My past lectures and courses are shown with the lecture or class notes when these are available.
Richmond Art Society: The Changing Status of the Artist in Tudor and Stuart England20 April 2021 |
Save the Children Zoom Talk: Children in Victorian Art21 January 2021 |
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ZOOM COURSE 2020: A Stroll Round Tate Britain |
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| Held on: | Zoom (I will be recording my talk but this will not include any video or audio of participants) |
| Lecturer: | Dr. Laurence Shafe |
| Dates: |
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| Time: | 10:45-11:45 (I will start the Zoom session at 10:30 to allow for set up time and I will begin the talk sharp at 10:45) |
| Fee: | Free |
| Description: | The talks are a tour of Tate Britain from 1545 to the present day. The talks combine art appreciation and social history with information on the works, the styles and the lives of the artists. The art at Tate Britain is hung chronologically and most of the talks discuss the art as it is displayed, room-by-room.
The links below display a pdf version of the full notes of the original two-hour talks. Below them are the recordings of the one-hour Zoom talks which are stored on YouTube and can be played directly from here. September to November
January to March |
ZOOM LECTURE 2020: The Power of Beauty in Restoration England |
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| Held on: | Zoom |
| Lecturer: | Dr. Laurence Shafe |
| Dates: | Thursday 12 November 2020 |
| Time: | 20:00-21:00 (I will start the Zoom session at 19:30 to allow for set up time and I will begin the talk sharp at 20:00) |
| Fee: | Membership only |
| Description: | It is 1660, the English Civil War is over and the experiment with the Commonwealth has left the country confused. When Charles II was invited back to England as King he brought new French styles and sexual conduct with him. In particular, he introduced the French idea of the publicly accepted mistress. Beautiful women who could attract the eye of the king could become his mistress and influence appointments at Court and political debate.
The new freedoms introduced by the Reformation Court spread through society. Women could act for the first time, write books and one was the first British scientist. However, it was a male dominated society and so these heroic women had to fight against established norms and laws. This talk examines the power and influence of one group of women and they way they were represented in art through an examination of the Windsor Beauties painted by Sir Peter Lely and now at Hampton Court Palace. |
September 2020-21 Course Cancelled: Art History Through the AgesThis course has been cancelled because of COVID-19 restrictions and my plan is to start it it in September 2021. |
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| Held at: | The White House, 45 The Avenue, Hampton TW12 3RN (free parking, café on site). Please note that the location may have to be changed. If it does I will find a new location as near as I can to The White House. |
| Lecturer: | Dr. Laurence Shafe |
| Dates: |
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| Time: | 10:45-12:45 (with a 15 min coffee break) |
| Fee: | £60 for eight classes (paid by cheque at the first or second class). |
| Description: | Sixteen talks on a varied mix of artists and themes. Most of the talks are based on exhibitions that were held or were planned to be held during 2019 and 2020. Note that I do not aim to give an overview of each exhibition but to give a talk inspired by the theme of the exhibition so my talk might be about the life of the artist or the art of the period. I also try to alternate ‘old’ and ‘modern’ art, that is art before and after about 1850.
The talks are designed to be both informative and entertaining and my style is to lecture rather than run a discussion groups, although questions are welcome. No prior knowledge of art history is required and the level is similar to a BBC art history documentary although I try to squeeze in more anecdotes and background facts and I am never afraid to provide dates and names. I define all the technical terms I use and try to include two or three new technical terms during each talk. Expect information rather than opinion and art history rather than art appreciation. If you would like to attend please let me know in advance by emailing me on art@shafe.uk and I will reserve you a place. I email a more detailed course itinerary a month before the course starts to those who have attended the course in the past or who have expressed an interest. Lecture Programme of Two Eight-week TermsBefore each talk starts I will update the following titles to links to PDF files containing all my slides and notes. I am also planning to record a video of the talks for those enable to attend my lecture. Over the past six years I have given over one hundred talks and all the notes for these talks are on the Past Lectures page.
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September 2019 Course: A Journey Through Art HistoryThis starts on Wednesday, 25 September 2019 and it will be based on my personal view of recent exhibitions and four of my Tate Modern tours interspersed with subjects that have attracted my attention during the spring and summer of 2019. The exhibitions and topics covered are subject to change between now and September. |
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| Held at: | The White House, 45 The Avenue, Hampton TW12 3RN (free parking, café on site) |
| Lecturer: | Dr. Laurence Shafe |
| Dates: |
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| Time: | 10:45-12:45 (with a 15 min coffee break) |
| Fee: | £60 for eight classes (paid by cheque at the first or second class). Note that I have reduced the price this year as I have reduced the number of talks each term from ten to eight as I found the course was taking to much time to prepare. |
| Description:a | Sixteen talks on a varied mix of artists and themes. Eleven of the talks are based on exhibitions held during 2019 and four of the talks are based on the tours I give at Tate Modern. Note that I do not aim to give an overview of each exhibition but to give a talk inspired by the theme of the exhibition so my talk might be about the life of the artist or the art of the period. I also alternate ‘old’ and ‘modern’ art, that is art before and after about 1850.
The talks are designed to be both informative and entertaining and my style is to lecture rather than run a discussion groups, although questions are welcome. No prior knowledge of art history is required and the level is similar to a BBC art history documentary although I try to squeeze in more anecdotes and background facts and I am never afraid to provide dates and names. I define all the technical terms I use and try to include two or three new technical terms during each talk. Expect information rather than opinion and art history rather than art appreciation. I like to limit the class size to about twenty people so let me know in advance by emailing me on art@shafe.uk and I will reserve you a place. I email a more detailed course itinerary a month before the course starts to those who have attended the course in the past or who have expressed an interest. Lecture Programme of Two Eight-week TermsThe following links will display a PDF version of the talk containing all my slides and notes. I have also recorded a video of some of the talks for those enable to attend my lecture. There are over one hundred talks I have given in the past on the Past Lectures page and every talk includes a PDF file of the slides and notes.
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September 2018 Course: Art History RevealedThis course does not start until September 2018 and it will be based on my personal view of recent exhibitions interspersed with subjects that have attracted my attention during the spring and summer of 2018. The exhibitions and topics covered are subject to change but not the dates. |
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| Held at: | The White House, 45 The Avenue, Hampton TW12 3RN (free parking, café on site) |
| Lecturer: | Dr. Laurence Shafe |
| Dates: |
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| Time: | 10:45-12:45 (with a 15 min coffee break) |
| Fee: | £70 for 10 classes (paid by cheque at the first or second class). Note that all fees, less the hall hire, are donated to charity |
| Description: | Twenty talks on a varied mix of artists and themes. Sixteen of the talks are based on exhibitions held during 2018 as listed below. They are interspersed with some topics I found personally interesting during the year. Note that I do not aim to present the whole of each exhibition but give a personal view of the works shown. For example, there are over 100 works displayed at the exhibition at the Royal Academy of ‘Charles I: King and Collector’. This is far too many to cover in my two-hour talk and so I select about 25 works that illustrate how Charles I’s love of collecting developed and how he acquired his most important works. This means I can spent several minutes talking about each picture in order to provide a better appreciation of the significance of the work in the context of the period and his life. Also, some of the exhibitions will start after I have prepared my talks and so those talks will be a personal view inspired by the title.
The talks are designed to be both informative and entertaining and my style is to lecture rather than set up discussion groups, although questions are welcome. No prior knowledge of art history is required and the level is similar to a BBC art history documentary although I squeeze in more anecdotes and background facts and I am never afraid to provide dates and names. Expect information rather than opinion and art history rather than art appreciation. I like to limit the class size to about twenty people so let me know well in advance by emailing me on art@shafe.uk and I will reserve a place. Lecture Programme of Two 10-week Terms
Exhibitions Covered
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Sunbury and Shepperton Art AssociationJuly 2018 Lecture: The Art of Victorian PhotographyIs photography art? We shall see how this question was answered when photography was first invented. Tickets can be purchased here www.ticketsource.co.uk |
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| Held at: | Riverside Arts Centre (Main Hall), 57-59 Thames St, Sunbury-on-Thames TW16 5QF |
| Lecturer: | Dr. Laurence Shafe |
| Date: | Wednesday, 18th July 2018 |
| Time: | 20:00-21:45 (with a 20 min coffee break) |
| Price: | £12.00 + £1 booking fee |
| Description: | The invention and blossoming of photography coincided with the Victorian era and photography had an enormous influence on how Victorians saw the world. We will see how photography developed and how it raised issues concerning its role and purpose and questions about whether it was an art.
The photographic revolution put portrait painters out of business and created a new form of portraiture. Many photographers tried various methods and techniques to show it was an art in its own right. It changed the way we see the world and brought the inaccessible, exotic and erotic into the home. It enabled historic events, famous people and exotic places to be seen for the first time and the century ended with the first moving images which ushered in a whole new form of entertainment. The talk is complementary to the exhibition ‘Victorian Giants: The Birth of Art Photography’ at the National Portrait Gallery from 1 March to 20 May 2018. |
| Lecture Notes: | The Art of Victorian Photography |
Course 2017: A Stroll Through Tate Britain |
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| Held at: | The White House, 45 The Avenue, Hampton TW12 3RN (free parking, café on site) |
| Lecturer: | Dr. Laurence Shafe |
| Dates: | Part 1: Wednesday 20 September 2017 – 29 November 2017 (10 classes with a half-term break the week of 25 October). Extended by a week to Wednesday 6 DecemberPart 2: 3 January 2018 – 7 March 2018 (10 classes with no half-term break) |
| Time: | 10:45-12:45 (with a 15 min coffee break) |
| Fee: | £70 for 10 classes (paid by cheque at the first or second class). Note that all fees, less the hall hire, are donated to charity |
| Description: | Twenty talks on the art at Tate Britain from 1545 to the present day. The talks combine art appreciation and social history with information on the works, the styles and the lives of the artists. The art at Tate Britain is hung chronologically and most of the talks discuss the art as it is displayed, room-by-room. The class will not be taken on a specific tour but Laurence Shafe is a Tate Guide and will inform the class when his guided tours take place.
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Lecture: The Power of Beauty in Restoration England |
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| Held at: | The White House, 45 The Avenue, Hampton TW12 3RN (free parking, café on site) |
| Lecturer: | Dr. Laurence Shafe |
| Date: | Wednesday 20 September 2017 |
| Time: | 14:30-16:30 (with a 20 minute break for tea/coffee) |
| Charity | This talk is being held in aid of Sean’s House Hospice Support, which supports families of babies with life-limiting illness. It costs £12 to include refreshments and tickets can be obtained from:
Christine Crispin 020 3719 5201 or christine.crispin@phonecoop.coop. |
| Description: | It is 1660, the English Civil War is over and the experiment with the Commonwealth has left the country confused. When Charles II was invited back to England as King he brought new French styles and sexual conduct with him. In particular, he introduced the French idea of the publically accepted mistress. Beautiful women who could attract the eye of the king could become his mistress and influence appointments at Court and political debate.
The new freedoms introduced by the Reformation Court spread through society. Women could act for the first time, write books and one was the first British scientist. However, it was a male dominated society and so these heroic women had to fight against established norms and laws. This talk examines the power and influence of one group of women and they way they were represented in art. . Lecture Notes: The Power of Beauty in Restoration England |
Course: New Ways of Seeing—Modern British Art |
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| Held at: | The White House, 45 The Avenue, Hampton TW12 3RN (free parking, café on site) |
| Lecturer: | Dr. Laurence Shafe |
| Dates: | Part 1: Wednesday 21 September 2016 – 30 November 2016 (10 classes with a half-term break the week of 24 October)Part 2: 4 January 2017 – 8 March 2017 (10 classes with no half-term break) |
| Time: | 10:45-12:45 (with a 15 min coffee break) |
| Fee: | £70 for 10 classes (paid by cheque at the first or second class) |
| Description: | The course is an introduction to modern art and to British art from 1900 to the present day. The complete course is 20 two-hour talks split into two terms each of ten talks. No previous knowledge of art history is required.
The talks will put British art in the context of international developments and the talks will alternate between artists and themes. Artists covered in detail will include Stanley Spencer, Henry Moore, Lucian Freud, David Hockney and Grayson Perry, and the themes include Vorticism and abstraction, Surrealism, the World War artists, British sculpture, British figurative art, Pop art, the Young British Artists, Conceptual art, the Turner Prize, video and performance art, and Post-modernism. It is a full agenda but one that is packed with art works and anecdotes that show how artists had fun but were often engaged in serious social commentary. The course starts by “climbing the mountain” of modern art using some of the most difficult works of art of the twentieth century. Each work raises fundamental questions about art and society and this creates a context for appreciating the work. Having climbed the mountain the rest of the course will explore the various vistas laid out before us.
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Lecture: The Power of Beauty in Restoration England |
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| Held at: | St. Lawrence School, Church Rd, Molesey, East Molesey KT8 9DR |
| Lecturer: | Dr. Laurence Shafe |
| Dates: | Wednesday, 1st February 2017 |
| Time: | 20:00-21:30 (following the AGM) |
| Description: | It is 1660, the English Civil War is over and the experiment with the Commonwealth has left the country confused. When Charles II was invited back to England as King he brought new French styles and sexual conduct with him. In particular, he introduced the French idea of the publically accepted mistress. Beautiful women who could attract the eye of the king could become his mistress and influence appointments at Court and political debate.
The new freedoms introduced by the Reformation Court spread through society. Women could act for the first time, write books and one was the first British scientist. However, it was a male dominated society and so these heroic women had to fight against established norms and laws. This talk examines the power and influence of one group of women and they way they were represented in art. . Lecture Notes: The Power of Beauty in Restoration England |
Course: The Politics of Early 19th Century Landscape |
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| Held at: | Camellia Room at Bourne Hall, Spring Street, Ewell, Surrey KT17 1UF (free parking, café on site) |
| Lecturer: | Dr. Laurence Shafe |
| Dates: | Thursday 3 November |
| Time: | 10:00-13:00 (with a 20 min coffee break) |
| Fee: | £18 (enrol online at WEA) |
| Description: | This short course covers the history and politics of rural unrest in early nineteenth century England and its impact on landscape art.
Late eighteenth-century and early nineteenth-century landscape painting including the work of J.M.W. Turner and John Constable. The history and politics of the rural unrest of the period including the enclosure acts and the Swing Riots. The changing role of the countryside as reflected in art. Social realism in art and English landscape painting. Course Notes: The Politics of Early 19th Century Landscape |
Lecture: Turner and Turnips: The Politics of Early 19th Century Landscape |
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| Held at: | Sunbury & Shepperton Arts Association |
| Lecturer: | Dr. Laurence Shafe |
| Dates: | Thursday 21 July 2016 |
| Time: | 20:00-21:45 (with a 20 min coffee break) |
| Description: | The talk explores the interaction between some of the major landscape artists of the nineteenth century, such as John Constable and J. M. W. Turner, and the political and social exploitation of the countryside. |
Course: 300 Years of British Art: from Holbein to Hogarth, Part 1 |
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| Held at: | The White House, 45 The Avenue, Hampton TW12 3RN (free parking, café on site) |
| Lecturer: | Dr. Laurence Shafe |
| Dates: | Wednesday 23 September – 2 December 2015 (10 classes with a half-term break) |
| Time: | 10:45-12:15 (with a 15 min coffee break) |
| Fee: | £70 for 10 classes (pay by cheque on 23 September) |
| Description: | The first ten weeks covers the art and architecture of the Tudor and Stuart periods, the English Renaissance, Inigo Jones, Rubens and Van Dyck and the Commonwealth Sale.
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Course: 300 Years of British Art: from Holbein to Hogarth, Part 2 |
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| Held at: | The White House, 45 The Avenue, Hampton TW12 3RN (free parking, café on site) |
| Lecturer: | Dr. Laurence Shafe |
| Dates: | Wednesday 6 January – 9 March 2016 (10 classes with no half-term break) |
| Time: | 10:45-12:15 (with a 15 min coffee break) |
| Fee: | £70 for 10 classes (pay by cheque on 6 January) |
| Description: | The second ten weeks covers Restoration art, such as the ‘Windsor Beauties’ and the Georgian period including Hogarth and Gainsborough.
11 Introduction 1660-1800 |
WEA Course: A Fresh Look at Nineteenth-Century Art, Part 1 |
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| Held at: | St. Andrew’s URC, Walton-on-Thames |
| Lecturer: | Dr. Laurence Shafe |
| Dates: | Thursday 24 September – 3 December 2015 (10 classes with a half-term break) |
| Time: | 10:00-12:0 (with a 15 min coffee break) |
| Fee: | Contact the WEA to register |
| Description: | The course gives an overview of nineteenth-century art and shows how it has been misunderstood. I explain the ways in which British art was innovative and how portrait and landscape art developed, the influence of the Royal Academy and how new scientific discoveries changed the way we see the world. The emphasis was on the major art controversies and on showing how the art reflected the political and social issues of the period. |
WEA Course: A Fresh Look at Nineteenth-Century Art, Part 2 |
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| Held at: | St. Andrew’s URC, Walton-on-Thames |
| Lecturer: | Dr. Laurence Shafe |
| Dates: | Thursday 14 January – 24 March 2016 (10 classes with a half-term break) |
| Time: | 10:00-12:0 (with a 15 min coffee break) |
| Fee: | Contact the WEA to register |
| Description: | The second part of the course covers the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, the Aesthetic Movement, Arts & Crafts and English Impressionism from the point of view of Victorian society and the multiple conflicting influences on the artist. 11 Introduction 12 Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood – Early Days 13 Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood – Later 14 Aesthetic Movement to Degeneration Part 1 15 Aesthetic Movement to Degeneration Part 2 16 The Arts & Crafts Movement 17 The Arts & Crafts Movement – William Morris 18 English Impressionism etc 19 Newlyn, Glasgow, Camden Town 20 Summary of course |
Lecture: Social Realism in Victorian Painting |
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| Held at: | Esher Green Adult Learning Centre, KT10 8AA, opposite Christ Church, Esher, Surrey |
| Lecturer: | Dr. Laurence Shafe |
| Dates: | Friday 12 February 2016 |
| Time: | 10:00-12:00 (with a 15 min break) |
| Fee: | £12 (contact 0300 200 1044 to book this lecture) |
| Description: | The Victorians were starkly divided between two nations, the rich and the poor. The rich invented charity as a way of dealing with the existence of the poor. In 1846 Richard Redgrave painted The Sempstress highlighting one aspect of the problem of the poor and starting a new genre of painting—social realism. This lecture discusses the social issues and the development of social realism over the Victorian period. |
Lecture: The Power of Beauty in Restoration England |
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| Held at: | Esher Green Adult Learning Centre, KT10 8AA, opposite Christ Church, Esher, Surrey |
| Lecturer: | Dr. Laurence Shafe |
| Dates: | Friday 4 March 2016 |
| Time: | 10:00-12:00 (with a 15 min break) |
| Fee: | £12 (contact 0300 200 1044 to book this lecture) |
| Description: | The Windsor and Hampton Court beauties are a group of society paintings of the influential women of the Restoration period. The Windsor beauties were painted by Sir Peter Lely and the Hampton Court beauties are the next generation captured by Sir Godfrey Kneller. The lecture takes us into the intriguing and sometimes shocking lives of these powerful women. |
Lecture: The Art of Victorian Photography |
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| Held at: | Esher Green Adult Learning Centre, KT10 8AA, opposite Christ Church, Esher, Surrey |
| Lecturer: | Dr. Laurence Shafe |
| Dates: | Friday 18 March |
| Time: | 10:00-12:00 (with a 15 min break) |
| Fee: | £12 (contact 0300 200 1044 to book this lecture) |
| Description: | The invention and blossoming of photography coincides with the Victorian era and photography had an enormous influence on how Victorians saw the world. We will see how photography raised issues concerning the role and purpose of painting and how it was embroiled in debates about whether it was an art; artists used photography, photographers emulated paintings, photography put portrait painters out of business and many more people could afford images of exotic people and locations. |
WEA Lecture: The Politics of Nineteenth-Century Landscape |
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| Held at: | United Reformed Church Centre, Guildford |
| Lecturer: | Dr. Laurence Shafe |
| Dates: | Friday 25 September 2015 |
| Time: | 10:00-13:00 (with a 30 min coffee break) |
| Fee: | Contact the WEA to register |
| Description: | The talk explores the interaction between some of the major landscape artists of the nineteenth century, such as John Constable and J. M. W. Turner, and the political and social exploitation of the countryside. |
Lecture: Secret and Puzzling Tudor Art |
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| Held at: | Esher Green Adult Learning Centre, KT10 8AA, opposite Christ Church, Esher, Surrey |
| Lecturer: | Dr. Laurence Shafe |
| Dates: | Friday 6 November 2015 |
| Time: | 10:00-12:00 (with a 15 min break) |
| Fee: | £12 (contact 0300 200 1044 to book this lecture) |
| Description: | The Tudors loved verbal and visual puzzles often created as yet another way of praising the monarch. The lecture will show you how to decode some puzzling paintings and other images by examining their social and historical background. We will see, for example, why Elizabethan I was described as Astraea, the legendary virgin goddess of the Golden Age which was the first of Greece’s five ages of man. |
Lecture: Cromwell’s Extraordinary Art Sale |
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| Held at: | Esher Green Adult Learning Centre, KT10 8AA, opposite Christ Church, Esher, Surrey |
| Lecturer: | Dr. Laurence Shafe |
| Dates: | Friday 4 December 2015 |
| Time: | 10:00-12:00 (with a 15 min break) |
| Fee: | £12 (contact 0300 200 1044 to book this lecture) |
| Description: | Of all the English monarchs Charles I was the greatest art collector and during his reign he amassed one of the largest art collections in Europe. Following his public execution the new Puritan Commonwealth Parliament decided to sell all the royal possessions. What followed was a tale of mismanagement, corruption and farce. The lecture will describe why tradesmen were paid in Titians and van Dycks and how some shrewd individuals made a fortune as many famous paintings were distributed across the courts of Europe.
Notes: Cromwell’s Extraordinary Art Sale or How the Royal Collection was Mis-sold |
Lecture: Inigo Jones – Man, Masques and Mansions |
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| Held at: | Esher Green Adult Learning Centre, KT10 8AA, opposite Christ Church, Esher, Surrey |
| Lecturer: | Dr. Laurence Shafe |
| Dates: | Monday 29 June 2015 |
| Time: | 19:00-21:00 (with a 15 min coffee break) |
| Description: | Inigo Jones was a powerhouse of innovation in the Jacobean court of the early seventeenth century. He was a man of many talents and was the first significant British architect of the early modern period as well as being responsible for staging over 500 performances, many with Ben Jonson. He laid out Covent Garden and designed the Banqueting House in Whitehall yet he is little known today. The lecture talks about the man and his personal relationships and describes how he brought the masque to life as an early form of theatre. He was familiar with Italy and Italian architecture and when he became Surveyor-General of the King’s Works he was able to apply classical and Renaissance ideas to the design of many key buildings in London. |
| Notes: | Inigo Jones |
Lecture: Images of Elizabeth I – Fashion or Propaganda? |
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| Held at: | Esher Green Adult Learning Centre, KT10 8AA, opposite Christ Church, Esher, Surrey |
| Lecturer: | Dr. Laurence Shafe |
| Dates: | Friday 1 May 2015 |
| Time: | 10:00-12:00 (with a 15 min coffee break) |
| Description: | When we see paintings and engravings of Elizabeth I we tend to accept the flat style as indicative of a medieval approach. Yet the Tudor court was alive with modern ideas from across Europe and her father, Henry VIII, had employed Hans Holbein who produced some of the greatest and most life-like portraits every painted. This suggests that Elizabeth and her advisers were controlling her image, but to what end? The lecture examines a number of Elizabeth’s portraits and suggests possible interpretations based on their style and the symbols used. The conclusion is that the paintings of Elizabeth were different from those of other monarchs across Europe because they were part of a carefully managed plan to construct an image of Elizabeth that reconciled her power and position with her gender. |
| Notes: | Images of Elizabeth I: Fashion or Propaganda? |
LECTURE: HOW TO READ PAINTINGS – CONTEXT, SYMBOLS AND FORM |
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| Held at: | Esher Green Adult Learning Centre, KT10 8AA, opposite Christ Church, Esher, Surrey |
| Lecturer: | Dr. Laurence Shafe |
| Dates: | Friday 27 February 2015 |
| Time: | 10:00-12:00 (with a 15 min coffee break) |
| Description: | There are many ways to look at and analyse a work of art and these often become confused. One critic might discuss the works formal properties, such as its forms and colour while another examines it from a feminist standpoint. This talk provides a simple guide through these approaches and it enables any painting to be looked at in a new light. The tripartite approach of context, symbolism and form is used to bring order to the chaos and numerous works of art through the ages are used to illustrate how this approach works in practice. This approach is used to examine the symbolism of Renaissance paintings, the use of colour in French Impressionist paintings and the feminist interpretation of art. |
| Notes: | Reading Paintings |
LECTURE: VICTORIAN ART AND DARWINIAN BEAUTY |
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| Held at: | Esher Green Adult Learning Centre, KT10 8AA, opposite Christ Church, Esher, Surrey |
| Lecturer: | Dr. Laurence Shafe |
| Dates: | Monday 2 February 2015 |
| Time: | 19:00-21:00 (with a 15 min coffee break) |
| Description: | Charles Darwin devoted two-thirds of his influential book The Descent of Man to an explanation of how beautiful characteristics, such as the peacock’s tail, evolved. This scientific explanation of beauty was published in 1871 at the same time as the ‘art for art’s sake’ movement proposed beauty as the sole purpose of art. The Aesthetic Movement embodied these ideas and by examining the work of various fine and decorative artists such as James McNeill Whistler, Dante Gabriel Rossetti and William Morris we can see how blue and white china and peacock feathers became the fashion in every trendsetting drawing room. The story of how science and art intermingled around the notion of beauty involves many surprising incidents and anecdotes that bring this dynamic Victorian period to life. |
| Notes: | Victorian Art and Darwinian Beauty |
COURSE: VICTORIAN ART AND SOCIETY |
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| Held at: | The White House, 45 The Avenue, Hampton TW12 3RN (free parking and café on site) |
| Lecturer: | Dr. Laurence Shafe |
| Dates: | Wednesday 7 January 2015-11 March 2015 |
| Time: | 10:45-12:15 (with a 15 min coffee break) |
| Description: | The course covers the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, the Aesthetic Movement, Arts & Crafts and English Impressionism from the point of view of Victorian society and the multiple, conflicting influences on the artist. |
| Notes: | |
COURSE: NINETEENTH-CENTURY ART AND SOCIETY |
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| Held at: | The White House, 45 The Avenue, Hampton TW12 3RN (free parking and café on site) |
| Lecturer: | Dr. Laurence Shafe |
| Dates: | Wednesday 24 September– 3 December2014 |
| Time: | 10:45-12:15 (with a 15 min coffee break) |
| Description: | The course gives an overview of nineteenth-century art and shows how it has been misunderstood. I explain the ways in which British art was innovative and how portrait and landscape art developed, the influence of the Royal Academy and how new scientific discoveries changed the way we see the world. The emphasis was on the major art controversies and on showing how the art reflected the political and social issues of the period. |
| Notes: |
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Are there any plans, during the duration of the Royal Academy Exhibition, to repeat the lecture on Cromwell’s Art Sale or releated topic concering King Charles I’s collection? Your class notes have a wealth of information noit contained in the RA catalogue, though there are several books published of course.