The theme of this study visit will be "Conventions and Inventions".  Tickets are £14.00

This event is sold out

We have added a second tour at 2pm on February 22nd.  Tickets cost £14.  Please email lesleytasb@outlook.com for tickets

This event will not now take place

Following on from our previous visit to the British Galleries during which we viewed works of art from Tudor times to the mid-18th Century, we will turn our attention to the upper floor of these amazing galleries, following the story of British art, interiors and the evolution of design from neo-classical times through the Industrial Revolution to William Morris, Arts and Crafts and the dawn of the Edwardian age.

Some highlights of our tour, among many amazing objects, include Wedgwood ceramics and other works of art from the era of the Grand Tour, a Chippendale bed made for the actor David Garrick, a scale-model of the Crystal Palace alongside original works of art shown at the Great Exhibition, the passion for the Japonesque and two original period rooms.

There is so much to see!

Morning Tour: 11am (meet at 10.50 am)

Afternoon Tour: 2pm (meet at 1.50 pm)

The Tour lasts 11/2 hours

Tickets £15

Tickets will be on sale at the September Lecture

Specialist Guided tour with Anne Haworth

Friday 22nd October 2021

Following on from our previous visit to the British Galleries during which we viewed works of art from Tudor times to the mid-18th Century, we will turn our attention to the upper floor of these amazing galleries, following the story of British art, interiors and the evolution of design from neo-classical times through the Industrial Revolution to William Morris, Arts and Crafts and the dawn of the Edwardian age.

Some highlights of our tour, among many amazing objects, include Wedgwood ceramics and other works of art from the era of the Grand Tour, a Chippendale bed made for the actor David Garrick, a scale-model of the Crystal Palace alongside original works of art shown at the Great Exhibition, the passion for the Japonesque and two original period rooms.

There is so much to see!

Morning Tour: 11am (meet at 10.50 am)

Afternoon Tour: 2pm (meet at 1.50 pm)

The Tour lasts 1 1/2 hours

Tickets are now available for members.  Cost £15.00.  Email Lesley Godwin to request a ticket, contact details are on your membership card.

CANCELLED

The V&A Museum in London houses the world's most important collection of British art and design from the reign of Henry VII to the closing years of Queen Victoria's reign, displayed there in the British Galleries. The story of Britain's cultural and social landscape during those centuries of profound change is related chronologically on two floors of the museum within fifteen magnificent galleries and includes works of art associated with kings and queens, paintings, furniture, ceramics, metalwork,  textiles and period rooms.

 Our first visit to the British Galleries will comprise the period from the dawn of the Tudor Dynasty to the reign of King George III. We will view Important works of art including Henry VIII's writing box, the Howard Grace cup, once owned by Catherine of Aragon, the Great Bed of Ware, Mary Queen of Scots' embroideries, fine Georgian ceramics, silver and glass and also three period rooms from 17th  and 18th Century London. We will look at  changing social customs in dress and the furnishing of interiors including the introduction of tea-drinking. 

Tickets will be on sale from the December lecture.

Banner Illustration:  Claude Monet Sainte-Adresse, Open access image Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington

The Study Afternoon will comprise 2 one hour Lectures.   The First Lecture will start at 2.00 pm with a coffee/tea with biscuits break at 3.00 pm The second Lecture will start at 3.20 pm with the finish and questions at 4.20 pm.

The venue is likely to be the Methodist Church Hall, Bromley Road, Beckenham rear of the building by signed pathway. If this changes, we will give further information nearer the time.

Adventures in Sculpture

Modern sculpture is mysterious to many people, notoriously difficult and inaccessible both to look at and in the endless critical expositions which complicate more than they clarify. The works of Epstein, Moore, Hepworth, Frink and their contemporaries stand at the heart of our time, yet too often we are intimidated where we should be enthralled. The story of sculpture through the 20th century shows form manipulated to explore emotion as well as appearance, materials dictating meaning as well as shape and a three-dimensional language used as expressively as any poet or novelist to reveal the rhythms and meanings of life itself. The viewing of sculpture is an exploration, an adventure, something to be enjoyed. This lecture sets out to prove that we can all be explorers. 

Justine Hopkins - Studied History of Art at the Courtauld Institute. Has lectured regularly for Tate Britain, Tate Modern, V&A, National Gallery and National Portrait Gallery, as well as to Oxbridge and Bristol Universities, Christie's Fine Art, the Art Fund, and groups such as the Bradford on Avon Arts Association, Friends of Covent Garden and U3A

TICKET: £19 including refreshments, available from the September lecture

Banner Illustration:  Claude Monet Sainte-Adresse, Open access image Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington

Visit to the V&A Galleries 'Europe 1600-1815'

 The chronological narrative of Europe from the golden age of the Baroque to the allied victory over Napoleon is told in a series of sumptuous galleries and a range of works of art from paintings to silver, ceramics, furniture, musical instruments, sculpture, textiles and three rare and atmospheric period rooms. The displays begin with dramatic sculpture by the renowned artist Gian Lorenzo Bernini during Italy's Counter-Reformation and continues through the mercantile and missionary enterprises between Spain, Portugal and their colonies and the trade in exotic works of art and tea brought from the East by the Dutch East India Company. The galleries emphasise the court culture of Versailles under King Louis XIV and the evolution of luxury commodities and magnificence before moving on to the intellectual pursuits of the French salon and examples of exquisite craftsmanship from the artisans of 18th century Paris. In 1882, the museum received an impressive bequest of mainly French furniture and porcelain from the Victorian military tailor and businessman John Jones, whose portrait bust is on display in the galleries.

There will be 2 Tours, at 11.00am and 2.00pm.  Tickets £12.00 available from the November lecture.

Banner Illustration:  Claude Monet Sainte-Adresse, Open access image Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington

2 Lectures with a break for tea and coffee and biscuits, held at the Methodist Church Hall, Bromley Road, Beckenham (very close to the Public Hall where we hold our monthly lectures). 

Lecture 1  2.00 to 3.00,.

Truth and ornament in architecture

Is it important for buildings to be ‘honest’ in their use of materials and structural forms? For example, does it matter if the upper part of what seems to be the external wall of St Paul’s Cathedral is really just a freestanding screen designed to hide the buttresses behind? In the nineteenth century, critics like Augustus Pugin and John Ruskin deplored this kind of deception and called for a return to the truthfulness of Gothic architecture. Ever since then, most architects, especially Modernist ones, have been guided by what Ruskin called ‘The Lamp of Truth’. On the other hand, another nineteenth century critic, Gottfried Semper, thought the opposite. For him, architecture was essentially decorative and artificial, like a theatre set or a flattering suit of clothes. Which was right? This lecture will help you to decide for yourself.

Lecture 2:  3.20 to 4.20

Architecture and music

In his dissertation on architecture, Leon Battista Alberti – the original ‘Renaissance man’ – wrote: ‘We shall therefore borrow all our rules for the fixing of proportions from the musicians’. It is not surprising that the question of proportion should be an important theme in Alberti’s book, but how did the musicians get involved? It turns out that there is a mathematical link between visible proportions and audible proportions, or harmony, and that Renaissance architects were well aware of this link. They saw it as proof that their architecture could participate in the harmony of the whole cosmos. One of them, Filippo Brunelleschi, took the idea further in his invention of ‘linear perspective’ and thereby, incidentally, revolutionised western painting.

 Tickets for this Study Day will cost £18 and are available at Lectures or direct from lesley.tasb@virginmedia.com

Banner Illustration:  Claude Monet Sainte-Adresse, Open access image Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington

GUIDED TOURS of THE GLASS GALLERY, Victoria & Albert Museum

 Friday 23 February 2018 at 11.00 am and 2.00 pm

The Tours will be led by a specialist lecturer starting with a general outline of the History of Glass.  We will continue by looking at C19th Art Glass, including Art Nouveau, Galle, Tiffany and Lalique, and move on to a further room where we will make a study of Contemporary Glass.

Tickets £12 - on sale at the November meeting.

Main illustration:  Deep Blue and Bronze Gold Persian Set', Dale Chihuly, 1999, United States. Museum no. C.108-2001. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Banner Illustration:  Claude Monet Sainte-Adresse, Open access image Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington

Study Afternoon

On the basis of sensational new evidence from archaeological field work, Neil will contrast the legend of Lawrence of Arabia with the true story of what happened in the famous desert war of 1916 to 1918.

Is the legend a myth?  Was Lawrence as some claim, a liar and a charlatan?  Or does the legend reflect reality?  Was he, in fact, a brilliant military commander and a sincere advocate of the Arab national cause?

'Lawrence of Arabia' is an early 20th Century instance of celebrity culture.  Neil will analyse the invention  and re-invention of the legend from 1919 onwards through memoirs, photos, films, paintings, biographies and documentaries.

The historical context for the legend was the Arab Revolt 1916 to 1918.  The numerous well-preserved archaeological remains of the conflict, mainly along the line of the former Hijaz Railway, have been the subject of a ten-year programme of field research led by Neil with his close colleague Professor Nick Saunders.  Neil will summarise the key findings.  Some representative archaeological objects will be on display.

He will also offer a new narrative and analysis of the war based on the archaeological evidence, leading to a new assessment, both of Lawrence's role and achievements and of the relationship between art and reality in the creation of 'celebrity'.

TICKETS £18   

To be held in the Methodist Church Hall, at rear of Church, Bromley Road, Beckenham

2.00 pm - 3.00 pm LECTURE 1 ~ 3.00 pm - 3.20 pm  tea/coffee/biscuits ~ 3.20 pm - 4.20 pm  LECTURE 2

Tickets

Unless otherwise stated, tickets for Visits and Study Days are only available to members of The Arts Society Beckenham and are available at lectures 3 months before the event.  They can also be bought direct from the Ticket Seller, contact details are shown on your membership and admission card or email lesley.bdfas1@virginmedia.com

Banner Illustration:  Claude Monet Sainte-Adresse, Open access image Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington