the Empire through successful military campaigns and astute diplomacy. He was passionate about preserving Manchu culture whilst respecting and nurturing other ethnic Chinese cultures. Qianlong travelled his Empire regularly undertaking lavish expeditions to the South and West designed to forge loyalty to his Imperial rule.

Dr Antonia Gatward Cevizli is an independent art historian specialising in both Italian Renaissance art and Ottoman art. She gained her PhD from the University of Warwick. Her publications focus on cultural and diplomatic exchange between the Italian city-states and the Ottomans. Antonia has lectured for a number of institutions including Sabancı University, Istanbul; Sotheby’s Institute of Art; the National Gallery; the V&A Academy and The Courtauld summer school. Her interests are wide-ranging and she also worked across the collections of both Tate Modern and Tate Britain as a professional guide. She has lived in Siena, Venice and Istanbul.

Carnations, Tulips and Hyacinths: The Story of Turkey’s Iznik Ceramics  

Immerse yourself in a world of carnations, tulips, hyacinths and roses as you discover the history of the famous Turkish Iznik ceramics. From its origins imitating Chinese porcelain to its 16th-century heyday and subsequent decline. The focus on flowers makes this an ideal subject for spring but it works equally well at any time of year.

Caroline Rayman

Has lectured for many years to universities and art organisations in America and on cruise boats. She was an official guide at the British Museum and has published articles on samplers. Her lectures range from the role of the royal mistress in history to more scholarly lectures on Frederick the Great of Prussia.  The story of Caroline's lecture The Mysterious Disappearances of the Ghent Altarpiece is to be told in a new film in 2025, entitled The Bold Thief.

Three Great Families and their Gardens: a history of the Astors, the Rothschilds and the Sackville Wests

This talk combines the lives of the Astors, the Sackville Wests and the Rothschilds and their family history with the story of the gardens they have all created, despite their very different backgrounds, here in the English countryside.

Gavin Plumley

A writer and broadcaster. Appears on BBC Radio 3 and 4, and contributes to newspapers, magazines and opera and concert programmes worldwide. Lectures widely about the culture of Central Europe. Recent appearances include Klimt and The Kiss in cinemas worldwide, and talks for the Hay and Cheltenham Literature Festivals, the Royal Opera House, the National Gallery, the National Trust, the National Theatre, the British Museum and the V&A. His first book, A Home for All Seasons, is out now.

Bauhaus: Idea and Reality

Founded in 1919 in Weimar, the Bauhaus was a progressive art school. Under the directorship of architect Walter Gropius, its students studied a broad range of artistic disciplines. The Bauhaus lasted for a 14-year period, with bases in Weimar, Dessau and Berlin, and during that time it not only came to typify an age but also dictate matters of style for decades to come, through its art, architecture and design. This talk looks at some of the movers and shakers behind this hugely influential movement, including Marianne Brandt, Mies van der Rohe and Marcel Breuer, as well as exploring their legacy in our world and homes today.

Mariska Beekenkamp-Wladimiroff

Mariska read Social Psychology at the University of Amsterdam and was tempted to do a PhD in Decision Making Behaviour. In the end she turned to her true love - the Arts.

Whilst having her three children, she completed her BA and MA in Art History, majoring in The Dutch Baroque Arts from the 17th century at the Courtauld Institute of Arts. She started as a College Lecturer, but soon after started her own company - Art Historical London offering art historical lectures, museum visits, courses, tours, travel and events from Amsterdam, London and New York, and since 2020 online. 

A fully accredited PTLLS lecturer, she also teaches on the public program of the Dulwich Picture Gallery, for the New York Adventure Club in the States, and can provide live, online and recorded lectures for groups or individuals.

N.B. From summer 2023 Mariska will be living between London and Amsterdam, available for jobs in both countries. Travel will only be charged within the country where the event is taking place.

The Dutch Golden Age in 6 Paintings

The 17th century in the Netherlands, referred to as the Dutch Golden Age, was the time of Rembrandt and Vermeer, of extra ordinary riches and incredible progress. There may be no other country in which in the brief span of a hundred years so many paintings were executed. You will be hard to find a museum in the world not housing at least one Dutch painting from the Golden Age!

This talk will use 6 paintings to introduce how the arts flourished in this tiny republic during this period. With the help of these 6 paintings we will talk about the Dutch, their cities, landscape, society, beliefs and artistic genres.

Zara Flemming

Freelance lecturer, art consultant and exhibition curator specialising in the art and culture of Tibet, the Himalayan areas and Mongolia. Initially based at the V&A, but also worked with the Central Asian Department of Bonn University, the Orient Foundation, the Royal Academy, Tibet House, the National Museums and Galleries on Merseyside and Asia House. In addition to lecturing for The Arts Society, she lectures for museums, universities, Asian art societies, and private associations. Guest lecturer and tour guide on numerous trips to the Himalayas. Edited Masterpieces of Mongolian Art: Vol 1 and has published many articles in the field of Buddhist art and culture.

The Arts and Crafts of Kashmir

For many people, Kashmir conjures up a beautiful valley surrounded by the snow-capped peaks of the Himalayas, for others it is a land of conflict. But what is less well known is that it has been of historic artistic importance for nearly 2000 years. This lecture introduces the astonishing diversity of arts and crafts produced in this tiny area, influenced by Buddhist, Hindu and Islamic cultures. It explores Buddhist sculptures, Hindu temples, great Islamic gardens, paintings, calligraphy, Moghul carpets and Kashmir shawls. Despite its troubled history, Kashmir has fostered a unique environment of artistic diversity and religious co-existence.

Jacqui Hyman gained textile conservation experience with Museums' Service. Established freelance studio in 1982. Listed in ICON's Conservation Register. Accredited Conservator-Restorer. Lectured and given study days/courses for The Arts Society, Embroiderers' Guild, Lace Guild, Antique Collectors' clubs and others. Appeared on Channel 4, BBC 2 and the Discovery Channel.

Going to the Ball

During the Victorian Era, magnificent fancy dress balls became one of the grandest and most fashionable ways for a society hostess to make her mark. These balls were reported in newspapers and magazines in great detail. Importantly, who was there, what they were wearing, who designed their gown and the historical figure they represented. Today’s social media and influencers would literally have had a ball. No expense was spared and these balls became the elite event of the year.

Carol Wilhide Justin is an artist-printmaker who specialises in Japanese woodcut. In 2014 Carol was awarded a residency at the MI-LAB studio, Fujikawaguchiko, Japan, where she was taught the mokuhanga technique by Japanese sensei. She graduated from the Royal College of Art in 2017 with an MA in Print. She has exhibited in a number of independent shows and larger mixed exhibitions such as the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, the Woolwich Contemporary Print Fair and Bankside Gallery. Her work is held in private and public collections including Clifford Chance and the V&A. She also teaches Japanese Woodcut at Morley College, the City Literary Institute and the Art Academy.

In 2022 she was commissioned by the Crowood Press to write a book on Japanese Woodcut. It is titled "Japanese Woodcut- Traditional Techniques and Contemporary Practice" and was published in January 2024.

Katsushika Hokusai and J.M.W. Turner

This lecture compares and contrasts the lives and work of two great artists, Hokusai and Turner. They were contemporaries and there are many parallels to be drawn between their respective lives. Both shared humble beginnings and both displayed great confidence in their maverick talents. Yet while Turner was eventually welcomed by the art establishment of his day, Hokusai was never accepted by his peers. In this lecture, through comparing the two artists, a greater understanding can be gained of the differing roles art played in the societies where they emerged. The lecture will investigate the artists' world of Edo and London, examining their prodigious artistic output and reassessing their importance to the art of today.

The lecturer Harry Venning is a cartoonist, comedy writer and performer based in Brighton. Harry’s cartoons have appeared in publications as diverse as Mathematics Today, Radio Times, Music Teacher and The Stage. For twenty five years he provided The Guardian with the weekly strip cartoon Clare In The Community, about an unaware and empathy free social worker. He is an accredited lecturer with the UK Arts Society, an Honorary Fellow of the English/Creative Writing departments of Aberystwyth University, resident cartoonist with the Blue Hat team building organisation, UK Social Workers Union honorary ambassador, winner of a Sony Radio Award for Comedy and a former UK Strip Cartoonist Of The Year. He cannot draw hands or horses.

In 'The Art Of The Cartoonist' Harry will be tracing the history of his profession with examples from early practitioners like Cruickshank and Hogarth, to more contemporary artists such as Giles and Schulz, bringing events right up to date with cartoons produced fresh on the page that day! Yes, Harry will be drawing live. Prepare to hear some tricks of his trade and learn where to put eyebrows for maximum effect!

L. S. Lowry is one of Britain’s most popular artists and yet our very familiarity with his work has stopped us looking as closely as we should at this extraordinary artist. Though famous for painting the mills and factories of the industrial north-west of England, he was really a painter of the human condition. In this lecture it suggests that his work is the visual counterpoint of T. S. Eliot’s poetry and further, that we can claim him as our English Van Gogh.

Michael Howard is President of The Arts Society Bolton and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. Although retired, he continues to teach at the Manchester School of Art. He has published widely on European art of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, his books include: L. S. Lowry: A Visionary Artist; The Impressionists by Themselves and his book on Gauguin which was written in association with the Gauguin Museum, Tahiti. One of his most recent books concerns his wife’s life and work: The Human Touch: Ghislaine Howard. (Ghislaine is also an accredited lecturer of The Arts Society).  Michael is a practising artist, and has exhibited at the Royal Academy, the New York Art Fair and elsewhere. He is represented in Manchester Art Gallery and in many private collections both here and abroad. He has appeared on television and radio many times and in 2004 he and Ghislaine worked on the film, Degas and the Dance which has awarded one of the prestigious Peabody awards.

Andrew Prince's (literal) consuming passion for jewels can be traced back to the age of 3, when he swallowed one of his mother's pearl earrings.  After leaving school aged 16, Andrew went to work in London's Bond Street, developing his skills in designing and making beautiful pieces of jewellery.  His exquisite jewelled creations have adorned celebreties ranging from Michael Jackson to Miss Piggy, and featured in films and TV shows including Downton Abbey.  Alongside, Andrew delivers highly entertaining and informative lectures on the history of jewellery and fashion to audiences around the world, and we are delighted to welcome him back to TASMAC, where he has the (dubious?) honour of being our first Zoom lecturer.

In this talk, which follows 'From Downton to Gatsby' which we heard a couple of seasons ago, Andrew shows how Hollywood of the 1930s and the Second World War had such an extraordinary effect on fashion and jewellery design.  He explains why the great stars like Marlene Dietrich and Joan Crawford through to Grace Kelly were so important to the everyday person. He also shows that with the development of labour saving devices and increased leisure time, people had more opportunities to enjoy themselves, as well as how political events at the time influenced design and what was worn.  He also shows how the Belle Epoque and Art Deco styles did not end with the outbreak of war, but combined to flower again with Christian Dior's 'New Look'.

Simon studied art and architectural history at Warwick University, and worked at Chatsworth for 19 years in a variety of roles, latterly as Head of Communication.  He has lectured about Chatsworth, the Devonshire Collection and associated topics throughout the Uk and on several US tours.. Alongside his lecturing, he is a Life Coach in private practice, and works part time for the Guild of St George, the Charity founded by John Ruskin. 

Inspired by the bicentenary of Ruskin's  birth in 2019, this lecture celebrates the extaordinary life and work of this visionary Victorian.  As writer, teacher, artist, ,patron and critic, Ruskin was perhaps the most complete polymath of the 19th Century.  He left behind a dazzling range of writing and collections that continue to inspire and generate debate around the world.  Perhaps most famous today as a champion of Turner and admirer of Venice, Ruskin's impact ranged far and wide;  his ideas inspired the Arts and Crafts Movement, and the founding of the National Trust and the Labour Movement.

Alongside this international reach, Ruskin became deeply concerned by what he saw as the negative impacts of the industrialisation of 19th Century England, and as a teacher, thinker and philanthropist, he set up projects that aspired to give the working man access to beauty, art, craft and the land.  In 1871, he founded what became the Guild of St George, a charity for arts, crafts and the rural economy, and gave it a sizeable collection of art, books and minerals for public display and education in Sheffield. This lecture spans Ruskin's life and work from the timeless and global to the intimate and exquisite, to paint a portrait of a great life.

Ed is an award-winning Manchester, London, Liverpool tour guide and historian. He is the author of  Penguin's Manchester Compendium, London Compendium and  Emons' 111 Places books. He has 40 years experience as a journalist including involvement in: City Life, Radio Times, Mojo, and Private Eye. His websites are: newmanchesterwalks.com and newlondonwalks.com.

John Constable (1776-1837) was the greatest landscape painter in English history, concentrating on celebrating his native Suffolk. “I should paint my own places best”, he wrote to his friend John Fisher in 1821, “painting is but another word for feeling”. Ed Glinert displays Constable’s great works and the stories behind them – right up to July 2022 when Just Stop Oil attacked The Hay Wain.

Adrian has been a lecturer to universities and higher education institutions since 1973.  He was Director of Development of the Arts in Northwich from 1984 to 1990, Arts Development Officer, Chester City Council from 1990 to 2009, and Arts Development Officer Cheshire West from 2009. Alongside this, he has been a professional painter and illustrator, and has undertaken tours and study weekends in the UK and Europe.

This lecture features the most gorgeous images imaginable, exploring the work of this most influential of artists.  The centre of the artistic whirlwind was Vienna at the beginning of the 20th Century.  Klimt was a founder member of the Vienna Secession, which embodied the exotic local flowering of international Art Nouveau.  With the architects Josef Maria Olbrich, Joseph Hoffman and Otto Wagner, and the designer Koloman Moser, Klimt revolutionised the fine and decorative arts in northern Europe, providing inspiration for generations of artists to come, a legacy passed on via the highly influential Wiener Werkstatte.

In his subject matter and scandalous private life Klimt had a powerful effect on such younger artists as Egon Schiele and Oskar Kokoshka, contributing to the ethos of the Expressionist movement in Austria, Germany and elsewhere.  Almost incidentally, these artists created a form which contained the seeds of Art Deco, and which thus managed to be key to the period style of the 1920s and 30s.  Since a revival of interest in the 1960s, the reputation of Gustav Klimt has continued to grow.  Today images of his work are recognised around the world, and he is admired and studied more than ever.

Kathy is a lecturer specialising in 19th Century art history.  She is currently a course director at the V & A, organising courses and study days on the history of art and design.. She teaches at several institutions, including Art Pursuits, and is a freelance lecturer for the Arts Society, among others.  She is a graduate of Oxford University and the Courtauld Institute, with a PhD on French 19th Century painters in Rome.  She has published catalogues and articles for the British Council and the Barbican Art Gallery.

Many stories are told about Degas, his attitudes and his work.  This talk will unpick myth from reality, pointing out the strange, even contradictory nature of Degas's work.  We concentrate on portraits and domestic scenes from the 1860s, when he was still in search of an artistic identity.  We consider Degas's tendency to imbue his images with a sense of ambiguity or unease.  Is there a logical explanation for these unsettling compositions?  We consider possible answers, through an examination of Degas's work and that of contemporaries including Manet, Renoir and Tissot.

Simon is a (recovering) actor, lecturer, presenter, Alexander Technique and voice teacher, and award winning London Blue Badge Guide. He has worked as a guide lecturer in-house at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, the BBC and the National Gallery, guiding both public and private tours.  He is on the faculty of Ithaca College, and also lectures for the Blue Badge Guide training course on the performing arts and English literature.

Simon's specialisms and passions are theatre, literature, fashion and art history, and whatever the subject, Simon will weave a wonderful story from it.

2024 marks the bicentenary of the founding of the National Gallery.  This lecture tells the story of the establishment of the National Gallery collection beginning in 1824 when Lord Liverpool's government purchased 38 paintings for £57,000 from the collection of businessman and philanthropist John Julius Angerstein.  The paintings were initially displayed at 100 Pall Mall, Angerstein's townhouse, and by 1838 it was decided that a purpose built building was required, giving us the William Wilkins designed building we know on Trafalgar Square.  During the course of the lecture, we examine some of the high (and low) points of the early years of the gallery, including Suffragette sabotage, bombs and theft.  We also take a close up look at some of the original 'Angerstein 38' paintings.

Roger was a chorister at Wells Cathedral School, and a choral scholar at Magdalen College, Oxford, where he graduated with an honours degree in English.  He combined a teaching career with professional singing in London, and after obtaining a further degree in Music, became Director of Music at Daniel Stewart's and Melville College in Edinburgh.  After retiring in 2003, he returned to the south of England.  He is President Emeritus of The Stoke Poges Society.

The origins of our English Christmas stretch far back into European history, combining the pagan traditions of the Roman and Scandinavian winter festivals.  Only in the 4th Century did the Christian Church start to celebrate the birth of Christ.  Since then these different cultures have co-existed, changing as the social and political landscape changed.  Music, art and folk customs associated with the season have all evolved, producing a rich tapestry of imagery and events that have appealed to every strata in our socieity.  This lecture explores in words, images and music the various strands, pagan and religious, that have created the one festival in our country that touches everyone.

Jacqui Hyman is an experienced Textile Conservator, skilled in conserving artefacts for Museums, private clients and Heritage properties.  She has a Masters by research focussed on Medieval Egyptian Children's Clothing from the University of Leeds.  She organises and runs specialist group tours within the UK and Greece, Study Days and short courses on Textile Conservation.  She is a lecturer for the Arts Society,  Embroiderer's Guild and other professional, historical, craft and arts societies.

In 1855, Edward Burne-Jones purchased a copy of Le Morte d'Arthur, a 15th Century reworking of the legend of King Arthur by Thomas Malory.  This book became the major source of inspiration for William Morris and Burne-Jones throughout their lives,  and culminated in their finest artistic achievement, the series of tapestries called 'The Quest for the Holy Grail'.  Through Jacqui's personal conservation of the tapestries she is able to give a rare insight into their construction and design.

Dr Jonathan Foyle uses the original research he has gained over a 25 year practical career in the world of historic builidings and applied arts to inform architectural conservation projects, broadcasts, books, articles, and talks for groups including the Arts Society. A former curator at Hampton Court, and Chief Executive of World Monuments Fund Britain for 8 years, he has authored 7 volumes on great cathedrals and castles, and is best known for presenting series such as BBC 2's Broadcast Award-winning 'Climbing Great Buildings', and contributing to series like Channel 4's 'Time Team', and Channel 5's 'Secrets of the Palaces'.  His talks combine humour with personal insights to offer in-depth and fresh analyses of architecture, furnishings, sculpture, paintings and their all-important symbolism, through which we can better understand them.

Bath is famous as England's most beautiful Georgian city, a vision of sweeping crescents and neat squares in golden stone, framed by wooded hills.  But this was a medieval and ancient city, too.  So what were its origins - how did it burst out of the old walls to develop into its elegant final form; which ideas fell by the wayside, and what do the major individiual buildings have to tell us when we look at them closely?

Born in Dundee in 1981, Gavin is half Welsh and half English. He studied at Keble College, Oxford and began his career at Covent Garden immediately after graduating. Following a decade in the theatre industry, Gavin became a freelance writer and lecturer. He has recently given talks for the Hay Festival, the National Trust, the National Theatre, the National Gallery and the British Museum, among many others and is an accredited lecturer for the Arts Society.

In 1565, Pieter Bruegel the Elder was commissioned to create a series of paintings for a dining room in Antwerp.  The images, charting the course of a year, changed the way we view the world through art.  Landscape had previously been a decorative backdrop to dramas both sacred and profane, but in Bruegel's hands the landscape and our interaction with it became the focus. Looking at paintings such as The Return of the Herd, Hunters in the Snow and the Gloomy Day, this lecture explores how Bruegel pioneered a whole new way of thinking about the environment and our individual place within a shifting cosmos.

This illustrated lecture is all about the development of the British seaside and how the entertainments there evolved. Pierrot troupes and concert parties were ubiquitous throughout the seaside resorts of Britain, but what is a pierrot troupe? Where did they come from? How do they impact us today? Find out in this lively and intriguing talk - featuring unique archive materials from Tony’s vast personal collection.

Tony Lidington has been a showman, researcher and teacher for over 35 years: he has run theatre venues, companies, festivals and events for and with a wide range of diverse communities. He specialises in historical popular entertainment forms and their application to contemporary contexts and in 2017, he was awarded a doctorate by Exeter University for his research into itinerant British performance forms and where he is now a part-time lecturer. He regularly broadcasts for both radio and television – most recently for Lee Mack’s episode of Who Do You Think You Are? However, he is perhaps best known by families throughout the country, as ‘Uncle Tacko!’ - ringmaster of his extraordinary flea circus and the founder of ‘The Pierrotters’, Britain’s last professional seaside pierrot troupe.

Exactly how did a modest jewellery concern with an extremely un-Russian sounding name become an enduring symbol of Romanov luxury?  This talk takes us beyond the legendary Easter eggs to consider the design sources, materials and techniques that distinguished the legendary Russian firm from its contemporaries. We look, in particular, at Fabergé gifts that were selected to convey romantic ties, filial devotion, diplomatic esteem, and even loyalty from beloved pet. 

Cynthia Sparke is an independent researcher, author and lecturer on Russian pre-Revolutionary works of art, consulting regularly on Fabergé for auction houses. Having periodically grown up on and off in Moscow within a family of Russian art collectors, she was destined for a career in Russian art. Previously, Cynthia ran the Russian Department for Christie’s in New York and worked for Hillwood Estate, Museum and Gardens in Washington DC. This was followed by a restoration project at the Alexander Palace in Tsarskoe Selo, Nicholas II’s last residence. Her book Russian Decorative Arts was published in 2014 by the Antique Collectors’ Club.

The silk industry thrived in Muslim-controlled al-Andalus from the introduction of silk worms in the late eighth century until the ‘expulsion edicts’ of the early seventeenth century. The elaborate silk textiles produced by the Moors were coveted equally by the Muslim and Christian nobility of the period, both within and beyond the Iberian peninsula.

Expensive clothing signalled the wearer’s social position, geographical origin, and ethnic and religious orientation, as well as projecting notions of spiritual nobility, inner beauty and high moral standing. Luxury silks also contained a fascinating range of Islamic iconography that referred back to well-known imagery from classical civilizations, as well as cross-referencing to other areas of Andalusi material culture, such as architecture, ivories and bronze sculptures. Surprisingly, some of these garments have survived in relatively good condition for nearly a thousand years, many because they were used as burial vestments and coffin linings for Christian kings and senior clergy!

Ian Cockburn is an art historian with a BA (Birkbeck College) in art history and an MA (Courtauld Institute of Art) in medieval Spanish art history. He is a specialist in the nearly 800 years of Moorish occupation and Christian reconquest of medieval Iberia. 

This lecture traces the development of Windsor Castle from an 11th century fortress into a magnificent palace and illustrates how it has been successively enlarged, adapted and rebuilt by monarchs from Henry II to Queen Elizabeth II.

Barbara Askew grew up in Eton with Windsor Castle as part of her daily view. She graduated with an honours degree in History and taught History for 15 years before qualifying as a Blue Badge Guide. Barbara is a lecturer for the Arts Society, and an acknowledged expert on Windsor Castle, for which she has been the Blue Badge Guides’ Site Liaison Representative since 1990.

For nearly 150 years, Gilbert and Sullivan (G&S) productions have influenced popular culture in the English-speaking world. Promising to be both informative and entertaining, this presentation will include an overview of some of Gilbert and Sullivan’s operas in the context of the social and political atmosphere of their time. Our speaker will highlight the satire and background of many of the works and wryly compare them to today’s world.

G&S is recognized as an essential part of this country’s cultural heritage and the origin of today’s musical theatre and our lecturer, Mr Bernard Lockett, is an expert on the topic.  A life-long G&S enthusiast, he has broadcast on BBC Radio and TV, as well as authored several books on the topic. He currently serves as a Trustee of The International Gilbert and Sullivan Festival and the National Gilbert and Sullivan Opera Company.

The Wallace Collection, a national museum containing an outstanding array of paintings, furniture, porcelain, arms and armour, and other works of art, was brought together by five generations of one family between about 1780 and 1880. All the Founders were remarkable – and sometimes rather strange - men in their own right, but the greatest collectors were the 4th Marquess of Hertford and his illegitimate son, Sir Richard Wallace, who lived most of their lives in Paris. It is their French upbringing which largely explains the strong, but by no means overwhelming, French emphasis to much of the Collection. This lecture tells the fascinating story of the Wallace Collection’s formation, and also presents many of its finest treasures. 

Stephen Duffy. Educated at New College, Oxford, and formerly Senior Curator of the Wallace Collection where he had particular responsibility for exhibitions and nineteenth-century paintings. He has given countless tours of the Collection for visiting groups and many lectures on its art and other related subjects. His latest publication, The Discovery of Paris, is a book on early nineteenth-century watercolour views of Paris by major British artists.

So many of our historical references for musical instruments can be found in works of art. Not only can these windows into the past show us what the instruments looked like but also the social context in which they would have been played. Music and different instruments also play a strong role within symbolism in art. Sophie explores the instruments in selected works and then gives live demonstrations on replicas of the instruments depicted.

Sophie Matthews is a musician well-known for her prowess on the English border bagpipes and has become one of the foremost players of the instrument in the UK. She also plays a variety of early woodwind instruments such as shawm, rauschpfeife, crumhorm and recorder. She’s also one of a handful of British players of the baroque musette, an 18th century French bagpipe similar to the Northumbrian smallpipes.

When not touring with GreenMatthews, Sophie also makes instruments (she made her own baroque oboe) and works with respected luthier Tony Millyard on his flutes. Sophie is self-taught on all of her instruments.

A friend of Picasso, a fearless penny farthing rider and a man who claimed not to remember when his birthday was, because it was how well you felt and what you did that mattered, John Duncan Fergusson was in Paris when it was the centre of the world for artists and the birthplace of modern art. He and his partner Margaret Morris, the pioneer of modern dance, formed a lifelong artistic partnership in which each spurred the other on to fulfil their potential. This lecture will introduce the man and his work, and discuss his important role in supporting younger artists right to the end of his long and happy life.

Julia Marwood is a member of Macclesfield Arts Society and an Accredited Lecturer of the Arts Society.

This is a change to our original lecture schedule as the originally planned lecturer is unable to come because of illness.

Our first lecture of the new season will be highly topical, given the current arguments about the multi-billion pound restoration planned for Westminster!

The Houses of Parliament is one of the most famous and staggering buildings in the world. It rises serenely from the Thames at Westminster, on a site which has been the centre of power and government in England from the earliest times. It is a masterpiece of Victorian architecture and a spectacular feat of civil engineering: but from the beginning, its design and construction were a battleground for its architect, Charles Barry.

The practical challenges, even by the standards of Victorian invention, were immense Battling the interference of MPs and royalty, coaxing and soothing the genius of his partner Pugin, fending off the mad schemes of a host of crackpot inventors and busybodies, and coming in three times over budget and twenty-four years behind schedule, this lecture will tell the story of how Charles Barry created the most famous building in Britain.

Dr Caroline Shenton is an archivist and historian. She was formerly Director of the Parliamentary Archives in London, and before that was a senior archivist at the National Archives. Her book The Day Parliament Burned Down won the Political Book of the Year Award in 2013 and Mary Beard called it ‘microhistory at its absolute best’.

Its acclaimed sequel, Mr Barry’s War, about the rebuilding of the Palace of Westminster, was a Book of the Year in 2016 for The Daily Telegraph and BBC History Magazine and was described by Lucy Worsley as "a real jewel, finely wrought and beautiful". Caroline was Political Writer in Residence at Gladstone’s Library in 2017, has appeared at the Cheltenham, Hay and Henley literary festivals and on BBC radio and TV. Caroline’s third book, National Treasures, will tell the extraordinary and sometimes hilarious stories behind the saving of London’s art and museum collections in World War Two.

For the series and film “Downton Abbey”, Andrew was commissioned to make many jewels for the main characters and this inspired him to create a talk based on this unique period.

Jewellery and Fashion are often seen as two entirely separate and distinct fields of design, but this is very far from the case.

In his talk, Andrew Prince guides you through the extraordinary decades and events between 1890 and 1929, where the great Couturiers collaborated with the finest of jewellers to produce jewels and clothes of outstanding quality and glittering opulence.

Along with this, he illustrates the clients and patrons who commissioned the jewels and shows how they were worn with their sumptuous gowns.

Brian's chief interests lie in photography, architecture and history, and he combines all three in his lecturing career.  He has taught at University College London since 1997 and became an accredited lecturer for the Arts Society in 2003.  He is a member of the Association for Historical and Fine Art Photography, and an exhibition of his own photographs has been staged at UCL. In an attempt to gain a deeper understanding of the skills of some great photographers of the past, he has begun to work with a pre-War Leica camera, as used by his great hero, Henri Cartier-Bresson and many others.

British photography enjoyed a golden age in the 1960’s. Young, talented photographers broke out of the conventional studio to revolutionise perceptions of fashion, portraiture and popular culture. This lecture looks at a range of superb images from photographers such as David Bailey, Terence Donovan, Lewis Morley, Tony Ray-Jones and Jane Brown.

Lance is an actor and professional poetry performer. He grew up in London and read English and Theology at Oxford.  He became a teacher, while working freelance as an actor, writer and speaker.  In 1998 he went full time as a performer.  He has now stopped touring full time, but remains busy with many projects.  He continues to lead guided poetry walks around London, and turned this one into a virtual tour for a Zoom presentation. 

In this guided tour, we will follow in the footsteps of Shakespeare, visiting the places where he lived, wrote and acted.  See the original site of the Globe Theatre and its sister, the Blackfriars Theatre, two houses where he lived, and the very spot where we believe Othello, King Lear and Macbeth were written.  The virtual tour will also visit some of the monuments that modern London has erected in the Bard’s honour. 

Please note that this talk will only be shown on Zoom.

Shirley Smith graduated from the University of East Anglia with a first class honours degree in the History of Art, specialising in Italian and North Renaissance Art and Architecture. 

She is a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, lectured at the University of East Anglia, and is a tutor for the Board of Continuing Education of Cambridge University at Madingley Hall for whom she runs term, weekend and study day courses.  She also lectures to the Arts Society, the Art Fund and various other Arts Societies.  

Albrecht Dürer was a painter, printmaker, engraver and theorist and is generally regarded as one of the most important figures of the Northern Renaissance.  He was also the first artist north of the Alps to paint a signed self-portrait, while his watercolours are the first autonomous landscape paintings.  2021 marked the 550th anniversary of his birth, and to celebrate this, the National Gallery is staging an exhibition entitled ‘Dürer’s Journey:  Travels of a Renaissance Artist.’  This lecture will study the life and works of this master, his trips to the Alps, Italy and the Netherlands and the influences which shaped his art.  

As one of the great painters of the Victorian era Atkinson Grimshaw created some of its most beautiful atmospheric paintings. In rain and mist, moonlight and gaslight, the River Thames, city streets, winding lanes and grimy docks all appear as if clothed in poetry and mystery. Discover the unique vision of the ‘master of moonlight’ - an artist who transformed the humdrum of everyday Victorian life time and time again into a magical ‘Grimshaw’.

Alexandra is an Official Guide and Lecturer at Tate Modern, Tate Britain and Guildhall Art Gallery. Pallant House Gallery Lecturer. Qualified Guide to the City of London, offering lectures and walks about many aspects of the arts for societies, corporations and private individuals. Member of the City of London Guide Lecturers Association. Co-author of the book Lord Mayor's Portraits 1983-2014 (2015). Alexandra’s background is in design having practised as a graphic designer running her own design consultancy for many years. BA Saint Martins School of Art, MA London College of Printing.

Charles Rennie Mackintosh reputedly said of his wife ‘I had talent, Margaret had genius’, but for a long time her important place in the history of art was overshadowed by her husband’s renown.  Both alone and in collaboration with her friends, she produced some of the most iconic works of the much-loved Glasgow Style, the uniquely Scottish variety of Art Nouveau.  This talk will tell the story of this ‘Glasgow Girl’ and member of ‘The Four’ and will look at her fascinating career as she progressed from the Glasgow School of Art to a studio with her sister Frances Macdonald and then into a marriage which was also very much an artistic partnership.  

This lecture will be given by Macclesfield Arts Society member and Accredited Lecturer Julia Marwood.

We’ve been forced by our original speaker’s illness to change our advertised talk to this one, to be given by Tony Lidington, on the history of that fixture of the British theatre, the Christmas pantomime.

Tony has been a showman for over 35 years, researching and implementing British popular entertainment forms in a wide variety of contexts throughout the country. He started his professional career in Brighton in 1983 with his first theatre company, before moving to Yorkshire to become Fellow in Theatre at Bradford University.  He worked with several Northern theatre companies, and directed large community projects such as the Wakefield Mystery Cycle, before becoming Artistic Director of the Wakefield Opera House.  He applies his research into British popular entertainments to contemporary performance contexts and broadcasting.  He has written series for Radio 4 on Max Wall, Joey Grimaldi and Dan Leno, and appeared in several episodes of Who Do You Think You Are.  Tony has produced, written and directed pantomime for many historic venues including Leeds City Varieties and the Liverpool Everyman.

He is now based in Devon.  In 2017 he was awarded a Doctorate from Exeter University for his research into itinerant British performance forms, and currently teaches part time on the Drama Course at Exeter, and is an accredited lecturer of the Arts Society.

This talk –‘Here we are Again - the Great British Pantomime’ – looks at the origins of panto, and what contributes to making this peculiarly British style of show so popular and successful.

We should point out that this is a very active and interactive talk, and those of you who choose to watch via Zoom will unfortunately not necessarily be getting the full experience, though Steve will do his best for you as always.  Tony says he likes to move around the stage, which may affect the sound on Zoom, and you will also miss out on any interaction with the audience, so our best advice would be to come and join us in the hall for some Christmas fun! 

Ian graduated from Durham University with a BA in Economics and Economic History and in 1989 gained an MBA.  More recently he completed a BA in Art History at Birkbeck College, and an MA in Mediaeval Spanish Art History at the Courtauld Institute, and became an accredited lecturer of the Arts Society.  Since 2011 Ian has been researching the history, art and culture of mediaeval Spain, especially the period between the Moorish invasion in 711AD and the expulsion of the Moors from Granada in 1492.  The heart of this Moorish Empire was Andalucia, and so a rich heritage of architecture and decorative arts remains to be explored. 

The Alhambra, the Great Mosque of Cordoba and the Alcazar of Seville are the most important monuments to the architectural creativity of the Moors in Spain, but there are many other examples worthy of mention too. 

This lecture will provide us with a comprehensive introduction to Spain’s Moorish architecture, to its classical origins, and its unique interior decorative style. 

Sue originally worked in art and design publishing and now lectures for the Arts Society, the National Trust, U3A, the City Literary Institute and other historical and arts societies.  She is a history graduate and a qualified Blue Badge Guide, who gives guided walks in London on a variety of themes, as well as guided tours of London galleries, exhibitions and palaces.  She is a fellow of the Huguenot Society of Great Britain, and has published work on the lost world of the River Fleet. 

Colours in mediaeval renaissance paintings were seldom simply the personal choice of patron or artist – there was in effect a widely accepted colour code adhered to by artists to enable viewers, who might well be illiterate, to understand the subject – to recognised figures, discern their importance and role in society or biblically.  But more than that, individual colours might well be further broken down into different tones – so that for instance, a wearer of a robe painted in pure lapis lazuli is superior to one wearing an azurite robe or a paler lapis lazuli one. 

This talk will discuss the shades of symbolism of pigments and dyes, and indeed on what basis was the relative importance of pigments decided.  So we delve deep into the practical issues involved in these arts and the issues that arose from the necessity of meeting the demands of this rigid hierarchy. 

The Fan Museum in London occupies a pair of early Georgian townhouses in historic Greenwich, and in this lecture the story of how it came to fruition dovetails in to the multifaceted history of the handheld fan.  From an especially rare Elizabethan period embroidered folding fan to contemporary examples decorated by street artists, discover some of the key objects within the Museum’s extraordinary collection which encompasses more than 5000 fans and related objects dating from the 11th Century to the present day and gathered from most parts of the world. 

Having successfully completed a BA(Hons) in Fashion at Reading School of Art, Jacob took up a position as an assistant for womenswear designer Donald Campbell.  In 2010 he returned to education and obtained a postgraduate degree with Distinction in Fashion Curation from London College of Fashion.  Shortly thereafter Jacob joined the Fan Museum, the only Museum in the UK dedicated to the history of fans and the craft of fan making. 

As the Museum’s curator, he is responsible for co-organising its temporary exhibition programme and overseeing loans from the Museum’s extraordinary collections to organisations such as the Palace of Versailles and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  In 2017 he curated ‘Street Fans’, a pioneering project linking street art and fan making which drew record audiences to the fan Museum.  For 2021, when the Fan Museum is celebrating its thirtieth anniversary, Jacob will curate a special exhibition of fans at the Museum of Fashion and Film in Atlanta Georgia. 

Paul Chapman is an Art Historian and a National Gallery trained guide with many years of experience develivering courses and lectures for a wide range of educational organisations.  He has also given talks and tours for art associations and societies in museums and galleries in the UK and Europe.  He has published a book examining the subject of cultural crossovers and appropriations in 20th century apinting.

This talk will study the work of five artists, illustrating the development of Australian painting between 1888 and 1988, a period in which the country transformed itself from a British penal colony to an independent  Asian- Pacific nation.

The five painters are the Impressionist Tom Roberts, the Post-Impressionist painter Grace Cossington-Smith, Sidney Nolan, the first Australian painter to gain international recognition, the post war figurative painter John Brack and Brett Whiteley, Australia's 'rock star' painter.

Sarah Cove ACR founded the Constable Research Project in conjunction with the V&A Museum in 1986 to study John Constable RA’s materials and techniques from the technical and scientific point of view. Since then she has examined over 250 works from collections worldwide, from tiny oil sketches on fragments of canvas, paper supports and boards to the ‘six-footers’, some of Constable’s most famous and iconic paintings including The Haywain (1821), The Leaping Horse (1825) and Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows (1831). She has developed a technical chronology that assists with the dating of his known works, relatively few of which were signed and dated by the artist, and is also useful for the attribution (or not) of newly discovered pictures. 

Sarah Cove has been instrumental in the attribution of three significant Constable oils for BBC1’s Fake or Fortune? series, appearing in 2014 and 2017. In 2014 she set up a Facebook page that is hugely successful in raising awareness of her research so that now she is regularly contacted by people that think they have a found a previously unknown Constable!! Some have, some have not, as you will see in this lecture which gives a ‘behind the scenes’ look at how such decisions are made and will describe some extraordinary successes but also crashing disappointments. Stories will include, at opposite extremes, a hugely publicised oil sketch reputedly worth £250,000 that turned out to be a copy and the chance discovery of a fabulous, almost abstract, oil study of the 1830s that had formerly belonged to an American G.I.

Ian is an award-winning actor and writer and the author of several internationally acclaimed historical biographies. His book "Cooking for Kings, a life of Antonin Careme" was a Radio 4 Book of the Week and led to a series on the history of food for Richard and Judy. His Beau Brummell was adapted as a Major TV film and shortlisted for the Marsh Commonwealth Biography Prize. His biography of Giacomo Casanova was named Biography of the year by the Suday Times. 

A popular and entertaining public speaker, Ian is a famous face to many from his stage appearances including in the Pitmen Painters or as Hermione's father in the last of the Harry Potter films.

It was while teaching English in Austria as part of her German degree that Julia fell in love with art – at an exhibition of Klimt, Kandinsky and Klee in Vienna.  This passion for art simmered away during her career teaching German and English, leading to her becoming a tour guide at Manchester Art Gallery and a regular speaker at U3A art appreciation groups, as well as a keen member of Macclesfield Arts Society!  Since October 2020 she has been an Accredited Arts Society Lecturer.

Lowry said of his tutor at the Manchester Municipal School of Art ‘I can’t overestimate the effect on me at that time of the coming into this drab city of Adolph Valette, full of the French Impressionists, aware of everything that was going on in Paris.  He had a freshness and a breadth of experience that exhilarated his students.’  With more than a touch of French elegance, Valette depicted modern life in wet and dirty Cottonopolis, creating a sense of timeless beauty.  He left behind an impressive body of work when he returned to the region of his birth, and continued there to produce light-filled, radiant works.  This lecture will explore the life and work of an artist whose fine work and inspirational teaching are finally receiving the recognition they deserve.

In the 1880s and 1890s Europe and America saw the rise of artistic colonies, such as the Newlyn School, practising a form of painting known as “naturalism”. Another such colony, the Glasgow boys, seized the mantle of Bastien-Lepage and their paintings became the toast of Europe. The Glasgow Girls were their contemporaries. Painters such as Bessie MacNicol and designers, such as Margaret and Frances Macdonald, influenced the development of the Glasgow Style and achieved international recognition, contributing to the development of the modern movement. The Scottish Colourists had direct contact with French Post-Impressionism, particularly Matisse and the Fauves. As a result their paintings are considered some of the most progressive in British art of the early 20th century. During his talk, Harry Fletcher will discuss the lives, the times and the work of these artists. 

Harry Fletcher tutored three courses for the Open University - The History of Modern Art, Art and the Environment and Design, Processes and Products. He has worked as an OU examiner and A level examiner in the History of Art. He is a practising artist who has had work shortlisted for the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition. He has lead art appreciation holidays across Europe. As Head of Art & Design in a comprehensive school he taught A level Art, the history of art, printmaking, the history of printmaking and the history of architecture.

The festive works of Canaletto and Francesco Guardi, the last great eighteenth century painters of views, shaped the image of Venice in the minds of northern Europeans long after the city's demise.  Subsequently the most important pictures of Venice of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries were painted by some of the most progressive artists from Europe and the United States.  These included Turner, Manet, James McNeill Whistler, John Singer Sargent, Paul Signac, and Monet.  Captivated by its unique atmosphere and beauty, these artists found new approaches to challenge the run-of-the-mill visual stereotypes, developing their own unique strategies and techniques, marking a turning point in their work and making considerable contributions to the development of modern art.

When Richard Curtis interweaved ten stories with equal doses of comedy and tragedy in Love Actually, he created one of our best loved Christmas movies. But could it be that the stories are not entirely what they seem? In this entirely original and definitely unauthorised lecture, Mary presents her insights into how Shakespeare’s four great tragedies (and other classical masterpieces) lurk just under the surface. 

You'll enjoy this lecture all the more if you watch or re-watch the film beforehand!

THIS LECTURE WILL BE DELIVERED LIVE BY ZOOM - you will be emailed instructions beforehand about how to watch the lecture.

Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Painter-Stainers and Freeman of the City of London and originally a trained singer, pianist and orchestra administrator, Jo is now a decorative artist who gilds antique lace and crochet, often combining with hand printing and painting.  She works to commission, sells through galleries and exhibitions and collaborates with other designers. 

Jo trained in wood graining, marbling, gilding, specialist paint finishes and interior design and was awarded the City & Guilds Silver Medal for Excellence in 2000. She taught in further education for 8 years on Art & Design National Diploma and Foundation courses then up-skilled at Central St Martin's College of Art & Design developing her own practice. She now divides her time as a designer/maker, lecturer and tutor running workshops for specialist groups.

In June 1520 Henry VIII and Francis I met to ratify an Anglo-French alliance and the betrothal of Henry's daughter Mary to the Dauphin. Each brought an entourage of 6,000 to a field south of Calais for 18 days of lavish events and entertainments. The English logistics and supply chain were equally staggering and fascinating. How was it all achieved?

THIS LECTURE WILL BE DELIVERED LIVE BY ZOOM - you will be emailed instructions beforehand about how to watch the lecture.

Vanessa has been the Finds Liaison Officer with the Portable Antiquities Scheme for the last 9 years and recently became curator of regional and community archaeology. Her talk will be about recent important regional and local finds, including some from around Bollington and Congleton.  She will also talk about the Portable Antiquities Scheme in general and about some of the Roman hoards which have been found in the area.  

  THIS LECTURE WILL BE DELIVERED LIVE BY ZOOM - you will be emailed instructions beforehand about how to watch the lecture.

Andrew Prince's (literal) consuming passion for jewels can be traced back to the age of 3, when he swallowed one of his mother’s pearl earrings. 

Andrew has delivered highly entertaining, informative lectures on the history of jewellery and fashion to audiences around the world. His exquisite jewelled creations have adorned celebrities ranging from Michael Jackson to Miss Piggy, and featured in films and TV shows  including Downton Abbey.

Andrew was inspired to produce this lecture after visiting the National Portrait Gallery and seeing all the Tudor and Stuart monarchs in all their finery, and wondering where were and what are all the jewels that they wore.

Among the many jewels he traces, Andrew follows some pearls that belonged to Catherine De Medici then Mary Queen of Scots, Queen Elizabeth I and now are worn by Oueen Elizabeth II. Also a spectacular diamond that belonged to King Charles I, later worn by Marie Antoinette, which was stolen then purchased by a Russian Aristocrat and later mounted in a tiara by Cartier for an American heiress, when she became a British member of parliament! Jewel hunting has never been more fascinating.

THIS LECTURE WILL BE DELIVERED LIVE BY ZOOM - you will be emailed instructions beforehand about how to watch the lecture.

Sue originally worked in art and design publishing and now lectures for the Arts Society, the National Trust, U3A, the City Literary Insitiute and other historical and arts societies.  She is a history graduate and a qualified Blue Badge Guide, who gives guided walks in London on a variety of themes, as well as guided tours of London galleries, exhibitions and palaces.  She is a Fellow of the Huguenot Society of Great Britain, and has published work on the lost world of the River Fleet.

Colours in mediaeval renaissance paintings were seldom simply the personal choice of patron or artist - there was in effect a widely accepted colour code adhered to by artists to enable viewers, who might well be illiterate, to understand the subject - to recognise figures, discern their importance and role in society or biblically.  But more than that, individual colours might well be further broken down into different tones - so that, for instance, a wearer of a robe painted in pure lapis lazuli is superior to one wearing an azurite robe or a paler lapis lazuli one.  Likewise the red derived from organic dye was infinitely superior to scarlet or madder.

This talk will discuss the shades of symbolism of pigments and dyes, and indeed on what basis was the relative importance of pigments decided.  So we delve deep into the practical issues involved in these arts and the issues that arose from the necessity of meeting the demands of this rigid hierarchy.

Brian's chief interests lie in photography, architecture and history, and he combines all three in his lecturing career.  He has taught at University College London since 1997 and became an accredited lecturer for the Arts Society in 2003.  He is a member of the Association for Historical and Fine Art Photography, and an exhibition of his own photographs has been staged at UCL. In an attempt to gain a deeper understanding of the skills of some great photographers of the past, he has begun to work with a pre-War Leica camera, as used by his great hero, Henri Cartier-Bresson and many others.

Photography has transformed the way in which we perceive our world since it emerged in a recognisable form in the early 19th Century.  This lecture examines 10 outstanding photographs and investigates the impact they have had on us and our understanding. This lecture is by no means a technical history of the camera.  It is far more concerned with tracing the aesthetic issues raised by photography and our appreciation of them.

Dr Jonathan Foyle is quite obsessed by historic buildings. From an immersive career in conservation, research and curating, he is fortunate to have found ways to share many discoveries and insights into our ancestors' experiences. He is an award-winning BBC broadcaster, writes regularly for the Financial Times Weekend, presents multi-media interpretations at fascinating historic sites, and has explained the wonders of the historic environment to audiences from America to Australia. Author of two well-received monographs on Lincoln and Canterbury cathedrals, he also draws. He is visiting Professor in Conservation at the University of Lincoln, and helps to bring old buildings to life as director of the Consultancy 'Built Heritage Ltd.'

This talk distils three years of original research on a much-overlooked aspect of royal iconography: the use of flowers as symbols in the late middle ages. The Tudor rose has been one of Britain's foremost emblems for half a millenium. But does the later name 'Wars of the Roses' truly reflect York and Lancaster's heraldry as white and red roses? And was the 'Tudor' rose really a combination of these two heraldic devices to symbolise the united bloodlines of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York from 1486? Prepare to recast a national symbol.

After leaving school, Brian studied and then taught foreign languages, though he never stopped painting, a talent and love he inherited from his father. After teaching for a decade, he consolidated his interest in style and architecture by studying for a diploma in Interior Design.

After 25 years as teacher, artist and Company Director, in 2003 Brian decided to focus on his first love of painting with his own peculiar nautical twist.  He has had a number of solo and shared exhiitions in both municipal and private galleries.  Since 2006 he has been a regular guest lecturer for a number of cruise lines, and in 2016 became a fully accredited Art Society lecturer.

This talk presents a portrait of Edvard Munch, the man behind the iconic painting 'The Scream'.  Though this work is known worldwide, few people know its long and tortuous prelude. Haunted by disease and death, and fuelled by alcohol and raging romantic obsessions that only ever ended in catastrophe, one quickly understands why Munch produced such tortured images.  Through an examination of autobiographical paintings from earliest youth to his final years, this lecture sheds light on why his work became so central to the European expressionist and symbolist movement.

Twigs has worked in historic landscapes for over 30 years, commencing with her studies on medieval parks and expanding into gardens and landscapes of all periods. She currently works as a consultant to historic landscape owners, and works closely with Natural England, Historic England and other stakeholders. Her present career consists of lecturing, research, writing, publishing, crafting landscape management plans and indulging an enduring fascination with the history of female gardeners. She enjoys integrating art, literature and landscapes, as well as celebrating gardens of the working and middling classes. Twigs relaxes by weeding her own garden, and in 2016 was herself featured in Gardens Illustrated.

Scandal, politics, botany, art and wit - this talk has it all!  It follows the life of the 'grotto nymph' and creator of botanic paper 'mosaicks', Mary Delaney.  She was feted by Erasmus Darwin, acclaimed by Sir Joseph Banks and a personal friend of Queen Charlotte, and after a life of gardening and 'shell work', she embarked, aged 72, on a fabulous Flora of paper portrayals of exotic plants.  This is a heavily illustrated talk drawing on Mary Delaney's own words.

Gillian graduated in Latin and Ancient History from Exeter University and then spent several years working in BBC TV on everything from live TV to the Domesday Project, and a spell in Children's Programmes.  She then moved to North Yorkshire, where she developed her love for archaeology and started her writing and public-speaking career.

This talk will revel in ancient and modern artwork to unwrap the images and stories behind our festive season.  Early Christians celebrated Christmas at the same time as the ancient Romans were feasting and partying for their pagan Saturnalia festival. Many of the pagan habits were therefore absorbed into our Christmas traditions. Present-giving, holly and even party-hats all have their origins in this 2000 year old party. 

Ian entered the antiques silver trade straight from school, subsequently becoming a lecturer for the Universities of London and Surrey, for the Arts Society and for the National Trust. His writings include the now-standard reference book on silver flatware, and he is the editor of Jackson's Silver and Gold Marks.  In 1981 he was made a Freeman of the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths and a Freeman of the City of London. Since joining the BBC's Antiques Roadshow in 1985, the most memorable collection of silver Ian has seen is the now famous Crawley Silver Collection, which included some incredibly rare items.

This talk examines the evolution of the hallmarking system in England from the 13th century through to the present day. It concentrates on the key changes and the reasons  for them.  The aim is to give an understanding of the system and significance of the various marks to enable easier identification.

Shirley graduated from the University of East Anglia with a first class honours degree in the History of Art, is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and a member of the Higher Education Academy. She has been a University lecturer, and now runs courses for the School of Continuing Education of Cambridge University, whilst also lecturing for the Art Fund, U3A and the Arts Society.  She is particularly keen to set the art of the period in the context of the society for which it was produced, so patronage and propaganda are key issues in her lectures. Her immense enthusiasm for and love of the period and its art ensure that her lectures, whilst well researched, are above all enjoyable.

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

Alexandra's background is in design having practised as a graphic designer running her own design consultancy for many years.  She established Art in the City as a platform from which to introduce her walks, talks and tours, and her enthusiasm for art and design in the City of London, Tate Modern and Tate Britain.

Her lecture will look at the work of John Piper, one of the most versatile British artists of the twentieth century. He was painter, designer, stained glass artist, photographer and writer on the arts, and from cathedrals to churches, cottages to coastlines, we are never very far from a place John Piper has painted, written about, or undertaken a commission for.