Before the Normans invaded in the 11th century, Sicily had been colonised by Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, Visigoths and Islamic tribes from North Africa. This lecture looks at the island’s historic role as the crossroads between Europe, North Africa and the Middle East – and how the different cultural strands were woven together by the Normans during their remarkably enlightened rule, which saw Palermo become one of the most important cities in Europe. 

Richard is a professional artist who graduated in English and Art History from York University in 1986. From 1988-1994 he lectured at the adult education departments of Glasgow and Strathclyde Universities, and then went on to become a full-time figurative artist, executing large-scale public commissions, and exhibiting widely throughout the UK. He now lives and works in Chichester, West Sussex. 

For centuries, numerous artists in the West were inspired by the idea of Africa. A kind of exoticism took hold of the imaginations of artists like Rubens, Delacroix and Picasso, or designers such as Bauhaus luminaries Marcel Breuer and Gunta Stölzl. In recent years with the rise of contemporary art and its international circulation through biennials and art fairs, African artists themselves have hit the headlines with major museum shows, with names including El Anatsui and Julie Mehretu becoming global contemporary art stars. Find out more about Africa in the Western imaginary and the change to African artists speaking for themselves in this new lecture for 2024.

'I am an art historian, curator, author and journalist with over 25 years’ experience in the art market. I teach at several Higher Education institutions, including the University of the Arts London, Sotheby’s Institute of Art, the City & Guilds of London Art School, SOAS (University of London) and Imperial College. In January 2021 I received the Geoffrey Bond Bursary for Art, an annual prize awarded by the Worshipful Company of Educators to an “outstanding educator” nominated by their institution. My 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. The title of my current book project is The Bronze Horse: Themes in Equine Sculpture from Antiquity to the Present Day; in Spring 2021 I will embark on a critique and biography of contemporary Filipino artist Andres Barrioquinto. Since 2011 I have been Senior UK Consultant to Singapore gallery One East Asia and have co-curated many exhibitions of Southeast Asian modern and contemporary art in London and Singapore. I am also Head of Education for the London Asian and African Contemporary Art Fair (founded 2020). When time allows I lecture as an on-board art historian for cruise lines.'

An exemplar of ground-breaking poster art and graphic design in the first half of the 20th century, London Underground went on to launch a programme of installing permanent, large-scale artworks across its stations. Leading and aspiring artists have been asked for over 50 years now to create works on themes associated with the location of stations, and with the history of the area each serves. This lecture takes the audience on a guided tour of station art, travelling under the West End from Waterloo to Mornington Crescent, followed by a review of “the best of the rest”.

Mike is a highly experienced speaker, having given lectures, presentations and training courses throughout his business career and latterly working as an academic lecturer. This latter role entailed the development and provision of study days and 7 to 10-week courses for the WEA as well as providing 1 to 2-hour lectures to the U3A and other community organisations throughout the south-east of England.

Mike’s educational record includes a First-Class Honours Degree in Mathematics from University College London in 1968 and an MBA from Henley Management College in 1998. 

Throughout a career in the IT industry he was engaged in major projects and systems consultancy, working in the UK, the Continent and the USA. From 1998 to 2006 he acted as the prime public speaker for his company at major business events and conferences. Appointed in 1998 to serve in the IT Industry trade body “Intellect”, he led and promoted its campaign into Government for improving the delivery record of major public sector IT programmes.

In 2006 Mike left his IT career to pursue a life-long interest in art and architecture. He gained a diploma in the History of Art and Architecture from Birkbeck College London and was appointed as a tutor for these subjects by the WEA. In this role he maintained an intensive programme of research, course development and teaching. His subject knowledge ranges across European art and architecture, with specialist expertise in the art of European Metro systems and the art of war. 

Planting and painting, cultivating and creating: inspired and influenced by their dedication to painting ‘en plein air’ artists of the Impressionist movement had an especial relationship with gardens and landscape, most famously expressed by Claude Monet (1840-1926) at Giverny. This talk explores that relationship drawing on the wide range of gardens created and depicted by artists including Gustave Caillebotte, Camille Pissarro, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Frederick Carl Frieseke, and Pierre Bonnard,  placing Giverny and Monet in a wider perspective.

Twigs Way is a garden historian fascinated by the past and intrigued by the role of flowers, gardens and landscape in art and culture of all kinds. Her research and writing on plants and gardens explore themes of symbolism and meaning, class and gender, art and literature and the cross over between art and gardens.

Would you have what it takes to win 2 gold medals at the one of the most famous flower shows in the world, Chelsea and then 6 weeks later do it again with a completely different display at Hampton Court, the largest flower show in the world (oh, and win ‘Best in Show’)?
Find out what it takes and how it was done in this engaging talk about sacrifice, commitment, teamwork and determination.

Steve has been perfecting his art for 30 years. After studying at Hadlow College in Horticulture and Merrist Wood college studying Arboriculture, he spent several years as a highly respected private gardener, tree surgeon and designer. In 2005, he joined The Salutation to helm its huge restoration project, setting out a 5-year plan of restoration that was completed on time and within budget, the gardens were recognised as amongst the finest in the country winning multiple awards including Britain’s most romantic garden 2018 by the good hotel guide.

Steeped in the practical art of gardening, Steve uses direct observation and his love of the natural world to supplement his technical skills as a grower, breeder, horticulturalist and arboriculturalist. His drive for creativity and experimentation ensures the scope of his expertise continues to encompass new horizons.

Accolades include appointment to the RHS Herbaceous Committee and membership of the RHS plant trial forums, multiple RHS Gold medal winner, “Best in show” Hampton court 2019. Steve has appeared on tv several times including Gardeners world.

Previous trials include, Zinnia (chairman), cosmos, new guinea impatiens, Dahlia, zantedeschia, calibrachoa, Agapanthus and nepeta, current trials Steve’s working on are Dahlia and chair of the Baptisia trial.

He is a contributor to numerous professional publications such as gardens illustrated and contributes to the award-winning “Sunday Gardening” show on BBC Radio Kent. in 2017 Steve won a silver-gilt at the London autumn show and received the “new design” award for innovation.

In 2018 Steve and The salutation garden won Gold at RHS Hampton Court flower show in the floral marque for a display of exotic plants in 2019 Steve won a Gold medal at Chelsea and later that year won Gold and the coveted “Tudor rose award” for best in show at Hampton court flower show. Louise and the garden team at salutation were instrumental in the creation of displays.

In 2019 Steve and The Salutation won a gold award from Kent wildlife trust for gardening for wildlife, The Salutation was the only garden open to the public to receive this award.

Steve is passionate about creating gardens that are homes for people and wildlife, his home garden which he created with his partner Louise has appeared in national gardening magazines, had several book mentions and been on Gardeners world. The garden has received a gold award for gardening for wildlife by the Kent wildlife trust on numerous occasions.

Since 2019 Steve and Louise have been working on their own project “The Land” where he and his partner Louise have built The No Name Nursery a sustainable plant nursery in Kent. Steve also works as a freelance garden consultant.

Steve is an international lecturer talking on many gardening topics all firmly rooted in his practical gardening life.

Uzbekistan in the heart of Central Asia boasts glittering mosques, madrassahs and minarets in the Silk Road cities of Samarkand, Bukhara and Khiva. These contrast wonderfully with the brutalist Soviet buildings of Tashkent, Urgench and Nukus. This lecture is an overview of the country, and a primer for anyone thinking of visiting. We explore the Savitsky Museum in Nukus, with the second largest collection of Russian Avante Garde Art, collected at a time when these artistic styles were banned by the state. We explore the revival of Islamic miniature painting in Bukhara and the resurgence of handicrafts all over the country that ceased during the 1930s and the Soviet drive to make everything factory-based. Embroidered suzanis from Nurata, stunning ceramics from Rishton, and the production of silk and velvet in Margilan. Plus, what are the ways that tourism is helping and hindering the production of high-quality handicrafts?  

Chris Aslan was born in Turkey (hence the name Aslan) and spent his childhood there and in war-torn Beirut. After school, Chris spent two years at sea before studying Media and journalism at Leicester University. He then moved to Khiva, a desert oasis in Uzbekistan, establishing a UNESCO workshop reviving fifteenth century carpet designs and embroideries, and becoming the largest non-government employer in town. He was kicked out as part of an anti-Western purge, and took a year in Cambridge to write A Carpet Ride to Khiva. Chris then spent several years in the Pamirs mountains of Tajikistan, training yak herders to comb their yaks for their cashmere-like down. Next came a couple more years in Kyrgyzstan living in the world’s largest natural walnut forest and establishing a wood-carving workshop. Since then, Chris has studied and rowed at Oxford, and is now based in Cambridge, but with plans to move to North Cyprus. When he’s not lecturing for The Arts Society, he writes. His latest book, Unravelling the Silk Road, is published by Icon Books. Chris also takes tours to Central Asia, returning whenever he can, having left a large chunk of his heart out there. 

Join award winning cartoonist Harry Venning as he escorts you through the peaks and pitfalls of his profession, supported by visual and verbal contributions from such luminaries as Matt Groening, Dr.Seuss, Charles M. Schulz and Gary Larson. Entertaining and Informative in equal measure, the topics covered include rejection, procrastination, deadlines, artificial intelligence, professional envy, censorship, and the cartoon community's response to the Charlie Hebdo murders of 2015. Harry will also be drawing live on an A1 flip chart, the images filmed and projected onto screen for everyone to clearly see.

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. In 2004 he developed Clare In The Community into a successful BBC Radio 4 sitcom starring Sally Philipps which ran for twelve series. When not at a desk, Harry tours his cartoon workshop around schools, theatres, arts centres, cruise ships and festivals. 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.

This is a Christmas-themed lecture about snow in art history. Do you remember that childhood feeling of enchantment on the morning after a night of snowfall? At that age you probably weren’t worried about freezing pipes and congested motorways but experiencing an inimitable thrill as deep and pure as the snow itself. Art history has a lot to tell us about that feeling, and the many others emotions that snow provokes. In European art, snow arrived relatively recently, with Bruegel’s The Hunters in the Snow (1565) the first serious, large-scale consideration of the white stuff – snow’s joyousness, terror, and spirituality.

Secret symbols, Nazi-fighting, cultural love affairs, the ‘nude’, snowmen, and artistic espionage are among the diverse interests of art historian Matthew Wilson. Matthew studied History of Art at the Courtauld Institute and is an author, lecturer, and educator. As a freelance journalist he writes for numerous publications including BBC Culture, The Spectator, The Economist and Aesthetica Magazine. He has written two books on symbolism – ‘Symbols in Art’ (Thames & Hudson, 2020) and ‘The Hidden Language of Symbols’ (Thames & Hudson 2022) and his latest book is 'Art Unpacked' - a fully illustrated introduction to understanding art (Thames & Hudson 2023).

An unforgettable journey to explore the highlights of the vast Vatican Museums collection, with a deep focus on the spectacular frescoes by Michelangelo Buonarroti and others in the Sistine Chapel. Professional Rome tourist guide Stuart Harvey takes you on a virtual stroll through the corridors and rooms to see ancient classical statues that influenced renaissance and later artists, and also intricate roman mosaics, magnificent tapestries, and the beautiful frescoes by Raphael that decorate the private rooms of the 16th century Popes. We will end our journey in the Sistine Chapel, where Popes are elected in secret at Conclave. Here we can examine in depth Michelangelo's famous Creation frescoes on the ceiling and the magnificent Last Judgement and its deep symbolism.

Stuart is a “History and Art Communicator” of 30 years experience. He is a London Blue Badge Tourist Guide (qualified in 1998 - awarded “New Guide of the Year”) and also a Guida Turistica Abilitata della Provincia di Roma (qualified in 2010). He has worked in educational tourism since 1992, leading study tours all over Europe. Living in Rome since 2003, Stuart has developed a great love for the Eternal City and its many treasures. In addition to his primary career as full-time Rome tourist guide, Stuart’s entertaining and lively lectures and virtual tours bring the rich artistic and historical wealth of Rome’s 28 centuries to life for people all over the world.  

Elisabeth Vigée-Le Brun was an eighteenth century artist, painting the aristocracy of France during the Revolution and in the shadow of the Guillotine. She created portraits for the nobility of Europe and even travelled to England. She also painted over twenty-five self-portraits throughout her life, and wrote her memoirs. I will focus on three aspects of Elisabeth’s life – Mother, Heroine and Artist – illustrating her story with her art and her own words. The search for Elisabeth will take us to France, Italy and England during the exhilarating and dangerous time of the French Revolution.

Dr Alison Barker taught History and Art History at further and higher education for eighteen years before her current role as a Frontline Support Assistant at the University of Essex, Albert Sloman Library. She speaks widely to diverse groups on many historical and art historical topics, and has led guided tours at the British Museum and the National Gallery. Alison wrote her PhD thesis on the depiction of Saint George in art and has published work on his image in both England and Italy. Her forthcoming book, The Dissemination of Saint George in Early Modern Art will be published by Routledge in 2025.

What a life! In 40 years, Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin was responsible for dozens of churches, cathedrals, monastic buildings, almshouses and private residences. His work ranges from the lovely church of St Giles Cheadle and the Medieval Court at the Great Exhibition of 1851 to the ornate decoration of the Houses of Parliament (and Alton Towers!). A writer, keen sailor, drug addict, original 'angry young man', designer and polemicist, Pugin also had 3 wives, several girlfriends, at least 8 children - and died insane at just 40! We explore this volcanic personality, discussing in particular the 'Gothic Revival' which Pugin pioneered and which swept through Victorian Britain and much of the world.

Andrew Davies is an Extra-Mural Tutor for London, Essex and The Open University; Author of 9 books, including The East End Nobody Knows; frequent contributor to radio and television; has lectured all over the world; organises walks to complement his lectures.

William Morris was a man of prolific talents and herculean energy.  He was by turns an artist, a poet, a manufacturer, a conservationist and a revolutionary socialist, and he was also a designer of stained glass, interior decoration, embroideries, furniture, illustrated books and painted tiles.  But it is as a designer of repeating patterns that Morris is probably best remembered today. He was a one-man pattern-making phenomenon, creating over 50 wallpapers and 60 printed and woven textiles in just 25 years.  Many of these designs exemplify his celebrated injunction to “have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful” and illustrate his insistence on skilled craftsmanship and high-quality materials. This lecture examines the history and production of Morris’s wallpapers and textiles and some of the different ways in which they were used.  It also considers why they continue to have such an impact on designers today.  

Jo Banham is a freelance curator, lecturer and writer. From 2006-2016 she was Head of Adult Learning at the Victoria & Albert Museum, and before that Head of Learning and Access at the National Portrait Gallery, and Head of Public Programmes at Tate Britain. She has also been Curator of Leighton House and Assistant Keeper at the Whitworth Art Gallery. She has published on many aspects of Victorian and early 20th century decoration and interiors. She recently curated an exhibition on William Morris and the Arts and Crafts Movement for the Juan March Fundacion in Madrid and the Museu Nacional d’Art Catalunya in Barcelona and she is currently writing a book on the History of Wallpaper. She is also Director of the Victorian Society Summer School.

Would Rembrandt have painted the 'Nightwatch' (1642) without Frans Hals having created his many 'doelen' group portraits?   Hals (c.1582/3-1666) based in Haarlem, significantly developed the very Dutch type of group portraits of Civic Guard companies along with portraits of gatherings of those who wanted to be commemorated for having done their civic duty for their Dutch city.  How did he change the Haarlem School?   What makes Hals so special in his style of portraiture?   With his dazzling brushwork, was he, as some have argued, "the first Impressionist"?

Hilary Willams: Formerly a curator and Print Room Superintendent at the British Museum, now Art History Education Officer in the Department of Learning & National Partnerships at the Museum. Lectures for BM and Wallace Collection. Founding Artistic Director of The Arts Society of North Kent Evening. Specialist in 17th century art and has published on Rembrandt. Hilary has vast experience of giving gallery talks, of lecturing and of leading art history tours in UK, Europe, New York and Boston. For the Royal Collection Trust, she has guided Special Interest Private Tours of the State Apartments at Buckingham Palace.

Had his older brother Henry not died in 1612, Charles I would never have been King. Had Van Dyck not arrived at the Stuart Court the stiff body language of Jacobean portraiture may never have been enlivened by the introduction of Renaissance values, giving rise to the splendour of Baroque. Van Dyck transformed the awkward and ungainly Charles; through his portraits the tiny King (and his even tinier wife) seemed to grow in stature. We explore the way in which Van Dyck’s male sitters exuded elegance, and why - with his depiction of sumptuous satins and shimmering silks - he was hailed as ‘the first that ‘ere put ‘ladies’ dress into a careless romance’.

Jacqui Ansell read History of Art and Theory at the University of Essex then gained an MA in History of Dress from the Courtauld Institute. Formerly an Education Officer at the National Gallery, London, and a tutor and writer for the Open University, she lectures regularly on the public programmes of the National Gallery, National Portrait Gallery and Wallace Collection. She's an expert on Court Dress, Grand Tour portraiture and Welsh Costume as well as dating and decoding dress in portraits, and has contributed specialist essays on these topics for the Wallace Collection, and Philip Mould, as well as contributing to numerous National Gallery podcasts. Jacqui is a Senior Lecturer at Christie's Education, London where she tutors courses on art, jewellery, watches and the art market, and has recently written and presented an online courses on women artists 1500-1900 (available to study at any time). Her 2023 lecture tour of New South Wales for the Australian Art Society was very well received.

This lecture ties in with the themes of the forthcoming Royal Academy exhibition: Michelangelo, Leonardo, Raphael, Florence, c. 1504 (Nov 2024 - Feb 2025)

The beginning of  the sixteenth century in Florence was an exhilarating place for an artist to work, brimming with new ideas and approaches. For a brief but intense period Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo and Raphael coincided in Florence. These are the years of Mona Lisa, David and Raphael’s many serene Madonnas. 

This lecture explores the rivalry between these artists and the impact that their work had on the young Raphael.

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.

The best garden you may never have heard of! For 15 years The Salutation was open to the public in East Kent. Designed by sir Edwin Lutyens, it oozes the classic romance of an English garden. In 2018 it was voted Britain’s most romantic hotel and was the only garden open to the public to win a gold award from Kent Wildlife Trust for gardening for wildlife. Steve was head gardener at The Salutation for 17 years and shares the history, design, planting style and stories of a garden that became one of the most visited gardens in Kent before it closed in 2020.

Steve has been perfecting his art for 30 years. After studying at Hadlow College in Horticulture and Merrist Wood college studying Arboriculture, he spent several years as a highly respected private gardener, tree surgeon and designer. In 2005, he joined The Salutation to helm its huge restoration project, setting out a 5-year plan of restoration that was completed on time and within budget. 

Accolades include appointment to the RHS Herbaceous Committee and membership of the RHS plant trial forums, multiple RHS Gold medal winner, Best in Show Hampton Court 2019. Steve has appeared on TV several times including Gardeners World.

Steve is an international lecturer talking on many gardening topics all firmly rooted in his practical gardening life.

Some of the most iconic images of the 20th century were created, not for galleries or private patrons, but for record sleeves. The zebra crossing immortalised on the cover of the Beatles’ Abbey Road is the site of a pilgrimage for people traveling thousands of miles to recreate this famous scene. Album covers have been adorned by Andy Warhol, Peter Blake, Yoko Ono, Richard Hamilton and a host of lesser-known artists and designers. We will explore the art of the album cover and reveal the close connections between visual and musical creativity in this vibrant period of popular culture.

Rupert Dickens is an art historian based in south London with a special interest in Dutch and Flemish 16th and 17th century painting. He works at the Wallace Collection as a guide conducting public and private tours and lecturing on aspects of the collection. Rupert is also a tour director for a Cambridge-based company accompanying groups on art-themed tours to the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Austria and Italy. He has lectured to large audiences on subjects as diverse as the game of chess in art and Madame de Pompadour’s artistic patronage in 18th century France. He studied art history at Birkbeck College before undertaking a Masters in Dutch Golden Age Studies at University College London. Before that Rupert had a 26-year career as a BBC journalist ending as an editor in radio news.

‘Cathedrals aren't just buildings - they are treasure houses. So why are they overlooked as museums?’  Simon Heffer, the Daily Telegraph

Cathedrals are monumental constructions, representing the greatest effort of Christian dedication in our landscape. They also house the most important objects associated with Christianity. In Janet Gough’s lecture accompanying her recent Scala paperback, 50 of these astonishing artefacts on display in the cathedrals of England and Wales and selected by the cathedral deans are brought to life. Ranging from sundials and astronomical clocks to stained glass, and pilgrims’ boots to Early English books and the first Welsh Bible, the National Churches Trust describes the treasures covered as ‘simply mesmerising’. 

For eight years the Church of England’s Director of Church Buildings and Secretary of the Church Buildings Council and Cathedrals Fabric Commission, Janet has written three illustrated paperbacks to encourage wider enjoyment of these amazing buildings, Director's Choice, Churches of the Church of England, Director's Choice, Cathedrals of the Church of England and most recently (2022) Deans' Choice, Cathedral Treasures of England and Wales. A Cambridge graduate in History and History of Art, Janet worked at Sotheby’s for nine years, was a trustee at the Churches Conservation Trust, the Museum of Fulham Palace and the Friends of the V&A and guided and lectured at the V&A. Janet set up and ran an architectural history course of London around visits to significant buildings. Janet has also given tours and lectured on secular architecture and fine and decorative arts. Janet received an OBE for services to heritage in 2017, and in 2021 was made one of the first lay Canons of Bangor cathedral. Janet is happy to speak and develop talks on a whole range of matters relating to England's and the UK's ecclesiastical heritage.

The principal aim of this lecture is to understand better the films of one of America’s greatest film makers by placing his work in the historical context of Jeffersonian democracy. Although Capra’s films were mostly set in his contemporary America the lecture looks at the reasons why that rural idyll, so foreign to the growth of a modern urban country, resonated so powerfully with audiences during the Great Depression. Capra won the Best Director Oscar for three times in four years for It Happened One Night (1934), Mr Deeds Goes to Town (1936) and You Can’t Take it With You (1938). Probably his best film, Mr Smith Goes to Washington, was released in 1939, the same year as Gone with the Wind so the winning run came to an end. Finally I will be asking whether this spirit of small town America still exists in the post-Trump America of the twenty-first century. More worrying, is Trump’s America basically the latest version of Capra’s America?

Colin Shindler has been lecturing on American and British social and cultural history for over 20 years. He was awarded his PhD at Cambridge University and subsequently lectured on film for their History Faculty between 1998 and 2019 exploring its relationship to modern British and American social and cultural history. He also teaches a variety of adult education courses at Madingley and Higham Hall in Cumbria and has lectured on cruises.

Between 1975 and 1999 he pursued a wide-ranging career as a writer and producer in television, radio and film. He won a BAFTA award for his production of A Little Princess. His production of Young Charlie Chaplin was nominated for a US Prime Time Emmy. He wrote the screenplay for the feature film Buster and was the producer of various television dramas such as Lovejoy and Wish Me Luck. He has written three novels as well as numerous television scripts and radio plays but regards his greatest cultural contribution as choosing the title music for the police series Juliet Bravo.

His most recent radio play Leni Goes to Hollywood, about the German film director Leni Riefenstahl, was broadcast on Radio 4 in August 2021. Other radio plays for R4 included How To Be An Internee (about P.G. Wodehouse) and one on Private Eye & The Profumo Affair (Rumours). Both were selected by the BBC as Drama Podcast of the Week

He is the author of Barbed Wire and Cucumber Sandwiches: The Controversial South Africa Cricket Tour of 1970 which was short listed for the MCC/Wisden Cricket Book of the Year in 2021. He is best known for his childhood memoir Manchester United Ruined My Life which was short listed for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award.

His other publications include Hollywood Goes To War: Films & American Society 1939-1952 and Hollywood in Crisis: Films & American Society 1929-1939. I'm Sure I speak for Thousands of Others (2017) was a history of unpublished letters written to the BBC and his non-fiction novel Garbo & Gilbert in Love was an imaginative reconstruction of the infamous relationship of the two MGM stars. He is currently working on the television adaptation of his novel Hollywood Nazis. His next book is titled Granada Land: Coronation Street and the Emergence of the North 1960-1970. 

The county of Kent has been irresistibly attractive to artists from the earliest times. Depictions of Kent have been at the forefront of new artistic movements though the centuries and have been pivotal to the development of English art. This talk takes a pictorial journey through paintings of the county to uncover what attracted painters to Kent and how they chose to depict its places.

Dr Lydia Goodson is an art historian and lecturer specialising in the art and material culture of Renaissance Italy. After a career in television production and raising a family Lydia returned to academia and now holds a BA in Renaissance History, an MA in History of Art and was awarded her PhD in 2020 from the Warburg Institute of the University of London, for her thesis on painting and patronage in Renaissance Perugia. This return to study as a mature student has given Lydia a passion for the benefits of life-long learning and she hugely enjoys writing and delivering lectures for audiences of all ages. She is an art history tutor for CityLit and regularly speaks to other adult learning groups. Lydia’s research interests centre on painting production in Central Italy in the Renaissance. Lydia lives in Kent and the Umbrian region of Italy.

The importance of the role played by Byzantium as a link in the great chain of world history is an important theme. With its roots firmly in the Ancient World of Greece and Rome the Byzantine period – AD 330 -1453 – spans the medieval centuries. While much of the West was in deep decline Byzantium, mistress of the Mediterranean and centre of Christendom, was a symbol of wealth, power and cultural ascendancy. It was here, in the eastern Mediterranean that Christianity took root and spread, giving us the architectural forms and imagery that are still a part of the faith. We look at mosaics, frescoes and icons, opulent liturgical vessels in gold and enamel, silks, ivories, manuscripts and the centrally planned domed churches, designed as microcosms of the Universe. 

Jane is a freelance lecturer for The Arts Society and other arts organisations. She speaks several foreign languages and has translated a number of works of 19th century Russian literature for Penguin Books and Oxford University Press. She has a BA in Russian Studies and an MA in Byzantine Studies. She created St James’s Art Tours in 1998 and ran it successfully for almost twenty-five years before closing the travel company in 2022. She has travelled extensively and now offers online armchair travel talks over the winter months. She and her husband run an art gallery in St James’s, Piccadilly, which specialises in 20th century art. 

Raffles, whose name is synonymous with a luxury hotel rather than the greatest Buddhist temple in the world, was the enlightened colonal administrator of Java, Indonesia. He discovered the 8th century temple of Borobudur, hidden under volcanic ash, in 1804, acquired wondrous artefacts in Java, such as shadow puppets and textiles, now in the British Museum, and founded Singapore, the most important trading port in the East. This lecture tells the story of Raffles, a scholar and polymath, looks at the art objects he collected, reveals the mystical temple in Java and its radiant carvings, and shows the architectural heritage of Singapore, inspired by his vision, and its revival today as innovative art galleries and museums.

Denise Heywood is an art historian, author, lecturer, photographer and journalist. She worked in Cambodia for three years in the 1990s and has been a scholar of Southeast Asian art ever since.

Her books include Ancient Luang Prabang, also in French, and another on Cambodian Dance Celebration of the Gods, with a foreword by Princess Buppha Devi, daughter of King Sihanouk.

Now based in London, she is a lecturer for The Arts Society (formerly NADFAS), The Art Fund and The School of Oriental and African Studies (University of London) on their post-graduate Asian Art Course. She has lectured all over Britain, Australia, New Zealand, Southeast Asia, South Africa and Europe at universities, colleges, schools, travel societies and art institutions ranging from The Courtauld Institute to The British Museum, The National Trust and The Royal Geographical Society.

She writes for many art, literary and travel publications, has appeared on television and radio, leads art tours to Southeast Asia and Europe and lectures on cruise ships.

To celebrate the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence in America, explore 25 iconic works including Grant Wood’s ‘American Gothic,’ Dorothea Lange’s ‘Migrant Mother,’ Hopper’s ‘Nighthawks,’ of American art. Trace the history of America through paintings, sculptures, land art, and photography that exemplify vital moments in American history like the Gold Rush, the Civil War, Civil Rights movement, and so forth; key styles/movements like the Hudson River School, Regionalism, Abstract Expressionism, Pop Art; and showcase ground-breaking artists from the indigenous Native American peoples through to virtuoso portrait painter John Singleton Copley, Thomas Eakins, Hopper, Georgia O’Keeffe, Warhol, Kara Walker and many more.

Marie-Anne trained as an artist before gaining a PhD in Art and Critical Theory from the University of Sussex. She has lectured in art history for the City Lit, Tate Modern, the Course, Art in London, London Art Salon, Dulwich Picture Gallery, and many private art societies. marie-Anne also runs art history study tours abroad and is a Director of InFems art collective for whom she curates exhibitions and writes.

The 2023 exhibition in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam showcasing 28 of Vermeer's 37 known paintings has shown us there is more to Vermeer than his tranquil, peaceful, still and meditative genre paintings. Experimental brushstrokes, quickly painted in a wide range of topics, loved and collected by women. In this lecture by Dutch art historian Mariska, will introduce Vermeer the person, the city in which he lived, the range of topics he covered, his beliefs, his patrons and his legacy.

A Social Psychologist by trade, it took until the birth of her children to take up her love for the arts again. Heavily pregnant with number 3, Mariska finished her MA at the Courtauld Institute of Art in London, in Dutch Baroque Art. Soon after this she was lucky enough to lecture for the most wonderful group of students. She decided this was what she wanted to do, and set up Art Historical London offering art historical lectures, courses, tours, travel and events from London. Over the years this has expanded to events in New York and Amsterdam, and since March 2020 online. A fully accredited PTLLS lecturer, she also teaches on the public program of the Dulwich Picture Gallery.

Professional ecclesiastical historian, author and broadcaster for over 35 years, John has visited and recorded over 13,000 churches in England and Wales. He is a trustee of the oldest church preservation society in Britain - The Friends of Friendless Churches. Formerly an employee of The Churches Conservation Trust, John has also served as Photographic Curator of The Kempe Trust and Hon. Secretary of The Ledgerstone Survey of England and Wales. In his spare time he has written 12 books, leads specialist church tours and is a tutor at Denman College.

This lecture introduces us to the architectural writings and opinions of John Betjeman, discussing the history of the buildings he used as examples and exploring structures as diverse as churches, houses and pleasure piers. A man who made the unpopular fashionable and who was a pioneer in the subject of the sociological impact of buildings, John Betjeman was a popular but controversial figure. His work at the Architectural Review and his idea for a series of Architecturally-based guides should be as well known as his poetry, and it is a reflection on today’s society that they are so often eclipsed by his more popular verse. John Vigar was personally encouraged early in his career by John Betjeman and is a Trustee of a national charity of which Betjeman was a founder. 

Drawing on his own experiences as both a child and adult actor, Tyler Butterworth reveals the pains and the pleasures of a career in the theatre, and takes us through the various intricate processes of putting on a play from the actor’s perspective, from the casting session to the curtain call, and all stops in between.

On the way, he reveals how props can let you down at crucial moments, how actors survive when out of work, and how to deal with stage nudity.

Tyler 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 and was closely involved with NASA on a landmark commemorative tv series. Now, he works as a voice actor, recording audiobooks, documentaries and voiceovers, and he produces walking audio guides to cities across Europe for private clients on whatever subject he’s commissioned to do. They’re just like the audio guides you get in art galleries and museums but they’re out on the street. He lives in Sussex where he walks on the South Downs and the South Coast.

For all the things that have been written about the great Sun King, Louis XIV, he is best remembered for the creation of Versailles; the immense chateau which he built on the site of his father’s old hunting lodge and which became the seat of French government, the setting for all grand court ceremonial and the envy of every other European monarch. This lecture will be an introduction to the sumptuous state apartments, the vast gardens and pleasure pavilions, the spectacular entertainments which took place both inside and out, the collections of the King and the whole etiquette of life at one of the greatest courts in Europe.

Jane Gardiner has an MA in the History of Art, University of London. Trained at the V&A and continues to lecture there. Was Senior Lecturer at Sotheby’s Institute of Art for 17 years, becoming a Deputy Director of Sotheby's, UK. Has also lectured for the National Trust, the Art Fund, London University, Buckingham University, l'Institut d'Etudes Superieures des Arts in Paris, a private women's college in Saudi Arabia, on cruise ships and at antiques fairs and interior design conferences in America.

This lecture examines the life and times of Oscar Wilde from his Irish roots to his days as a student at Oxford and his meteoric rise to the heights of celebrity. We travel with him to the United States and examine his starring role within the artistic & theatrical worlds of late 19th century London. We visit his home in bohemian Chelsea and some of his favourite West End haunts. Finally, we learn how ‘tired of being in the heights, he plunged into the depths’ and became famous for being INfamous...

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, the Royal Opera House, 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 but whatever the subject, Simon will weave a wonderful story from it.

Christmas Day is celebrated as a major festival and public holiday in countries around the world, including many whose popuations are mainly non-Christian. In some non-Christian areas, periods of former colonial rule introduced the celebration, e.g. in Hong Kong; in others Christian minorities or foreign cultural influences have led populations to observe the holiday. Countries such as Japan, where Christmas is popular, despite there being only a small number of Christians, such as gift-giving, decorations and Christmas trees. 

Dr Graham Jones started his professional life as a musician in the British Army and over a glittering career spanning nearly forty years, he retired as the Senior Director of Music, Household Division and Director of Music, Coldstream Guards. During his career, he has recorded over forty albums. He pioneered a music education programme with the University of Salford for military musicians resulting in a new Master of Music in performance degree. Having retired from military service, he is now enjoying a second career as a guest conductor, adjudicator, guest speaker, lecturer, recording consultant and educator. Graham's charitable work includes event planning in support of the Royal British Legion and sitting on the London fundraising committee of the Army Benevolent Fund, the Soldiers' Charity.

Who really was Caravaggio?  So much has been written about Caravaggio the man, the artist, his impact and influence. Publications, films and articles have proliferated over the last forty years, sometimes creating confusion rather than clarification.  The lecture will be an opportunity to look at what has been recently discovered and a chance to reappraise his life and work, in the context of his contemporaries and followers.

Clare Ford-Wille has an Honours degree in History of Art, Birkbeck College, University of London. Regular commitments include Centre for Lifelong Learning, London University, National Gallery, V&A Museum, WEA, Morley College, the City Literary Institute, the Art Fund and National Trust. Study tours abroad.

From Burns to Byron and from Jane Austen to the Brontes; this lecture will uncover the fascinating stories behind some literary portraits of the Romantic period. We’ll look at various ways in which Romantic writers have been depicted in art, and how these likenesses have been received, both during the writers’ lifetimes, and posthumously. 

We will also explore the afterlives of literary portraits and their use in popular culture – from banknotes and fridge magnets to tins of shortbread and bottles of gin. 

How do writers’ portraits contribute to literary fame and celebrity? Do these images affect our perception of their lives and work? And to what extent may portraits of writers be said to be fictions themselves?  

Following a career in teaching, Annalie spent several years working on education programmes at museums and literary houses across the UK, including the Wordsworth Trust, Grasmere; Wordsworth House in Cockermouth; Jane Austen’s House in Hampshire; and the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford.   At Jane Austen’s House, Annalie won 2 Sandford Awards for Excellence in Heritage Education; she also worked with the British Library, the Bodleian Library, and Chawton House Library in promoting Austen’s work to young people. 

Annalie’s lectures focus on aspects of Romantic and Victorian literature.  She uses her knowledge and personal experience of literary houses - and their collections - to offer a unique perspective on writers and their works.  She is particularly interested in the material culture of writers’ lives, including the quirky and interesting; from the collar worn by Emily Bronte’s dog, Keeper, to William Wordsworth’s ice-skates. 

The lecture will trace the story of Banksy’s humble beginnings as a tagger on the streets of Bristol in the 1980’s to one of the most recognisable names in the art world. We will examine the reasons behind his incredible rise, looking at some of his famous stunts and discuss what his influence has been on the art market today and look at what his legacy, if any, might be.

Pepe Martinez qualified as a London blue badge tourist guide in 2011, graduating at the top of his class. Since qualifying as a guide he has specialised in the graffiti and street art of East London. Prior to becoming a London blue badge, he was a tour manager for 15 years, travelling extensively all over the world.  

This look at the life of Barbara Hepworth (1903-1975) starts with her childhood in Yorkshire and her attachment to its landscape. Her work was further influenced by the land and sea when she settled in Cornwall later in her life. The inspiration she received from nature, together with her work ethic, resulted in her wonderful works in stone, wood and bronze.

Elizabeth Strang attained a humanities degree through the Open University, with art as a main subject, specifically modern art. Recruited as a Guide when Tate Modern opened in 2000 and has since worked at both Tate Modern and Tate Britain, covering all aspects of art. Lectured on cruises for 3 years, specialising in 20th century art, and now lectures widely on the subject.

Mark Meredith is a writer, the founder of HouseHistree.com, and lectures regularly at societies, festivals and clubs in both Europe and the United States. After leaving Stowe School, Mark worked for twenty years as a plumber in London. However, his real passion has always been for history, particularly the history behind houses through the characters that conjoin to create them. His special interest lies with the great American houses and their relationships with those in Europe, both socially and architecturally. 

William Randolph Hearst had an obsession: In 1935, Forbes Magazine called him, “quantitively the world’s number one collector of Objets d’Art” and when he died The New York Times stated that during the 1920s and 30s, he alone had accounted for 25% of the world’s art market activity. But to where was this king’s ransom headed, and hoarded? Some of you will already know of Hearst Castle in California, but lesser known is his 5-story Gothic castle hidden within a Manhattan apartment block; his weekend home on Long Island that inspired the castle in The Wizard of Oz; his sprawling 12th century castle in Wales with its own ghosts; and, the Bavarian village he built around his mother’s 7-story schloss deep in the forests of Northern California. Through the unparalleled extravagance of the places he lived in and loved, we’ll take a dive into the extraordinary life of the man who Orson Welles famously satirized as Citizen Kane - the same man who changed the face of journalism forever and built 'the greatest publicity machine in history', but died paying rent to his creditors.

Ian Keable gained a First Class degree from Oxford University, qualified as a Chartered Accountant and then became a professional magician. He is a Member of The Inner Magic Circle. In 2014 he published Charles Dickens Magician: Conjuring in Life, Letters & Literature. He now divides his time between performing magic, giving talks and researching and writing. His latest book is The Century of Deception: The Birth of the Hoax in Eighteenth-Century England, published in September 2021.

The Century of Deception: The Birth of the Hoax in the Eighteenth Century

The 1700s was a period when the people of England seemed to be especially gullible.  They believed a woman could give birth to rabbits; a man could climb inside a two pint bottle and sing inside it; and where a blond-haired European could write a book claiming that he was born in Taiwan.  These hoaxes weren't just written about extensively in newspapers and journals but also brilliantly and amusingly depicted by satirical artists such as William Hogarth and James Gillray.  In this entertaining talk Ian demonstrates how 18th century hoaxes are memorable not only for their imaginative nature but also because of the differing motives of the tricksters.

2.30pm

“I could have been a married woman, a hospital sister or a literary woman.” The Crimean War took two years of Nightingale’s life. Much of the rest was spent writing, vividly and with black humour, on tough issues - the health of the army, sanitation, hospital construction, the nature of God and - toughest of all - Florence Nightingale. She was both musical and artistic, affected for life by Michelangelo’s Sistine Ceiling. “Imagination and poetry begin life. A child will fall on its knees on the gravel walk before a white cherry in bloom, to thank God for it.” (From Notes On Nursing, Florence Nightingale, 1861.) This lecture deals with aspects of Nightingale’s life before and after the Crimean War. With paintings, sketches and portraits from the Nightingale Museum at St. Thomas’ Hospital, by artists including Julia Smith (Florence’s aunt); Parthenope, Lady Verney (Florence’s sister), and cousin Hilary Bonham Carter.

Karin Fernald is known for her entertaining lectures on writers and diarists connected with the arts from the mid-18th to 19th century, and moving forward in time with Virginia Woolf. Extensive research into diaries and letters bring lectures to vivid life. Karin illustrates them with slides of contemporary pictures and portraits from varied sources.

2.30pm

The remarkable untold story of Carry On actor Peter Butterworth, and his wife, Britain’s first female tv impressionist Janet Brown, best known for her impression of Mrs Thatcher.

Using classic film and tv clips, personal mementos, and rare photographs and letters from his family’s unseen collection, Tyler reveals the private story behind his parents’ public lives.

It’s a journey that takes in MI9, the building of a theatre in the notorious WW2 Prisoner of War camp Stalag Luft III, nights at Chequers with a Prime Minister, This Is Your Life, and many more moments in their long, shared life in the theatre.

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 and was closely involved with NASA on a landmark commemorative tv series. Now, he works as a voice actor, recording audiobooks, documentaries and voiceovers, and he produces walking audio guides to cities across Europe for private clients on whatever subject he’s commissioned to do. They’re just like the audio guides you get in art galleries and museums but they’re out on the street. He lives in Sussex where he walks on the South Downs and the South Coast.

2.30pm

Art Deco has the reputation of being the most glamorous and popular style of the 20th century which was prevalent during the 1920s and 1930s. We will review the development of the style within the context of its social and economic environment and look at specific examples of objets d’arts, including silver, jewellery, furniture, ceramics, clocks and architecture. The range of designers, craftsmen and artists that we will contemplate will include, but not limited to, E-J Ruhlmann, René Lalique, Tamara de Lempicka, Jean Dupas, Georgia O’Keeffe, Eileen Gray, Romain de Tirtoff (Erté), René Vincent and English ceramicist, Clarice Cliff.In addition to some examples of domestic and civic Art Deco buildings in the UK, we will also touch on certain architectural buildings in New York, Miami, Mumbai, and Napier, thus confirming Art Deco’s full global reach and appeal.

Pamela Campbell-Johnston has an IMA Hons Art History, St Andrew's University. With over 30 years of lecturing experience to undergraduates, adult groups, and to Friends and Patrons of the Royal Academy of Arts as part of the Adult Education Department's programme of events, she has also conducted numerous guided tours and focused gallery talks on individual works of art. She specialises in British Domestic Architecture and Modern British Art and has over 12 years' experience at the Royal Academy. With work experience also undertaken at Bonhams, Art Loss Register, National Trust, Pamela is now a freelance art consultant and lecturer and recently curated a collection for the Lansdowne Club.

2.30pm

The history of this enduring and peculiarly British institution, from its origins in 16th century Italian commedia dell’arte through the influence of 19th century music hall, to the family shows that are still much loved today. On the way we examine the origins of some of the stories used in pantomime as well as such traditions as the (female) principal boy and the (male) pantomime dame. The talk is interspersed with personal anecdotes from the speaker’s years of working (and appearing) professionally in pantomime.

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. His main interests include architecture, history, transport and classical music, especially opera and operetta, and these are reflected in the wide ranging list of subjects for his lectures.

2.30pm

Alice tackles two giants of British figure painting: Lucian Freud and Francis Bacon. This lecture is a celebration of the chaotic and the carnal, evoking the spirit of 1960s Soho nightlife. Fleshy models, furious drinking habits, fractious tempers and fabulous fame combine in the story of these artists, whose life-long competition had lasting impact on each other and the art world. If you like paint, passion and personality, this talk is for you.

Featuring artworks exhibited at Lucian Freud: The Self Portraits, Royal Academy of Arts, 27th October 2019- 26th January 2020.

Alice White is a contemporary oil-painter, and a Tutor at the University of the Arts London and University College London. She has provided Guest Lectures at Kings College London, The Art Worker’s Guild, the Courtauld Institute of Art. Her essay 'A Painter's Perspective' is published in Alfred Cohen: An American Artist in Europe (Alfred Cohen Art Foundation and Ben Uri Gallery 2020). Her article ‘How to Look at Painting’ was printed in The Art Society Magazine (July 2020).

Alice’s solo show A New Wave documented her year’s residency as Artist for Animals at ZSL London Zoo. Recent projects include The Art of Science (Scott Polar Institute, University of Cambridge 2021). She regularly exhibits at the Mall Galleries in London. Awards include the Russell and Chapple Prize for an Outstanding work in Oils (Royal Society of Marine Artists 2017) and the Time Space Money Bursary (A-n The Artist Information Company/Arts Council England 2020).

2.30pm

Cleopatra, the woman for whose love’s sake Antony is imagined to have given up the chance to rule the Roman world, has been inspiring painters, poets and (more recently) film-makers for over two millennia. Their gorgeously voluptuous depictions of her offer insights into changing concepts of beauty, and into the racial and sexual assumptions underlying them. Showing images ranging from Roman portrait busts, through medieval illuminations, the glorious works of Renaissance masters like Michelangelo, the splendour of Tiepolo and the exoticism of Gustave Moreau to 20th century film stars (Theda Bara, Claudette Colbert, Vivien Leigh, Elizabeth Taylor and the Carry On team’s Amanda Barry), I will show how Cleopatra became a screen onto which artists have projected their wildly differing fantasies about exotic danger and erotic bliss.

Lucy Hughes-Hallett is a cultural historian and biographer. Her book on Gabriele d’Annunzio, The Pike, was described in The Sunday Times as ‘the biography of the decade’. It won all three of the UK’s most prestigious prizes for non-fiction - the Samuel Johnson Prize, the Duff Cooper Prize and the Costa Biography Award. Her other non-fiction books include Cleopatra and Heroes. She also writes fiction. Her novel, Peculiar Ground, is largely set in the 17th century, and narrated by a landscape designer loosely based on the great diarist John Evelyn. It was described as 'almost Tolstoyan in its sly wit and descriptive brilliance' (The Guardian) and 'full of drama, vivid characters, wit, gorgeous writing and fascinating detail’. (New York Times). In her short story collection, Fabulous, she retells fables from classical mythology, relocating them to modern Britain.

A Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and of the Historical Association, she has written on books, theatre and the visual arts for a number of publications, including The Sunday Times, The Observer, The New Statesman and the TLS, and for Radio 3’s Night Waves. She is Chair of the Judges for the 2021 International Booker Prize.