Towards the end of her life May Morris (1862-1938) - designer, craftsperson, and younger daughter of William Morris – wrote, ‘I’m a remarkable woman, always was, though none of you seem to think so’. Overshadowed in her lifetime by the achievements of her illustrious father, today May Morris is recognised as a leading figure in the Arts & Crafts Movement. Excelling in the field of embroidery, she was Head of Embroidery at Morris & Co. by the time she was twenty-three. May also designed wallpapers, made jewellery, lectured, edited and was a talented amateur watercolour artist. She was instrumental in founding the Women’s Guild of Arts formed to support women working in the Arts and Crafts field at a time when they were excluded from similar organisations. A skilled editor, May spent her later years editing the 24 volumes of her father's collected works.

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A pictorial history of drinking glasses through the ages, studied through images of actual objects and through paintings. The lecture will focus particularly on the development of the wine glass, but will also look at glasses designed for other beverages, such as: beer, cider, ale, cordial etc. It will consider the drinking habits of different countries and the types of glass associated with those countries, e.g. the Venetian wingstemmed glass, the German roemer, the Dutch flute and the English balusterstemmed glass; and will discuss the association of fine glass drinking vessels with feasting and conviviality.

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Two artists developed radically opposing approaches to the emotive power of landscape painting in Britain in the early 19th Century. One was dramatic, bombastic and fiery, intending to provoke powerful emotions and elevated thoughts. The other was spiritual, heartfelt and closely observed, asking the viewer to react to an intense, inward and personal approach to nature. These two artists were JMW Turner and John Constable, the leading British artists of their day. Not only did they approach painting in different ways but their lives were opposites as well. This lecture will explore their different approaches and their famous, bitter rivalry.

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400 years on and Shakespeare remains the most famous Englishman in the world. Here we explore his life, influences of the Elizabethan age and how his work impacted the global stage.  Learn what the first open-air theatres were like, how popular his plays were with his contemporary audiences, how his plays survived and who saved them.

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Toys form an intimate part of our own personal histories. Some toys are universal: rattles, balls, kites and dolls entertained children in ancient times. Others reflect modern concerns: clockwork toys have been superseded by battery-operated and electronic toys. The making and the design of toys parallel the evolution of materials and technologies, trade and marketing, cultural trends and ideas about childhood. Whatever changes affect the toys of the future, however, the relationship between creativity and play will surely remain central. Toys teach children about the environment that surrounds them, while allowing them to explore the inner world of the imagination.

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Four hundred years of international jewellery design, examining the changing styles from the pomp of High Renaissance enamelled gold work to the glamour of Harry Winston diamonds. This presentation covers many of the key elements of manufacture, including the progress of diamond cutting, Neoclassicism and Romanticism, 19th century Archaeological and Renaissance Revivalism, the impact of diamond mining in South Africa, Art Nouveau, Arts & Crafts and Art Deco, Post War Modernism and designs of the future. Other important areas covered include Cartier and the introduction of platinum jewellery as a statement of style and the jewels of the Duchess of Windsor.

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Paul Nash is one of the most important British modernist artists. He is often associated with art movements such as NeoRomanticism and Surrealism, but his work remains hard to categorise. He worked as a war artist in both the First and Second World Wars and forged his own distinctive approach to landscape. His work makes the homely uncanny and though he depicts specific places they inhabit an imaginative realm that reveals a mystical relationship to the world. Nash is a poet of the visual who creates his own world of symbols that is both natural and unnatural, a landscape of mystery that reveals, in the words of Coleridge: ‘the translucence of the eternal in and through the temporal’.

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Join Margaret for a seasonal hour of Christmas bygones and entertainment as she brings to life the joy of music through the ages at this time of year. She will be delving into the history of the harp and it’s incredible pedal mechanism and exploring some of the old Christmas Carols and their origins. Margaret will play a selection of festive favourites to get you in the mood for Christmas.

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In the medieval period highly distinctive styles of architecture developed in remote Transylvania, Moldavia and Maramures. This lecture illustrates the fine Gothic churches that the Saxon settlers built in Transylvania and survive in their elegant towns and, uniquely, behind formidable fortifications in their villages. It depicts the ‘Painted Monasteries’ of Moldavia, famous for their frescoes that stem from the Orthodox Byzantine tradition, and cover the outside walls of the churches, still maintaining their wonderfully vivid colour and details in their lovely architectural ensembles. There is a mention, too, of the remarkable wooden churches of the rural villages of Maramures. All this is set in the context of Romania’s landscape and history.

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This lecture celebrates the 400th Anniversary of Charles I’s accession to the throne in 1625. 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”. Charles engaged Peter Paul Rubens to paint the ceiling of the Banqueting House in Whitehall and he appointed Anthony van Dyck as his Court Artist. By the end of his reign Charles had amassed over 2000 works of art but in doing so he had bankrupted England and alienated his people. His life ended on the scaffold in 1649 and most of the collection was sold in what was known as “The Commonwealth Sale” in 1650. While many works were retrieved by Charles 2nd during the Restoration others now hang in the great Art Galleries of Europe.

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This talk combines the lives of the Astors, the Sackville Wests and the Rothschilds and their family history with the story of the gardens they have all created, despite their very different backgrounds, here in the English countryside.

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A journey through the 60s in music and images, following the Beatles from the Hamburg Reeperbahn in 1960 to Abbey Road in 1969. The band was always fascinated by the visual arts - the ‘fifth Beatle’, Stuart Sutcliffe, was a much better painter than he was a bass player - and they also learned very early on that artists and designers could help promote their image and their music. Their rise to global fame was aided and recorded by an impressive roster of photographers, including Astrid Kirchherr, Bob Freeman, Robert Whitaker, Angus McBean and Linda McCartney. The innovative covers for releases such as Rubber Soul (Bob Freeman) Revolver (Klaus Voormann), the White Album (Richard Hamilton) and Sgt. Pepper (Peter Blake, Jann Haworth and others) turned album design into an art form in its own right.

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Towards the end of her life May Morris (1862-1938) - designer, craftsperson, and younger daughter of William Morris – wrote, ‘I’m a remarkable woman, always was, though none of you seem to think so’. Overshadowed in her lifetime by the achievements of her illustrious father, thankfully today May Morris is recognised as a leading figure in the Arts & Crafts Movement. Excelling in the field of embroidery, she was Head of Embroidery at Morris & Co. by the time she was twenty-three. May also designed wallpapers, made jewellery and was a talented amateur watercolour artist. She was instrumental in founding the Women’s Guild of Arts formed to support women working in the arts and crafts field at a time when they were excluded from similar organisations. A skilled editor, May spent her later years editing the 24 volumes of her father's collected works.

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Saint George, patron saint of England, is - perhaps surprisingly - not even English, but his image abounds in diverse places all over the country. This lecture tells the story of how, not only his cult, but his image, originally appeared in England and then was disseminated throughout the realm and the centuries. Using a multitude of images from around the country Alison demonstrates how Saint George was part of the fabric of early modern England and a popular figure for all strata of society.

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You may not have heard of her but from the early 1960s a young student called Margaret Calvert began working with designer Jock Kinneir and their work utterly transformed the entire face of modern Britain. They designed the road sign system from the typeface to the colours and shapes. They created the look of British Rail. Their signage was used by every hospital and NHS building. They created the yellow and black wayfinding system of British airports. And all of their ideas were copied around the world. Celebrate Calvert & Kinneir in this revealing lecture and you’ll never look at the UK the same again.

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Punctuality being the politeness of princes, this lecture examines the reality of manners and etiquette in later the Medieval period. A far cry from the popular image of appalling table manners, Medieval dining was a minefield of do’s and don’ts, many of which were recorded in courtesy books (Teach Yourself How To Be A Gentleman texts). A rich vein of artistic evidence also survives, bearing out what is written. The lecture deals with the structure of formal banquets and the food eaten as well as how young gentlemen were trained and more everyday advice to women about how to conduct themselves. 

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An abstract painter in the 1930s, John Piper was also a writer, critic and typographer and his love of architecture – especially medieval churches and stained glass – made him a highly sensitive observer of his surroundings. During the Second World War he became one of the best-known Official War Artists, creating powerful images of the destruction of Coventry Cathedral, the Houses of Parliament and of the city of Bath, as well as recording a wide range of buildings, from derelict Welsh cottages to the grandeur of Windsor Castle. Piper’s friendships with figures from the worlds of literature, ballet and music led him in further creative directions. He worked on the Shell Guides to Britain with his close friend, John Betjeman and designed sets and costumes for the operas of Benjamin Britten. In his fifties he began to design stained glass, creating monumentally beautiful windows for the new Coventry Cathedral and the Metropolitan Cathedral in Liverpool, as well as tiny, jewel-like lunettes for country churches near his home in Buckinghamshire. Piper’s love of architecture and landscape informed all his work, and in this lecture we’ll explore the many ways in which his interests and enthusiasms led to prolific creativity.

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Even though ‘work’ was the bedrock of Victorian progress and improvement, Queen Victoria’s reign saw the greatest upsurge in leisure pursuits ever witnessed. People earned more money and worked shorter hours than ever before and with the birth of the Railways and a desire to be health conscious it was a golden age for the art of entertaining oneself and being an amateur in the true sense of the word. This talk celebrates a pre-television age when the ability to amuse and entertain was paramount.

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From seraphim and cherubim to archangels and fallen angels, these celestial heralds have long captured hearts and imaginations. Discover angels as public art, monument, memorial and flight of the imagination, all hidden within the unique square mile of the City of London. Angels are all around us - we just need to know where to look! 

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This lecture tells the multifaceted Ukrainian story through the shared culture which binds its diverse people together, including the sacred art and architecture of Kyiv inherited from Byzantium, the rich legacy of the Cossacks, and a treasury of poetry, painting and song. We will also look at the key role played by folk culture in the years before Ukraine's emergence as an independent nation, whether "red icons" on glass or the country's remarkable embroidery tradition, which had a surprising influence on avant-garde art. wars with France determined the wines that were drunk, and how some makers families supplied them for several generations.  

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Ralph's interest is mid eighteenth century English Rococo silver. He brings with him the pieces he is going to talk about for the listeners to handle and examine, together with a comprehensive collection of power point images, with close ups of features of interest. The Huguenot influence on this most decorative period is discussed, where new silversmithing techniques fused with new designs; together with methods of manufacture, interpreting the engraved heraldry of the items, and the social context. He makes the talk entertaining as well as informative by taking the audience on a journey to uncover the original owners by tracing the heraldry, shows portraits of them, and reveals some of the life story associated with them; fabulously wealthy aristocrats and middling sorts, they variously had a stint in the Tower of London, had tragic family circumstances, had their descendants gamble away their estates, found their wife in a bed she should certainly not have been in, or were dragged to their death in an overturned carriage... Knowing the exploits of these original owners of these pieces adds considerably to their interest and brings another dimension to the handling. 

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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. Click here for flier

In 2022 the Royal School of Needlework (RSN) celebrated its 150th anniversary. It was founded to keep hand embroidery alive and to offer suitable occupation to educated women who would otherwise have been destitute. Today it is a thriving centre of hand embroidery education to the highest level. This lecture, goes behind the scenes to tell the story of the last 150 years and the School’s changing fortunes including: being part of the ‘Kensington set’; the links with the Arts and Crafts and Aestheticism movements; the connection with the SAS; the move to Hampton Court Palace and the variety of commissions the RSN has undertaken from wedding dresses to Oscar gowns and from runway garments to ecclesiastical vestments.

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This lecture is in celebration of the 150th Anniversary of the birth in 1874 of Gustav Holst. “The Planets” by Gustav Holst is one of the most popular and most recorded work in English music.  Yet, apart from the tunes for the hymn “I Vow to Thee, My Country” and the carol “In the Bleak Midwinter”, most of Holst’s other music is neglected, unjustly so.  Holst was an unconventional man who led something of a double life.  He was a vegetarian and spent most of his working life as Director of Music in a girls’ school, but he embraced Hindu philosophy and taught himself Sanskrit.  He believed that music should be available for everyone and was appointed conductor of a Socialist choir and Director of Music in Morley College, an institution set up for the educational benefit of working men and women.  He championed the amateur musician and famously said, “If something is worth doing, it is worth doing badly”.  In fact he was a talented conductor and produced performances of real quality. After the success of “The Planets”, first performed in 1918, he never wrote a similar orchestral work. He was also working at a time when musicians were beginning to wake up to the huge wealth of English folk music, and many of his compositions are imbued with that folk-song quality which gives them great charm.

This lecture will examine Holst’s life, the background to “The Planets” and will explore many of his other works, including his ‘Oriental’ suite “Beni Mora” which was inspired by hearing a flute-player in Algiers, his choral masterpiece "The Hymn of Jesus" and the settings of the Rig Veda, some of the most important Hindu texts for which he provided his own translations.  His so-called serious orchestral works do not always follow convention.  For example, his concerto for oboe and flute suddenly breaks into a nursery rhyme. Gustav Holst was a true original and not fully understood in his own time.  It will be a surprising and revealing lecture, which is richly illustrated with musical examples.    

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The Portland Vase arrived in Britain by 1783. In 1810 it was placed on loan in the British Museum where it remains today as one of the most intriguing and popular examples of Ancient Roman cameo glass anywhere in the world. Its origins are surrounded in mystery but its ability to inspire subsequent generations of glass makers is obvious. This unique vase was the starting point for a whole range of British cameo glass in the later 19th century that exemplified technical virtuosity and creative artistry as techniques that had been lost for hundreds of years were rediscovered in the glasshouses of Stourbridge, in the heart of England’s industrial Midlands. Many of these creations were executed in the prevailing Classical-revival style of the times, but as the 19th century drew to a close fashions changed as did the geographical focus of cameo glass production.

The glass factory of Emile Gallé in Nancy, in eastern France, became the new centre for cameo glass in the new style of Art Nouveau. It is these Art Nouveau pieces that make most of the headlines in the auction rooms of the world today, with high prices paid for unique pieces, but the best of the British examples do not lag far behind. This lavishly illustrated talk looks at the origins of cameo glass and considers the best of British and French pieces, their designers and techniques of production.

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The decades around 1900 witnessed a fascinating variety of styles and produced some of the most elegant pieces of jewellery ever made.  Diamonds and pearls - the mainstay of European court jewellery - were arranged in garlands and ribbon bows of incredible delicacy.  At the same time symmetry was challenged by the sinuous lines of Art Nouveau, and the ‘one colour theory’ long practised in European jewellery was undermined by a fascination with unusual gemstones and a more luxuriant sense of colour.   

The lecture will explore the distinctive styles of great jewellers such as Cartier, Fabergé, Tiffany and Lalique, and examine also the contrasting aesthetic of Britain’s Arts and Crafts Movement with its celebration of traditional craftsmanship, unfaceted stones and hand-beaten metals.

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This lecture traces the development of the circus from the mid-18th century to the present day, and how it has been depicted and interpreted in fine art, that is in watercolour, oil paint and sculpture. From the UK, artworks by Walter Sickert, Laura Knight and Peter Blake will be shown. From France, there will be works by Edgar Degas, Fernand Leger, Henri Matisse, Georges Seurat, Henri Toulouse-Lautrec and Jean-Antoine Watteau. A highlight of the lecture will be to see Matisse’s dazzling circus images from his ground-breaking publication Jazz. Other European artists who held the circus dear, such as Marc Chagall and Pablo Picasso, will also have significant parts of the lecture devoted to them. The USA will be represented by works from George Bellows, Reginald Marsh and Alexander Calder. A lot of the artworks will take us inside the ‘big top’; but we will also see behind the scenes when performers are off-guard or practising their skills and tricks. Over the last 250 years, the circus has undergone considerable change in terms of ethics, purpose and content. The same could be said about art too, and this lecture will demonstrate how fine art has also changed, by looking at its involvement with a single but fascinating subject – the circus. The lecture will be jargon-free with audience engagement, backed by high quality images.

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The celebration of the period following Christmas can be traced back several millennia, and to at least two cultures – neither of them Christian. One of them is the southern Roman feast of Kalends on the 1st January, and the other, the northern Nordic festivals of Yuletide surrounding the celebrations of the Winter solstice. However, it was Pope Julius I who decided to subvert the gluttony, drunkenness and sun worship to Christian purpose, and by choosing the 25th December to celebrate the birth of Christ, he neatly bridged these cultures and paved the way for future Christmas festivities. And so it is that many of our modern Christmas customs and carols bear references to traditions that have nothing to do with the birth of Christ. Nonetheless, each year, Christ’s birthday on 25th December signifies the beginning of twelve festive days of celebrations and music making. In this lecture-recital Peter Medhurst explores the wealth of Christmas music, traditions and curious legends that are connected with them. Music performed includes: Deck the Halls with Boughs of Holly, The Coventry Carol, The Twelve Days of Christmas, The Wassail Song, The Three Kings – Cornelius. 

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Christmas is historically a time for feasting and celebrations, in large part because it occurs in the middle of the dark and cold days of winter, so a mid-season celebration with lots of food and drink helped spur people on towards the spring. In this talk we will look at how food and feasting is depicted in paintings, and hopefully help us through the dark days of winter as well!

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During the Middle Ages the Byzantine Empire stood to the rest of the world as a symbol of wealth, power and cultural ascendancy and was generally recognised as the centre of Christendom. It was here, more than anywhere else, that the basic tenets of Christianity were worked out, leading to new forms of artistic expression. Intellectual and artistic sophistication, coupled with wealth, gave rise to centrally planned domed churches representing a cosmic hierarchy with the heavenly world recreated in the interior of the building. There can be no better medium for creating a sense of the heavenly world, than mosaic with its light reflecting quality and extensive use of gold tesserae . The Byzantines mastered the complex medium of mosaic and used it to sheath the walls of their churches with images of a transcendent world, recreating heaven on earth for the worshippers. The talk will cover mosaics in Haghia Sopia and the Church of the Chora in Istanbul as well as the lovely smaller churches of Hosios Loukas, Nea Moni and Daphni in Byzantine Greece. 

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This lecture will look at the enduring Western obsession with, and invention of the so called ‘exotic’ or ‘noble savage’ starting with the first discovery of the Island of Tahiti in1767 and charting the impact, through painted images of the island and their people, of the English and European influence in this part of the world through the eyes of not only Captain Cook and those who came before him, but also through the eyes of the artists that accompanied these pioneering voyages and into the 19th and early 20th century with the images of Gauguin. And to this end the lecture will look at how romanticised depictions of the island and its peoples by artists such as: William Hodges (1744-1797), Benjamin West (1738-1820), John Webber (1751- 1793), and John Cleveley (c.1712-1777), and indeed those of Paul Gauguin (1848 – 1903), not only bolstered these notions in the minds of Europeans, but helped to perpetuate and invent the Western notion of the exotic and the myth of paradise

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Flowers comfort with their inexhaustible variety and beauty. From ancient times, empresses and kings decorated their palaces with Secret Gardens painted on their walls. The Egyptians painted gardens ‘in the afterlife’ with lily ponds and fish. In the Middle-Ages the concept of the Secret Garden was transformed into a person, a much-revered woman. She, who is The Virgin, is the Mystic rose. The sacred geometry of the Gothic rose windows describes her character. The troubadours sang of courtly love in the Walled Garden around an over-flowing fountain.  

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Where are the children in Medieval art? So often they are missing and it’s sometimes assumed that because of the high infant mortality rates, parents deliberately didn’t bond with their children. Nothing could be further from the truth; children were cherished, cosseted and spoilt, but they worked hard, alongside adults too. We know that they loved toys as well as word games, bunking off school and teasing their teachers. This lecture goes from before the cradle with superstitions surrounding pregnancy and childbirth, to the trials and tribulations of teenage years and all too often to an early grave. 

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Dogs are man’s most loyal friend. They are often used in art, as in life, to project our ambitions and anxieties. From the poignancy of Landseer, Queen Victoria’s favourite animal painter; to the dachshunds of Bonnard and Picasso; the xolos of Kahlo; the whippets of Freud and many more, explore how dogs have provided inspiration, solace and companionship throughout artistic lives.

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For over a century, postcards have pictured our shared history across the globe. They have documented the changing role of women, the growth of cities, evolving styles of architecture, home decoration, royalty, celebrity, the rise of cinema, aviation, the automobile, fashion trends, celebrations and holidays. Few people, places or things have not become the subject of a postcard. But the age of the postcard is over. With our mobile phones, we take and send images in an instant. This lecture celebrates the history and scope of picture postcards — bearers of news and repositories of memory.

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Since the end of the nineteenth century, fashion shows, whether in couturiers’ salons or high class department stores, have played an essential role in promoting fashions. Whether for entertainment or commercial selling, fashion shows are a spectacular way of displaying fashion in motion. Theatre productions in the early twentieth century actively incorporated story lines about fashion so that the latest trends could be exhibited to the new middle-class audiences. Fashion couturier Paul Poiret used theatrical productions in his own garden as well as American department stores to show his new collections. Susan will give examples of the symbiotic relationship between performance and fashion and how they feed from one another.

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The international art market is today dominated by four British auctioneers, their world record prices sensationally reported by the world’s media. But what is it like behind the canvas? How do auction houses function? What goes on behind the scenes and what is required for a successful sale to take place? With an overview of the rise of two of the main London salerooms, Sotheby’s and Bonhams - both founded in the 18th century - this lecture, given by an auctioneer with thirty-five years experience in both houses, reveals all.

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For a great many members of The Arts Society, the cartoonist Carl Giles was as much a part of the festive season as the Christmas tree, crackers and the Queen's Speech. So popular were the Giles annuals as Christmas presents that they helped to make him Britain's best loved, most successful and wealthiest cartoonist. The talk looks at Giles's life and work with a particular emphasis on his seasonal cartoons, particularly those featuring Grandma and the Giles family. They include some of his funniest cartoons but, as the art historian William Feaver pointed out, they also demonstrate that he had few equals when it came to representing Britain in Winter. 

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The British Musical was triumphant in the 1930s when the musicals of Noël Coward and Ivor Novello dominated the West End. However the arrival of Oklahoma in 1948 changed everything. Over the next 30 years audiences flocked to see the big American musicals of Rodgers and Hammerstein and others. Nevertheless the British Musicals held their own with moments of great success. Julian Slade, Sandy Wilson, David Heneker and, of course, Lionel Bart had hugely successful shows. Then in the 1970s and 1980s Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice and others established the British musical as a force in the UK and abroad.

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Take a trip into a horse drawn city just as a revolution was motoring in. Without its horses, London in 1900 would have ground to a halt – no buses, no deliveries, no goods trains. Alongside London’s growing dependence on technology was a vast increase in the demand for horses. This eye opener to a lost city mixes what's still there - the mews, horse hospitals, cab shelters and drinking troughs - with what is less apparent - like the horsepower each bus route needed, and why flogging a dead horse wasn't just a turn of phrase. In fact, in 1900 the end was nigh – as the internal combustion engine fired up and the Great War loomed. Buildings survive that evidence this extremely abrupt transition – from the factory that built the buses to the Edwardian multi-storey carpark the housed the taxi fleet. All this is brought alive through painters like Robert Bevan and early photographs.

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We start with a painting of the Thames and Tower of London in 1500, which tells a fascinating tale about a French Prince and Poet. We continue with Dutch views of Tudor Palaces on the Thames in 1620, and then look at 18th century paintings by Canaletto and his distinguished English rival Samuel Scott. After views by Turner, Constable and Tissot, we turn to various 19th century artists, including three French Impressionists. The 20th century landscapists include Stanley Spencer and others more surprising. 

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Wine has been part of our global society for over 7,000 years, and the story tells of its origin and appearance in all societies across the Mediterranean and through Europe.There is rich evidence of the role wine has played in these societies and how it became an important component of faith, well-being and festivity.

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In her Illustrated talk Lady Aurelia Young tells the story of how her father left his home in the Balkans to study sculpture in Vienna and made his way to the UK, where he became the sculptor of Royalty, Presidents and Prime Ministers.

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2022 is the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee and 2023 marks the 70th Anniversary of her Coronation, events which are unique in the history of our nation. This lecture celebrates these events and looks at the evolution of the coronation ceremony from Saxon times to that of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953. It examines the different stages of the ceremony from the Recognition through to the Homage and explains the significance of the different items of the Coronation Regalia. For flier Click Here

This lecture examines a series of iconic photographs that are embedded in our collective memory. They range from records of historic events, to fabulous portraits and scenes of emotional release and joy. The talk analyses the power of these images, traces the fascinating stories of how they came to be produced, and places them in the context of our appreciation of art.

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This is the keystone lecture of Charles Harris' Poster Series relating the technical innovation combined with creative genius and remarkable craftsmanship that enabled the Poster to become the world’s first effective method of mass communication. From ‘Les Chats’ by Edouard Manet to ‘Saxoleine’ by Jules Cheret and ‘Moulin Rouge’ and ‘Divan Japonais’ by Toulouse-Lautrec, you’ll see inspirational work by generations of superb artists who made the poster great: magnificent Mucha, socially-conscious Steinlen, and many more. Learn how an effective poster is designed and how it plays on the mind; and why most posters today go unnoticed. 

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The UK provides some of the biggest Ceremonial Events in the world and arguably the best in the world but why is that? How do the military prepare for major events such as the State Opening of Parliament, State Visits, National Day of Remembrance, Royal Weddings or even a State Funeral?

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This online lecture will start at 1.30pm and will take place on Zoom. The invitation link will be sent out to all members and guests on Monday 24th January. If you do not receive your invite by then, please contact John Beggs (Publicity and IT Support) who will try to ensure you can attend.

Nigel Bates - In The Kingdom of The Sweets

The Nutcracker ballet has delighted audiences at Christmas for many decades yet it was deemed a failure at its initial performances. 

Based upon the current Royal Ballet production by Sir Peter Wright, this lecture takes a close look at how this well-loved ballet now takes its rightful place on stage and how the music of Tchaikovsky along with story-telling, design, dance and a little bit of stage ingenuity all come together to make the most magical escape for young and old alike. Includes several performance video clips.

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This lecture will start at 1.30pm and will take place in the Old Windsor Memorial Hall.

Joanna Banham - The Roaring 20’s Art, Design and High Society

Like its name, the Roaring Twenties was a loud and boisterous decade, marked by novelty, modernity and huge social, technological, and economic change. Following the dark days of the Great War, it spawned a generation of wealthy and privileged Bright Young Things who were determined to shock and who broke with the conventions of the past: the women wore fur coats and cloche hats and had short, cropped hair, the men drove fast cars and smoked American cigarettes, the wealthy danced the Charleston and drank in the Café de Paris!

The Roaring Twenties was also a period of enormous vitality in art and design. Fashionable society was immortalised by John Lavery and Cecil Beaton, the excitement of jazz was portrayed by Burra and Roberts, while the speed of the city was explored by McKnight Kauffer and Nevinson.  Furniture and decoration showed the influence of Cubism and other styles associated with the avant-garde, while the discovery of Tutankhamun’s Tomb ushered in an obsession with all things Egyptian.  

This lecture aims to conjure up the energy and originality of the decade and to explore the lives of its leading figures and examples of its most innovative art and design. 

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This lecture will start at 1.30pm and hopefully will take place in the Old Windsor Memorial Hall.

Imogen Corrigan - Albrecht Dürer 

This is a man who took centre-stage in the world of art at a time when most artistic attention was focussed on Italy or the Netherlands. Albrecht Dürer came from Nuremberg and lived most of his 57 years there, although he travelled a great deal, constantly striving to improve his already prodigious skills. 

His early training was that of a goldsmith, following in the family tradition, but ‘my liking attracted me to painting rather than goldsmith’s work.’ That said, it stood him in good stead as we can see from the attention to minute detail and the ability to work in several media. Not only were his portraits and altarpieces exquisitely and acutely observed, but he revolutionised the world of wood-cuts and engravings. 

We know much about his character because he was the first German artist to write about his own life. He was also the first in Germany to draw nudes from life and he was the first to write on the theory of art as well as to create it. Only his contemporary, Leonardo da Vinci, bears comparison with him in these achievements.

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This lecture will start at 1.30pm and will take place in the Old Windsor Memorial Hall.

Roger Askew - The Enigma of Edward Elgar

One of our greatest composers, Edward Elgar was an extraordinary man.  He was completely self-taught as a musician, evidence of the strong determination behind his original and unique genius.

His path to recognition was hard and bitter, contending with prejudice, religious bigotry and with entrenched societal class-consciousness. However, with his wife Alice as his staunchest supporter, from a hesitant start with pieces written for his local music societies, to cantatas celebrating Britain’s history, “King Olaf” and “Caractacus”, he finally achieved national and international success with his “Variations on an original theme (Enigma)” of 1899.  This work demonstrates remarkable technical mastery of form and orchestration and above all an individual and forceful personality

This lecture, illustrated with many notable musical examples, explores the development of this contradictory musician, always wracked with self-doubt, and explains how his music expresses a quintessential Englishness.

Doors will open at 1:10 pm and the lecture will start at 1.30pm and will take place in the Old Windsor Memorial Hall.

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Invites to attend the lecture were sent out today 15th September by eMail. If you think you have not received the invitation please check your spam/junk mail first then contact John Beggs by eMail at john.beggs1@btinternet.com

This lecture will be delivered via Zoom and will start at 7.00pm

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'.

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If it has to be delivered via Zoom and you have not received a link by Tuesday 24th August, please contact John Beggs by email, john.beggs1@btinternet.com

This lecture will be delivered via Zoom and will start at 7.00pm

In the 19th century sailing ships with their colourful figureheads were a regular sight but now just a few figureheads survive. In this talk, Helen will explain why they created and what and who did they represent. 

Helen Doe is a historian, author and speaker with a particular love of maritime subjects. It is people, often the ordinary and, sometimes unsung, heroes and heroines that attract her attention. She is a trustee of the SS Great Britain and a member of the Council of Experts for the National Historic Ships. She has written three books about Isambard Brunel's three great ships and co-edited The Maritime History of Cornwall.  

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If it has to be delivered via Zoom and you have not received a link by Tuesday 27th July, please contact John Beggs by email, john.beggs1@btinternet.com

Over 50% of the world’s population now live in urban areas, alongside them are found foxes, parrots, monkeys and plants, lots of plants. The street ‘weeds’ of our cities tell us as much about their lives as they do ours. Many a street corner will have its own flora, much of it ubiquitous but also sometimes unique. Naturalising loquat trees in London ‘map out’ the recent flourishing of Turkish and eastern Mediterranean communities here whilst the now rare London rocket attests to a history taking in the Roman conquest and the Great Fire of London. Cities are changed by plants and plants are changed by cities, many are evolving in different ways to their countryside cousins.

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This lecture will start at 1.30pm and will take place on Zoom.

If you have not received a link by Tuesday 22nd June, please contact John Beggs by email, john.beggs1@btinternet.com

As 2021 is the 200th Anniversary of Napoleon’s death, in this lecture we will explore:-

How was Napoleon such an excellent self -promoter? What was it that drove him? What on the other hand drove his wife? And what was it that made Napoleon and Josephine one of the most followed couples in history? These questions can be answered giving a true insight into their character by exploring the collections at the Chateau de Malmaison. The Estate, which was bought by the couple as their private retreat, away from the Pomp and Ceremony of the Official Residences, was made into a National Museum in 1905 amassing a huge collection of their possessions. Paintings, personal objects, complete room layouts, and some magnificent pieces of porcelain are just some of the things on display. 

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This lecture will start at 1.30 p.m. and will be delivered via Zoom. 

If via Zoom, if you have not received a link by Tuesday May 25th, please contact John Beggs by email, john.beggs1@btinternet.com

This talk is on how magicians have appeared in art throughout the centuries, whether in paintings, satirical prints or cartoons. Early artists used the magician to symbolise the mysterious and the unknown, associating them with astrology and tarot cards. In the 16th century, Pieter Bruegel and Hieronymus Bosch produced two of the most famous and striking pictures of the conjurer performing the Cups and Balls trick. The 18th and 19th century saw a proliferation in engravings and lithographs showing the magician both indoors and on the streets. Cartoonists and satirists delighted in linking politicians with skulduggery with images of them featuring the Three-Card Trick, Vanishing illusions or pulling a Rabbit out of the Hat. 

This lecture will be delivered via Zoom and will start at 7.00pm.

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This lecture is available to guests for a fee of £5/household and can be booked by using the Book Events icon on the Home page. Other booking options are listed in the Booking Pro-forma stored under Documents. 

If you have not received a link by Tuesday April 27th, please contact John Beggs by email, john.beggs1@btinternet.com

Our rich cathedral choral tradition is unique. Drawing on his own experience as a chorister in Wells Cathedral, Roger will give a lively insight into the life of a cathedral chorister. The lecture will explore the development of the tradition from medieval times to the present. It will be illustrated with examples of some of the outstanding choirs of the 20th and 21st centuries. 

This lecture will start at 7.00pm and be delivered via Zoom

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If you have not received a link by Tuesday March 23rd, please contact John Beggs by email, john.beggs1@btinternet.com

OUR ZOOM LECTURE will commence at 7:00pm

Sarah is a graduate and prize-winner from the Royal Academy of Music and in 2015 was elected an Associate. She performs, writes and lectures about the harp regularly in America, Australia, Europe and UK. All lectures are presented digitally and include live music and songs on harps and other instruments depending on subject matter. 

Using illustrations from carvings, wall paintings, pottery, mosaics, sculpture, stained glass, illuminated manuscripts, and 18th and 19th century art, Sarah traces the history of one of the world's most ancient and beloved musical instruments from thousands of years BC, to its arrival in northern Europe, including the huge developments and improvements during the Renaissance and 19th centuries that created the highly mechanised and beautiful instrument we see played in orchestras and as solo instruments today.

Performing on her own reproduction and antique instruments, Sarah will demonstrate the development and evolving sound and repertoire of the harp throughout its history.

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Want to find out more?  Email us at info@theartssocietywindsor.org.uk to request a link to join us on zoom for one of our winter talks on the 4th Wednesday of the month at 7pm (Jan - Mar). We hope to meet again from April onwards on the 4th Wednesday of the month at 1.30 pm in the Memorial Hall, Old Windsor, SL4 2RN, but should that not be possible, we will continue with Zoom lectures instead.

If you have not received a link by Tuesday February 26th, please contact John Beggs by email, john.beggs1@btinternet.com

Houses made from wool that warm in the depths of winter, carpets that tell stories, woven bands that appease ancestors, embroideries that ward off evil, and kilims that store kitchenware, with everything ready to be packed and carried on yak, or camel at a moment’s notice; the little-known nomadic textile cultures of the Kyrgyz, Turkoman and Karakalpak are explored in this lecture, along with the rise and fall of nomadism and where nomadism fits within the modern world. Chris also shares from his own experience of working with nomadic yak herders in the High Pamirs for three years.

This lecture starts at 7.00pm and will be delivered via Zoom.

If you have not received a link by Tuesday January 26th, please contact John Beggs by email, john.beggs1@btinternet.com

Everyone knows the ingredients of a traditional Christmas: gathering round the Christmas tree, pulling crackers, eating Christmas pudding and mince pies. Those last-minute cards sent to people you’ve not seen all year. These are the festive celebrations with which most of us grew up and they still hold a special magic as representing the timeless Christmases of days gone by. But where did they start?

This lecture looks at the characters and personalities of the people who began those traditions or introduced them to this country.

In this lecture we meet the master masons who both designed our cathedrals and managed the sites.  They commanded everything whether it was sourcing the vast quantities of stone, recruiting the workforce.  Out of a cacophonu of sounds of a thousand hammers and chisels they created heaven on earth.

On coming to the throne George IV instinctively understood the majesty and splendour appropriate to the monarch of the richest and most powerful country in the world. This lecture traces his developing taste as Prince of Wales, Regent and King and examines connections between his royal residences as well as his spectacular legacy to the Royal Collection – the greatest by any monarch since Charles I.

This lecture will be delivered via Zoom at 3.00pm

The story of one of the greatest creative collaborations of all:  Serge Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes, whose team of dancers, choreographers, and costume and set designers transformed expectations of what a night in the theatre could be, and the circumstances behind its most notorious stage work of all. Sandy examines the build-up to the Rite of Spring’s premiere in Paris, takes a look at the original costumes, plays excerpts from this fascinatingly inventive score, and explores what divided opinions of that first-night audience quite so dramatically.  No, nothing could top the riot at the Rite in 1913…

This lecture will be delivered via Zoom at 3.00pm

Have a look at Pina Bausch's "Rite of Spring" from the Senegal desert.  Click HERE

American pioneers in glass technology from the late 19th century onwards provided much of the innovative tradition that was to bring about the birth of the Studio Glass Movement in the USA in the 1960s. Glass manufacturers such as Louis Comfort Tiffany developed new blown shapes and technologies to create new surface effects and an appearance of movement in glass that was to be continued in the work of studio glass makers such as Dale Chihuly.

This lecture will delivered via Zoom at 3.00pm

London has a world-class reputation for art in its many galleries, but this is a talk about the remarkable range of art outside in the streets.  We tour around the capital discovering some of the most interesting works from across the centuries.  They range from huge and expensive commissions to unofficial graffiti, which is sometimes audacious and playful, but they all have a place in our society.  We look at why art is there, how it has developed over the years and discover many hidden gems.