Stratford-upon-Avon
Decorative and Fine Arts Society

Thursday 19 January 2012
The Ancient Greek Olympics: a Visitor's Guide
Neil Faulkner

Olympians

What was it like at the Olympics 2,400 years ago? Unlike in London this year, there were no stands and no shade.
The naked athletes participated in foot–races, the pentathlon, horse and chariot races and in three combat sports: wrestling, boxing and the no–holds–barred pankration. Religious rituals, poetry and philosophy lectures and exotic night–life were included in the Olympics of 388 BC.

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Thursday 16 February
Annual General Meeting

The AGM will be at 11.00 am, followed by a lecture and buffet lunch (ticket only)

The Arts and Crafts Movement in the Midlands
Sally Hoban

The Midlands have made a huge contribution to the nineteenth–century Arts and Crafts Movement and this lecture explores the best of local painting, enamel work, stained glass, ceramics, jewellery and even book illustrations.

Thursday 15 March
Kicking and Screaming: a Brief Story of Post–war British Art
Linda Smith

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Courtesy of Fiona Banner

Post–war British art, by painters such as Francis Bacon and Lucien Freud, has often caused consternation, and here trends such as Modernism, Pop Art and Conceptualism, will be examined.

The rise of the Turner Prize and the notorious Sensation Exhibition demonstrate that British art is both strong and vigorous today.

Thursday 19 April
The Life and Work of Thomas Chippendale
Janusz Karczewski–Slowikowski

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No cabinet–maker's name is better known than Thomas Chippendale!

His artistic talent, combined with his traditional craftsman skills, enabled Chippendale to design and produce some of the finest and most innovative examples of 18th century English furniture in the Rococo, Gothic and Neo–classical styles.

Thursday 17 May
The Black Death: a Turning Point in the Arts
Tom Beaumont James, MBE

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The Black Death of 1348–1350 removed nearly half the population of England, and was accompanied by the collapse of the banks, expensive foreign wars and a mini ice–age.

This lecture examines the effects of the plague on art, architecture and buildings, as well as associated crafts. Did this crisis prompt a change in mentality in European countries?

Thursday 21 June
Chardin and the Lure of the Ordinary
Barry Venning

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Unfashionable in the Rococo–loving art world of 18th century Paris, Chardin's work was regarded as part of a minor genre.

Although he painted only about 200 paintings, mainly domestic scenes, portraits and still–lifes, his sensitive handling of his subjects and his ability to portray innocence without sentimentality have brought his paintings great world–wide acclaim.

Tuesday 17 July 2012
Harlots, Rakes and Crashing China
Lars Tharp

Lars Tharp
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This year we shall be celebrating our 40th anniversary with a Special Lecture, followed by cake and bubbly to mark the occasion. The lecture will be at 11.00 at the Civic Hall. Many of our members will know Mr Tharp, the well–known broadcaster, from his frequent appearances on the Antiques Road Show on BBC, where his specialist knowledge of ceramics is much in demand. Mr Tharp is renowned for his passion for William Hogarth, as well as his wit and sense of humour, and we look forward to a very special Anniversary Lecture.

Thursday 20 September
Keeping up Appearances: Prehistoric Jewellery in Britain
Ben Roberts

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Around 4500 years ago, the inhabitants of Britain suddenly started wearing and being buried with jewellery. Objects were fashioned out of amber, jet, gold, copper and bone in a rich variety of forms.

This extraordinary explosion of ostentatious display requires explanations that archaeologists are only just beginning to grasp.

Thursday 18 October
The History of the Skyscraper
Anthea Streeter

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The earliest skyscrapers of the 1880's in New York and Chicago are followed by the Golden Age of the 1920's, showing such iconic skyscrapers as the Chrysler Building.

European design influenced the post–war International Style, and now all eyes are on the imaginative and breath–taking designs in Asia and the Middle East.

Thursday 15 November
Marc Chagall: Wandering Jew or Citizen of the World?
Monica Bohm-Duchen

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As his work made clear, Marc Chagall remained loyal to his humble Russian–Jewish origins. Yet he wished his art to have universal appeal – which it has undoubtedly achieved.

This lecture will trace his long colourful career from Russia to Paris, to America and back to France, and will assess the influences of the different cultural and artistic environments on his creativity.

Thursday 13 December
Christmas and other Festivals in Modern Mexico
Chloe Sayer

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Mexican people are renowned for their love of festivals, and Christmas provides the perfect opportunity for them to indulge their passion. The Christmas story is acted out throughout the country, with elaborate Nativity scenes staged in each village.

Most Mexican festivals are both joyful and religious in origin and include lavish processions, rich costumes and masked dances in the streets.

Thursday 17 January
The Horse, Modernity and Modern Art
Nicholas Watkins

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Courtesy of Christopher Le Brun

Horse imagery has always evoked symbolic powers within Western Art. Many artists, like Stubbs and others, used the horse to symbolise their personal view of man and his environment.

Picasso's Guernica shows an agonised horse in its death throes to evoke destruction, and soon Mark Wallinger's fifty metre high horse will loom over the Kent countryside.

Thursday 21 February 2013
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
Lecture: The Staffordshire Hoard
Sam Newton

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The recently revealed Mercian Royal Treasures from Staffordshire and their relationship to other Anglo–Saxon artistic wonders, like those off Sutton Hoo, will be explored.

The discovery of this wonderful hoard has led historians to take a fresh look at the Kingdom of Mercia and speculate on the accumulation and burial of the hoard.