Programme 2023
On this side you can see our lectures and events from the whole year.
To get more information of each lecture or event (and to register for a lecture or an event), please click on the picture of the lecture or event or click on the button „More Information„.
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Magic Realism in New England: The Mesmerising Work of Andrew Wyeth
Magic Realism in New England: The Mesmerising Work of Andrew Wyeth
‘If there is such a thing as a purely American tradition in Art, it is represented at its best in the straightforward canvases of Andrew Wyeth.’ — LIFE magazine, 1948. Andrew Wyeth is one of America’s best-known Realist painters of the 20th century. In a career spanning 75 years, he created paintings of everyday life in Pennsylvania and Maine that were imbued with mystery and emotion. He painted with an exacting detail that led to his style being termed ‘magic realism’. This talk looks at his poignant landscapes, his scandalous ‘Helga’ series and his moving portraits, including a focused look at his most iconic work, ‘Christina’s World’.
Canal History and Heritage
Canal History and Heritage
This lecture provides a colourful introduction to the secret world of our 2000-mile inland waterway network and looks at all aspects of their exceptional artistic, architectural and engineering vernacular. Features range from sweeping aqueducts to tiny bollards; from colourful historic narrowboats to 'Roses and Castles' artwork; from grand World Heritage Sites to quirky listed buildings. A well-known architectural historian once described our canals as a 'poor man's art gallery'.
A Passion for Tea
A Passion for Tea
In 1660 Samuel Pepys made a diary entry ‘I did send for a cup of tea – a China drink – of which I had never drunk before’. But the story of tea drinking had started in China over a thousand years earlier, and by the 13th century the famous rituals of tea, ‘cha no yu’ were established in Japan. By the 18th century tea was the fashionable drink throughout Europe – subject to crippling taxes and still only available from China, frequently adulterated along the way. Differences between green and black teas, blends, additions of sugar, milk or lemon, smuggling, British rituals – even opium - all form background to the great British Cuppa.
Guided tour of the Gründerzeitmuseum
Guided tour of the Gründerzeitmuseum
The building was home to ‘Charlotte von Mahlsdorf’ with whom we will get an overall insight into her life living in the property. In addition, the museum houses many artifacts from her time there plus a collection of many functioning music machines which are a real joy to see and hear. The tour will be held in German but it is hoped that some English will be available. It will last approximately 75 minutes. Entry is 5.00 euros per person.
160 Years of London Underground design and architecture
160 Years of London Underground design and architecture
Covers surprising attempts to create some graphic unit, even in the 1860s and 70s, expansion of the Underground and the need to create some cohesion between the different operating companies. Leslie Green's architecture and the Arts & Crafts movement, Frank Pick, Edward Johston's typeface, Charles Holden's architecture and the Streamline Moderne/Art Deco movement, the News Works Programme, post war austerity/design, Victoria Line, loss of Johnson and rescue by Kono, Jubilee Line Extension/architecture, creation of TfL, recent schemes and future works including the Elizabeth Line/Northern Line extension to Battersea, etc.
Charles Dickens: The Man and His Life Through His Characters
Charles Dickens: The Man and His Life Through His Characters
Charles John Huffam Dickens brought into the world a staggering array of wonderful characters with orphans, starving children, misers, murderers and abusive school teachers among them. People such as Mr Micawber, Fagin and Abel Magwitch remain in one’s literary psyche long after the books are put down. Largely self-educated, Dickens possessed the genius to become the greatest writer of his age with 15 major novels and countless short stories and articles. In his lecture Bertie Pearce looks at the life and places of Dickens through his characters. The talk is interspersed with readings of this works.
Virtual Tour of Exhibit in the Mauritshuis
Virtual Tour of Exhibit in the Mauritshuis
This exhibit brings us back to Holland of the 17th century with its variety of art including still lifes, portraits, scenes of everyday, landscapes, religious works. But there is a twist - normally when we look at art we use our sense of sight but this exhibit is asking us to use our sense of smell. Smell is a fascinating phenomenon. It works on your memory and your emotions. Andy Warhol said smell really is a time machine transporting us to the past and what about the emotional aspect called the Proustian Memory. So this exhibit is about smells and depictions of smells, can life in 17th century Holland be captured in smell what are their significance and what do they mean to us. Can our sense of smell bring us closer to 17th century Holland and help to enhance our experience of looking at art?
The Age of Jazz
The Age of Jazz
Jazz is one of music’s most important genres: a fascinating blend of rigorous structure, free-wheeling creativity, close-knit ensembles and imaginative improvisation. Drawing on his experience both as musicologist and gigging musician, Sandy can shed light on jazz from the inside. His talk covers the early years of jazz up to the Second World War, and touches on the disparate influences which lay behind the emergence of jazz. Musical illustrations range from the blues, ragtime and the very first jazz recordings through to classics by Louis Armstrong’s Hot Five and the Duke Ellington Orchestra, and the dawn of the Swing Era.
The Medieval Guildhall – London’s nerve centre for 2,000 years
The Medieval Guildhall - London’s nerve centre for 2,000 years
In the centre of the City of London stands its ancient headquarters, the medieval Guildhall, one of the capital’s hidden gems. The present building dates from 1411 and is still in use today. The whole building stands on the site of London’s Roman amphitheatre the remains of which are still visible today. This lecture describes the Guildhall exterior and interior. We look at some of the key monuments in the building and then study some of the many paintings depicting the Guildhall’s rich history contained in the adjacent Guildhall Art Gallery. We finish by going 18 feet below street level to the Roman amphitheatre.
Making & Unmaking: The elemental Land Art of Julie Brook
Making & Unmaking: The elemental Land Art of Julie Brook
Many viewers of a BBC4 profile of artists who work out in nature, presented by Dr James Fox, were haunted by the fire stacks of the only female artist featured, Julie Brook. My lecture explores this fascinating artist and the range of her work over four decades in some of the world’s wild places, centred always on her passion for the islands and coast of West Scotland where she lives. From drawings, oil painting and film to her powerful physical interventions in the landscapes of Britain, North Africa and Japan that engage with the elements of earth, air, fire and water, Julie Brook’s work takes its place alongside such pioneers as Andy Goldsworthy, David Nash and Richard Long. Simon is lucky enough to have known Julie well for many decades and have access to her archive and never before seen photographs of her work, and my lecture charting her career, will include fragments from her astonishing art films.
David Niven on Screen – from extra to institution
David Niven on Screen – from extra to institution
Niven’s remarkable career explored, with an examination of his enduring place in public affection. Rising from studio extra to Hollywood leading man, although Niven remained characteristically modest about his abilities they were in fact considerable, as this lecture demonstrates. Particular attention is paid to his military roles, and insights are offered into the huge range of his wartime activities. From his personification of an ideal young subaltern in The Way Ahead, to the reality of being a Lt.-Colonel on Eisenhower’s staff, there was much more to this unique actor than a moustache and a smile.