John Singer Sargent was THE international art star of the Gilded Age.  He was most famous for his dramatic and stylish portraits of the elegant and wealthy.  He brought his subjects to life, but also used fashion as a powerful tool to depict identity and personality.  Cindy explores how John Singer Sargent 'fashioned' his world.

Picture: John Singer Sargent - Mrs. Fiske Warren (Gretchen Osgood) and her daughter Rachel, 1903. Faithful photo Faithful photographic reproduction of a 2-D, public domain work of art

Blue is the colour of heavenly skies and the Virgin’s gown.  It is the haze of distant mountains.  It is spiritual and moody.  Bright royal purple was the dye reserved for the Roman Senate.  Woad was the people’s dye: cheap and not particularly cheerful.  Ultramarine was the most prized pigment on the artist’s palette, imported from the Himalayas, costlier than gold.  Modern chemistry brought inexpensive strong blues to all palettes, and Queen Victoria popularised mauve dye for fashionable dresses.  The French artist Yves Klein patented his own ‘Spiritual Absolute’ in 1960!

Picture: Madonna of the Book by Sandro Botticelli, 1480. Faithful photo Faithful photographic reproduction of a 2-D, public domain work of art

In the 16th and 17th centuries, Spain rose as the great European superpower with an empire spanning the globe.  This vast wealth, alongside the renewed Catholic fervour of the counter reformation kickstarted the Spanish siglo d’oro – literally the century of gold - the great flourishing of painting, sculpture, literature and music.  The talk explores this period, looking at the historical moment and vast array of art before focusing in on the work of the greatest painter of the age, Diego Velázquez.

Picture: Portrait of Pope Innocent X by Diego Velázquez, 1650. Faithful photo Faithful photographic reproduction of a 2-D, public domain work of art

From those gorgeous 1930s travel posters, through nationalisation of the railways in 1948, with their bright regional colours, to the creation of the famous BR Double-Arrow symbol in the 1960s...it's surprising how British railways have led the way in terms of design.  In this talk we reminisce over those beautiful graphics, bygone days of railway architecture and travel.  We'll pay homage to the wonderful Tube map by Harry Beck and look to the future of train and station design.  So get your tickets ready for inspection: we're on the right track!

Picture: The British Rail "Double Arrow" designed by Gerry Barney (1965)

This work created by the UK Government is in the public domain

The beginning of the sixteenth century in Florence was an exhilarating place for an artist to work, brimming with new ideas and approaches.  For a brief but intense period Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo and Raphael coincided in Florence.  These are the years of Mona Lisa, David and Raphael’s many serene Madonnas.  This talk explores the rivalry between these artists and the impact that their work had on the young Raphael.

Picture: David, completed by Michelangelo in 1504

Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license

The son of a middle class provincial jeweller, this talk analyses the mercurial rise of Carl Fabergé in pre-revolution Russia who, by his late 30s, was producing incomparable jewels and objets d’art for the Imperial Court and bourgeois Moscow and St Petersburg.  The presentation discusses Fabergé’s early life and influences, includes photographs of the shops and their workers and is comprehensively illustrated with objets d’art including hardstones, flower studies, works of fantasy, jewellery, objects of function and the famous Imperial Easter Eggs.

Picture: Bouquet of Lilies made in 1899 for Alexandra Feodorovna as a gift from Nicholas II.

Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license

Landscape photography is a way of life and is an essential method of expression for Charlie Waite.  This fully illustrated talk with in excess of 60 images explores the relationship between the making of an image and the way in which it is perceived by the viewer.  Further discussion centres around the eye and the brain being an extraordinary double act made up of visual references and intellectual interpretation.

Picture: Mere Downs, © Charlie Waite

Henry VIII was an enthusiastic patron of the arts whose palaces, tapestries and paintings enriched the Tudor court and began the Royal Collection.  The forces that influenced his life can be seen in the works he commissioned, all telling one central story: the glorification of Henry and his England.

Picture: ‘Field of the Cloth of Gold, anonymous.  This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was first published in 1545

The entire world on his panel.

Picture: This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published before January 1 1929.

Ralph brings with him the silver he is going to talk about and covers the social context of the piece and its Huguenot inspired design.  He then shows us how he discovered who the original owner was and the misfortunes that befell them

Or have I discovered a Constable in my attic?

A behind the scenes talk where renowned Constable expert, Sarah Cove talks about her discoveries on the BBC show Fake or Fortune.  Beyond the show, she has many more stories of highs and lows in the art world.

A Yorkshire / Cornish Textile Renaissance: Tom Heron, Cryséde and Cresta at the Birth of Modernism. 

This is the epic tale of two extraordinary figures from the same valley in Yorkshire who were destined to change the world of fashion and design for all time.  A story that takes us from the mills of Yorkshire in the 1920s to the coast of Cornwall; from Welwyn Garden City to the corridors of power at Westminster.

Picture: Patrick Heron (1920 – 1990), Nude 1947, Cresta Silks 79 x 75 cms, Credit: The Gray MCA Collection

In 1924 an English critic acclaimed an exhibition of Canadian landscapes as ‘the most vital group of paintings produced since the war – indeed the century’.  These vibrant, Post-Impressionist landscapes of Canada’s northern lakes and rugged backwoods were created by the ‘Group of Seven’, Toronto-based painters.  Ross King explores how they broke through conservative barriers to gain international recognition as a distinctive avant-garde movement.

Picture: F. Carmichael: Black Spruce and Poplar

Work is in the public domain in its country of origin and other countries and areas where the copyright term is the author’s life plus 70 years or fewer.

This talk will focus on two overriding interests of the late 18th century – the study and collecting of Greek vases and a fascination with volcanic activity, encouraged by the excavations at Herculaneum and Pompeii; in particular, at the life and collections of Sir William Hamilton, British envoy to the Court of Naples from 1764 to 1800.

Picture: Sir William Hamilton by David Allen,1775

‘Art lies at the heart of social unrest, a voice for those who cannot be heard.  Graffiti is more than mindless vandalism, it’s the early stages of revolution’.  Doug Gillen created production company, Fifth Wall TV, six years ago and he’s been filming and talking about street art ever since.

The remarkable story of Carry On actor Peter Butterworth and his wife, Britain’s first female tv impressionist, Janet brown, best known for her impression of Mrs Thatcher.  Using classic film and tv clips, with rare photographs and letters from his family’s unseen collection, we see behind Tyler’s parents’ public lives and hear their fascinating stories.

This talk examines the life and times of Oscar Wilde from his Irish roots to his days as a student at Oxford and his meteoric rise to the heights of celebrity.

We travel with him to the United States and examine his starring role within the artistic and theatrical worlds of late 19th-century London.

We visit his home in bohemian Chelsea and some of his favourite West End haunts. Finally, we learn how ‘tired of being in the heights, he plunged into the depths’ and became famous for being INfamous ...

Jacqui is an artist, maker, teacher, author and researcher of textiles. She is known for her expertise in braiding and historic embroidery.

Jacqui’s ability to ‘read’ needlework objects saw her awarded a Wellcome Trust Research Bursary in 2015. This enabled her to study their newly acquired medieval embroidered almanac and resulted in a book devoted to this extraordinary  artefact.

The first pots appeared in Britain about 6,000 years ago, and this talk will chart the ways in which ceramic production has evolved from that time to the present day.
From the hand-formed and bonfire-fired pots of our prehistoric ancestors to the products of both modern industry and individual craft potters, this talk will examine the major changes that have shaped the ways pots are produced and distributed.. This is a genuinely a ‘potted history’ !

Although it has been told and retold in books and films, no story in the 20th century has caught the imagination more powerfully and poignantly than the tragic life and execution of Nicholas II, the last of the Romanovs.

Douglas Skeggs has been a lecturer on paintings since 1980. In that time he has given over 8000 lectures to universities, colleges and art societies.

Captain Scott and his four companions died in the Antarctic in 1912. Although they had lost the race to the South Pole to Norwegian Roald Amundsen, their deaths unleashed an astonishing wave of tributes not only in Britain but around the world.

This talk will examine the different ways in which artists represented death in the polar wasteland and portrayed failure as heroic sacrifice.

Erotic and exotic, the tale of the man who killed 1,000 Philistines armed only with the jawbone of an ass but who was fatally unmanned by the wiles of Delilah has proved irresistible to artists and composers through the ages.

Plants can be silent witnesses to crimes. Their presence in many crime scenes can help an investigator identify a suspect or locate a victim. Apparently mundane plants such as brambles and nettles can provide valuable insights into when a crime was committed. Fragments of leaves and seeds embedded in soil on the footwear of a suspect can place them at the scene.

A look at some of opera's greatest rivalries, spats and tiffs, ranging from the throw-away remark to full in-public fighting. They certainly make for a spicy history. Which individual or voice category might be the worst example? Are they an intrinsic part of opera? Whose fault are they? We will hear and see examples of great singers from the past to the present.

This talk looks at photography over the past nearly 200 years, looking at key advances in technology and the inter-relationship of photography with art movements.

The work of pioneering women photographers is particularly interesting, and the talk concludes with examples of some great photographs that have been sold for millions of dollars at auction

Photograph by Roger Mendham - "Failed MOT"

Tasha Marks is an award-winning food historian and artist who takes us on a whistle-stop tour of  the history of food as artistic medium, starting with 16th-century sugar sculpture and venturing all the way up to 3D dessert printing and beyond.

This talk is a treat for those with a sweet tooth, as Tasha Marks feels that the subject of food and art through the ages is most exciting in the realms of the dessert.

Another new local talent, Tony hails from Exmouth and lectures at Exeter University as well as running his own somewhat anarchic outfit called The Pierotters, the last surviving professional seaside pierrot troupe in Britain.

At the height of the great Gothic revival in church architecture during the 19th century stained glass windows enjoyed a renaissance. Already famous for their innovative designs, William Morris, Edward Burne Jones, Dante Gabriel Rossetti and Ford Madox-Brown were responsible for some of the most beautiful stained glass windows of the 19th and 20th centuries. This lecture will look at the history of how ‘The Firm’ brought church windows to life with their new vibrant colours and sensuous designs, the languid faces of the saints and holy family often modelled on real life portraits of their friends and lovers.

Image: William the Conqueror presenting a charter to Lord Marmion, and Sleeping Lord Marmion being prodded by St. Editha, 1909 Ford Madox Brown. With thanks to Birmingham Museums Trust on Unsplash

A welcome return for Leslie with this intriguing story of Reynolds' famous portrait of the exotic Tahitian native Omai, who somehow became all the rage in London society

Sophie, yet another newcomer to us, shows us the ancient instruments depicted in old paintings, and then plays replicas which she has made herself so that we can share the sounds they originally made.

New speaker journalist/author Tessa takes a look below stairs at scandals and secrets in domestic service in some of our most prominent households in the 19th and 20th centuries.

MS TESSA BOASE

Tessa Boase is a freelance journalist, author, lecturer and campaigner with an interest in uncovering the stories of invisible women from the 19th and early 20th-centuries – revealing how they drove industry, propped up society and influenced politics.

She’s the author of three books of social history: The Housekeeper’s Tale: The Women Who Really Ran the English Country House (2014); Etta Lemon: The Woman Who Saved the Birds (first published as Mrs Pankhurst’s Purple Feather in 2018), and London’s Lost Department Stores: A Vanished World of Dazzle and Dreams (2022).

Since uncovering the feminist origins of the RSPB, Tessa has been campaigning for public recognition of its female founders with plaques, portraits and a statue. 

Jacqueline lays bare Picasso's scorching love life with his two main mistresses/muses, drawing on letters, diaries and documents, and most of all from the evidence of his own paintings....................

DR JACQUELINE COCKBURN

Jacqueline is Managing Director of an art tours company, running residential courses in Andalucía, Southern Spain in the art and culture of the region www.artandculturetravel.com  Jacqueline is a course director and lecturer at the V&A and also lectures at The Royal Academy, The Art Fund, The London Art History Society and has toured New Zealand and Australia for The Arts Society. Her specialist field is Spanish Art, but she also lectures on European Art 1790-1950. Her most recent publication is A Taste of Art, London (Unicorn Press 2019). Jacqueline films her lectures and is currently delivering lectures, study days and courses online and live.

Our perennial favourite Val gets her teeth into Bosch's world of devils, demons and deadly sins which haunt some of the most mysterious paintings in the whole of European art.

MRS VAL WOODGATE

Currently Lecturer at Tate Britain and Tate Modern, for the Art Fund, the National Trust, U3A, City of London libraries (Barbican and Guildhall), and other organisations. Lectures on Zoom for arts organisations. 

Formerly Tate Guide for 39 years; member of Teaching Team at Dulwich Picture Gallery, where as well as lectures I gave 50 Study Days; evening courses for DPG; lectures and courses at Pallant House Gallery, Chichester; on P&O cruises representing the Tate; lectures at University of Cape Town; script-writer for The Living Paintings Trust.

 Expert Roger looks at the colourful history of our 2000-mile inland waterway network, from sweeping aqueducts to tiny bollards, from colourful historic narrowboats to Roses and Castles artwork

How the British viewed themselves and the one quarter of the world's population over which they held sway at the turn of the 20th century, in paintings, photographs and the visual media of the time.

John teaches media studies at Exeter university, and uses the famous Hitchcock 1963 film The Birds to explore the similarities -- and the differences -- between these two great artists of literature and cinema; in exploring The Birds John questions why du Maurier is said to have hated it.

Daphne du Maurier and Alfred Hitchcock had much in common. Although they never met, the two individuals, disparate as they were, produced in Rebecca, Jamaica Inn and The Birds, three cultural landmarks of the 20th century.

Veteran importer and retailer of wine David tells a story going back 7,000 years -- a fascinating tale, rich in illustrations and artifacts. Cheers!

This talk will be at the Public Hall, West Street, Liskeard, PL14 6BW. Meet at 7pm for conversation - and we're providing refreshments  again, though it'd be nice if you'd bring your own reusable cup. The talk starts at 7.30pm and ends at about 9pm.

FREE for members: guests and visitors welcome, £6 at the door.

Glass expert Charles introduces the superstar of moden glass: Dale creates pieces which are huge, extravagant, colourful and fearfully expensive!

This talk will be at the Public Hall, West Street, Liskeard, PL14 6BW. Meet at 7pm for conversation - - and we're providing refreshments  again, though it'd be nice if you'd bring your own reusable cup. The talk starts at 7.30pm and ends at about 9pm.

FREE for members: guests and visitors welcome, £6 at the door.

The writer-scholar relates how the opening of the trade routes across Asia profoundly affected the designs and materials of the arts in China itself.

This talk will be at the Public Hall, West Street, Liskeard, PL14 6BW. Meet at 7pm for conversation - and we're providing refreshments  again, though it'd be nice if you'd bring your own reusable cup. The talk starts at 7.30pm and ends at about 9pm.

FREE for members: guests and visitors welcome, £6 at the door.

Paula assesses his genius while telling the story of his life, his meteoric rise to fame and his dramatic sudden death at the age of just 37.

This talk will be at the Public Hall, West Street, Liskeard, PL14 6BW. Meet at 7pm for conversation - and we're providing refreshments  again, though it'd be nice if you'd bring your own reusable cup.. The talk starts at 7.30pm and ends at about 9pm.

FREE for members: guests and visitors welcome, £6 at the door.

Former Fleet Street journalist Geri looks at the ups and downs of the Street of Fame through the art that illustrates its stories.

This talk will be at the Public Hall, West Street, Liskeard, PL14 6BW. Meet at 7pm for conversation - and we're providing refreshments  again, though it'd be nice if you'd bring your own reusable cup. The talk starts at 7.30pm and ends at about 9pm.

FREE for members: guests and visitors welcome, £6 at the door.

Radio 3 presenter and professional double-bassist Sandy gives us an expert's view of the age, from Ragtime to Swing.

This talk will be at the Public Hall, West Street, Liskeard, PL14 6BW. Meet at 7pm for conversation - please bring your own refreshments. The talk starts at 7.30pm and ends at about 9pm.

FREE for members: guests and visitors welcome, £6 at the door.

Oxford botanic garden curator Timothy explains the contining -- and perhaps surprising to some -- importance of plants in contemporary medicine.

This talk will be at the Public Hall, West Street, Liskeard, PL14 6BW. Meet at 7pm for conversation - please bring your own refreshments. The talk starts at 7.30pm and ends at about 9pm.

FREE for members: guests and visitors welcome, £6 at the door.

Cornwall expert David delivers an authoritative account of the artists' colony which once flourished on our doorstep.

This talk will be at the Public Hall, West Street, Liskeard, PL14 6BW. Meet at 7pm for conversation - please bring your own refreshments. The talk starts at 7.30pm and ends at about 9pm.

FREE for members: guests and visitors welcome, £6 at the door.

in his unique and entertaining fashion, Jonathan dissects Jan Van Eyck's famous portrait of a 16th-century couple.

This talk will be at the Public Hall, West Street, Liskeard, PL14 6BW. Meet at 7pm for conversation - please bring your own refreshments. The talk starts at 7.30pm and ends at about 9pm.

FREE for members: guests and visitors welcome, £6 at the door.

This talk will be at the Public Hall, West Street, Liskeard, PL14 6BW. Meet at 7pm for conversation - please bring your own refreshments. The talk starts at 7.30pm and ends at about 9pm.

FREE for members: guests and visitors welcome, £6 at the door.

In a lighthearted talk, David reviews the wonderful and the gloriously awful imagery of Christmas - from Giotto and the crib to Dickens and Coca-Cola. Christmas to Kitschmas!

This talk -- for Liskeard Arts members only during the pandemic -- will be at the Public Hall, West Street, Liskeard, PL14 6BW. Meet at 7pm for conversation - please bring your own refreshments. The talk starts at 7.30pm and ends at about 9pm.

The doors to the hall will be left open throughout, so that the hall is well ventilated, and the council requires that masks are worn in the corridors. We request that you wear a mask while in the hall itself as well, that you make use of the hand sanitiser provided in corridors and hall, and that you maintain a safe distance from other members.

Mark covers the dazzling richness of Churchill's life - a shelfful of historical books, four volumes of speeches, and more than 500 talented paintings over a 50-year span.

This talk -- for Liskeard Arts members only during the pandemic -- will be at the Public Hall, West Street, Liskeard, PL14 6BW. Meet at 7pm for conversation - please bring your own refreshments. The talk starts at 7.30pm and ends at about 9pm.

The doors to the hall will be left open throughout, so that the hall is well ventilated, and the council requires that masks are worn in the corridors. We request that you wear a mask while in the hall itself as well, that you make use of the hand sanitiser provided in corridors and hall, and that you maintain a safe distance from other members.

A look at the golden age of British photography, breaking out of the studio and into fashion and popular culture with icons such as David Bailey, Terence Donovan and Jane Brown.

This talk -- for Liskeard Arts members only during the pandemic -- will be at the Public Hall, West Street, Liskeard, PL14 6BW. Meet at 7pm for conversation - please bring your own refreshments. The talk starts at 7.30pm and ends at about 9pm.

The doors to the hall will be left open throughout, so that the hall is well ventilated, and the council requires that masks are worn in the corridors. We request that you wear a mask while in the hall itself as well, that you make use of the hand sanitiser provided in corridors and hall, and that you maintain a safe distance from other members.

A welcome return for Sarah to share the secrets of her trade, inspired by Renaissance paintings and places, to create memorable flesh and blood characters for her avid fans.

This talk -- for Liskeard Arts members only during the pandemic -- will be at the Public Hall, West Street, Liskeard, PL14 6BW. Meet at 7pm for conversation - please bring your own refreshments. The talk starts at 7.30pm and ends at about 9pm.

The doors to the hall will be left open throughout, so that the hall is well ventilated, and the council requires that masks are worn in the corridors. We request that you wear a mask while in the hall itself as well, that you make use of the hand sanitiser provided in corridors and hall, and that you maintain a safe distance from other members.

His dramatic style of painting spread throughout Europe, along with a reputation for violence, and a death sentence for murder.  Julia assesses the man and the artist.

This is an extra talk, arranged in compensation for the talk that had to be cancelled in 2020.

Via zoom; if you're a member you should have received a link by email. If you haven't received one, or if you're not a member and you're interested in attending this talk,please ask for one via the contact page in this website.

The talk starts at 7.30pm and ends at about 9pm. FREE for members; for visitors/guests, £6.

Using slides and video, Steve shows and discusses the fabulours frescoes, poetry, artichitecture and writings of one of the very earliest civilisations of our continent.

Via zoom; if you're a member you should have received a link by email. If you haven't received one, or if you're not a member and you're interested in attending this talk, please ask for one via the contact page in this website.

The talk starts at 7.30pm and ends at about 9pm. FREE for members; for visitors/guests, £6.

Peter returns with a cracking tale of a unique and powerful musical figure, agaist the backdrop of the extraordinary times in which he lived. Not to be missed!

Via zoom; if you're a member you should have received a link by email. If you haven't received one, or if you're not a member and you're interested in attending this talk, please ask for one via the contact page in this website.

The talk starts at 7.30pm and ends at about 9pm. FREE for members; for visitors/guests, £6.

Via zoom; if you're a member you should have received a link by email. If you haven't received one, or if you're not a member and you're interested in attending this talk, please ask for one via the contact page in this website.

The talk starts at 7.30pm and ends at about 9pm. FREE for members; for visitors/guests, £6.

The modern myth of the Noble Savage is attributed to the 18th Century philosopher
Jean-Jacques Rousseau, who believed that original “man” was free from sin, appetite or the concept of right and wrong, and that those deemed savages were not brutal but noble.

This talk considers the depiction of native lands and peoples as seen through the eyes of
European colonisers and their legacies.

NB this talk replaces the one scheduled earlier for this date.

At the Public Hall, West Street, Liskeard, PL14 6BW. Meet at 7pm for conversation - please bring your own refreshments. The talk starts at 7.30pm and ends at about 9pm. FREE for members; for visitors/guests, £6 at the door.

At the Public Hall, West Street, Liskeard, PL14 6BW. Meet at 7pm for conversation - please bring your own refreshments. The talk starts at 7.30pm and ends at about 9pm. FREE for members; for visitors/guests, £6 at the door.

At the Public Hall, West Street, Liskeard, PL14 6BW. Meet at 7pm for conversation - please bring your own refreshments. The talk starts at 7.30pm and ends at about 9pm. FREE for members; for visitors/guests, £6 at the door.

Due to COVID-19 we have cancelled this talk.

At the Public Hall, West Street, Liskeard, PL14 6BW. Meet at 7pm for coffee/tea/wine and conversation. The talk starts at 7.30pm and ends at about 9pm. FREE for members; for visitors/guests, £6 at the door.

Musicologist, ex-radio 3 presenter, jazz double-bassist, Sandy is the ideal guide to the story of jazz, from the blues and ragtime to Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington and the dawn of the swing era. Come and get your feet tapping to end the season!

Due to COVID-19 we have cancelled this talk.

At the Public Hall, West Street, Liskeard, PL14 6BW. Meet at 7pm for coffee/tea/wine and conversation. The talk starts at 7.30pm and ends at about 9pm. FREE for members; for visitors/guests, £6 at the door.

Brunel’s celebrated ship, the first liner with an iron hull and the first driven by a propeller, transformed sea travel for ever. Ian tells the story of her build and launch, and then the incredible salvage and restoration more than a century later.

At the Public Hall, West Street, Liskeard, PL14 6BW. Meet at 7pm for coffee/tea/wine and conversation. The talk starts at 7.30pm and ends at about 9pm. FREE for members; for visitors/guests, £6 at the door.

They were the magical, turbulent couple of 20th-century Mexican art – he was famous for vast murals with social themes, while she made herself the theme of her work, becoming Mexico's most original painter.

Image courtesy of wikipedia.

At the Public Hall, West Street, Liskeard, PL14 6BW. Meet at 7pm for coffee/tea/wine and conversation. The talk starts at 7.30pm and ends at about 9pm. FREE for members; for visitors/guests, £6 at the door.

Is the legend a myth? Was Lawrence, as some claim, a liar and a charlatan, or was he a brilliant military commander and sincere advocate of the Arab cause of independence? Neil Faulker leads our investigation.

At the Public Hall, West Street, Liskeard, PL14 6BW. Meet at 7pm for coffee/tea/wine and conversation. The talk starts at 7.30pm and ends at about 9pm. FREE for members; for visitors/guests, £6 at the door.

Music was a constant theme in Manet’s life and art. He drew and painted many musicians, and was inspired by music as varied as Spanish flamenco, Haydn string quartets and Parisian cafe songs.

At the Public Hall, West Street, Liskeard, PL14 6BW. Meet at 7pm for coffee/tea/wine and conversation. The talk starts at 7.30pm and ends at about 9pm. FREE for members; for visitors/guests, £6 at the door.

Since the evangelist Matthew first told the story of the magi, the figures of the three kings have continued to delight artists, poets and storytellers alike as they have developed down the centuries.

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

​At the Public Hall, West Street, Liskeard, PL14 6BW. Meet at 7pm for coffee/tea/wine and conversation. The talk starts at 7.30pm and ends at about 9pm. FREE for members; for visitors/guests, £6 at the door.

Lights, Camera, Action! –  inside stories of the art and artifice of the early decades of Hollywood. This lecture covers the work of stills photographers, costumiers, publicists, actors and actresses and the movie moguls who made it all happen. 

​At the Public Hall, West Street, Liskeard, PL14 6BW. Meet at 7pm for coffee/tea/wine and conversation. The talk starts at 7.30pm and ends at about 9pm. FREE for members; for visitors/guests, £6 at the door.

From Hockney's early abstracts, through his famous California swimming pool scenes, to his photo-montages of the ages, Douglas charts the career of an artist whose wit and imagination has never faltered.

​At the Public Hall, West Street, Liskeard, PL14 6BW. Meet at 7pm for coffee/tea/wine and conversation. The talk starts at 7.30pm and ends at about 9pm. FREE for members; for visitors/guests, £6 at the door.

Watercolour is a versatile art form, almost uniquely British, at its height in the 18th and 19th centuries. Hugh is an architect and a very talented watercolourist. Here’s what he says about this tantalising and popular art form:  “It embodies uncertainty, fluidity, luminosity and transparency, making it the most challenging of all the media”.  To substantiate this claim, he will show us the efforts of William Blake, John Constable, William Turner, and many others.

He is also a speaker of some distinction; you may remember his scintillating talk on Antonio Gaudi in 2016, and his masterly Discovery Day on the Greeks and the Romans the following day. 

Image: The Toilet of Venus, by Peter Paul Rubens [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

At the Public Hall, West Street, Liskeard, PL14 6BW. Meet at 7pm for coffee/tea/wine and conversation. The talk starts at 7.30pm and ends at about 9pm. FREE for members; for visitors/guests, £6 at the door.

Leslie traces the origins of foreign-born artists, including Holbein, Van Dyck, Peter Lely and Rubens, and looks at how they came to work here, and how their legacy influenced the native British school of painting.

Image: Punch and Judy by Simon Speed [Public domain], from Wikimedia Commons

Our usual hall having been double-booked, there's a change of venue for this talk: the Show Will Go On at Liskeard Senior School and Community College, Callington Road, Liskeard (behind Luxstowe Vets). Once inside the school grounds, follow the Reception signs. Ample free parking; go into the double door between Reception and the Old Hall.

We won't be able to provide our usual refreshments and wine, but we think that the joys of Bertie's presention will easily overcome that hitch. The talk starts at 7.30pm and ends at about 9pm. FREE for members; for visitors/guests, £6 at the door.

The inimitable Bertie gives his comic take on the history of the most famous puppet character of all time, Mr Punch, a Commedia del Arte figure whose comic irreverence gave Punch magazine its title. That's the way to do it!

At the Public Hall, West Street, Liskeard, PL14 6BW. Meet at 7pm for coffee/tea/wine and conversation. The talk starts at 7.30pm and ends at about 9pm. FREE for members; for visitors/guests, £6 at the door.

Mark makes a welcome return with an inspirational journey through medieval England to capture the essence of its religious and secular music, its Romanesque and Gothic cathedrals, and its equally rich span of sublime manuscript illumination.

Image: by Jeffrey Pfau [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html), CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/) or CC BY-SA 2.5  (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5)], from Wikimedia Commons

At the Public Hall, West Street, Liskeard, PL14 6BW. Meet at 7pm for coffee/tea/wine and conversation. The talk starts at 7.30pm and ends at about 9pm. FREE for members; for visitors/guests, £6 at the door.

Archaeologist, writer and broadcaster Julian tells the story of how this iconic global monument was built, and looks at how perceptions and understanding of it have changed over the centuries.

At the Public Hall, West Street, Liskeard, PL14 6BW. Meet at 7pm for coffee/tea/wine and conversation. The talk starts at 7.30pm and ends at about 9pm.

Peter Warwick has been taken ill at the last minute, but we are lucky enough to have found a superb speaker; Jonathan Weeks, a musician, maker and player of medieval instruments. His Blast from the Past a couple of years ago was a knockout, and his return promises to provide a warm, funny and most intriguing evening for us.

Image: Work, by Ford Madox Brown [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

t the Public Hall, West Street, Liskeard, PL14 6BW. Meet at 7pm for coffee/tea/wine and conversation. The talk starts at 7.30pm and ends at about 9pm.

The Victorians expected all things to have a purpose and a moral message, and  their successful painters obliged – cads, bounders and fallen women jostle with gamblers, philosophers and honest workmen in their wonderfully detailed canvasses. 

Image: Portrait of El Greco: [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

At the Public Hall, West Street, Liskeard, PL14 6BW. Meet at 7pm for coffee/tea/wine and conversation. The talk starts at 7.30pm and ends at about 9pm.

From the late Middle Ages to the 20th century, Gail ranges widely from the court portraits of El Greco, Velazquez and Goya, to glittering modern giants such as Miro, Dali and Picasso, and assesses their similarities and differences.

Image: Stanley Spencer by the Picknick, 1929.

At the Public Hall, West Street, Liskeard, PL14 6BW. Meet at 6.45 pm for coffee/tea/wine and conversation. Our (mercifully brief!) AGM starts at 7.15, and the talk starts at 7.30pm and ends at about 9pm.

Perennial favourite Val returns to examine the eccentric and visionary world of one of the most creative and imaginative British painters of the 20th century.

.

Image: Vivaldi (Old image: Taken from the en.wikipedia), Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=10678

At the Public Hall, West Street, Liskeard, PL14 6BW. Meet at 7pm for coffee/tea/wine and conversation. The talk starts at 7.30pm and ends at about 9pm.

Against the luxurious backdrop of 18th Century Venice, and with live musical  performances by Peter himself, he explores the amazing world of Vivaldi’s  music – work that is as intrinsically Venetian as the canvasses of Canaletto.

At  the Public Hall, West Street, Liskeard, PL14 6BW. Everyone welcome, whether a member or a non-member (£6). Meet at 7pm for for coffee/tea/wine and conversation. The talk starts at 7.30pm and ends around 9pm.

From Manet to Cheret to Mucha, Steinlen and Toulouse Lautrec, Charles Harris shows us the inspirational and varied work by superb artists, which helped to make the poster the world's first effective method of mass communication.

At  the Public Hall, West Street, Liskeard, PL14 6BW. Meet at 7pm for for coffee/tea/wine and conversation. The talk starts at 7.30pm and ends around 9pm.                                          

Hugely popular historical novelist Sarah Dunant assesses whether the Borgias really deserved their gory reputation for murder, poison, incest and decadence: all perfect ingredients for sensational popular culture. But in an age known for its brutality and church corruption, were the Borgias really so bad?

This sumptuously illustrated talk reveals the real story of the family that dominated the Papacy and Italian politics during the last decade of the 15th century: the wily, charismatic womaniser, Pope Alexander  (pictured), his sociopathic son, Cesare, cardinal, military general and the model for  “The Prince” by Machiavelli - himself a character in their story - and Alexander's adored daughter Lucrezia, who moves from “the greatest whore in Rome” to a devout and treasured duchess of the city of Ferrara. Sometimes truth is more intoxicating than myth.

Sarah Dunant is a historian, broadcaster and novelist who has written several works on the Italian renaissance, and a two-part novel on the Borgia family:

Blood and Beauty: published 2013

In the Name of the Family: published March 2017

David Tovey is an expert on St Ives, with several books on the subject to his credit. He has put together this Discovery Day to create for us a panoramic insight into the artistic life of the world-famous Cornish harbour town.

Firstly he gives an overview of Marine Painting from Turner to Alfred Wallis, then focuses on the social life of the art colony, and their friends and relationships within all strata of St Ives society, which began as a remote and Methodist-dominated community.

Finally, David tells how the St Ives Society of Artists revived the artistic fortunes of the town, which led to Ben Nicholson, Barbara Hepworth, Laura Knight, Stanhope Forbes, and a host of other Royal Academicians exhibiting under its aegis.

This Discovery Day takes place at the Public Hall, Liskeard, from 9.30 for 10am, with a break for lunch (provided as an optional extra), to end at about 3.30pm.

Above: a corset from the 1770s: the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

At  the Public Hall, West Street, Liskeard, PL14 6BW. Meet at 7pm for for coffee/tea/wine and conversation. The talk starts at 7.30pm and ends around 9pm.

Covering almost two hundred years of changing silhouettes, Kate Strasdin's talk takes a light-hearted look at how both men and women have styled their shapes with a range of undergarments — from corsets to crinolines and calf pads to sleeve puffs.

Above: How Solomon might have seen her ...

At  the Public Hall, West Street, Liskeard, PL14 6BW. Meet at 7pm for for coffee/tea/wine and conversation. The talk starts at 7.30pm and ends around 9pm.

British Museum curator Louise led the exciting archeological dig in Ethiopia which discovered an enormous ancient mine - the source of the wealth taken by the fabled Queen of Sheba to Solomon at the start of one of the world's oldest recorded love stories.

Above: Win Green, the highest hill in Dorset.

At  the Public Hall, West Street, Liskeard, PL14 6BW. Meet at 7pm for for coffee/tea/wine and conversation. The talk starts at 7.30pm and ends around 9pm.

One of the world's leading landscape photographers, Charlie puts himself both sides of the camera, using more than 60 of his wonderful photos to explore the relationship between the making of images and how they are seen by the viewer.

Google Charlie’s website, https://www.charliewaite.com/, and you will see for yourself some of his wonderful landscape images, taken all over the world with his trusty 6x6 Hasselblad, photos described by one admirer as having a “graphic finesse with an almost spiritual quality of calm and serenity”. 

He started in theatre and television, before finding his unique talent with a stills camera, and after a lifetime of seeing and clicking, he has now had more than 30 solo exhibitions on all major continents, writes for our leading newspapers, presents television series on his art, gives numerous live lectures, and has just joined the august ranks of Arts Society’s speakers!  He is also universally acclaimed as one of the world’s leading photographers.

In this talk he presents a series of his beguiling images, analyses and explains what he was trying to capture, why, and how successful he has been.  Here’s what he says – “ When I take a photograph, I’m aware of the nature of clouds, their shape, the way breeze affects water, foliage, the nature of bark on a tree, ripples on the water.  I forget everything else –hunger, whatever, and I come out exhausted, but I emerge with a marvellous sense of enchantment.”

 That sense of enchantment has made Charlie friends and fans all over the world.  As a late convert myself, I beg you not to miss this magnificently illustrated talk.

 After all, it could just change the way you see the world.  

At  the Public Hall, West Street, Liskeard, PL14 6BW. Meet at 7pm for coffee/tea/wine and conversation. The talk starts at 7.30pm and ends at about 9pm.

One of the great mysteries of Christmas — how did an obscure fourth-century Turkish bishop eventually morph into Santa Claus? Sally Dormer uses archives, icons, wall-paintings and illuminated manuscripts to tell us a highly improbable story.

Above: the Sibelius monument in Helsinki.

At  the Public Hall, West Street, Liskeard, PL14 6BW. Meet at 7pm for coffee/tea/wine and conversation. The talk starts at 7.30pm and ends at about 9pm.

Russia expert Rosamund Bartlett tells how Sibelius played a crucial role in the successful struggle of Finland, his beloved homeland, to become independent of Russia in 1917, a cause which produced some of his most enduring and thrilling music.

At  the Public Hall, West Street, Liskeard, PL14 6BW. Meet at 6.45 for coffee/tea/wine and conversation. AGM at 7.15. The talk starts at 7.30pm and ends at about 9pm.

Witty and stylish nostalgia about those images we have retained from the books we read as children — of Tigger, Toad, Black Beauty, Treasure Island and many more; also a peek at the lives of the authors who created them.

At  the Public Hall, West Street, Liskeard, PL14 6BW. Meet at 7 for 7.30pm.

Bacon has been called the most significant and exciting British painter of the 20th century, yet also demonised as a creator of horrific, violent, ugly images. Where does the truth lie? The redoubtable Linda Smith helps us decide.

From the 1920s onwards an intoxicating mix of artists, writers, musicians descended on the Cote d'Azur to create a new summer season. Suntans and sportswear became de rigeur for Matisse, Picasso, Dufy, Cocteau and Chanel. Cole Porter and Scott Fitzgerald introduced a glamorous American perspective to this fizzing cocktail of panache and joie de vivre.

These private prayer books were made for ordinary people, for use at home. They survive in huge numbers and are the most famous existing late medieval illuminated manuscripts, containing enchanting miniatures and fine decoration. Our guide to these exquisite objects is a world-renowned expert.

Above: Repton's proposal for the landscaping at Endsleigh House, near Tavistock.

A look at the two most important designers of the "English School", as landscaping moved away from French and Dutch influences towards a more "natural" style. Paradoxically, however, this was a period of widespread change, when the industrial and agricultural revolutions altered urban and rural existence for ever.

Elizabeth I was the most remarkable woman of a remarkable age. Her reign was rich in literature, music, art and architecture. This is a welcome return for Mark, who will focus chiefly on the portraits, miniatures and music of Elizabeth's court.

Ex Fleet Street journalist, ex MGM film publicist, Geri Parlby was the ideal guide to this sparkling account of the development of the Motion Picture Industry, which changed the face of mass entertainment around the turn of the 20th century.

Somerset's own mischievous medieval musician entertained us with his mastery of the most amazing period woodwind instruments, - bladder pipe, shawm, crumhorn, doucaine, kortholt, bone flutes, and many others. Some he made himself, others are "ethnic survivals". A bucolic wassail of a Christmas Treat with our mince pies and a glass of wine.

In Barcelona at the end of the 19th century, an astonishing genius produced forms of architecture unique to Catalonia. Revered locally, he became famous worldwide for his design of the Cathedral de La Sagrada Familia - a fabulous masterpiece, still unfinished. Architect Hugh Ellwood assesses Gaudi's legacy.

Throughout history Man has been absorbed with the concept of Time, and how to measure its passing - from flowing water, burning wax, falling sand, right through to the atomic clock. Time-telling devices have always been produced with great intricacy, craftsmanship and beauty, but while poets and writers have claimed to "understand" Time, philosophers and scientists have struggled...

Lowry is possibly Britain's most popular painter; yet his very familiarity has stopped us looking as closely as we should at this extraordinary artist. He was not just a recorder of northern mills and industrial towns, but also, in Michael Howard's view, one of the great painters of the human condition.