Programme 2008/2009

Lectures are held at the Falmouth Hotel, usually on the second Friday of the month, starting promptly at 10.30 a.m. Coffee is available from 10.00. Guests and Waiting List members are welcome to lecture mornings (admission £6). Please ring the Secretary first on 01326 281288.

Friday 12th September 2008
THE ARTFUL POT
Louise Irvine
For our first lecture this season the lecturer will show us how the reaction to the Great Exhibition and its extravagance with tasteless mass production developed into a movement towards a return towards skilled craftsmanship and sound design principles. Pottery was considered a valid means of artistic expression; the Martin Brothers, William de Morgan and other artists backed by the commercial factories of Doulton and Pilkington became the Art Nouveau movement. These examples of artisan pottery are now extremely valuable.

Friday 10th October 2008
SIR ALFRED MUNNINGS – MASTER AMONG HORSEPAINTERS
Nicholas Bagshawe
The lecturer is a well known NADFAS lecturer and he has promised us a treat with this lecture on a man who was president of the Royal Academy and who painted some wonderful paintings with unparalleled understanding of the anatomy of the horse. He had friends in Newlyn, where he stayed and worked with artists such as Laura Knight. He was an East Anglian landscape painter -  a colourful man and a colourful painter.

Friday 14th November 2008
EUROPE’S BEST KEPT SECRET – THE PAINTED MONASTERIES OF BULGARIA
John Osborne
Bulgaria’s rich and varied cultural history deserves to be better known. John Osborne will inform us how the well – preserved medieval monasteries, part of the orthodox tradition of religious art in South East Europe, have their own local and regional characteristics. The lecture illustrates fascinating developments in fresco and icon painting, as well as their development surrounded by Thracian tombs, public buildings of the roman period and vernacular architecture from the Ottoman era – beautifully conserved in Bulgaria’s towns and villages to the present day.

Friday 12th December 2008
THE GREEN MAN IN MYTH AND ART
Dr David Bostwick
Dr Bostwick is well known to us, and in this lecture he will talk about the Green Man, widespread across Europe as an ornament in medieval churches and secular buildings, a pagan nature god, absorbed into Christian imagery. Since Tudor times actors dressed in leaves have appeared in plays and celebrations, and this is thought to indicate a survival of  belief in the old nature spirits and fertility gods. The lecturer will reveal the fascinating truth.

Friday 12th January 2009
THE GLAMOUR HOLIDAY – THE GRAND ERA OF TRAVELLING IN THE 1920s AND 30s
Dr Claire Walsh
Dr Walsh will show us the posters and give us the details of these holidays. By the 1920s the social elite needed to get away from the traditional holiday, so they sought out new destinations and activities. They ranged from the French Riviera to the African bush and the posters used Art Deco as the style to signal the exclusivity and  modernity of luxury travel.

Friday 13th February 2009
BENEATH THE CITY STREETS – LONDON’S UNSEEN HISTORY
Peter Lawrence
This lecture will give a fresh look at London, its history and expansion from the Roman period to more recent times. The lecturer is a Freeman of the City of London and an Adult Education tutor in history, architecture and environmental studies, so is well qualified to delve into the past through archaeology and written documents.

Friday 13th March 2009
ENGLISH WATERCOLOURS 1750 – 1860
Brian Cairns
This period of watercolour painting, with its beautiful and subtle landscapes, capture every nuance of the rich and varied climate of the countryside. There are many fine painters such as Gainsborough, Turner and Constable, and as the lecturer is a watercolorist himself, he is able to show us the various styles and techniques in chronological order. During the Study Afternoon, which follows the lecture, he will give a demonstration of various techniques used by different artists.

Friday 17th April 2009
THE GREAT TWELVE
Fenella Billington
This is an introduction to the Senior Livery Companies of the City of London, their medieval origins and their role in modern society. The lecturer will show us the treasures of the Companies, and tell us about the support they give to charitable causes, as well as the part they play in the field of education. Only Liverymen and Livery women may elect the Lord Mayor and Sheriffs of London, and they support many ceremonial occasions.

Friday 8th May 2009
HOMER’S WORLD OF HEROES
Neil Faulkner
Until the late 19th century scholars thought that Greek history began in 776 BC with the first Olympics, and Homer’s tales were assumed to be pure fiction. However, the artistic treasures in the famous “shaft – graves” and elsewhere revealed the reality behind Homer’s account of the Trojan war. The lecturer will use literature and archaeology to reconstruct the lost world of the Greek Bronze age – the world of Agamemnon, Helen, Achilles, Hector and Odysseus.

Friday 12th June
AGM
TAKING A LIKENESS – THE ART OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY PORTAITIST
Lizzie Derbyshire
The lecturer will compare and contrast the works of Ramsay, Reynolds, Gainsborough and Wright of Derby. Drawing on visual evidence and contemporary writings, she will explore the painters’ response to the demands of the artistic tradition and their innovative approaches to portraiture.