20th January - Susan Wood,
Around the British Coast in Stunning Seascapes
This lecture was inspired by the late great printmaker Norman Ackroyd, who spent four decades recording the coastal landscapes of the British archipelago in etchings and sketches. A ''seascape'' can be a painting, print, sculpture, photograph or installation. Starting in the very far north in Shetland, we move clockwise round the British coast via locations including Orkney, East Fife, Whitby, Aldeburgh, Brighton, St Ives and Liverpool, ending up beyond the Outer Hebrides in St Kilda.
The seascapes date from mid 19th century to the present day. The focus may be geographical, historical or sociological. Themes include fishing, tourism, travel and the dangers of the sea. There are many cross-references to art periods, styles and motifs.
17th February - Roger Mendham
The Power of Photography
Photographs have the ability to stop time, to provide a freeze-frame of a moment in time and space. They give the observer the opportunity to think, to react, to feel and to soak in the details of the circumstances surrounding the image. This talk examines some the most important images and photographers of the past century. It explores why these images are so powerful and influential in our understanding of history.
17th March - Cynthia Coleman Sparke
Ukraine, Ilya Repin and the End of Empire
Ukrainian born Repin (1844-1930) trained at the Imperial Academy of Fine Arts in St Petersburg, but broke early on with its foreign inspired classicism to form a new realist school that would reflect the life of ordinary people. He became close to the famous personalities of his era, from Leo Tolstoy to Modest Mussorgsky, joining them in a quest to capture the soul of ‘Mother Russia’. Repin returned regularly to his birthplace and channelled its heritage into his epic paintings. As he made it his mission to portray the social and political changes of a country in turmoil, his surviving work forms an invaluable testament of a Ukrainophile during the empire’s final years.
21st April - Sarah Lenton "Everything you need to know about the Royal Ballet in 60 Minutes"
19th May - Jeremy Mainwaring-Burton "The Queen Mother at the Castle of Mey"
16th June - Jacqui Ansell "Vincent in Ramsgate: Van Gogh in England"
21st July - Rosamund Bartlett "Rebels not Muses: The Women Artists of European Modernism"
15th September - Colin Shindler "Sixty Years On: Life in Britain as seen 1960s Films"
20th October - Alice Foster "The Art of Partying: A Feast for the Eyes"
17th November - Mark Fisher "Bad Behavior: A History of Unruly Audiences
