Programme Sep – Dec 2010

ILLUSTRATED SEMINARS

THURSDAYS: 16 & 23 SEPTEMBER 2010 The Feud that Sparked the Renaissance

The seminars cover the feud between two Florentine Artists: Flippo Brunelleschi and Lorenzo over the commission for the doors of Church of St John the Baptist. Lorenzo Ghiberti got the commission and Brunelleschi took the path that led him to rediscover the laws of perspective. Fifteen years later they were again in contention as to who would build the widest, heaviest and highest dome ever constructed – the Dome of Cathedral Santa Maria del Fiore. Donatello was their pupil and a younger man Masaccio forged his own way. The four of them laid the ground work for the artistic revolution, now known as the Italian Renaissance.

THURSDAYS: 11 & 18 NOVEMBER 2010 Gauguin Maker of Myth
The seminars will outline the painting career of Paul Gauguin. His post-impressionist style profoundly affected the course of modern European painting. In contrast to the impressionists, he emphasized the symbolic content of his subjects and used broad, flat areas of colour and dark lines to separate objects.

These four two hour seminars will be given by Bernard Courtis and will start at 10.30 hrs at Winchester Discovery Centre Maximum available places 34; Cost £16 per member per subject.

THURSDAYS: 14 & 24 OCTOBER 2010 English Modernists

These Seminars will cover developments in British art during the years 1910 – 1939.

Seminar 1: Roger Fry, Vanessa Bell, Duncan Grant – will focus on the painting and decorative art of the Bloomsbury Group especially that of Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant. Roger Fry’s importance as a curator, lecturer and art critic will be highlighted. We will look at the output of the Omega Workshop and the impact of World War One on artists.

Seminar 2: Barbara Hepworth, Henry Moore, Ben Nicholson will consider the post war period and the depression and take us up to the rise of fascism and the outbreak of World War Two. The paintings of Paul Nash and Ben Nicolson will be studied as will the abstract sculpture of Henry Moore and Barbara Hepworth. The influence of Herbert Read’s art criticism and his advocacy of modernism will be discussed.

These two two hour seminars will be given by Beth Taylor and will start at 10.30 hrs at Winchester Discovery Centre. Maximum available places 34; Cost £16 per member per subject.

GROUP VISITS

TUESDAY – 7 SEPTEMBER 2010 National Gallery Exhibition Fakes, Mistakes and Discoveries

This exhibition in the Sainsbury Wing explores the vital contributions of applied science to the understanding of Old Master paintings in the National Gallery. A world leader in its field, the Gallery employs advanced techniques in scientific examination, conservation and art historical research to investigate a painting’s physical properties. The exhibition will showcase some of the most intriguing stories behind paintings in the Gallery, as it explores the ways in which advances in scholarship and technology can reveal the misconceptions of the past. There will no guide as the exhibits are self explanatory AdmissionFREE No restrictions on numbers attending

TUESDAY 26 OCTOBER 2010 Southampton Gallery exhibition Bridget Riley – Flashback

Bridget Riley since the mid-1960s has been celebrated for her distinctive, optically vibrant paintings which actively engage the viewer’s sensations and perceptions, producing visual experiences that are complex and challenging, subtle and arresting.. Her subject matter is restricted to a simple vocabulary of colours and abstract shapes. These form her starting point and from them she develops formal progressions, colour relationships and repetitive structures. The effect is to generate sensations of movement, light and space: visual experiences which also have a strong emotional and even visceral resonance. Please assemble at Gallery Café at 1015am Maximum available places 15; Cost £4 per member

THURSDAY 9 DECEMBER 2010 V&A Museum Diaghilev and the Golden Age of the Ballets Russes, 1909 1929

This exhibition will showcase the glamour and magic of Serge Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes, exploring its origin and legacy 100 years after its first performance. A larger than life personality, Diaghilev’s artists included such luminaries as George Balanchine, Coco Chanel, Robert Delaunay, Natalia Goncharova, Vaslav Nijinsky and Pablo Picasso. Diaghilev’s extraordinary company, which survived a twentyyear rollercoaster of phenomenal successes and crippling problems, revolutionised ballet. As importantly, Diaghilev’s use of avant-garde composers, such as Stravinsky and designers such as Bakst, Goncharova, Picasso and Matisse, made a major contribution to the introduction of Modernism. Cost per member depends on personal situation please see application form