St. Petersburg’s dignity and grandeur is everywhere apparent. Peter the Great had before him a vast tabula rasa when planning his future capital at the beginning of the 18th century. The city he built was truly sumptuous – but it came at a price. This lecture tells the story of the buildings of St. Petersburg, but also the life that went on inside the buildings, focussing particularly on the city’s writers, musicians and artists, for whom St. Petersburg definitely had a personality – sometimes enigmatic, sometimes tragic - which they immortalised in their paintings, music and
literary works.

Having had access to the jewels designated Heirlooms of the Crown and with a spectacular collection of her own, the Queen Mother had so much jewellery to choose from over the course of her long life that it would be almost impossible to describe it all. This talk chronicles her passion for jewels by concentrating on a selection of items which are of particular gemmological and historic interest ..… and have an intriguing story attached.

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.

As the most senior of upper servants, the housekeeper typically carried a family’s secrets with her to the grave. She ran the English country house, controlled its female servants and conserved its many treasures – and yet she has not been remembered in history. Using old letters, secret diaries and neglected archives, Tessa has resurrected a series of fascinating stories from 19th and 20th century domestic service, at some of our most prominent households including Hannah Mckenzie a magnificent Scottish housekeeper.

One of four titles springing from my book ‘A Marvel to Behold’, Gold and Silver at the Court of Henry VIII. This lecture looks at the king and his world through a rather special lens of the institutions concerned with gold and silver, the Mint (which made it into money), the jewel house (where the king’s plate was stored) and the Goldsmiths’ Company (which controlled the trade and supplied the royal goldsmiths). At the heart of all this sat Thomas Cromwell, who we all know now through Hilary Mantel’s novels, but who is shown in a rather different light in this lecture.

“Today I gazed upon the face of Agamemnon”. The Bronze Age Mycenaean culture was first unearthed and named by Heinrich Schliemann the 1870s. His discoveries were astounding: relics of a dynamically enterprising people who created a scintillating and original new civilisation.

But who were the Mycenaeans? Why were they so successful? Where did their gold come from? What did they eat and drink? How did they worship? Who or what were they afraid of? What brought about their demise? Using slides, video, and a range of intriguing archaeological evidence, this talk will endeavour to get to the bottom of the enigmas about this extraordinarily advanced and artistically gifted civilisation.  

Tony has been a writer and director of historic pantomimes throughout England for over 30 years. He has researched its origins and evolution, from the commedia d’ell arte roots, to its first British representation in Georgian England, to the Victorian spectaculars, music hall & variety additions and ultimately into the modern age. Learn about the origins of slapstick and how Britain became the crucible of the pantomime form, independently from the rest of the world. Find-out exactly why pantomime is so popular, what makes it so successful and how it remains such a joyful celebration of all that is quintessentially British.

A lecture exploring depictions of literature in British art, from the beginnings in the work of Hogarth and his contemporaries, to Victorian interpretations of literary works by writers such as Tennyson and Shakespeare. How have artists brought great characters from books and poetry to life? This provides a glimpse of works by many different artists, both famous and less well known, and their responses to works of British literature.

Four men from Scotland, each influenced by innovations in French Art in the early twentieth century, produced colourful and memorable paintings. Each had his own focus. Samuel Peploe is noted for the precision of his still lifes, whereas Francis Cadell is remembered for his elegant women framed by Edinburgh’s Georgian interiors. George Hunter painted an eclectic mix of landscapes, still lifes, portraits and houseboats. The colourist who spent a large period of his life in France, John Fergusson, found his inspiration chiefly in the beautiful women whom he loved to
portray.

In an age where women had little public power, Isabella d’ Este (1474 – 1539) stands out as a formidable figure. She was one of the first and greatest female patrons and art collectors of the Renaissance. And her court in Mantua was filled with writers and poets of distinction. Her clever, educated and entitled voice sings out from thousands of letters which she composed in her meticulously designed study, and images – from Da Vinci to Titian – bring alive a woman whose eye for fashion was every bit as keen as her eye for art.

Please note Sarah Dunant will have hardback copies of her latest book The Marchesa for sale at £24.00. Cash only please.

Domenikos Theotokopoulos, known as The Greek, became one of Spain’s most successful Mannerist painters. Born on Crete and starting out as icon painter, he went to Italy and then to Spain where he remained, staunchly Greek and a foreigner, until he died in Toledo aged 73 in 1614. Despite professional success in his lifetime, he was a poor manager: constantly in debt and a regular participant in law suits. Some have criticised his work, wondering if he was actually insane or even if he had an eye disorder. Others have been unable to resist the intense spirituality of line, his towering, flame-like figures and jewel colours.

This lecture examines the unique buildings and structures associated with the UK’s canal network, with a vast array of distinctive designs, landmark features and unusual artefacts: only the National Trust and the Church of England have more listed structures than our canals.  Look out for lock flights and lighthouses; cottages and clock towers; warehouses and lots of whimsical architecture - our canals delight the eye and refresh the spirit.  Available also as a tour and lectures are always tailored to include local and regional examples which reflect the unique distinctiveness of our inland waterways.

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.

Since the pandemic, audiences have been behaving badly. They have booed opera singers, heckled comedians and fought in the stalls. Even at the best of times, all of us have been irritated by crisp packets, mobile phones and inappropriate conversations. But is this such a new thing? In this entertaining lecture, Mark Fisher revisits the audiences of the past to discover outbursts, protests and punch-ups. From the fatal Astor Place riot in 19th-century New York to the reception of Stravinsky's Rite of Spring, he looks at the stories behind the greatest controversies in the performing arts.

Charles I’s obsession for collecting works of art began when as a 22-year-old prince he travelled to Spain and saw the magnificent collection of the Spanish king, Philip IV.  On becoming King in 1625 Charles purchased the fabulous collection of the Gonzaga Dukes of Mantua which included works by Titian, Raphael and Andrea Mantegna’s astonishing series of paintings “The Triumphs of Caesar”.

In this lecture we look at Oscar’s great literary successes, beginning with The Picture of Dorian Gray in 1890 followed by 4 smash hit plays in 3 years.  We focus especially on The Importance of Being Earnest, one of the funniest, most performed and most frequently quoted plays in the English speaking world. Described as ‘A Trivial Comedy for Serious People’, it was of its time and yet ahead of its time, satirising the shallowness and superficiality of upper class Victorian society.

In Greek legend, Pandora was created with the express purpose of causing trouble to men which, by opening her box, she achieved. This lecture looks at the original sources for the story, draws parallels with both Eve in Genesis and Galatea in Ovid before showing how ballets, operas and plays from Coppelia to My Fair Lady and The Winter’s Tale to Educating Rita have developed the theme of a creation that runs out of control.

Between 1870 and 1914, at the height of America’s Gilded Age, no less than 454 heiresses exchanged their crisp, new American dollars, for musty, old European titles. Aside from the new lease of life now afforded to the previously cash-strapped aristocrats, the first task was to restore their crumbling, ancestral piles - many of which today are counted among the UK’s best-loved national treasures. But just who was taking advantage of who?

Indian classical music has a rich heritage stretching back beyond the thirteenth century. Its two major traditions - the Hindustani and the Carnatic - have given rise to some of the most beautiful and deeply spiritual music ever conceived. Yet Westerners tend to find it baffling. This lecture aims to break down barriers to artistic appreciation by providing an introduction to the major traditions, artists and concepts that form the basis of the Indian classical tradition. By the end of the lecture you will know your sitar from your sarod, your sarangi from your shehnai, and your tanpura from your tabla.

When the very first Chinese porcelains found their way to Europe, the beauty and fragility of the material led to their being mounted with precious metal and treasured alongside other rare and exotic objects such as ostrich eggs and rock crystal vessels. They were housed in cabinets of curiosities and exchanged as diplomatic gifts between great European rulers.

William Morris led a revolution against the products of the machine age. The first of our ‘passionate potters’, William de Morgan, was a friend of Morris who rediscovered the secrets of Near Eastern lustre glazes. In contrast, the eccentric and argumentative Martin Brothers created a range of elaborate salt glazed pots unparalleled in their imaginative breadth. Sir Edmund Elton, the ‘potter baronet’, made pots which combine startling glazes with exotic forms.

In 1932 the artist Edward Bawden and his wife Charlotte moved into Brick House, in the Essex village of Great Bardfield, initially sharing the house with another artistic couple, Eric Ravilious and Tirzah Garwood. It was to be the beginning of a fascinating artistic community.In the years before and during the Second World War painters, printmakers and designers settled in the village, relishing the peace while remaining within easy reach of London. While Bawden and Ravilious saw active service as War Artists (Ravilious dying in 1942), other artists captured the soon-to-change world of rural England through the Recording Britain project. By the mid-1950s a diverse, innovative but highly creative group had made Bardfield their home – much to the bemusement of the local villagers, who found the complex relationships and artistic focus of the newcomers rather baffling. In 1954 the artists invited the public into their homes and studios to see their work, starting the increasingly popular ‘Open Studios’ movement that now covers the country, and persuading some of their neighbours that artists could be quite normal people after all

synopsis to come

As a pioneer of literary modernism, TS Eliot inevitably influenced his counterparts in the visual arts. He was friends with several artists. Edward McKnight Kauffer and David Jones illustrated his work; Patrick Heron and Wyndham Lewis painted him; Jacob Epstein sculpted him. There are paintings inspired by his poems. And the reverse is also true; The Waste Land famously employs techniques borrowed from modern art. This lecture will explore some of those connections, while also taking the chance to display some of Eliot’s own artistic creations: the jokey little sketches he included in letters to children.

The Glasgow Girls, a group of women artists and designers studied and worked in Glasgow at the turn of the twentieth century. They contributed significantly to the development of the ‘Glasgow Style’, a distinctive branch of the Arts Nouveau movement of the same period. Several of the girls contributed work to Suffragette banners and jewellery.

Fra Newbery, Director of Glasgow School of art during this period, created an environment in which women could study, teach and develop their talents in both design and painting. The work produced by the principal artists is examined in detail. Exquisite embroidery, jewellery, ceramics and book illustrations were crafted by Jessie Newbery, Frances MacDonald, Ann Macbeth and Jessie Marion King,  whilst Margaret MacDonald Mackintosh, who devised  beautiful gesso panels and  lovely interior decor, is finally being given the recognition she deserves as she  emerges from under the shadow of her famous husband, Charles Rennie Mackintosh

Covering almost two hundred years of changing silhouettes, this lecture looks at how both men and women have shaped their style through a range of undergarments. Looking at corsets and crinolines; calf pads and sleeve puffs the range of unusual objects is always a surprise! 

The lecture tells the story of Mrs Anne Sykes. In 1838, she was given a diary on her wedding day in which she collected snippets of fabric from a range of garments. Rather than collect her friends’ and family’s autographs, she asked instead for a sample of their clothes, which she then carefully transferred on to paper and annotated. Found on a market stall in the 1970s, the diary that Sykes kept throughout much of her early adult life, contains 2,000 swatches of fabric, all neatly snipped and mounted. The result is an extraordinarily rich record of middle-class Victorian life, both at home and abroad. When it fell into the hands of Kate Strasdin, she spent 6 years unravelling the secrets contained within the diary.

** Change to our original programme

The source of the stuff of dreams, the poppy is a beautiful, fragile flower with immense power. Opium (from the greek ‘opion’ – poppy juice) is a hypnotic bringer of sleep, delightful lethargy and relief from pain. It is also highly addictive. Greed led to the introduction of this hugely desirable substance first to China, and then to Europe. The beguiling seduction of its effects led to its use to quieten troubled minds and calm agitated children and babies. Its use – often by those with troubled minds – led to the creation of great works of art in music, art and literature. Social and art history meet as this lecture unfolds.

Sculpture has the power to stop us in our tracks. It can be awe inspiring, thought provoking or fun and amusing.  Many sculptures are imbued with historical and cultural reference; statues, for example, representing remarkable men and women of the past. Modern sculpture sees the world from different perspectives that may be perplexing or enlightening.

The UK’s national collection of sculpture is arguably the finest in the world and is being catalogued in a unique and ambitious project called Art UK (www.artuk.org). The lecture explores a range of works from across the country and recounts some of the fascinating stories behind them

This is our first Evening lecutre-- 7pm start (doors open at 6:30pm)

ELGIN COMMUNITY CHURCH, BRIDGE STREET, ELGIN IV30 4DE

Entry: £5 for members and £10 for guests

J.M.W. Turner is widely admired for his oil and watercolour paintings but is less
known for his profound interest in architecture. Mary Rose’s lecture recounts how
Turner designed his own rural retreat called Sandycombe Lodge, an architectural
treasure near the River Thames.
After suffering decades of neglect Sandycombe Lodge has undergone major
conservation, opening to the public in 2017. The lecture explores Turner’s
longstanding interest in architecture as revealed in his paintings, the story behind
Sandycombe Lodge and the unexpected findings made during its rescue.

http://turnershouse.org/

 The history of the Jacobite court and its followers in Italy is both dramatic and tragic. Numerous artistic depictions provide a full picture of the court in exile and of the personalities associated with it. We follow the dying dreams of the Jacobite cause, looking at the Jacobite relationship with the Papacy, intrigues and spies, interactions with Italians, and relationships with the numerous Grand Tourists visiting from Britain. 

Dr Patricia Andrew has been a curator of museums and galleries, and Deputy Director of the Scottish Museums Council. She is now a heritage consultant, and a lecturer to a wide range of organisations including the National Galleries of Scotland and their Friends. Her research and publications have centred mainly on Scottish art and artists from the 18th to the 20th centuries, both at home and abroad, and a few years ago she won the Saltire prize for her book on 20th-century Scottish war art.

From the earliest days of warfare music has been used in battle to communicate orders, help give soldiers courage and to improve the morale of the Armed Forces. This presentation looks at how music worked in warfare and is it still relevant in today's military. Does it help sustain history, heritage and tradition or is there more, perhaps psychological warfare? Find out more in this unique presentation on the power of music.

DR GRAHAM JONES
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 a position unequaled throughout military music in Great Britain. During his illustrious career he has recorded over 40 albums and been responsible for the largest commissioning programme of wind band music in recent history commissioning over 30 new works for wind band. He pioneered a music education programme with the University of Salford for military musicians resulting in a new Master of Music in performance degree. Graham was made a Member of the British Empire by Her Majesty the Queen at Buckingham Palace for outstanding service to military music in 1993.

Having retired, at the start of 2012, from military service Graham is enjoying a second career as a guest conductor, adjudicator, guest speaker, lecturer, clinician, recording consultant and educator. He is also the Artist Director of London International Band Week, music consultant to Henley Music Festival, resident conductor of the British Imperial Orchestra, visiting conductor in residence at Troy University, Alabama, USA and guest lecturer on cruise ships. 

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. Graham is married to Susan and resides in Worcester Park, Surrey.

The Queen of Sheba is one of the most intriguing and exotic figures in history, who travelled with gold and incense to meet King Solomon in Jerusalem. Their coming together is one of the world's oldest love stories, as told by poets and artists in Ethiopian and Arabian folklore, and detailed in the wonderful Arezzo frescoes by Piero della Francesca. Her story encapsulates the history of ancient South Arabia and the Ark of the Covenant itself. Freed from historical constraints, the imaginations of classical artists and composers have run wild with fabulous palaces and surreal landscapes. 

MR CHRISTOPHER BRADLEY

Expert in the history and culture of the Middle East and North Africa. As a professional tour guide and lecturer he has led groups throughout the Middle East and Asia. Has written extensively on Arabia and is the author of The Discovery Guide to Yemen, Insight Guide to the Silk Road and Berlitz Guides to Libya; The Red Sea; Oman; Cairo; Abu Dhabi and Nile Cruising. As a photographer has pictures represented by four photographic libraries. A broad range of lecturing experience, including to the Royal Geographical Society and the Royal Institute of British Architects. As a film producer and cameraman he has made documentaries for the BBC, National Geographic TV and Channel 4.

Watteau is usually thought of as the quintessential artist of the French rococo: delicate, charming and dedicated to the pleasures of love, not as a carnal pursuit but as an encounter full of subtle wit and elegant conversation. This lecture explores how Watteau’s immersion in the worlds of theatre, music and dance allowed him to create a parallel reality: one which resembled real life on the surface, while hinting at a different realm beyond. Watteau’s most famous pictures: The embarkation for the Island of Cythera and Gilles are examined in detail; although they defied convention and remain elusive as to their exact meaning even to this day, they brought Watteau fame and the admiration of artists and public alike.

Timothy Wilcox

Timothy is a writer, lecturer and exhibition curator.  He is Museum curator at the British Museum’s Department of Prints and Drawings.

The 16th to 18th centuries in India witnessed a golden artistic period marked by a unique flowering of art and architecture under the Mughals.

The 16th to 18th centuries in India witnessed the golden artistic period of Mughal rule, marked by a unique flowering of art and architecture and unrivalled in luxury and opulence. These mighty Emperors were dedicated patrons of skilled artists, sculptors, jewellers, engravers, architects, poets and calligraphers whose creativity produced breathtakingly beautiful artworks and monuments, but importantly, Mughal art and architecture served as a highly successful form of propaganda, which provides a further fascinating topic for exploration.

Georgina Bexon is an art historian specialising in South Asian art who has lived and worked in the UK, USA and Singapore. Her practice includes lecturing, writing, consulting and collecting and she has developed a network of gallery and artist connections in Europe, the USA and India.
She holds a BA in Art History from Southampton University, an MA in Arts Management and Policy from City, University of London and an MA in Art History from SOAS, University of London. Georgina is a Freeman of the Worshipful Company of Arts Scholars and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and the Royal Asiatic Society.

DUE TO THE CORONA VIRUS OUTBREAK WE HAVE RELUCTANTLY DECIDED TO CANCEL THE APRIL AND MAY AND JUNE LECTURES. WE WILL LET YOU KNOW WHEN THE NORMAL LECTURES RESUME.

Although it has been told and retold in books and films, no story in the 20th century has caught the imagination more powerfully and poignantly than the tragic life and execution of Nicholas II, the last of the Romanovs.

From his childhood where he stood sobbing by his grandfather’s bedside in the
Winter Palace as he lay dying from the injuries inflicted by an anarchist bomb, Nicolas’s life seemed to be shadowed by the omens of disaster. At the celebrations for his coronation, the crowd of spectators ran out of control and thousands were trampled to death; when the people appealed to him personally during the strikes of 1905, he assumed they were rioting and had them shot down by the Imperial Guard.

Brought up by a powerful, iron-willed father, he was emotionally unsuited to rule the nation and allowed himself to be dominated by his wife who he loved with a passion that blinded him from her shortcomings. Determined to produce the son and heir to the Romanov dynasty, Alexandra was easily misled by mystical cults and charlatans peddling spiritual cures so that, when the boy she had craved so long was discovered to be suffering from haemophilia, she fell completely under the spell of Rasputin. Hypnotised by the healing powers he appeared to possess, she allowed this peasant monk extraordinary influence in St Petersburg, encouraging Nicolas to follow his garbled demands as though they were heaven sent guidance.

With the war threatening to destroy the nation and the people on the brink of revolution, Nicolas was forced to sign his abdication, the only act of his reign he undertook without the advice of his wife. For a time he was allowed to remain in captivity in one of his own palaces but, with attempts to rescue him mounting, he was moved out east where finally, in one of the most moving and memorable images of the modern world, he and his family were shot in a cellar.

Douglas Skeggs read Fine Art at Magdalene College Cambridge and has been a lecturer on paintings since 1980. He was the director of ‘The New Academy of Art Studies' for three years and is presently a regular lecturer at 'The Study Center', 'Christie's' course 'The History of Art Studies' and other London courses. Among his more improbable venues for lectures are the bar on the QE2, MI5 headquarters, the Captain's Room at Lloyds, and an aircraft hanger in a German NATO base. Overseas he has lectured in Belgium, France, Germany and Spain, and has taken numerous tours around Europe. He helped set up the Abercrombie & Kent “Private Label tours” and is presently cultural adviser to Ultimate travel

This lecture explores the birth of the Soviet mosaic from its roots in Islamic mosaics and Communist propagandist posters through to the question of preservation in post-Soviet Central Asia. We explore why Soviet thinking was so keen to bring art out of galleries and into public spaces, and how, in an era when Socialist Realism was the only permitted artistic expression, every public artwork came with a message, a value and an agenda. How did Soviet artists deal with the uncomfortable reality that Muslim Central Asia was a Russian colonial conquest? In what ways were gender, race, work, leisure and achievement important when it came to shaping Central Asians’ ideas of their own identity within the wider Soviet family?

Chris Alexander was born in Turkey (hence his middle name) 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, creating income for women. After a year in the UK writing A Carpet Ride to Khiva, he moved to the Pamirs in Tajikistan, training yak herders to comb their yaks for their cashmere-like down, spending three years there. Next came two years in Kyrgyzstan living in the world’s largest natural walnut forest and establishing a wood-carving workshop. Chris has recently finished rowing and studying at Oxford and is now a curate at St. Barnabas, North Finchley, and author of Alabaster and Manacle. He returns to Central Asia whenever he can and conducts tours there.

This lecture takes a look at life backstage at London's Royal Opera House and the tribulations and triumphs of working with The Royal Opera and The Royal Ballet companies. We look at the way artistic inspirations, the people involved and the very special Victorian building all function together to create world-class opera and ballet in a unique environment

Nigel Bates i

is the Music Administrator of The Royal Ballet and has been a performer for nearly forty years in and out of the Royal Opera House, including seventeen years as Principal Percussionist with the Orchestra. He has worked with many of the leading figures in the classical music industry and was also a producer for both the BBC's Maestro at the Opera and Pappano's Classical Voices documentary series. He is a regular contributor to the printed and online content of the ROH.

He has given lectures for over twenty years, including arts societies and conservatoires in the UK and across Australia.

Before the Victorians reinvented it, the traditional Christmas was a very different affair. Devoid of Father Christmas, Christmas trees and commercialisation, the emphasis was on gentility, tradition and sociability. Jane Austen set many scenes from her novels during the Christmas period exactly because this was a time for social gatherings. We’ll look at the balls, parties, dinners, games, traditions and celebrations that filled the festive season. Novels, letters, paintings and engravings are used to bring the Georgian Christmas to life.

Dr Claire Walsh

MA V&A and RCA; PhD European University Institute, Florence. Having previously worked at the V&A and lectured there and for the University of Warwick, now lectures for the Open University. Has lectured widely in Britain; at the Courtauld Institute of Art and Museum of London amongst others, and to specialist groups including the Art Fund, the Ceramics Society, the Costume Society and the Ancient Monuments Society. She has also lectured in Europe, the USA (including Yale and the Huntington) and Canada and has numerous publications.

Edward Burne-Jones rose from humble beginnings in Birmingham to the title of baronet and a memorial service in Westminster Abbey.  Together with William Morris, he founded the firm of Morris, Marshall, Faulkener & Co., providing furnishings and decorative arts, where Burne-Jones found his true metier in creating sumptuously beautiful stained glass.

Although not one of the seven original Pre-Raphaelites, Burne-Jones was often referred to as a 'Second-Generation Pre-Raphaelite'; but this lecture argues that he was actually the most complete Pre-Raphaelite and was responsible for the movement bearing fruit and maturing into the Aesthetic Movement and Symbolism, which dominated European Art at the end of the 19th. century.  Perhaps he should be recognised as the First of the Moderns.

Mr Alan Read

Holds Master’s and First Class Honours degrees in History of Art from Birkbeck College, University of London. Is a gallery guide at Tate Britain, Tate Modern and the National Portrait Gallery and has lectured at many galleries including the Dulwich Picture Gallery, Plymouth City Art Gallery and the NPG. He is also a London Blue Badge Guide and City of London Guide.

This lecture will provide an outline of Roman activity in the region, focussing  on cities which have largely been destroyed, sites which have been heavily looted and places which are now too dangerous to visit.

Young talented newcomers broke out of the conventional studio to revolutionise perceptions of  fashion, portraiture and popular culture.

We move around the world to look at some of her completed works as well as unexecuted designs.

This lecture surveys the work of both artists, their turbulent marriage and Mexico’s history after the 1910 revolution.

MS CHLOË SAYER

Freelance specialist in the art and culture of Latin America. Has lectured in the UK, Canada, Ireland, Mexico, Australia and New Zealand. Has curated exhibitions, and assisted on TV documentaries for BBC and Channel 4. Has made collections in Mexico and Belize for the British Museum, and is Research Associate in the Department of World Cultures at the Royal Ontario Museum. In 2016 she was awarded the prestigious Ohtli medal by the Mexican government for her long-standing commitment to Mexican culture. Her many publications include Mexican Textiles (British Museum Press, 1990), Arts and Crafts of Mexico (Thames & Hudson, 1990),  Focus on Aztecs and Incas  (Watts Books, 1995), The Incas - The Ancient World (Wayland, 1998), Textiles from Mexico  (British Museum Press, 2002), and  Mexico: Clothing and Culture (Royal Ontario Museum, 2015). Has also published articles in travel guides, newspapers and magazines.

MRS MARY YULE

Studied art history at Birkbeck College and the Courtauld Institute of Art (MA in 20th Century British Art). Assistant Director and Director of Grants at the Art Fund until 2006.  Has lectured for the Art Fund and Kingston University,and also at the National Gallery, the Wallace Collection, and Museums Association conferences and study days.  Publications include  A Place for Living Art: The Whitechapel Art Gallery 1952-68 in Artists and Patrons in Post-War Britain (2001) and articles in Art Fund and museum publications.  

He has produced “pots” of work in a wide range of art forms and this lecture will look at his vases, drawings, sculptures, tapestries and his “House for Essex”.

A whistle stop tour of the history of food as an artistic medium.

There is more to the world of street art than Banksy, Hidden Canvases is a beginner’s guide to the biggest art movement since Pop Art.