LECTURE PROGRAMME 2022-23
LECTURES TAKE PLACE AT ASHBOURNE TOWN HALL AT 2.15
October 12th 2022
The Cult of the South Pacific: From Cook to Gauguin
Lecturer: Leslie Primo
The Cult of the South Pacific: From Cook to Gauguin
Lecturer: Leslie Primo
Starting on the island of Tahiti in 1796 the lecture will reveal how artists romanticised the people of the South Pacific. Images of exotic lands and the myths of a paradise will be shown through the eyes of many artists including William Hodges, Benjamin West and Paul Gauguin.
We are very pleased to welcome back Leslie Primo who has lectured extensively at all the National Galleries in London and is currently at the City Literary Institute, Imperial College, London.
We are very pleased to welcome back Leslie Primo who has lectured extensively at all the National Galleries in London and is currently at the City Literary Institute, Imperial College, London.
November 9th 2022
The Red Rose City: Petra and its Builders
Lecturer: Michael Clegg
The Red Rose City: Petra and its Builders
Lecturer: Michael Clegg
A rose red city half as old as time’ is the last line of an 1840 poem describing Petra. Now we all know Petra from these lines or perhaps from the film Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade but in 1840 few westerners – and certainly not the poet - had seen the city. In fact it had been discovered only a few years previously, in 1812, by the Moslem scholar, Sheik Ibrahim Ibn Abdullah. But he was neither a Moslem, nor a sheik, nor was his name Ibrahim Ibn Abdullah. In this lecture we’ll uncover his story before studying the Nabataeans and their amazing desert city, learn how they made the transition from tent-dwelling nomads to rich and sophisticated urbanites, and study their fascinating not-quite-classical architecture.
Michael Clegg has planned and led many tours of ancient sites in mainland Italy, Sicily, Greece, Crete and Cyprus and excavated in Libya, Italy and the UK. He has also lectured extensively at home and overseas on the Classical World as well as the Egyptian, Minoan and Mycenaean civilisations.
Michael Clegg has planned and led many tours of ancient sites in mainland Italy, Sicily, Greece, Crete and Cyprus and excavated in Libya, Italy and the UK. He has also lectured extensively at home and overseas on the Classical World as well as the Egyptian, Minoan and Mycenaean civilisations.
December 14th 2022
A Dickens of a Christmas and God Bless us Everyone
Lecturer: Bertie Pearce
A Dickens of a Christmas and God Bless us Everyone
Lecturer: Bertie Pearce
Charles Dickens has often been proclaimed as “The Man Who Invented Christmas” and indeed on hearing that Dickens had died, a cockney barrow-girl said: “Dickens dead? Then will Father Christmas die too?” Dickens revived the Christmas traditions with his warm portrayal of Christmas in the domestic setting; with plum pudding, piping hot turkey, games, dancing and family cheer by the hearth. He was a man of extraordinary energy and talent: literary genius, reformer, public speaker, actor and amateur magician.
January 11th 2023
The Magic of the Moors
Lecturer: Brian Healey
The Magic of the Moors
Lecturer: Brian Healey
The Moorish legacy has left an indelible mark throughout the Iberian peninsula from colourful tiles and cuisine to glittering palaces and iconic gardens. However, it is only through an understanding of the sacred geometry at the heart of islamic design that one can truly appreciate its intriguing symbolism, and which underpins each and every corner of the most iconic and representative palace of them all, the mighty Alhambra itself.
Brian Healey is a professional artist, interior designer and modern language teacher. On cruises he is employed either as a resident artist, lecturer or destination speaker. He also works as an art guide through important towns in Europe.
Brian Healey is a professional artist, interior designer and modern language teacher. On cruises he is employed either as a resident artist, lecturer or destination speaker. He also works as an art guide through important towns in Europe.
February 8th 2023
Turbulent Times;Russian History through the eyes of its 19th century Realist Painters
Lecturer: Sir Anthony Brenton
Turbulent Times;Russian History through the eyes of its 19th century Realist Painters
Lecturer: Sir Anthony Brenton
Russia in the second half of the nineteenth century was a cultural powerhouse. The novelists (Tolstoy, Dostoevsky...) and composers (Mussorgsky, Tchaikovsky...) are well known. The painters are not. But the period saw a new realist school of art, the “Itinerants”, which broke violently with the earlier academicism and, in the run up to the revolutionary twentieth century, ruthlessly depicted and criticised Tsarist Russia with all its flaws.
Sir Anthony Brenton is a British Diplomat and commentator on public affairs. He served with the British Foreign Service for 30 years. Recently he has been on the news regarding the invasion of Ukraine by Russian troops – more turbulent times.
Sir Anthony Brenton is a British Diplomat and commentator on public affairs. He served with the British Foreign Service for 30 years. Recently he has been on the news regarding the invasion of Ukraine by Russian troops – more turbulent times.
March 8th 2023
The Great Valazquez at the Court of Madrid
Lecturer: Jacqueline Cockburn
The Great Valazquez at the Court of Madrid
Lecturer: Jacqueline Cockburn
When Velázquez moved to Madrid from Seville with his young family, his life changed and so did his art. Working for an often-troubled Philip IV, we can see changes in the King through the numerous portraits Velazquez did of him. We will read the King’s letters and unravel the relationship between King and artist. We will meet the courtiers, dwarves, children, ladies in waiting and bodyguards who surrounded him as well as the royal family.
Jacqueline Cockburn lecturers on European Art from 1790 – 1950. She runs an art tours company which has residential courses in Andalucía about the art of the region. As course director and lecturer at the Victoria and Albert Museum she runs events as well as working at the Royal Academy, Christie’s Education and the London Art History Society.
April 12th 2023
Golden Vienna
Lecturer: Ian Gledhill
Golden Vienna
Lecturer: Ian Gledhill
The Strauss family may have dominated musical life in 19th century Vienna, but other composers also wrote some beautiful waltzes and operettas. We look at the golden age of Viennese music, featuring the works of Josef Lanner, Karl Millocker, Carl Michael Ziehrer and others.
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.
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.
May 10th 2023
The Life and Work of Thomas Chippendale
Lecturer: Janus Slowikowski
The Life and Work of Thomas Chippendale
Lecturer: Janus Slowikowski
No cabinetmaker’s name is better known than Thomas Chippendale’s. This lecture examines the basis for his fame and concludes that he was to English Furniture what Shakespeare was to English Literature! It was Chippendale’s creative design talent together with his traditionally skilled craftsmanship which enabled him, through his cabinet making business, to design and produce some of the finest and most innovative examples of 18th century English furniture.
We are glad to welcome back Janus Slowikowski freelance lecturer, researcher in English furniture history and antique dealer.
We are glad to welcome back Janus Slowikowski freelance lecturer, researcher in English furniture history and antique dealer.
June 14th 2023
Peggy Guggenheim
Lecturer: Alexandra Epps
A short AGM will take place at 2pm before the lecture at 2.15pm.
Peggy Guggenheim
Lecturer: Alexandra Epps
A short AGM will take place at 2pm before the lecture at 2.15pm.
The 'poor little rich girl' who changed the face of twentieth century art. Not only was Peggy Guggenheim ahead of her time but she was the woman who helped define it. She discovered and nurtured a new generation of artists producing a new kind of art. Through collecting not only art but the artists themselves, her life was as radical as her collection.
Alexandra Epps is an official guide and lecturer to Tate Modern, Tate Britain and the Guildhall Art Gallery. Alexandra has a background in design and is a qualified guide to the City of London.
Main picture
Ilya Repin 'They did not expect him' veronnicaart
Main picture
Ilya Repin 'They did not expect him' veronnicaart