Lectures

Lecturer: Lois Oliver

Music was a constant theme in Manet’s life and art. His wife Suzanne Leenhoff was a gifted pianist, and regular musical soirées were held at the Manet family home. His pictures of musicians and their audiences range from major early canvases depicting itinerant gypsy musicians and Spanish dancers, through to paintings encompassing the full range of Parisian musical culture, from private performances to street entertainment, café concerts and the Paris Opera. Bringing together Manet’s art and the music that inspired him (including Spanish flamenco, Haydn string quartets, Wagner piano reductions, café songs, and opera highlights) this lecture immerses you in Manet’s world.

Lecturer: Barbara Askew

This lecture celebrates the 200th Anniversary of the births of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert who were first cousins and born just three months apart in 1819.  Their shared enthusiasm for art and music endured throughout the twenty-two years of their marriage and they demonstrated their love through the works of art and jewellery they gave each other for birthdays, Christmases and anniversaries. Victoria and Albert understood and appreciated sculpture more than any of their predecessors since Charles I. They furnished and extended Buckingham Palace, made significant changes to Windsor Castle and commissioned three other royal residences, Balmoral, Sandringham and Osborne – the single most important example of their shared taste. Theirs was a partnership of patronage by a monarch and her consort which is unique in the history of the British monarchy.

Not sure where this goes

A lot of text goes here

Heading text 

Harold Vulgar

Lecturer: Alexandra Epps

Peggy Guggenheim was the ‘poor little rich girl’ who changed the face of twentieth century art. Not only was she a woman ahead of her time but also one who helped to define it. She discovered and nurtured a new generation of artists producing a new kind of art. Through collecting not only art, but often the artists themselves, her life was as radical as her collection.

Lecturer: Tyler Butterworth

It’s said in our theatrical history that there was a Golden Age of British Comedy. It ran from the 1970’s to the 1980’s and occurred as we started to drift away from theatres and radios, and found ourselves living through a wonderfully rich period of television comedy. Some say this period has never been bettered.

Lecturer: Matthew Denney

In 1951, up and down the country, the nation celebrated. It celebrated with events from the lavish displays on the South Bank of the Thames and at Battersea to the events held on village greens and in village halls across the land. A nation still recovering from the physical, financial and mental struggles of the recent World War decided to hold a party for the country. This talk will consider the reasons why the Festival was held, some of the characters involved, what motivated them and the resulting events and the wonderful design, art and architecture that flourished during the Festival year.

Lecturer: Amy Lim

Stanley Spencer (1891-1959) is one of the greatest British artists of the twentieth century. Although less well known than his imaginative paintings, portraiture was also an important part of Spencer’s artistic practice, especially in his final decade, when he was in high demand as a commercial portrait painter. This lecture will explore Spencer’s views on portraiture, and the role it played in his life and work. Through his paintings, we will meet many of the people around him, from friends and neighbours to figures of national importance.

Lecturer: Mark Cottle

The Tudor court and its world are captured unforgettably by Hans Holbein under Henry VIII and Nicholas Hilliard under Elizabeth 1. Between them, these two artists transformed English art. Holbein set radically new standards in portraiture, in his hauntingly evocative drawings and his exquisite miniatures. Hilliard, in turn, effectively established the miniature – “England’s greatest contribution to the art of the Renaissance” (Sir Roy Strong) – as the art form, personal and public, which would last unchallenged until the arrival of photography in the 1840’s. Without these two artists, English art as a whole could be immeasurably the poorer

Lecturer: Anne Haworth

Sèvres was the most illustrious and innovative porcelain factory in 18th Century France, employing brilliant artisans as painters, modellers, gilders and technicians. Spectacular vases and finely decorated dining services made at Sèvres added lustre and glamour to the grandest of state rooms and the most intimate of boudoirs in the nearby Palace of Versailles. These objects of desire were sought after by the nobility during Europe’s Ancien Régime, by English collectors such as the Prince Regent and, generations later, by a new moneyed aristocracy in America’s ‘Gilded Age’. However, the origins of this most fashionable porcelain factory were very different.

Lecturer: Cindy Polemis

John Singer Sargent was THE international art star of the Gilded Age. He was most famous for his dramatic and stylish portraits of the elegant and wealthy. He brought his subjects to life but also used fashion as a powerful tool to depict identity and personality. Cindy Polemis explores how John Singer Sargent ‘fashioned’ his world.