Unravelling the Silk Road:  3 Lectures

The Wool Road

The Silk Road

The Cotton Road

GLASGOW BOYS & GIRLS AND SCOTTISH COLOURISTS

This Special Interest Day will introduce many of the most important characters and their exciting and innovative works of art. The first lecture will explore how the group of young artists who became known as the Glasgow Boys moved from French-inspired realism to something much more akin to symbolism, right at the forefront of the European avant-garde. In the second lecture discover the extraordinary blossoming of female talent in the same city, for example the remarkable Macdonald sisters – the wife and the sister-in-law of Charles Rennie Mackintosh – and painters Bessie MacNicol and Norah Neilson Gray, plus many more. The final lecture will focus on the life and work of the four Scottish Colourists – SJ Peploe, JD Fergusson, FCB Cadell and GL Hunter – not fully appreciated in their day and largely forgotten for much of the twentieth century, but now widely recognised for their significant contribution to the history of Scottish and indeed British and European art. Their paintings are full of joie de vivre and guaranteed to round off the Special Interest Day on a most cheerful note. Venue: Chalfont St Peter Community Centre, Gravel Hill, Gerrards Cross, SL9 9QX (10.30am- 3pm) Price: £30 (includes coffee and sandwich lunch) Button link to booking form is attached, OR contact: Heather Hespe on: 01494-714268 or sldsec.theartssoc.chiltern@gmail.com

Chalfont St Peter Community Centre 10.30am – 3.30pm

£39.50 pp

The closing date for applications is Thursday 28 th September 2023
Apply to: Lesley-Jane Spector, lesley-jane@ivorspector.plus.com
01753 889437

Dear Members
I am delighted to invite you to our forthcoming Special Interest Day entitled ‘Photography
as Fine Art’ led by Brian Stater on Tuesday 3 rd October 2023.
Brian will deliver three fascinating lectures during the course of the day. Coffee and
biscuits and a delicious sandwich lunch with either a glass of wine or a soft drink will also
be served.

The day’s schedule is as follows:
10.30: Lecture One: Photography as Fine Art
As an artistic discipline, photography is most often compared to painting.
Brian will offer an analysis, looking at the work of some outstanding photographers and
how photography can equal, and sometimes exceed, painting in the classic genres of:
1 Portraits
2 Landscape
3 Narrative

11.30: Coffee and biscuits
12.00: Lecture Two
4 The Human Condition
5 Still life
Within artistic photography circles there are several areas of debate which Brian will
explore. These may include such things as black and white versus colour and why one is
often considered to be more sincere or aesthetically valid than the other, the impact of
digital photography and the fragmentation of disciplines, with some practitioners going
back to 19th century methods (such as daguerrotypes and cyanotypes) while others move
in the opposite direction by employing Artificial Intelligence.

1.00: Lunch
2.00: Lecture Three: Great Photographs That Make Us Smile
The camera has given us some of the most vivid images of modern times. This lecture
examines a series of brilliant photographs and explains what makes these images so
special. In particular we look at photographs which explore the depth of human experience
in a spirit of optimism and compassion.

3.30 End
A very wide range of photographers’ work will be discussed, including Ansel Adams, Henri
Cartier-Bresson, Ernst Haas, Bill Brandt, David Bailey, Dorothea Lange, Fay Godwin,
Arnold Newman, Terence Donovan, Mika Horie, Jane Bown, Binh Danh and Andreas
Gursky.

I should also mention that these lectures do not cover the technical aspects of
photography in any detail. The day will be very much more concerned with the analysis
and appreciation of photography, rather than the ‘how-to’ elements of shutter speeds,
apertures and so on.

Please let me know as soon as possible if you would like to attend this Special Interest
Day and do feel free to ask a friend to come along too. I will then send you an application
form and payment details.

The closing date for applications is Thursday 28 th September 2023
Best Wishes
Lesley-Jane Spector
lesley-jane@ivorspector.plus.com
01753 889437

The Victorian era produced some of Britain’s greatest storytellers; not just
novelists like Dickens and Trollope, but also painters who depicted the Victorian
middle classes, striving to deal with the complex moral issues of their day. This
new sort of “Modern Moral Subject” became all the rage – suspense, titillation
and censure, depicted in wonderfully colourful and detailed painting. Come and
meet cads, bounders and fallen women in the nineteenth-century equivalent of
our modern soap-operas!

10.30 Lecture 1 ‘Wallowing in the Moral Depths’

This lecture looks at what we mean by Victorian ‘narrative paintings’ and
considers the background to their appearance in the mid 1850s. We’ll begin by
looking at the work of William Hogarth, and the differing traditions of painting in
Britain at the beginning of Queen Victoria’s reign. When the revolutionary
techniques of the Pre-Raphaelites were coupled with the explosive subject
matter of contemporary morality, audiences were profoundly shocked.

11.30 – Coffee and biscuits

12.00  Lecture 2  ‘All Human Life is There’

Once viewers had got used to the idea of seeing their own times reflected back
at them through paintings, they began to enjoy the storytelling aspects of these
modern pictures. We’ll see how artists commented on problems and issues of the
day, as well as offering us plenty of jilted women, desolate husbands, and
unscrupulous bounders – and look at the ways in which literature and painting
influenced each other.

1.00 – Lunch

2.00  Lecture 3 Empire, Realism and Drama

Lastly, a look at the worlds of work and the wider community to see how artists
changed their style and subject matter as the century progressed, continuously
reflecting the changes in British society in the last years of Victoria. We’ll also
look forward, to see how the themes we’ve seen in the nineteenth century are
alive and well in the arts of our own times.

3.00 – 3.30 Close

Jo Walton is very well known to our society as an engaging and erudite speaker.
She works with The Arts Society, The Art Fund and The Friends of Dulwich
Picture Gallery as well as local art groups and societies across the UK and
Europe.
She is a specialist in Renaissance and Baroque art and in British art of the
nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
The cost of the day will be £36 per head and will include coffee/tea and a
delicious sandwich lunch with cake plus a glass of wine or soft drink.
If you wish to join us on this Special Interest Day (which promises to be full of
‘cads, bounders and fallen women’!), please send the application form with your
cheque or confirmation of bank transfer to:
‘How to be Good’, 10 Copthall Close, Chalfont St Peter, SL9 0DH
Lesley-Jane Spector
Special Interest Days Secretary
Tel: 01753 889437
Email: sidsec.theartssoc.chiltern@gmail.com

Sadly, this event had to be cancelled due to the lecturer being ill.  It will be re-scheduled for later this year.

We are delighted that Dr Susan Kay-Williams has agreed to give three
fascinating lectures at our Special Interest Day – History of Embroidery.
Susan is the chief executive of the Royal School of Needlework and was the
curator of this year’s successful exhibition at the Fashion and Textile Museum
‘150 Years of the Royal School of Needlework: Crown to Catwalk’. She is also
the author of ‘An Unbroken Thread: Celebrating 150 years of the Royal
School of Needlework’ and is in high demand as an Arts Society Accredited
Lecturer’. She will give three lectures.
!0.30
Lecture 1 – The Stitching Queens: Embroidery in the Tudor Period.
Embroidery has had many purposes over time. In the 16 th century it was used
to show love and devotion, for distraction and to make a political point. We will
explore all of these aspects through some of the Queens of the age:
Catherine of Aragon embellishing linen shirts for Henry V111; Mary Queen of
Scots creating embroidery of protest even while her jailor Bess of Hardwick
looked on and even Elizabeth 1 turned her hand to stitch as a young woman,
making a gift for one of her stepmothers, while as a Queen she kept teams of
embroiderers working remodelling her dresses with pearls and jewels, metal
threads and black work patterns.
11.30 – coffee
12.00
Lecture 2 – Seventeenth Century Stitch: Embroidery as Preparation for
the ‘Good Housewife’.
In the 17 th century a middle class girl prepared herself for marriage by learning
how to manage the servants, take charge of the household accounts and
stitching a casket, an object so precious that even in the 17 th century it was
only displayed on special occasions – the visit of one’s potential mother in law
being just such a time. This lecture will examine some of these wonderful
objects including how they were made, when they were made, how they
survived, the stories they depict and why they often featured strong women.
1.00 – lunch

2.00

Lecture 3 – Painting with a Needle: 18 th Century Embroidery for
Gentlemen and Botanists.
By the 18 th century the dyers had learned how to make a much greater range
of colours and we see the growth of two particular activities – embroidered
clothes and embroidered art. In particular this period saw the birth of the
gentleman’s three-piece suit comprising waistcoat, jacket and breeches all
adorned with matching embroidery.
It was also the period of botanic art, based on the finds of the plant hunters
but as Mrs Delany showed, flowers could be depicted in paint or thread.
Through silk shading the concept of painting with a needle was born and this
lecture will show some of these amazing pieces where the observer believes
they could actually pluck or even smell the flowers so lifelike do they look.
3.30 – close
The cost of the day will be £37.50 per head and will include coffee/tea and a
delicious sandwich lunch with cake plus a glass of wine or soft drink.
If you wish to join us on this Special Interest Day please send the application
form (button link below) with your cheque or confirmation of bank transfer to…
History of Embroidery, 10 Copthall Close, Chalfont St Peter, SL9 0DH (Tel.
01753 889437)
Lesley-Jane Spector
Special Interest Day Secretary
Email: sidsec.theartssoc.chiltern@gmail.com

Lecture 1   W.S. Gilbert – man of the theatre.

William Schwenck Gilbert believed that his best works were the sentimental plays he wrote in blank verse.  Today they are totally forgotten, and probably rightly so.  But while he is now almost solely remembered for the canon of comic operas he wrote with Arthur Sullivan, he had a huge influence on the theatre of his time, particularly in the ways plays were produced and presented.  We look at his enormous output of work and the reforms he introduced, before, during and after his collaboration with Arthur Sullivan.

Lecture 2    Arthur Sullivan – the great hope of British Music.

Sullivan (and many of his contemporaries) believed he would be remembered by posterity for his serious compositions, and his work with Gilbert was just a passing fad.   He was seen in his lifetime as a British equivalent to Beethoven and Mendelssohn, and he was castigated by the musical establishment for wasting his talents on such trivial nonsense as the Savoy operas.  How wrong can you be!    Even before his death his serious work was sliding into obscurity, and it is only in recent times that his work without Gilbert has been reassessed.  We will hear examples of his varied compositions in many different genres besides the comic operas for which he is remembered.

Lecture 3    Gilbert and Sullivan – an enduring legacy. 

In the 1860s the British musical stage was dominated by the operettas of Jacques Offenbach and his French contemporaries.  However, French operetta in its original form was considered too risqué for British audiences, and the shows had to be bowdlerised to a considerable extent.  It was the unique partnership of Gilbert and Sullivan that produced a home grown answer to the French which was free of "anything that could give the slightest offence".  That what were considered at the time ephemeral entertainments are still enjoyed and appreciated well over 100 years later is testament to the fact that combined they brought out the best in each other – even though neither of them ever really understood that.

Ian Gledhill has had a very varied career, from designing underground railways as an engineer for London Transport, to appearing in pantomime with Julian Clary. In between he has worked in travel and tourism, music publishing, television, and especially the theatre, where he has been an actor, director, set designer, stage manager and opera translator.

The golden age of political satirical art was from 1780 to 1820 and the two leading proponents were James Gillray (1756-1815) and George Cruikshank (1792-1878).  The lives and works of these two masters are covered in this study day.  From 1820 onwards, satirical art began to fade in importance and Cruikshank had to reinvent himself as an illustrator of books - most notably with Charles Dickens's Oliver Twist.  For the final talk, a lesser known skill of Dickens is considered: for a period in the 1840s he was an amateur conjurer.  The day will finish with a suitable flourish with some Dickensian magic tricks.

1.       James Gillray: First Political Cartoonist.

James Gillray succeeded William Hogarth as the primary satirist of the 18th century, not only taking caricaturing to new heights but also refining the format of the cartoon to one that we are now familiar with.  He took no prisoners in his depictions of politicians and the royal family alike. Combined with his brilliant draughtsmanship and engraving skills was a love of modern and classical art and literature which he seamlessly weaved into the subject matter of his prints.  At the end of his life he suffered the same fate as George III, who he so vividly satirised in many of his works; he died insane in 1815 and his reputation soon plummeted during the Victorian climate of moralistic righteousness.  Today, however, he is accepted as the first, and the greatest, political cartoonist, still revered today by modern cartoonists.

2.       George Cruikshank: The Man Who Drew Oliver Twist.

George Cruikshank is now best known for his brilliant drawings for Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist. But this is to do his prodigious skills and work output a disservice. Cruikshank moved effortlessly from biting satirical prints of the Prince Regent and Napoleon in the Georgian era through to producing exquisite engravings for numerous books and journals in Victorian times. Adapting his talents both to new printing technology and the demands of the reading public, he is considered by many to be the greatest illustrator of the 19th century. His personal reputation hasn't survived quite so well, partly through his obsession with temperance in later life and the fact that when he died, aged 85, it was discovered he had fathered eleven illegitimate children with his mistress.

3.       Charles Dickens Conjurer

Charles Dickens was an amateur conjurer for around seven years of his life.  His best known show was on the Isle of Wight in 1849 when he wrote a highly amusing, and informative, playbill to promote his appearance.  This playbill, in which Dickens called himself the 'Unparalleled Necromancer', provides the focus to learn about how Dickens became a conjurer, which magicians inspired him and how his magic sheds light both on his character and his writings.  The talk includes performances by Ian of some of Dickens' tricks.

THREE ITALIAN CITIES: a Special Interest Day.

This Study Day will take us on a beautiful journey across northern Italy. We shall start in Ravenna, on the east coast of Italy, where we shall be introduced to its stunning fifth century mosaics, then we shall cross the Appenines to Assisi where we shall see the amazing art of the St Francis Basilica, and then we shall return back across the mountain chain to the Umbrian hill-top city of Urbino, where we shall be introduced to one of the great collections of Renaissance art.

We shall meet unknown artists in Ravenna, famous artists such as Giotto in Assisi, and in Urbino we shall meet the enigmatic Piero della Francesca and explore the Ducal Palace of Federigo da Montefeltro.

It should be an exhilarating and lovely day…

Biography

The Right Revd Christopher Herbert BA PGCE MPhil

After an illustrious career in the church culminating in becoming the Bishop of St Albans, he retired after 13 years in that post in 2009. His interest in and love for all forms of literature led him to become a lecturer for NADFAS amongst other organisations. He is a prolific author and has been a guest lecturer at the National Gallery, Westminster Abbey and the Courtauld Institute, the Salisbury International Arts Festival and at Cathedrals and churches across the UK.

In November 2003 he was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Letters by the University of Hertfordshire, and was made an Honorary Doctor of Arts by the University of Bedfordshire in 2008 for his contribution to community life.

In 2008 he was made an Honorary Citizen of Fano, Italy for his work in building inter-church and community relationships between Fano and St Albans.

On retirement he was appointed as a voluntary Non-Executive Director of the Abbeyfield Society.

He serves as an honorary assistant bishop in the dioceses of Guildford, Salisbury and Winchester.

This Special Interest Day will start with 2 lectures in the morning after which we will go by coach to the Henley River and Rowing Museum where we will have lunch and a tour of the Piper Gallery. After that we will go by coach to Nettlebed Church where there are some spectacular Piper stained glass windows. Our lecturer for the day is Jo Walton.

10.30am-3.00pm

Holy Trinity Church
134  Wycombe Road

Prestwood HP16 0HJ

The Special Interest Day begins with an exploration of Chinese Imperial Court life in terms of structure, protocol and, most importantly, the history and impact of regulated formal Court Costume worn by the Chinese Imperial Clan together with the 9 Ranks of both Civil and Military Officials.

The second lecture will consider the impact, and legacy, of the Emperor Qianlong (1735-1796). Regarded as one of China’s most accomplished Emperors Qianlong was additionally seen as the most influential individual of the dynasty with regard to patronage of the arts, cultural developments and evolution of Court Protocol, his greatest legacy being the World’s greatest collection of Oriental Art and Antiques.

The final lecture considers the life and legacy of the Dowager Empress Cixi. Portrayed globally for over a century after her death (1908) as a ruthless tyrant who halted the modernisation of China leading to humiliating defeats at the hands of Western colonial powers.

10:30 am - 3:00 pm  Chalfont St Peter Community Centre

Lecture 1 – The Bauhaus, the Most Influential Art and Design School in History?

Lecture 2 – Structure, Individuals and Product 

Lecture 3 – The Bauhaus Legacy

Mike Hope author, lecturer, curator and designer, has spent more than twenty-five years at four universities and nearly thirty years delivering Summer School Programmes. He has lectured around the world and was a founder board member of The European Academy of Design. Alongside an extensive publication list, he has researched, designed and curated many exhibitions

A flyer with more information about the Study Day can be found here

Booking form for the Study Day can be found here  (Return address is on the flyer)

This Study Day will be a visit to both Penn House and Old Amersham.
The day will be broken up into two groups of 15 people each, with alternate visits
but meeting up for lunch.

Group A 10.00 a.m. Amersham Museum visit and guided Old Amersham Walk.
1.00 p.m. Lunch at The Kings Arms, Amersham.
2.30 p.m. Visit to Penn House, HP7 0PS, using your own transport.

Group B 10.00 a.m. Visit to Penn House, HP7 0PS, using your own transport.
1.00 p.m. Lunch at The Kings Arms, Amersham.
2.00 p.m. Amersham Museum visit and guided Old Amersham Walk.
Finish at approx. 4.00/4.30 p.m.

Lunch is not included but we are booked into The Kings Arms for you to have a
break for a sandwich of your choice. This enables us to get together, and use the
hotel’s facilities.

Parking in Amersham – parking is available behind the Kings Arms.
Cost £22.00 per head.

If you wish to come on this visit please send the application form (which can be downloaded under Document)s, with your cheque made payable to Chiltern DFAS, to Jennifer Peiser, Boxwood, Dimmocks
Lane, Sarratt, Herts WD3 6AP. Any queries to 01923 269136. Please note that as
the numbers for this day are restricted please reply promptly as we will be putting
names down on a first-come-first-served basis.

Meeting place and time TBA

On this visit we have a chance to see restoration in progress: Palladian mansion of 1753-8, burnt in 1917, asset stripped in 1950. From 1986 to 1995 a prolonged campaign was fought to save the mansion and its Conservation Area from repeated large-scale development proposals. Architect Alan Cox, who was very involved in the campaign, raised the finance to enable the specially formed Copped Hall Trust to acquire the freehold of the hall and gardens in 1995.

The Abbots of Waltham lived at an earlier Copped Hall from 1350. Henry VIII took the building from them and his daughter Mary Tudor lived there before she became queen. Her sister, Elizabeth I, gave the estate to Sir Thomas Heneage. Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night’s Dream was first performed there in 1594. The estate later passed to the Sackvilles who sold it in 1701. Many items of furniture that were at Copped Hall can be seen at Knole. The present house was built on a different site to the south east. The mansion was altered in 1775 and in 1895.

We will tour of most of the mansion, including vaulted kitchen, cellars and grand stables, plus the gardens including rock garden and walled kitchen garden, led by Alan.

10.30am - 1.00pm
Chalfont St Peter Community Centre  

Lecture I: Old Buildings: Fakes and Fallacies

All old buildings change but is what we see authentic ?  The lecture will look at how misguided restoration can falsify the nature of a building and how common myths about them can wrongly shape how we view them. Its aim is to make everyone look at the familiar with fresh eyes.

Lecture 2: Changing Ideas of What We Save and Why.

In the 1930s they thought Georgian buildings were not worth saving. The lecture will look at the origins of the building conservation movement, how our ideas of what we should save constantly change, and how we do so through listing and in other ways.

Philip Venning was for 28 years full time chief executive of the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAB), the nation's oldest building conservation body. Having studied economics at university he worked as a journalist on The Times Educational Supplement (latterly as Assistant Editor) before a career change. As well as his work for the SPAB he served for six years on the Expert Panel of the Heritage Lottery Fund, was an elected member of the National Trust Council for 9 years, and remains a member of the Westminster Abbey Fabric Commission. He was also a trustee, executive committee member, and later Vice President of the Historic Churches Preservation Trust (now National Churches Trust) as well as being a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries and of the Royal Society of Arts.

10.30am - 3.00pm
Chalfont St Peter Community Centre  

No cabinetmaker’s name is better known than Thomas Chippendale’s.  This Study Day examines the basis for his fame and concludes that he was to English Furniture what Shakespeare was to English Literature! The day will cover in detail how his business operated and scrutinises the various styles (Rococo, Chinese & Gothic) depicted in his famous book “The Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker’s Directory” and also the furniture he produced in the Neo-Classical style which was not illustrated in his book but which superseded it.

It was Chippendale’s creative design talent together with his traditionally skilled craftsmanship which enabled him, through his cabinet making business, to design and produce some of the finest and most innovative examples of 18th Century English furniture.

During this study day, the lecturer examines the materials, techniques and history of enamelling in the decorative arts from Ancient Egypt to the present day, including jewellery and metalwork.  There is a particulare focus on enamelling in the Arts and Crafts Movement and Art Nouveau.

The first part of this lecture illustrates the mighty Persian Empire of the Great Kings 

The second part traces the development through the Islamic period of the architecture of mosques and palaces and of their brilliant decorative tile work and painting

Away Study Day at The Queen's Gallery. Lecture and tour of the exhibition.

Followed by afternoon visit to Ascott House and Garden.

On Tuesday 11th October, we are visiting London to see the superb new gallery built especially for the Sir Percival David Collection of Chinese Porcelain at the British Museum, then we will journey to the V & A in time for lunch and then to view their collection of Chinese Porcelain.

Application form for this event can be downloaded from the Documents section, About Us page.

STUDY GROUP 2016

WITH JUST A NEEDLE AND THREAD LECTURES on TUESDAY 3rd MAY 2016

Two lectures in the morning at Chalfont St Peter Community Centre by Dr Susan Kay Williams, Chief Executive of The Royal School of Needlework, who introduces a variety of embroidery techniques including crewel work, gold work, silk shading, blackwork and whitework. Her lectures will be illustrated by pieces from the RSN collection through to modern pieces created by RSN students today.

First lecture 10.30 to 11.30, then coffee, then second lecture 12.00 to 1.00
No knowledge of needlework is required to enjoy these lectures.
Cost – the fee for the morning will be £13.00 to include both lectures and coffee. 

FROM COUCH TO CANVAS – ARTISTS AND THEIR MODELS

by John Iddon

Many portraits and nudes reveal (and sometimes hide) fascinating relationships between artists and their models.

These lectures will look at how various artists from Holbein to Picasso and Hockney reveal their attitudes and relationships to the sitters (or ‘recliners’). Examples will be taken from the work of Reynolds, Rossetti, Millais, Rodin, Gaugin, Sickert, Augustus John, Bonnard, Warhol and Lucien Freud. En route the lectures will interpret signs and symbols, look at hatreds and frustrations, and, of course, some torrid passions and affairs which are transmuted from couch to canvas.

The two lectures will look at examples chronologically:

Lecture 1: From Holbein to Rodin.

Lecture 2: From Augustus John to Lucian Freud.

Finally, the question will be asked how far models have profited or suffered from their relationships with artists.

Coffee will be served between lectures. 

Many CDFAS members will remember Louise, archaeologist extraordinaire and formerly British Museum curator, who delighted her audience with accounts of her significant archaeological discoveries. Louise recently headed the British excavation in northern Ethiopia with a discovery that many suggest links with legend and fable. ‘Where Sheba dug her golden riches is one of the great stories of the Old Testament.’ Sean Kingsley, archaeologist and author of God’s Gold.

STUDY DAYS The purpose of the Study Days (Special Interest Days) is to study a particular subject in greater detail than can be covered in a one hour lecture. Usually between 45 and 70 members attend these events held four times a year in March/May/October/November. These can take a variety of formats: a study day with 3 lectures, a study day with 2 lectures plus an afternoon visit or a study course which comprises a study day and a day visit the following week. Subjects studied recently include:- Contemporary Art, The Bloomsbury Group with a visit to Charleston Farmhouse, English Glass, with a visit to Mompesson House and The Cities of Andalusia. Edward Bawden and Eric Ravilious. Future days planned are on Michelangelo, and The Queen of Sheba’s Gold.

The October Study Day on Eric Ravilious, Edward Bawden and their Circle starting at 10.30am at Chalfont Community Centre with two lectures in the morning and one following a sandwich lunch:- Beginning to be Artists; Recording the War and Designing for the Future culminating with the Festival of Britain.