Arts Society Dulwich 1st lecture of 19/20 Thurs 10th October

[Artsoc2019]

Lectures are held in the Sixth Form Lecture Theatre, James Allen's Girls' School (off Green Dale, London SE22 8TX) at 7.30 for 8.00pm.

Guests welcome ?9 each Membership 19/20 ?49

GREAT 18TH CENTURY GARDENS: LANDSCAPES FROM HA-HAS TO HERMITS

Date: Thursday 10 October 2019, 8.00pm

Lecturer: Patrick Conner

The landscape garden was a great English innovation. In place of the formal patterns, clipped hedges and straight lines that were in vogue throughout Europe, William Kent introduced a new concept in the 1730s: a 'natural' garden full of variety, drama and surprise. Examples will be drawn in the lecture from gardens at Rousham, Claremont, Painshill and Stowe, and from the ever-ingenious designs of Humphry Repton. However, did the origins of the landscape garden lie elsewhere? Two imperial gardens of 18th century China may have helped to shape the great gardens of Georgian England.

THE GPO FILM UNIT - THE BIRTH OF DOCUMENTARIES

Date: Thursday 14 November 2019, 8.00pm

Lecturer: Howard Smith

This is the entertaining story of how documentary films started from the early French and Edwardian days of silent movies. Film was still at a very experimental stage and this lecture looks at the Soviet influence of avant-garde films like Battleship Potemkin and Man with a Movie Camera to the formation of the GPO Film Unit by the legendary John Grierson with Alberto Cavalcanti in the 1930s. The lecture will include clips from films like Coalface, The Granton Trawler, Love on the Wing, Spare Time and of course Night Mail, the classic film featuring the poetry of W H Auden and music by Benjamin Britten, which is a cinematic icon.

CELEBRATE, REJOICE, RISE UP: BACH'S GLORIOUS CHRISTMAS ORATORIO

Date: Thursday 12 December 2019, 8.00pm

Lecturer: Sandy Burnett

In this illustrated talk, Sandy explores how Bach brings the Christmas story alive in his Weihnachtsoratorium or Christmas Oratorio, written for Lutheran congregations in 1730s Leipzig. An overview of Bach?s life and achievement precedes an examination of this magnificent work, which draws on various forms ranging from recitative, arioso, aria, chorale and instrumental sinfonia through to full-blown choruses infused with the joyous spirit of dance.

STARRY NIGHT: VAN GOGH AT THE ASYLUM

Date: Thursday 9 January 2020, 8.00pm

Lecturer: Martin Bailey

In May 1889, during the most harrowing period of his life, Van Gogh entered the asylum of Saint-Paul de Mausole at St R?my as a voluntary patient. Despite the challenges of ill health and asylum life, he continued to produce a series of masterpieces which included cypress trees, wheat-fields, olive groves and sunsets. The lecture will describe daily life behind the walls of the asylum and look at Van Gogh through fresh eyes, with newly discovered material.

TO PLEASE THE PALATE AND CHARM THE EYE

Date: Thursday 13 February 2020, 8.00pm

Lecturer: Annie Gray

This lecture looks at food presentation and design over the last 400 years, from towering Tudor pies to unbelievably silly late-Victorian kitsch. It explores our changing notions of edibility and attractiveness and shines a light on the interaction between food and fashion. Its scope includes the 50s and 60s, so Fanny Cradock will be there in all her glory. Food is the ultimate artistic medium and has the potential to reflect fast-changing fashion in a unique way.

THE ANCIENT GREEK OLYMPICS: A VISITOR'S GUIDE

Date: Thursday 12 March 2020, 8.00pm

Lecturer: Neil Faulkner

In the Olympic Stadium, there were neither stands nor shade; you sat on a grassy bank in the searing heat. Naked athletes participated in foot-races, the pentathlon, horse and chariot races and three combat sports ? boxing, wrestling and the no-holds-barred pankration. The Olympic Village was a vast tented encampment with inadequate water supplies, heaps of stinking refuse and huge open latrines. The air was buzzing with mosquitoes, flies and wasps. By the end, no-one had washed for a week and you could smell the Games a mile away. This lecture will transport you to the Ancient Greek Olympics 2,400 years ago.

ART DOWN UNDER FROM THE CONVICT YEARS TO THE MODERN ERA

Date: Thursday 2 April 2020, 8.00pm

Lecturer: Val Woodgate

Responses to life in the strange new continent were initially seen through European, and especially British, artistic traditions. 19th century Australian Impressionism and the Heidelberg School challenged the dominance of the Victorian style, with Tom Roberts, Arthur Streeton and others producing works which became Australian icons. The First World War was a watershed in Australian and New Zealand history; no longer subservient to Europe, artists now found their own language to depict their unique landscape and culture. At the same time indigenous artists began to respond to contemporary life, while retaining the traditions of their ancestors.

PLEASE NOTE: This lecture is taking place on the FIRST Thursday of April 2020, whereas our lectures are normally on the second Thursday of the month.

ANCIENT EGYPTIAN ART - 3,000 YEARS OF TREASURES

Date: Thursday 14 May 2020, 8.00pm

Lecturer: Eileen Goulding

The Narma Palette and Meidum Geese from the Old Kingdom, the Senoswret III from the Middle Kingdom and the bust of Nefertiti and Nebamun paintings from the New Kingdom all indicate the wealth of Ancient Egyptian riches. They are a sample of the many discoveries that have been displayed and admired by millions of museum visitors around the world. This lecture will look in depth at these treasures, examining the techniques and materials used, who commissioned and owned them, their purpose and hidden meanings.

THE UNKNOWN ART OF GOTHIC IRELAND

Date: Thursday 11 June 2020, 8.00pm

Lecturer: Colum Hourihane

The term Gothic does not sit easily with the art that was made in late medieval Ireland. Representing a fusion of the native and the international styles, a wealth of art from metalwork to manuscript still survives. Extending from the thirteenth to the end of the fifteenth century, this art is virtually unknown in the outside world. This lecture will introduce those works and look at the broader world in which they were created.

ISFAHAN AND THE HISTORY OF PERSIAN TILEWORK

Date: Thursday 9 July 2020, 8.00pm

Lecturer: James Allan

The lecture explores the history of Persian tilework primarily through the monuments of the most beautiful of all Persian cities, Isfahan, though it will refer to buildings elsewhere in Iran. From simple monochrome and turquoise inlays in the 12th century, tilework in Iran developed in both decorative complexity and variety of colours, until, by the 17th century, enormous architectural surfaces were covered with brilliant ornament. But then comes the surprise, for in the 19th century, tiles are used for the first time to tell a story?

The Arts Society Dulwich is the working name of Dulwich Decorative and Fine Arts Society

Registered charity number 2