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| I don’t know about you but as I said on the night Venice has gone up the listings on my ‘to visit’ list, following on from our March event when Jonathan Keates spoke to us on La Serenissima – The Story of Venice. I am now even more inspired by Jonathan’s fab talk! For those of you who missed the event Jonathan gave us a full overview of the City and some of the issues it has endured over its history, not least the flooding issues. As past Chairman of the ‘Venice in Peril’ fund and author of a number of books on Venice, he was well placed to tell us all about its history and challenges. Moving on to next month after we have all eaten too much chocolate and hopefully enjoyed a happy Easter, we look forward to welcoming – Professor Anja Shortland. Anja is going to talk to us about ‘Lost Art : the dark side of the Art Market’. Her book ‘Lost Art’ tells the story of what happens when a famous painting disappears into the underworld of stolen art and how it makes its way back in to the legitimate world of Auction Houses and Museums. Read more about Anja .. https://theconversation.com/profiles/anja-shortland-131252 EVENT DETAILS Date: Tuesday 16th April 2024, 630pm Please note the change of venue to: St Stephen’s Church 38-42 Rochester Row, London SW1P 1LE The Church is just up Rochester Row from Grey Coat Hospital School UPCOMING EVENTS Tuesday 7 May 2024, 630pm St Stephen’s Church, 38-42 Rochester Row,London SW1P 1LE Catherine Moorehead – ‘Recollections of RumDoodling’ – a mountain explorer’s adventures Catherine is an intrepid mountaineer who has successfully taken climbing groups to hitherto unconquered, uncharted and unclimbed mountains in China, India and Nepal. She has also completed all the Munros in Scotland and is, therefore entitled to be called a ‘Compleat Munroist’. Catherine is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and a Member of the Alpine Club. She has recently been commissioned by the London and New York publisher Phaidon to write a contribution to ‘The World Atlas of Mountaineering’. This is the biggest history of world climbing ever undertaken. It is due for publication in Autumn 2025. In addition, hot off the press – Catherine has just been awarded for the Kekoo Naoroji Prize (named after Kekoo Naoroji the distinguished Himalayan Club bibliophile) This is the biggest award in Asia for mountaineering writing and one of the ‘big three’ global awards. https://birlinn.co.uk/2024/03/27/mountain-guru-scoops-major-award/ She has written a number of other books on Mountaineering and this promises to be a really interesting event so please feel free to brings friends along … https://birlinn.co.uk/contributor/catherine-moorehead/ Tuesday 4 June 2024, 630pm – SUMMER EVENT – The Houses of Parliament Lt Gen David Leakey, CMG, CVO, CBE – ‘Behind the scenes in the Palace of Westminster’ An event with ex Black Rod, Lt Gen David Leakey. From a military family David joined the Royal Tank Regiment as a second lieutenant after attending The Royal Military academy at Sandhurst. He went on to study law at Cambridge and then served in the Army around the world. He has had a number of high-profile roles and became Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod in February 2011. He sings, is an amateur pianist and was Chairman of the National Children’s Orchestra in June 2014. * see note in MEMBERSHIP section below – membership and confirmation of attendance required in advance for this event Tuesday 2 July 2024, Time and Location TBC A walk around the ‘City ‘ with City expert Jeremy Fern Details to follow… August – work in progress. For our Tuesday 3 September event we have secured world expert Richard Ovenden OBE. ‘Knowledge under Attack – how libraries have fought back for 3000 years’ Richard is the Bodleian Librarian and Head of University Gardens, Libraries and Museums. He is also a Fellow of Balliol College, Oxford. On other matters … Please visit our website for information onUpcoming Events MembershipSupporters and Events Please see the information re MEMBERSHIP – set out below…. We are very keen to grow our Society. If you have friends who would like to join us we would be very pleased to welcome them to our Events – the more the merrier! Under Supporters and Events there are other activities you may find interesting – we are adding more all the time! With all best wishes The Arts Society Victoria Committee Bernard (Barker) Jane (Bowles) Clare (Bowring) Carol (Pym), Nicola (Rivis) Linda (Spiers) Victoria Arts Society Committee Jane Bowles chair@theartssocietyvictoria.co.uk www.theartssocietyvictoria.co.uk T: 07952 111722 Insta: theartssocietyvictorialondon Twitter: theartssocietyvictorialondon F: theartssocietyvictoria Bringing people together through the Arts Regular events – come and join us! Press here to get in touch! MEMBERSHIP It’s Renewal Time! We have decided to freeze subscription prices but we would, as a Committee, be very grateful if you could pay your subs as soon as possible .. Prices Single Membership £95 Joint Membership £160 Student Membership £45 Membership runs from mid-May 2024 – mid-May 2025 Please encourage your friends to come and join us as we enter our second Membership Year as your Committee. More Members equals more fun!We are adding Events all the time – so keep an eye on the newsletter and the websitewww.theartssocietyvictoria.co.ukPlease note the June event is in the House of Lords and is a Member Only event. Due to the rules and regs in Parliament we ask you to pay your subs for 2024/2025 in advance of this event. You can pay by bank transfer, or in person by card or cash at the April or May events. We will also need you to register for this ‘Behind the Scenes in the Palace of Westminster’ lecture. Joining instructions will follow shortly…. |
| CRITIC’S CORNER Designer Maker User at The Design Museum, 224-238 High Street Kensington, London W8 6AGThis is the (free) permanent collection at The Design Museum and is a fascinating display of all sorts of items that have been or become integrated into our lives, covering areas such as transportation (though not so much cars/motorbikes/trucks etc, more bicycles and scooters – notably the Vespa!); communication – from pencils and pens, through telephones, televisions and computers to road signage and advertising, development of specific fonts for clarity etc; clothing – materials and items: and even utensils, gadgets and implements – such as Alessi’s famous spider citrus squeezer!Items are arranged on walls, overhead or in display areas, showing the development of, say, the telephone or writing implements.The collection features almost 1000 items of twentieth and twenty-first century design, viewed through the angles of the designer, manufacturer and user, including a crowd-sourced wall. There is also a helpful ‘timeline’ part of the display which was fascinating.Opening at the end of March at the Design Museum is a retrospective exhibition to celebrate the life and work of Enzo Mari, one of the greatest Italian designers of the 20th century, whose designs have inspired generations of creatives around the world. Tickets cost c.£16-20 (including a small donation). Already open is a free ‘accompanying exhibition’ Grazie Enzo: Contemporary Responses to Enzo Mari.The Design Museum moved from Shad Thames to Kensington (in what was previously the Commonwealth Institute) in 2016 and was the brainchild of Sir Terence Conran(who really financed the whole thing for many years).There is a nice cafe/lounge area on the second floor – which I will definitely use for meeting up with friends for coffee, lunch or tea – and there are plenty of loos (needless to say of extremely modern design!) Opening times 10.00-17.00 Mon-Thur and 10.00-18.00 Fri-Sun. Annual membership starts at £65 and includes a guest and free admission to all exhibitions. Student membership is £45.Sargent and Fashion at Tate Britain, Millbank, London SW1P 4RGThis is another blockbuster exhibition from Tate Britain, this time in collaboration with the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (and supported by Blavatnik Family Foundation and Terra Foundation for American Art). As John Singer Sargent is one of my favourite artists, this had long been on my list of ‘must-sees’, so I set off in high expectation; I was certainly not disappointed! It is stupendous – nearly 60 beautiful portraits, several with the garments worn by the sitters being shown nearby. One of these is actress Ellen Terry’s famous ‘Beetle Wing Dress’ for her role as Lady Macbeth. The painting is part of Tate Britain’s permanent collection and the two are reunited here for this exhibition.Sargent had a particular ’eye’ for using style and fashion to enhance his sitters – many of whom he asked to paint, despite also being one of the most sought-after portraitists. His skill in choosing (or sometimes manipulating) the costumes worn produced an air of mystery which is fascinating and this collection of paintings includes several rarely seen as well as many very familiar – including, of course, ‘Madame X’, which caused such a scandal in Paris in 1884 and threatened to ruin the reputation of both artist and sitter! This painting is on loan from New York’s Met, and Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts has also loaned many of its large collection of Sargent paintings. There are I think eight galleries in the exhibition, but none are too crowded with paintings (or garments) so there is plenty of space to walk in. I will definitely return for at least a couple more visits as there is something so alluring about these paintings!On until 7/July 2024 at Tate Britain – open daily 10.00-18.00. Tickets £22 – with timed entry so pre-booking advisable, but Members/Friends go free (and do not need to book a time). The Hills of California at The Harold Pinter Theatre, Panton Street, London SW1Y 4DNThis is another collaboration between Jez Butterworth (of Jerusalem fame) and producer Sam Mendes and is set in a Blackpool guesthouse towards the end of the scorching summer of 1976. The mother of four daughters is dying upstairs and the interactions and relationships between the sisters is covered with some clever, sometimes cutting, dialogue; and the scene switches between then and the girls’ childhood, when their ambitions were to become “the new Andrews Sisters”. The female cast members dominate the play, and some sensitive issues are covered, with some surprises by way of songs and even a bit of dancing. At three hours it is fairly long but it doesn’t seem to drag at all.The adult and juvenile members of the cast performed brilliantly and, if you saw and enjoyed Jerusalem (or missed it and wished you’d seen it!), this is well worth a visit.On until Saturday 14/June 2024. Tickets available “from £15”, but are generally considerably more, and the performance lasts three hours, including one interval and a pause. Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew, Richmond TW9 3JRHaving recently joined as a Friend/Member, I particularly wanted to see the ‘end of winter’ into ‘early spring’ at Kew, so have actually gone there three times in as many weeks. In fact – rather shamingly – as I’ve only been to the Christmas lights extravaganza over the past several years, this was the first year that I’ve actually seen Kew in daylight other than on TV!Anyway, as we went mid-morning on a weekday, there weren’t too many other visitors around, although there were plenty of volunteers, who are all very helpful and enthusiastic.The Winter Garden was a special area I wanted to see and, although it was rather smaller than I expected, there are lots of beautiful scented plants and it was sited so as to receive any sunlight that might appear. This area is being extended so will be even more interesting in the future, but was definitely still worth the walk, as we passed along the Camellia Walk on the way.We went to the famous Temperate House and walked around the raised walkway (fairly tight spiral staircases up and down!) which gives an amazing view all round; then out and past the Treetop Walkway, where the lifts were closed that day, so on to the lake. Having gone all around the lake, we went up to Syon Outlook (another sun trap), and sat to look at the beautiful Syon House across the river.It was still a bit early for the full glory of the Rhododendron Dell but it’s definitely on its way. In fact, everywhere we looked there were signs of spring: bulbs (many probably going past their best, although still too soon for the tulips); camellias, rhododendrons, stunning magnolias and cherry blossom, and just the early tinges of green on the deciduous trees! The Broad Walk borderswere still looking bare but with shoots of new growth just beginning to emerge. The Hive, The Princess of Wales Conservatory, the Palm House (both of these are very warm and humid!) are all well worth a visit, and there are, of course, many places for a ‘pit stop’ such as the Orangery, loos (well tended) and shops, as well as galleries, Kew Palace, Waterlily House (only open during the growing season), the Pagoda (not currently open but due soon).Kew has so many things to see, and I’m planning to go on regular visits to discover new places and see how everything changes throughout the seasons.There are four entrances: Victoria Gate (most convenient from Kew Station underground and overground); Elizabeth Gate (for river bus or train station); Lyon Gate (if coming from Richmond Station): and Brentford Gate (for those who want/have to drive – but parking is very limited, both there and all around Kew).Open daily 10.00-18.00 (last entry 17.00) until summer opening times to 19.00 or 20.00 at weekends. Ticket prices vary during the year, but c.£20 – cheaper if pre-booked online, but Members/Friends go free (& can take a ‘family member as guest’) and get 10% discount in the shops. Other recent highlights or treats have been:Rebuilding Notre-Dame: Inside the great Cathedral rescue – this was a one-hour documentary on BBC4 which is still available on iPlayer, but only until 4/April 2024. Following the devastating fire in April 2019, the French government, Church and State mobilised an incredible team to restore the Cathedral in time for the Paris 2024 Olympics. This documentary covers the first year and is fascinating!Immediately after that, also on BBC4, was How to Build a Cathedral – another wonderful programme where architectural historian Jon Cannon explores who the people were that built the medieval cathedrals, enormous structures that soared to the skies (when most people lived in hovels!). The historical context and detail really amaze the viewer! Again this is available on the iPlayer until 4/April 2024 Visits to many of London’s beautiful parks, to see Spring arriving, including:Kensington GardensHyde ParkHolland ParkRegent’s ParkSt James’s ParkRichmond Park (and specifically the Isabella Plantation)Battersea ParkGreen ParkFulham PalaceHowever, many residential streets are also blooming, with mimosa, camellias, cherry blossom, magnolias, forsythia as well as spring bulbs! We must enjoy them, even when it’s raining!Finally, I hope everyone has an excellent Easter break, with lots of beautiful art … and Easter eggs (for those who love chocolate)! |
| Please see below – an email from The Arts Society with details of SPECIAL INTEREST DAYS https://mcusercontent.com/d8d9e1e9d7035845bb0858896/files/8a3fadc0-31b4-2b16-f192-713bd27b2189/2024_Special_Interest_days.pdf |
| Thank you for reading – we look forward to seeing you all soon! |
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