UNFORTUNATELY THIS EVENT IS NOW CANCELLED

SPECIAL INTEREST MORNING

TUESDAY 25TH MARCH

This event is in aid of our Young Arts Projects.

 We are very lucky to have Nicky Houston, BA (Hons), M.R.I.C.S., G.A. Cert. from Dawsons Auctioneers to talk to us about current trends in jewellery/antiques and then offer valuations on your precious items.

Nicky is the Head of Department for Jewellery, Silver and Watches for Dawsons and is happy to value jewellery and small pieces of silver.

Note that watches will not be covered on this occasion.

Please see the Dawson’s website for information about the company.

 The Details:-

Tuesday 25th March 10.00hrs until 12.30hrs

Doors open from 09.45hrs

Lecture starts 10.15hrs followed by coffee and cake at 11.00hrs

Free Valuations of Members items from 11.30-12.30hrs 

Please note: Members will be limited to bring just one small item of jewellery or silver for valuation.

Venue:- The Memorial Hall at The Hub (our usual lecture venue) Easton Street, High Wycombe

Numbers are strictly limited to 80 people.

Booking

Booking is now open for Members for this Special Interest Morning.

Tickets will be £10 for members, and £15 for friends and family.

We will open bookings for friends and family from March 10th, if numbers allow.

To book a place please email f.irwin51@btinternet.com, by 16th March with details of your jewellery or small silver item you wish to be valued.

Payment
Please make your payment to the Society's account only after Fritha has confirmed you have a place.
Details:

 The Arts Society High Wycombe

Sort Code:- 30-94-28,   Account number:- 51819468 

With the reference *your Surname & SIM* 

Any Questions? - please contact Fritha Irwin on f.irwin51@btinternet.com if you have any questions.

Please note booking closes Sunday 16th March

I do hope our members, friends and family will decide to take part in this interesting event and the opportunity to gain expert advice about their treasures.

 With best wishes

Janet Lancaster

Chairman, The Arts Society High Wycombe

Special Interest event of lectures and demonstrations, with the renowned conservator and restorer Julia Korner.

Tuesday April 23rd 10.00am until 13.00pm

The Hub, High Wycombe

‘The Conservation of Paintings and Frames’ with an illustrated lecture, practical demonstrations and worked examples.

**Bonus:- Bring along any painting or frame to gain her expert advice on the day **.

Julia is a renowned specialist and lecturer in fine art conservation and the restoration of paintings, sculptures and frames. She is also a valuer, passionate collector, advisor and curator of paintings and works of art. Julia worked for Christie’s for twenty years as a paintings’ specialist, building extensive knowledge of Old Masters, and of British, European and American paintings from the 1700s onwards.

Julia has worked independently in her own studio in West London since 1997. Here, she and her small team give specialist conservation work personal and expert attention through restoration, scientific analysis and research. Damaged paintings, polychrome statues, over-mantles, traditional gold leaf & gesso frames, along with unusual and exquisite handmade cabinets all emerge transformed by the conservation work, or created from scratch, under her expertise, knowledge and care.

She also acts as an advisor, valuer and exhibition curator for public and private collections, in the UK and abroad. She is an elected member of The British Antique Dealers' Association, The British Association of Paintings Conservator Restorers, The Worshipful Company of Arts Scholars, and The International Institute for Conservation. 

Format

This Special Interest event will be in 2 sessions with a break for refreshments.

Timing

Doors open from 09.15 with refreshments; with the event from 10.00am until1.00pm

Venue

The Main Hall at The Hub (our usual Special Interest venue) Easton Street, High Wycombe

Booking is now open now for this Special Interest event, via email and also in person at our lecture in April.

Tickets will be £30 for members and £40 for non-members.

To secure your place at this unique event please email chair.highwycombe@theartssociety.org.

Payment
Please make your payment to the Society's account by way of confirmation of your place(s).
£30 or £40 pp to the usual account…  using *your surname, SID* as the reference.
The Arts Society High Wycombe  Sort Code:- 30-94-28  Account # 51819468

Any questions?

Fritha Irwin will be happy to answer any questions or take details of your booking at the April lecture.

Please note booking closes Monday 22nd April

I do hope our members, friends and guests will decide to take part in this special event and this opportunity to gain advice on their own art work.

With best wishes

Janet Lancaster

Chairman

The Arts Society High Wycombe

Arts Society Thames

Invite you to a Special Interest Day:

Rome’s Southern Shores

On: Monday 3rd April 2023

Time: 10:30am until 3:30pm

Lecturer: Paul Roberts

Includes:  3 Lectures (2xAM/1xPM)

Refreshments: Morning coffee and Lunch

Venue: Bourne End Community Centre

Cost: £40 – to include coffee and a buffet lunch

Morning Talks 1 & 2: From Greece to the Normans: The Splendour of Sicily

These focus upon the rich architectural and artistic heritage of Sicily - the largest and one of the wealthiest islands of the ancient Mediterranean.  In the first talk we see the mysterious Carthaginians, and their distinctive culture, still visible on the small island of Motya, and then the Greeks, with beautiful cities such as Agrigento, and Syracuse and Segesta, preserving some of the Mediterranean’s most stunning ruins.  We see temples and theatres and the rich culture of these western Greeks;

Our second talk on the history and archaeology of Sicily begins with the Romans. Sicily was Rome’s first foreign province and its wealth, peace and prosperity, is reflected in the monument-filled cities of Syracuse and Taormina, and in the sumptuous ‘mosaic villa’ of Piazza Armerina.   After Rome, we see the influence of the Arab invaders and then finish with Norman Sicily - an extraordinary artistic flourishing, culminating in the mosaics of the mighty Norman basilicas of Cefalu and Monreale.

Afternoon Talk 3: Leptis Magna and Cyrene: Cities of the Sands

This looks at two of the mightiest cities of Roman Africa, lost under the sands for centuries now once more brought to light, and both today in the troubled country of Libya so currently unvisitable.  To the east lies Cyrene founded by Greek colonists, while to the west is Leptis Magna, first built by Phoenicians ‑ the ancestors of Hannibal – spreading out from their capital at Carthage.  Both cities have a very distinctive atmosphere. Spiritual Cyrene, filled with sacred Greek temples and precincts sits in a stupendous setting, on top of a great green mountain, rising out of the desert.   Mighty Leptis sprawls along the coast and was the birthplace of the mighty Emperor Septimius Severus.  With its great imperial suites of buildings - forum, basilica, stadium and arena - it is truly a mini-Rome.  We also look at some of the wonderful finds in the British Museum and elsewhere, which were discovered in these beautiful cities of the sands.

To Book Your Place

If you want to attend please contact Inka tel.# 07772 995409, or Claire tel.# 07587 142522 for further information or to book a place.

Chalfont Fine Art Society - Special Interest Day

Tuesday 21st March 2023

THE PRE-RAPHAELITES  - LECTURER VAL WOODGATE

At Chalfont St Peter Community Centre

Starting at 10.00am Coffee & Biscuits followed by 3 lectures plus hot lunch with wine or soft drink

Close at 3.00 pm

Cost £38.00 per person

Please contact Jane Mackay to book your place

01494 264702   or  janemackay000@gmail

A Special Interest Day arranged for all Area Arts Society Members and friends

for Join award-winning artist and food historian Tasha Marks for an exploration of art and the senses.

Expand your sensory appreciation of art, as we move away from being “viewers” and instead look with our noses and explore art through the history of food.

This special interest day is formed of two parts: the morning will be focused on edible art and food history, with a focus on sugar and spectacle; while the afternoon will be spent experiencing the storytelling powers of sound and smell.

This unique, multi-sensory special interest day aims to change the way we think about art, by discovering it through the lens of food and fragrance. 

Venue: Cedar Barn, Barn Lane, Hazlemere, High Wycombe HP15 7BQ (10.30am- 3pm)

Price: £40 (includes coffee and sandwich lunch)

Contact Heather Hespe on: acechilternhills@theartssociety.org

Chalfont Fine Art Society are holding a Special Interest Day

Tuesday 8th November at Chalfont St Peter Community Centre

10.00am - 3.00pm

£38 per person for 3 lectures plus hot lunch with drinks

Please contact Jane Mackay for details

01494 264702, or 07769 694000 or email : janemackay000@gmail.com

Can We Trust Art Experts?  Conservation, Forgery and Authentication by David Phillips

When we visit a museum, we confidently expect to see the real thing:  expertly selected and conserved objects whose authenticity is assured by scholarly expertise.   It turns out not to be so simple.

The Secret Surface:  how time and conservation transform the appearance of paintings.

The painting in the artist’s studio is all too often sadly transformed by the time it hangs on a gallery wall.  We take a trip through the paint layers to discover what changes, and how, and that past attempts to remedy the effects of time have frequently made matters much worse.  But museums rarely point out which pictures in a show are in fine condition and which are travesties.  We discover why.

Fine Art Forgery:  craftsmanship or conjuring trick?

How can forgers fool even experts?  Helped by a cast of colourful characters, we discover that forgeries can be laughably bad.  They often work so well only thanks to old-fashioned conmanship, because we all tend to see what we want to see.  But a few forgeries are brilliant, and when they are, are the forgers then as good as the artists they are imitating?

  Who Says?  Can we trust the experts on good and bad in art?

Art expertise is in a mess.  Disagreements over authenticity, for example over the (?) Leonardo Redeemer, undermine public confidence, and art critics’ enthusiasm for baffling contemporary work doesn’t help either.  We look at some notorious cases featured in the media to discover what makes the business so tricky.

Greek and Roman art created the foundations for much of our own art and for what we consider to be beautiful.We take a practical and philosophical look at how the Greeks and Romans expressed and revealed beauty in art forms that we still use today.The result is starting, being both alien and familiar.

The shifting sands of beauty become apparent, but what remains constant is our need to express a message in our art, a message that says what we consider important, admirable and maybe aesthetically pleasing too. Is beauty in the eye of the beholder, or is it in society's mores, and in the mind? What is certain is that a study of Classical art opens our eyes to view our own art- including our everyday art in our own homes- in a refreshing way.

1st Session: On the Shoulders of Giants: Greek Art. We trace the when, where and who of the art ancient Greece, seeing the giant leaps made in ancient times and giving context and meaning to the development of art in the Greek world.

2nd Session: A New Perspective: Roman Art was the child of the influences that surrounded her but then she added her own perspective on sculpture, frescoes, mosaics and architecture. This energy reached into daily life in pottery and glassware. Harking back but also new and vigorous, Roman art included the language of power. 

3rd Session: The Eye of the Beholder: A thought-provoking philosophical lecture on art: is beauty timeless?Or is it bounded by the times we live in? Greek and Roman art developed in response to their own society's priorities and the Renaissance revived their art but in its own image. How do Greek and Roman art help us to see if beauty is in the eye of the beholder?

Gillian Hovell BA ( Hons)

Ancient Historian & Archaeologist, Author, Educator, Public Speaker, Tour Lecturer and Presenter 

After graduating with 2-1 ( HONS) in Latin and Ancient History from Exeter University, Gillian worked in BBC Television and went on to become an award - winning freelance writer, author and public speker, specialising in archaeology, prehistory and in the Greek and Roman eras. She is a lecturer at the British Museum and York University.

Venue details & How to book your place

Our Venue for the day is The Memorial Hall at The Hub, High Wycombe HP11 1NJ

The price for the 3 lectures, coffee, biscuits and a sandwich lunch is

£35 for members and £40 for non-members

Please contact Fritha Irwin on f.irwin51@btinternet.com to book a place

Great artists are like buses: you wait years for one to turn up then two come along at once. It happened with Reynolds and Gainsborough in the 18th Century, with Turner and Constable in the 19th Century and now, thrillingly, in our day with Freud and Hockney.The sell-out success of their exhibitions in London testifies to the excitement that both artists engender.Hockney said that when Freud painted him it took 130 hours and that when he painted Freud it took him 3 hours! On the other hand Hockney's range of subject matter, experiment and challenge is far greater, almost akin to that of his hero Picasso.

This  talk  by John Iddon  looked at the careers of both men from Freud's legacy of being brought up in the  Berlin of the Weimar Republic and as the grandson of Sigmund, and of Hockney's journey from Bradford to swinging 1960's London and then to hedonistic California, back to Bridlington and now to Normandy and his ambitious and extraordinary recent paintings of the Yorkshire Wolds. The nearly impossible question was addressed:

Who is the greater artist?

John's  talk was informative and entertaining with many anicdotes about the painters and of the 50 members the majority favoured Hockney 

Over one hundred of our members and friends enjoyed the Special Interest Day and were priviledged to inspect numerous pieces of the Downton Abbey jewellery displayed by our lecturer Andrew Prince, which had been worn by Dame Maggie Smith, Elizabeth Mc Govern and Michelle Dockery 

The first session ‘From Downton to Gatsby’ related to the period  1890 to 1929. For the series 'DOWNTON ABBEY' Andrew was comissioned to make many jewels for the main characters, and this inspired him to create a talk based upon 'Downton' and the changing styles of jewels and fashion portrayed.

Jewellery and Fashion are often seen as two entirely separate and distinct fields of design, but this is very far from the case.

In his talk Andrew guided us through the extraordinary periods and events between 1890 and 1929, where the great Couturiers collaborated with the finest jewellers to produce Jewell’s of outstanding quality and glittering opulence .

In the second talk Andrew showed how the rise of Cinema and Hollywood had such an important  impact on fashion and jewellery design for the period from 1929 to 1959.

From the likes of Dietrich to Grace Kelly, he guided us through the various Screen Goddesses, how they were portrayed and what they wore to such dazzling effect.

He discussed and showed that with the development of advertising, labour saving devices and leisure time, people had more opportunities to enjoy themselves and spend money on the finer things in life as well as how political events influenced design and what was worn.

Andrew also showed that the Belle Époque and Art Deco styles did not end with the outbreak of the Second World War but combined to flower again with Christian Dior’s “New Look”.

We were delighted to welcome Andrew Prince lecturer and jeweller to High Wycombe. Andrew has made jewellery for numerous films and personalities and indeed had been commissioned by the V& A, in 2002, to produce a collection of jewels to accompany the resplendent 'Tiaras, Past and Present' exhibition. He had been interested in jewellery and fashion since an early age. 

This study day took a critical look at the vast range of public sculpture in our midst today, and discusses what makes a successful public sculpture commission. Contemporary public sculpture often attracts a mixed reception; while many works stand the test of time, outstanding examples are relatively rare, and there is much that is second rate.

The first session considered the role of the public sculpture in the 'brave new world' of post-war Britain, and went on to consider why public sculpture is booming today, with new works appearing all the time in our towns and cities.

The second session looked in more detail at the commissioning process, and at corporate commissions, modern memorials, and sculpture created specifically as part of the social and economic re-generation of a city or a region.

The final session considered the increasing popularity of temporary sculptural projects like the celebrated  Poppies at the Tower of London, and the Fourth Plinth series in Trafalgar Square.Temporary public sculpture is a relatively new development that, at best, brings social and spiritual uplift to the urban scene.We were asked ‘Does it point the way to the Future?’

We were delighted to welcome Mary Yule to High Wycombe for this study day. Mary  has studied art history at Birkbeck College and the Courtauld Institute and gained an MA in 20th Century British Art. She was Assistant Director and Director of Grants at the Art Fund until 2006. Mary 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. Her publications include  A Place for Living Art : The Whitechapel Gallery 1952-68  in Artists and Patrons in Post-war Britain (2001) and articles in the Art Fund and museum publications.

Christopher told us about all aspects of Islamic Art in some of the most important cities, sites and museums in the world particularly Cordoba, Cairo, Damascus, Isfahan and Samarkand. From its Arabian heartland comes a wealth of decorated ceramics, carved wood, metalwork, glass, tiles, mosaics, carpets, architecture and gardens.

We were told how Islamic Art encompasses the great wealth of artistic treasures inspired by the Islamic religion, but there is also non-religious art such as colourful dancing figures from the pleasure palaces of Persia; the simple mud brick decorations of a merchant caravanserai; or the delicate carved marble of arguably the world's most beautiful building- the Taj Mahal.

Christopher explained how we tend to think of all Islamic Art in a religious context, but within these regions are many non - Muslim communities of Copts, Jews, and Zoroastrians whose own art is inextricably linked. Despite unifying themes of mosques, minarets, madrasses and mausoleums to be found between Morocco and China, each region has its own  history that influences the decorative art we see today .

This was an enlightening day.

We welcomed Christopher Bradley expert in the history and culture of the Middle East and North Africa. As a professional tour guide and lecturer he had lead groups throughout the Middle East  and Asia. He 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; Cairo; Adu 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 BBC, National Geographic TV and Channel 4.

This Study Day considered the life and work of one of the most outstanding figures of the Victorian age.  Writer, painter, designer and political activist, Morris instigated a revolt against mass-produced, poorly designed, and badly made objects.  Under Morris’s ethos everyday items were elevated to works of art and the remit of the artist was broadened to include both the fine and decorative arts.  The means of production was all important- ideally objects were to be designed and made by the same man, paying careful attention to techniques and materials, as they had been in the Medieval period.  Morris wanted work to be meaningful, for the artisan to take pleasure in what he created and to be paid a fair wage for his labours.  This led to a revival of the Guild system and the reintroduction of craft skills and traditions. But it also required the consumer to be re-educated; customers had to be mindful of the conditions in which goods are made.  Morris was most productive as a designer in the 1870s but he became increasingly demoralised as his work could only be purchased by the wealthy.  Handcrafting made the objects too expensive for the working class man.  In taking art to the masses he may have failed but he laid the foundations for succeeding generations, who tried to make well designed and well made objects available to all.

It was the generation that followed William Morris that established the Arts and Crafts movement.  The Art Workers Guild and the Home Arts and Industries Association were founded in 1884, followed by the Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society in 1887, which provided a showcase for craftwork.  During the 1890s leading architects and designers emerged: Voysey, Ashbee, Lethaby, Gimson and the Barnsleys.  For brief period England led the way in ‘advanced’ or ‘progressive’ design.  The Germans even dispatch a spy to study the phenomena of The English House!   Guilds were formed and craftsmen created rural utopias in the Cotswolds, Sussex and Surrey.  Gimson and the Barnsley settled first at Pinbury Park and then in Sapperton; Ashbee and the Guild of Handicraft moved from the Mile End Road to Chipping Camden; and in Broadway Gordon Russell began his career at the Lygon Arms. The movement comes to a natural end with the First World War.   The British retreated back into Neo-Georgian and it was the Germans and the French who took up the challenge of ‘modernity’ in the post-war era.  .

------------------------------------------------------------------------

We were delighted to welcome ​Dr Anne Anderson FSA  who was from 1993-2007 the Senior Lecturer on Fine Arts Valuation degree courses at Southampton Solent University.  Currently she is Hon Research Fellow at Exeter University and an Associate of the Sussex Centre for Folk Lore, Fairy Tales and Fantasy.  She has been a Fellow of the Henry Francis Du Pont Winterthur Museum and Library, the American Antiquarian Society and the Huntington Library in California.  She has lectured for The Arts Society (previously NADFAS) since 1994.
 

For those who attended our taster lecture "Picasso’s Women" and were inspired to join our new society we welcomed back Valerie Woodgate, Lecturer and Guide at both Tate Britain and Tate Modern,for the study day entitled ,

"Making Sense of Modern Art"

"Society has changed more rapidly in the twentieth century than at any time in the previous four thousand years, so did art!"

This study day  explained many modern movements and the artistic response to political and social upheaval, including both world wars, which inspired some of the great masterpieces of modern art.

Recent decades have seen a questioning of the nature and language of art, with Post- Modernism and the Turner Prize.’

We will travelled through the world of art from the early twentieth  century of Matisse,Picasso, Dali, Sutherland and Bacon to the sixties with Lichtenstein and Warhol up to the modern day .

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

We were delighted to welcome Valerie Woodgate who is  is a Lecturer and Guide atTate Britain and Tate Modern, she is also a.Lecturer in other major galleries including the Dulwich Picture Gallery.  She also lectures on religious art  in churches and cathedrals and is a scriptwriter for the Live Paintings Trust (art for the blind and partially sighted).

THE ARTS SOCIETY

CHILTERN HILLS STUDY DAY SERIES

AUTUMN 2017

Three Study Days with Anne Haworth

NOTE:           Although the three study days are linked, each day can stand alone.

Venue:      The Hub, Easton Street, High Wycombe HP11 1NJ

Time:         Coffee served from 10am, start 10.30, end 3 – 3.30pm

Cost:         £30 per day, £90 for all three, includes refreshments and sandwich lunch

Tuesday 26th September

“The Silk Road and the Sea: Europe’s Gateways to the Treasures of the East”

Lecture 1:    A general chronology of mercantile exchanges between East and West, commencing with the Silk Road and progressing into the Middle Ages with the reported visit of Marco Polo and the history of Medieval merchants, and the subsequent developing trade routes from the Middle East through the Eastern Mediterranean and on to countries across Europe.

This history will then move on to the Levant Company, the great Age of Discovery and the Portuguese Voyages to the East followed by the Dutch and English East India Companies. This subject is fascinating in its own right but it will also create the framework for the lectures to follow. Commodity Imports such as tea, coffee and chocolate will be touched on and referred to again in a later lecture. 

Lecture 2:     A focus on luxury products traded from the East in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance including silk, ivory, shells, ultramarine pigments, precious stones rock crystal, early porcelain, jewels etc.

Lecture 3:     'The Merchants of Venice'

The subject extends to spices, aromatics and rare woods with a focus on the city of Venice as the great intermediary for trade between East and West. This will go into more detail than in lecture 1 and will also look at Venetian architecture, and consider both the effect of spices on Venetian cuisine and also luxury crafts created in Venice using materials and designs imported from the East.

Wednesday 18th October

“Precious Cargoes from the East”

Lecture 1:    The East India Companies: Portuguese, Dutch, British

A brief history of the Portuguese, Dutch and British East Indian Companies and their developing trade in the East, exemplified in detail by the export porcelain trade from China

Lecture 2:    The 17th century trade with Japan by the Portuguese and then the Dutch with a detailed look at prized lacquer luxuries and kakiemon and imari porcelains, including the processes of how they were made.

 Lecture 3:    Turning to India, A celebration of Indian fabrics from chintz used both in costume and in home decoration, the fashion in pashmina shawls and muslin in the neo-classical period. As well as textiles we will cover Goanese luxuries, diamonds and other gems, and the story of Jean-Baptiste Tavernier.

Tuesday, 21st November

“Orientalism and the European Imagination”

Lecture 1:    17th and 18th century Chinoiserie

which draws in all elements from day 2 but which adds wallpaper, later Chinese silks and general exotica together with the European response with their own fantastic and exaggerated porcelains.

Lecture 2:    The late Victorian Aesthetic Movement and Japonism, the paintings of James McNeil Whistler, furniture of E W Godwin, silver of Christopher Dresser, jewellery from Paris, the influence of prints on the Impressionists, the great exhibitions such as Philadelphia which included Japanese artefacts, Japanese designs for the House Beautiful, the Peacock Room, Oscar Wilde, and tastes and fashions of the period.

 Lecture 3:    This will focus on couture and jewellery (such as the Indian designs of Cartier) and will look at the inspiration of Japan, the exoticism of Diaghilev's Ballets Russes and Middle Eastern fantasies derived from the Arabian Nights and Scheherezade.

Couturiers include Liberty and kimonos, Paul Poiret, the Callot Soeurs (to an extent) and the impact on Art Deco. Anne concludes with the fascinating subject of the 1950s to 1970s with Bohemian styles that the audience will recognise, the hippy trail to Afghanistan, India and Marrakesh. Included will be some amazing fashion images from editions of Vogue magazines from this period.

Our lecturer: Anne Haworth

Anne has lived and worked in Shanghai and is still as regular a visitor to China as she can manage. She is a considerable ceramics specialist, having worked in that area at Christie’s and Bonhams, but she also covers a wide range of Oriental art and artefacts, notably as a lecturer at the V&A and Buckingham Palace.

​​For Enquiries and Booking form go to Documents tab or contact Lisa Green on 01494 521750 or email lisachilternhills@gmail,com, or send an s.a.e. to her at 26, Brands Hill Avenue, High Wycombe HP13 5QA

​

Opera is an elaborate, even extravagant, art form. It requires the work of composers, librettists, conductors, directors, designers, wardrobe, wig and prop technicians, as well as orchestra, chorus, soloists, stage crew, and an audience in front of which to perform. Simon Rees has been given access to his former company, Welsh National Opera, to take photographs of every step of the production and we welcomed him to enlighten us on the production of an Opera.

Session 1 This session looked at the conception of the opera from libretto to musical score, then the work of the director and designers in realising this on the stage. Set and costume designs are fragile works on paper, but some have lasted for centuries, and we looked at these as well as more recent works. Set models and their presentation are an important part of the production process.

Session 2 Costume designs are fitted to individual singers and made to the usual needs of performers – space to move and breathe being particularly important. Props are made from original designs or from photographs or from photographs of museum objects, or purchased in junk shops and markets. Sets are built, both as painted flats and as 3-D objects, in the making workshop of the opera company. These are assembled in the rehearsal room and the process of rehearsal can begin.

Session 3 The first piano-vocal rehearsals take place in the rehearsal rooms and then move to the theatre. We looked at the theatre’s mechanisms for changing scenery and at the back-stage environment of dressing-rooms. After a week of stage-piano rehearsals, the orchestra enters the pit for stage-and-orchestra rehearsals followed by the dress rehearsal and the first night. This is when the audience and critics arrive at the venue, and the production is finally unveiled.

By the end of these three sessions, we had a comprehensive opportunity to experience the art of opera, as seen by one of Britain’s most experienced operatic dramaturgs.

We were delighted to welcome Simon Rees. Originally from Colchester he studied English Literature at Trinity College Cambridge. From 1989 to 2012 he was Dramaturg at Welsh National Opera in Cardiff, working with set, costume and props designers and giving lectures on their opera production. Now a freelance writer and lecturer, he lectures widely on opera, art history and literature and has published several novels, poems and opera.

First Session: The Secret Surface: how time and conservation transform the appearance of paintings.

The moment the artist lays down the brush the ingredients of oil paintings embark on a war with one another that lasts centuries and takes no prisoners. In this talk we started to understanding the damage wrought by time. We learnt about discolouring and cracking and discover why details painted out by artists mysteriously reappear with time. Then we saw the transformations wrought by conservation treatments through the ages.  With before and after photos, we considered some famous controversies: the treatments of Holbein’s Ambassadors and Leonardo’s Virgin and Child with Saint Anne, and why the Lourve will not clean Mona Lisa any time soon.

Second Session: Fine Art Forgery: craftsmanship or conjuring trick?

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and the forgers know it can be put there as much by hope and expectation as by the object before the buyer. Playing on the psychology of the viewer, like a conjurer, is just as important as replicating the physical characteristics of old works of art. Careful connoisseurs consider stylistic, technical and archival evidence before making an attribution, but the pace and intrigue of art dealing do not always leave scope for careful investigations. Scientific and documentary evidence can also be faked as readily as the artworks themselves. Market pressures favour the forger in a battle of wits that can turn the gallery into a hall of mirrors like John Le Carre’s world of espionage. We met a cast of colourful characters, including the celebrity fakers, Han van Meegeren and Tom Keating; “Professor” Drewe and his collaborator John Myatt: and the Greenhalgh family of Bolton, who found themselves in court in 2008. They are only the latest in a long tradition, and we ended with the mysterious, never identified Spanish Forger .

Third Session: Who says? Can we trust the experts on good and bad in art?

We can mostly trust experts like the ones on the Antiques Roadshow. We explored what is involved in that kind of expertise, taking Wedgewood Jasperware as a case-study. But connoisseurship has a deplorable record when attributions to major artists are at stake, with Van Gogh expertise, for example, in chaos. Modern art practices add layers of complication: a blazing dispute is underway (with millions of dollars at stake) about what is authentic, and what is not, in the work of Andy Warhol. Next we sneaked a look at cases where experts may not have been acting in good faith – or are just plain bent. Finally we moved onto ask, who is to say Picasso is a greater artist then Edward Seago?

We were delighted to welcome David Phillips to High Wycombe. He studied History at Oxford and from 1968 -1982 worked for Nottingham Castle Museum. From 1982-1998 he was Lecturer in Museum Studies and Art History at the University of Manchester.

Two lectures by renowned photographer Charlie Waite. These lectures were not be about cameras, lenses or filters but about mindset, composition, colour, light, shade and above all, the portrayal of the landscape as a work of art.

Along with many humorous stories and entertaining encounters, Charlie hoped the audience will see photography in a new light.

Charlie is one of Britain's leading photographers known for his painterly approach to landscape. He has lectured throughout the UK, Europe and the USA, written numerous books, press articles and made frequent appearances on television. As well as having exhibitions across Europe, the USA, Japan and Australia, Charlie was invited to exhibit at the 2015 Royal Academy of Arts' Summer Exhibition. Charlie founded UK Landscape Photographer of the Year in 2006 which is now in its 10th year.

STUDY DAY 3

Treasures from the Royal Collection

The Royal Collection is the last great European Dynastic collection to survive in royal ownership, with over 485,000 objects collected over the last 500 years. It is not a series of museums, more a unique collection reflecting the tastes of many generations of the royal family. Oliver is the ideal guide to these accumulated treasures having had close connections with the royal collections for many years, most recently as Librarian at Windsor Castle.

Cost: £32 per Study Day (includes coffee and biscuits and light lunch)

Venue: The Hub, Easton Street, High Wycombe HP11 1NJ

Time: 10.30am – 3.30pm (coffee from 10am)

For booking and further information:

Lisa Green, Study Day Organiser, NADFAS Chiltern Hills Area
lisachilternhills@gmail.com
Tel:  01494 521750 

Mobile:  0774 734 9766 (for use ONLY on a study day, no texts)

Or download the booking form from Documents under the tab ‘About Us’.

STUDY DAY 2

The Story of the Tate

Over the day we will explore the history of the Tate and its galleries from its foundation in 1897 through to recent developments, including the 10 storey expansion of Tate Modern opened in June 2016; Frank will give us an exciting insight of what it contains.

Cost: £32 per Study Day (includes coffee and biscuits and light lunch)

Venue: The Hub, Easton Street, High Wycombe HP11 1NJ

Time: 10.30am – 3.30pm (coffee from 10am)

For booking and further information:

Lisa Green, Study Day Organiser, NADFAS Chiltern Hills Area
lisachilternhills@gmail.com
Tel:  01494 521750 

Mobile:  0774 734 9766 (for use ONLY on a study day, no texts)

Or download the booking form from Documents under the tab ‘About Us’.

STUDY DAY 1

Personalities and Patronage: the story of one family’s collecting at Chatsworth

The Cavendish family has been collecting art and precious objects to enhance their family home for 400 years and is still doing so. Simon, who worked at Chatsworth for 19 years, gives us a behind the scenes view of this spectacular stately home and garden, its history and some of its secrets.

Cost: £32 per Study Day (includes coffee and biscuits and light lunch)

Venue: The Hub, Easton Street, High Wycombe HP11 1NJ

Time: 10.30am – 3.30pm (coffee from 10am)

For booking and further information:

Lisa Green, Study Day Organiser, NADFAS Chiltern Hills Area
lisachilternhills@gmail.com
Tel:  01494 521750 

Mobile:  0774 734 9766 (for use ONLY on a study day, no texts)

Or download the booking form from Documents under the tab ‘About Us’.

The first lecture and overview considered Santiago Calatrava, Terry Farrell, Norman Foster, Frank Gehry, Zaha Hadid, Daniel Libeskind, Jean Nouvel, I. M. Pei, Renzo Piano, Richard Rogers: all these are Starchitects, some indeed are knights, dames, and peers of the realm. They are stratospheric. Their buildings straddle the world, if not as yet the universe. Their practices are vast and vastly cosmopolitan. Their creations are hailed as iconic and cutting-edge. Cities have been energised by them. Design has been stamped by them. Perhaps....but what about the quality? And where they came from? And are we about to see the last of them as personality implodes into team anonymity and explodes into a mass of initials? Here is an opportunity for a reflection on a Galaxy of Starchitects.

The second lecture asked (and answered): Who was the First Starchitect? There are two contenders, Le Corbusier and Frank Lloyd Wright. Le Corbusier (1887-1965) really was the most influential twentieth-century architect, and a mass of contradictions. This man of Gallic logic, devoted to Paris and the Riviera, was Swiss. His formation was rigorously Protestant, his most powerful buildings were for the Catholic Church, his most influential buildings were essays in social engineering. He abstracted universal rules, but he could never escape from the sense and power of place. Great architects make you catch your breath whenever you encounter their best work. Le Corbusier is breath-taking. But great architects breed small imitators. Go to any city on a dull day and see how his impact has blighted so much of our urban landscape. Or has it? His Unite d'Habitation in Marseilles, the monster apartment block and city-in-one which the locals called "La Maison du Fada" (the Loony-bin, or Maniac's House?) is today the acme of City-living and Vibrant Lifestyle.

The third lecture was about Santiago Calatrava (b. 1951), Star from Valencia. He is a Spaniard, with a Swedish wife and a Swiss practice, who can speak Spanish, English, French, and German. He has competed and built in Argentina, the States, Canada, Belgium, France, Portugal, Germany, as well as Spain and Switzerland. In England he did a footbridge. You will find it in Salford, a little masterpiece of humbling elegance. His admirers claim that he has fused art, architecture, sculpture and engineering. Will you agree? This lecture begins in Valencia where he was born. Valencia is one of those surprising cities which, like Barcelona, has rediscovered its history and its youth in recent decades. There you will find a bridge, an opera house, museums, and a veritable city of arts and sciences, all by him. Is Calatrava to Valencia what Gaudi is to Barcelona? He might like us to think so. But then, he is a true starchitect...

We were delighted to welcome Clyde Binfield to High Wycombe - man of Kent, Cambridge graduate, cruise lecturer, Professor Emeritus in History at University of Sheffield, he is a straight-up-and-down historian returning to some first and last loves - buildings, their creators and their settings.

On each of the three days we will focus on one of the major genres in art history, making reference to works in the Ashmolean Museum’s collection where appropriate. 

Renowned NADFAS lecturer Valerie Woodgate will be our lecturer for all three days.

Study Day 1   PORTRAIT

Date:  Tuesday 26 January 2016

Depicting the great, good, heroic or plain evil – we will look at the history of portrait painting, consider the many means artists can use to depict more than a mere likeness, how the background can be manipulated and what the sitter expects the portrait to convey; considering both pre twentieth century works and those of the modern era.

​​​​​​​​

Study Day 2  LANDSCAPE  

Date:  Wednesday 24 February 2016

In Western European art landscape only became a subject in its own right in the 17th century but by the late 19th century it was a major inspiration for many artists.  We will look at the ways in which the landscape has been represented over the centuries and examine the differences between, among other things, Topographical and Classical, Romantic and Sublime, Pre-Raphaelite and Impressionist landscape, and the innovations of the last century.  ​​​​​​

Study Day 3  STILL LIFE

Date:  Thursday 7 April 2016

From humble origins still life became the subject of some of the most beautiful, exciting, innovative and astonishing works in the history of art. Seemingly the most straightforward and familiar of the genres, it is a surprisingly complex subject, involving a variety of objects and styles, and frequently challenging our perception of the relationship between art and reality.

Venue: Headley Lecture Theatre, Ashmolean Museum, Beaumont Street, Oxford OX1 2PH

Time:​10.30am – 3.30pm

Cost: ​£36 per Study Day (includes coffee and biscuits and light lunch)

NB Open to both NADFAS members and non-members

BOOKING: To obtain a Booking Form please click on this link:

http://www.highwycombedfas.org.uk/AboutUs/Documents.aspx 

or contact Susan Williams at

southmerciasd@gmail.com  or by telephone on 01235 522898.

Antonio Vivaldi - the last of the great Venetian composers – was born on a day in 1678 when a tremendous earthquake shook the lagoon city to its core. Perhaps this was symbolic, since Vivaldi’s compositions were in turn to shake the world of music.  In fact, they shook the world of music so dramatically that no late Baroque composer (including Bach and Handel) could remain unaffected by their force and originality.

Vivaldi is the one Baroque composer whose music is a direct reflection of the city in which it was composed. Listen to a Vivaldi concerto and hey presto you are transported directly to the heart of 18th century Venice. The reasons for this are many – Vivaldi’s passion for colour, display and spectacle in his music; the unusual way in which Venice solved its problems with the poor and the homeless; Vivaldi’s health problems and his eccentricities as a man and a priest.

 Against the luxurious backdrop of 18th century Venice, and with live musical performances, this study day explored the amazing world of Vivaldi’s music - music that is as intrinsically Venetian as the canvasses of Canaletto.

 Overview of content:

• The world of 18th century Venice.

• The life of Antonio Vivaldi

• The Ospedale and the role that they played in Vivaldi’s career

• What is it that makes Vivaldi’s music sound like Vivaldi?

• An overview of Vivaldi’s music

• Works by Vivaldi that connect with Venetian politics and events

• Vivaldi’s influence on 18th century composers ie Bach, Handel, Stanley

• Live performance with voice and piano (or harpsichord, or organ) of works by Vivaldi and his contemporaries

We were delighted to welcome Peter Medhurst to present High Wycombe’s first Study Day of 2016. Peter Medhurst was born of German and English parents, and did his musical training at the Royal College of Music and at the Mozarteum in Salzburg. His work as singer, pianist and lecturer-recitalist has taken him all over the world. Closer to home, he has presented events at the Barbican, St John’s Smith Square, and the Royal Festival Hall. Peter has also directed presentations at the Wallace Collection, the National Gallery, the National Portrait Gallery and the V&A, linking the visual arts with the world of 17th & 18th century music making. Over the years Peter has lectured for the universities of Kent and Surrey, directed a wide range of choirs, vocal ensembles and instrumental groups, and adjudicated and given masterclasses for the British Federation of Music Festivals.

The day comprised of three lectures interspersed by breaks for coffee and lunch. Groups of tables were set up for people to make notes or simply for somewhere to put one's mug of coffee, but basically emphasising the informality and two way exchange between lecturer and audience. John is a first class lecturer, and even those who were expecting something different from what was delivered, thoroughly enjoyed the day due to his excellent presentation. We were treated to a test of our visual literacy, our brains insisting we were seeing things that in reality were not there. We delved into the science of colour, and were shown baffling images of drawings and paintings which deceived the eye!!!

From the feedback received, well over half the audience thought the day “outstanding”, a great achievement for our first effort.  The general consensus, both during the day and in the feedback we received was, and I quote - 'wonderful' and 'buzzing'.  The only problem now will be to maintain that standard for future events. However, we enjoy a challenge...!