Past News and Newsletters

Newsletter - December 2010

Dear Members

I believe that the abiding memory I shall take away when I resign as Chairman at the forthcoming AGM is the substantial and really rewarding level of support you, the Members, have given to the Society's programme year after year. Full lecture halls, well-attended Study Days and heavily subscribed visits are very fulfilling for your Committee who take a lot of thought and trouble to produce an attractive programme and carry it through successfully.

The programme for the coming year will, I am confident, live up to expectations. All the events appear on our website,with background about the lecture and the speaker; for Visits and the Study Days further information and downloadable booking forms are also available on the website.

Our Study Course at Marks Tey Parish Hall on Mondays 24, 31 January and 7 February 2011 will see Diana Lloyd returning to bring our studies of ceramics up to date, covering 19th and 20th Century china and pottery. There will be a hands-on opportunity for those who would like to bring in an appropriate item for expert appraisal.

The Lecture Programme will, as usual, be diverse. It is intended to be stimulating and, insofar as there is a guiding theme, this would be to look at a range of innovative or novel periods or artists. But who says new art is good art? On 13 October, David Phillips will consider the role of the „Expert? in art appreciation.

We will look at the development of European Art from three angles. On 9 June Clare Ford-Wille will cover some technical aspects of painting in her talk, From Fresco to Frame. On 8 December, Siân Walters will expand upon the earlier part of this subject in more detail by talking about the Artist Monks of 15th Century Florence who, arguably, inspired the Italian Renaissance. Tom Beaumont James, on the other hand, has his own view of artistic development in the later Middle Ages and, on 12 January 2012, will argue that the Black Death was a 'Key Turning Point of Art'.

Our consideration of 20th Century Art will take in five artists who can, in no way be considered derivative or predictable. Hopefully you will think them exciting and, indeed, inspiring. On 7 July Chloë Sayer will speak about the seminal Mexican couple, Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera. On 9 February 2012 Justine Hopkins will cover those Masters of the Irrational, Dali, Ernst and Magritte. Our final look at art will be completely different, or, perhaps you will think, not quite so different from the previous trio. On 10 November, Rebecca Hossack’s lecture 'From Dreamtime to Machine Time' will introduce Aboriginal Art.

We have not forgotten the Decorative Arts. As well as our Study Course on ceramics, we have invited Caroline MacDonald-Haig to talk, on 10 March, about Renaissance Venetian Glass and its European Progeny. I suspect we will be surprised at how much our glassware owes to Venice. Further, we are extending our remit slightly by asking Peter Medhurst to give a presentation on 14 April on Music inspired by Painters.

Last but certainly not least, Anne Sebba will talk on 12 May about the collector William Bankes and the house he refurbished and furnished with his collection, Kingston Lacy.

A week later, those of you who are coming on the Society's Tour of the Houses and Gardens of Dorset will be visiting Kingston Lacy itself. The Tour will include some rather special churches and, as well as such splendours as Kingston Lacy some lesser known, but no less interesting, private houses and gardens. The dates are 16 to 20 May and we shall be based at a hotel very close to the heart of Blandford Forum.

Our first Visit of the year will be to London where we shall visit the recently refurbished Leighton House and Linley Sambourne House, both of which are in Holland Park. Leighton House was built as a palace of art for Lord Leighton who was President of the Royal Academy from 1864-1879 and is most famous for its Arab Hall. The house was also designed to incorporate a working studio of some magnificence.

Linley Sambourne house, a uniquely well-preserved late Victorian town house, was the home of Edward Linley Sambourne, the Punch cartoonist, illustrator and photographer (1844-1910). The house retains many of its original features including much of its furnishings and decoration from the 1870s. In addition there is a large collection of Chinese export porcelain: mostly blue and white, dating from the 17th to 19th centuries.The visit will take place on 31 March.

Then, on 5 May we have booked a visit to two private houses in Suffolk which are rarely opened to the public and in both of which we shall be taken round by the owners. There will also be a different format from the usual early morning start because they will be afternoon visits, finishing with canapés. Transport will be in our own cars rather than by coach, which will give us much more flexibility in moving from one location to the other. Because of the scale of the properties numbers will be strictly limited to 30. This will involve us in new skills, such as devising accurate “how to get there” instructions and organising a carpooling scheme.

Our final visit before the summer break, on 5 July, will be to Ely Cathedral and nearby Chippenham Park. Ely needs little introduction or explanation; it is simply a splendid gothic construction which repays frequent revisiting. Chippenham Park is less well known; it is privately owned and not yet very frequently opened to the public. It is a fine house, but its crowning glory is the quite magnificent garden which has been created by the present owner over the past thirty or so years. It should be at its very best when we visit and given reasonable weather will be a memorable day.

As usual we plan to have an autumn visit, but this will be decided upon later when we have fuller knowledge of the special events available in the latter part of the year.
All best wishes for 2011,
Martin Herbert,
Chairman