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| The Society meets at King William Court, University of Greenwich, Old Royal Naval College, Park Row, London SE10 9LS on the second Monday of each month except April and August. Lectures begin promptly at 8 pm.
Forthcoming lectures |
| Monday 13 Sep 2010 ART NOUVEAU: ARCHITECTURE AND DESIGN - Anthea Streeter Art Nouveau had its fullest flowering on the European Continent during the 1890s but it was the English designers who were the first to break with the past. Influenced by nature, and the clarity and simplicity of Japanese artefacts, their designs point a new way forward. |
| Monday 11 Oct 2010 DISSOLUTION OF THE MONASTERIES: THE GREATEST ACT OF ARTISTIC VANDALISM - Mark Corby This lecture will uncover the treasures that we lost at the bidding of Henry VIII, measured against the marvels that survive. In the spring of 1536 England possessed an architectural heritage of nearly 850 Abbeys, Priories, Friaries and Nunneries. A contemporary described them as the “beauties of our land”. By the spring of 1540 all had been swept away on the orders of King Henry VIII. |
| Monday 8 Nov 2010 BOTTICELLI – 500TH ANNIVERSARY - Shirley Smith Botticelli's art can be seen to encapsulate the cultural, religious and political life of late 15th century Florence. To celebrate the 500th anniversary of his death, this lecture will study the works of Botticelli as a means of probing beneath the decorative facade of his paintings. |
| Monday 13 Dec 2010 PRAGUE: CITY OF THE WINTER QUEEN - Douglas Skeggs Prague is one of the great treasure houses of Europe. Reduced to a near ruin under the communists, it has now been restored to its former glory, a unique blend of Gothic, Baroque and Art Nouveau architecture. The lecture looks at the rich fabric of Prague’s past, its legends and its history, as well as the artists, composers, statesmen and rogues that have illuminated this fairy tale city. |
| Monday 10 Jan 2011 LIMEWOOD SCULPTURE OF RENAISSANCE GERMANY - Clare Ford-Wille In the 15th and early 16th centuries carved altarpieces were arguably more important than painted altarpieces in northern Europe, but with a few notable exceptions, they remain on the fringes of our knowledge today. |
| Monday 14 Feb 2011 DIAGHILEV’S BALLETS RUSSES: A SYNTHESIS OF EXCELLENCE - Elizabeth Rumbelow In this lecture we will look at the phenomena of Sergei Diaghilev and his unique creation, the Ballet Russes, which took Europe by storm from 1909 to 1929. This will be set against a background of contemporaries such as the painters Picasso, Matisse and di Chirico, and composers such as Stravinsky, Ravel and Debussy. Using music and accompanying slides to illustrate sets, costumes, etc. Elizabeth will show us how dancers of the calibre of Nijinksy, Karsavina, Spessivtseva and Lifar together with choreographers such as Fokine and Balanchine worked on collaborative productions. |
| Monday 14 Mar 2011 KEEPING UP APPEARANCES: PREHISTORIC JEWELLERY IN BRITAIN AND BEYOND - Dr Ben Roberts Around 4500 years ago, the inhabitants of Britain suddenly started wearing and being buried with jewellery. The subsequent centuries saw stunning objects being fashioned out of amber, jet, gold, copper, bone and faience in a bewildering variety of forms. This unprecedented explosion of decadent display requires explanations that archaeologists are only just beginning to grasp. |
| Monday 9 May 2011 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING – 7.45 P.M. Followed by TEA, OPIUM AND HONG KONG - Patrick Conner Tea – ‘that Excellent, and by all Physicians approv’d, China Drink’ – was for two centuries the chief article of trade from China to the West. By 1730 a pound of tea cost up to 36 shillings in London. Together with tea, other Chinese products reached the West, including porcelain, furniture, lacquer, silk, fans, and paintings of Chinese life. Demand for tea continued to grow – but what could China be persuaded to accept in return? Various products were tried, with limited success. Only opium found a ready market in China, smuggled from the British-owned poppy fields of India. As the Chinese economy suffered, its government tried to end the opium traffic; the British merchants resisted, and gained support in Parliament. The result was the ‘Opium War’ of 1839-42, and the treaty which ceded the island of Hong Kong to Britain. |
| Monday 13 Jun 2011 PUCCINI – SPECIFICALLY MADAME BUTTERFLY AND TOSCA - Sarah Lenton A lecture on an opera or operas in production at either the ENO or ROH. |
| Monday 11 Jul 2011 ANGELICA KAUFFMAN RA – ARTIST OF THE 18TH CENTURY - Leslie Primo This lecture will attempt to revive the reputation and celebrate a great artist who although born in Switzerland, went on to become a great British artist, with a reputation equal to her male contemporaries in an age that rarely recognised women in this field. The lecture will look at her rise to fame on the Continent, her training, influences, her association with the all the famous figures of the age including Joshua Reynolds, her controversial private life, her arrival in England and subsequent success in a relatively short period of time, and what happened to Kauffman after leaving England. |
| Visits and other events are announced during the year. Details are displayed at lecture evenings and on our website. Tickets are available for purchase at the lecture evenings. |
Links to selected local attractions
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