DETACHMENT: GOYA’S BLACK PAINTINGS
When Goya moved to the so-called house of the deaf man, he began painting the walls with some of the most extraordinary art ever seen and subsequently dubbed The Black Paintings not just for their dark colour but for their often dark and disturbing subject matter. This lecture considers the laborious yet not always careful process of taking Goya’s Black paintings off the walls of his home and eventually transferring them to the Prado in Madrid. It charts the extraordinary difficulties of removing them, considers why he painted such black visions and whether he wanted them ever to be seen. It considers his state of mind at the time; removed from the court, deaf and isolated. Jacqueline Cockburn, our lecturer, is an art historian and linguist.
How CalcuttA (Kolkata) played a major role in shaping the arts and culture of modern India.
Our lecturer, Dr John Stevens, gained his PhD in History from UCL, before going on to teach British Imperial History, Indian History and Bengali Language. His biography of the Indian guru Keshab Chandra Sen – Keshab: Bengal’s Forgotten Prophet - was published by Hurst and Oxford University Press in 2018. John lived and worked in Kolkata for fifteen years so is in a wonderful position to illuminate our understanding of this great and important city.
Resurgam: The music of st paul's cathedral - patrick craig
The last time St Paul’s Cathedral was deprived of music for a long period was after the devastating Fire of London in 1666. But in 1697 Christopher Wren was able to triumphantly declare RESURGAM as the phoenix rose from the ashes. Our lecturer, Patrick Craig, Vicar Choral at St Paul’s Cathedral, conductor and singer with the Tallis Scholars, looked at music from either side of this momentous event.
STANLEY SPENCER'S COOKHAM - DR AMY LIM
The lecture looked at Cookham's place in Spencer's art, and how it was central to his unique vision of English domestic and spiritual life. Dr Amy Lim is an art historian and curator, specialising in British fine and decorative arts from the seventeenth to twentieth centuries. Click here for more information about Dr Amy Lim. She is curator of the Farringdon Collection at Buscot Park, Oxfordshire, and of the Stanley Spencer Gallery, Cookham.
WEAVING CULTURES OF THE AMERICAS: THE CONTINUOUS THREAD – CHLOË SAYER
A common thread links the Incas of Peru, the Maya of Central America, the Aztecs of Mexico and the Navajo of the American Southeast. Artists in cloth, they have created some of the finest textiles in the history of the world. Our lecturer, Chloë Sayer is a freelance specialist in Latin American art and culture.
Lois Oliver: Berthe Morisot, “Une Finesse Fragonardienne”.
Our lecture complemented the exhibition at Dulwich Picture Gallery: click on this link for details of exhibition to discover what set Morisot apart from her predecessors and contemporaries.
RAPHAEL
For more information about Raphael, please visit the Arts Society website,where our lecturer, Sian Walters provides information about him.
music in art
For more information about our lecturer, please visit Sophie Matthews' website.
Click here for an information sheet about her talk.
Royal parks
For further information about the Royal Parks, please visit the Royal Parks website. You can also find out more about our lecturer, Paul Rabbitts, and the books he has written on his website.
faber
Faber was founded as an independent publishing house in 1929 and had T. S. Eliot as its first Poetry Editor. Further information about Faber is available at www.faber.co.uk. In terms of books,there is Tony Faber's "Faber & Faber: The Untold Story" - or there is Joseph Connolly’s larger format book specifically about Faber covers – "Faber & Faber: Eighty Years of Book Cover Design". Finally, the firm also produces a box of 100 postcards, all using old covers.
ballets russes
Established in Paris in 1909, the Ballets Russes brought about a revolution in classical dance, dazzling to the eye, which has had a lasting influence on all the Arts. Rosamund Bartlett, our lecturer on the Ballets Russes, recommends: Diaghilev: A Life by Sjeng Scheijen, published in 2010 by Profile Books. There is also an interesting overview on the V&A website plus other information including an online display of photos.
history of wallpaper
Click here for suggestions from our lecturer, Joanna Banham, for following up the topics covered in her lecture on the history of wallpaper.
Churchill
Dr Claire Walsh suggested the following resources to find out more about Churchill as an artist: website: https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/chartwell; books: Sir Winston Churchill: His Life and His Paintings by David Coombs and Minnie Churchill; Churchill: The Statesman as Artist by Professor Sir David Cannadine; Painting as a Pastime by Sir Winston S. Churchill; Winston Churchill: Painting on the French Riviera by Paul Rafferty and HRH The Prince of Wales
dickens
There are many interesting books about Charles Dickens but one that caught our eye is by John Mullan and is entitled "The Artful Dickens". The chapter on characters' names is especially interesting. You can get a copy in Bedford Library. This book may be a good way to follow up Bertie Pearce's lecture.
from yuletide to nativity
Our lecturer, Dr Sam Newton is Director of the Study Centre at Sutton Hoo in Suffolk and a Time Team historian. Two of his books are 'The Origins of Beowulf' and 'The Reckoning of King Raedwald: the story of the King linked to the Sutton Hoo Ship-Burial'. Further information can be found on his website.
caravaggio
Julia Musgrave suggested the following books about Caravaggio that may be of interest if you want to find out more about his life and art: Andrew Graham-Dixon, Caravaggio: A Life Sacred and Profane, 2010 and Letizia Treves et al, Beyond Caravaggio, National Gallery London Publications, 2016.
picasso in britain
Dr Kate Aspinall gave us a lecture on Picasso in Britain: Art, Politics and Outcry. She looked at Picasso's connections with Britain at a time when the country was on the verge of an artistic renaissance. Additional resources to enable you to explore the topic further can be accessed by clicking here.
City of London Stained Glass
Alexandra Epps gave us a lecture on the modern stained glass in some of the City of London's historic churches. Click here for a list of the stained glass artists involved. You might also be interested in "The 100 Best Stained Glass Sites in London", a book by Caroline Swash; click here for details. A map showing the location of the churches in the City of London can be found by clicking here.
the camden town group
Nicola Moorby's lecture on Walter Sickert and the Camden Town Group provided an insight into the life and work of an innovative group of painters who came together in the years immediately before the First World War. More information is available from the Tate's The Camden Town Group in Context.