Helmsley Decorative & Fine Arts Society
2017 LECTURE PROGRAMME
9th January – Poet in Paint: The Art and Life of Paul Nash (1889-1946)
David Haycock read Modern History at the University of Oxford, and has an MA in the History of Art. He is the author of a number of books, has lectured widely at galleries and museums in the UK and is now a freelance writer and lecturer. Paul Nash was one of the most important British artists of the eye twentieth century, and one who united the pastoral and mystical tradition embodied by English artists such as William Blake and Samuel Palmer, with the modern European movements of Futurism, Surrealism and Abstraction. Based on the lecturer’s books Paul Nash (2002) and A Crisis of Brilliance (2009), this lecture explores Nash’s life, from his discovery of the English landscape as a young boy, through his artistic education at the Slade, to his experiences as an official war artist in both World Wars
6th February – The Silver Thread: Silver Filigree and Traditional Arts in Kosovo
Elizabeth Gowing studied at Oxford before training as a teacher. She moved to Kosovo in 2006, co-founding a charity working on education and heritage projects. She speaks Albanian fluently, has translated books, written her own, and appeared on Radio 4 and the BBC World Service. This lecture which spans the early Kosovan silver mines mentioned by Dante, to the present day, and through generations of filigree workers making intricate objects, is a narrative of history and politics, silver being the thread that runs through it.
6th March – Iran: Land of Great Kings, Shahs and Ayatollahs
John Osborne graduated in Classics at Cambridge and taught for many years at Marlborough College, before working for the British Council in Iran and Turkey. The first part of this lecture illustrates the mighty Persian Empire of the Great Kings such as Darius. Their palace at Persepolis has monumental architectural remains and a wealth of relief sculpture. The second part traces the development through the Islamic period of the architecture of mosques and palaces, and of their brilliant decorative tilework and painting, including the splendid buildings of Shah Abbas' early 17th century Isfahan. The political and religious background includes an account of how Shi'a Islam came to take root and become the ruling creed in the late 20th century Iran of Ayatollah Khomeini.
3rd April – Hull and its Architectural Heritage
Dr David Neave, a former Senior Lecturer in Regional and Local History at the University of Hull, is a social, landscape and buildings historian specialising on East Yorkshire where he has lived and worked since 1968. He is the author of many books including the revised edition of Nikolaus Pevsner’s Buildings of England volume on Yorkshire: York and the East Riding and the Pevsner Architectural Guide to Hull which were written jointly with his wife Dr Susan Neave. His lecture will be an exploration of the UK City of Culture’s rich architectural heritage illustrating Hull’s role as one of Britain’s leading ports since the Middle Ages, with particular emphasis on the medieval churches, 17thand 18thcentury merchants’ houses and imposing Victorian and Edwardian public and commercial buildings.
8th May – How Pleasant to Know Edward Lear
Tim Stimson was a professional painter and ceramicist before returning to University to study literature and the history of art and training to teach adults. He is a freelanceart historian and lectures widely at Universities and the Art Fund and NADFAS. Edward Lear’s “Book of Nonsense” has never been out of print, but what isn’t realised often is that he made his living producing topographical watercolours of great delicacy. “A man of original and versatile genius”: ornithologist, diarist, musician, traveller- this warm and delightful human being expressed his simple philosophy through timeless humour. This illustrated lecture will focus on his biography with quotations from his writing throughout.
5th June 2017 – Tibet – The Roof of the World
Zara Fleming is an art consultant and exhibition curator specialising in the art and culture of Tibet, the Himalayan areas and Mongolia. She has worked for a number of distinguished institutions, leads tours abroad and has published many articles in the field of Buddhist art and culture. This lecture is a general introduction to the history, art and culture of this extraordinary land, lying deep in the heart of Central Asia surrounded by some of the highest mountains in the world. Despite its geographical inaccessibility, it developed a rich and vibrant Buddhist culture and artistic tradition. This lecture gives a brief overview of Tibetan history from the time of the great Tibetan Empire (6th – 9th century) up to the present day; explores the fascinating art and culture inspired by Buddhism, introduced from India in the 7th century, and gives an insight into the current political situation.
3rd July 2017 – London's changing Skyline
Anthea Streeter studied Fine Arts in London before continuing her studies at Harvard University and it was there she became interested in 20th Century architecture. London's Changing Skyline is a relatively new lecture in her canonbut even so it has been evolving because of the wealth of new buildings. So, instead of starting with the Romans the talk begins in the 17th Century, pre-fire, with the focus on the buildings in the last two centuries.
Summer break
2nd October 2017 – A Little Revolution; The Revival of Direct Carving in Stone
Madeline Goold, who studied law at University, is a sculptor and was taught by Jacob Epstein's last assistant and Eric Gill's last apprentice. Like them (and Barbara Hepworth and Henry Moore) she carves directly into the stone supported by drawings. In this lecture she describes the ancient and Romanesque carving techniques and the Beaux Arts tradition and using archive photographs, reveals Gill and Epstein's methods. Examples of today's direct carving in stone are also shown.
6th November 2017 – A Child of Six Could Do It – Modern Art through the Cartoonist's Eye.
Barry Venning is an historian of British Art with a particular interest in Turner on whom he has published widely. His interests and his teaching extend from medieval architecture to contemporary British art. Modern art is often considered difficult, butit is much less sowhen seen through the eyes of some of the greatest cartoonists of the last one hundred and fiftyyears, who providea humorous and scepticalbut instructive guide tomodern art from Courbet to the Britart of the 1990s.A chance to enjoy the insights andcartoons of (among others)Daumier, Larry,Thelwell, Matt,the wise guys at the New Yorker magazineand, of course, the immortalGiles. Collectively, they provide an absorbing, illuminating and, above all, a funny, revealing and sidelong view of 150 years of modern art.