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LECTURES & EVENTS

UPCOMING LECTURES & EVENTS

  • Rembrandt's Eyes: Portraits and Self-Portraits by Rembrandt van Rijn
    Mon, 03 Apr
    Widcombe Social Club
    This talk concentrates on Rembrandt's revealing portraits and painfully honest self-portraits which helped forge his reputation as one of the finest artists of any era.
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  • The Explosive World of Cornelia Parker
    Mon, 15 May
    Widcombe Social Club
    Contemporary sculptor and installation artist Cornelia Parker is best known for her large-scale installations like Cold Dark Matter: An Exploded View where she took a typical garden shed, had it blown up then installed the debris around a light bulb creating the effect of an explosion frozen in time
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  • Wedgwood
    Mon, 05 Jun
    Widcombe Social Club
    This lecture explores the contribution of Josiah Wedgwood to the history of world ceramics: beginning with his early career as a potter; the development and marketing of cream-coloured earthenware; the opening of the Etruria factory and the development of encaustic painting.
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Lectures

PAST LECTURES & EVENTS

  • What really happened in the Bateau Lavoir? Picasso in 1900s Paris
    06 Mar, 11:30 – 12:30
    Widcombe Social Club, Widcombe Hill, Bath BA2 6AA, UK
    The poverty, crowds, artists and performers of Paris transformed Picasso from a precocious, talented teenager into a charismatic leader of the young Turks. Together with his intensely disturbing “Les Demoiselles d’Avignon”, he almost single-handedly unleashed the 20th century's cultural revolution.
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  • Frozen Breath of the Polar Night: An Introduction to Art Nouveau Glass
    06 Feb, 11:30 – 12:30
    Widcombe Social Club, Widcombe Hill, Bath BA2 6AA, UK
    This lecture explores the achievement of the masters of Art Nouveau glass, Émile Gallé, Louis Comfort Tiffany and René Lalique, and their outstanding contribution to one of the most important movements of the last century.
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  • Joshua Reynolds – The Creation of Celebrity
    Mon, 09 Jan
    Online only via Zoom
    09 Jan, 11:30 – 12:30
    Online only via Zoom
    President of the new Royal Academy, Joshua Reynolds, wanted to establish a new golden age for British art in the grand style of Italian History painting, but his clients wanted flattering portraits so he developed a clever compromise and raised portraiture to the top rank of art.
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  • The Christmas Story in Art
    Mon, 05 Dec
    Widcombe Social Club
    05 Dec 2022, 11:30 – 12:30
    Widcombe Social Club, Widcombe Hill, Bath BA2 6AA, UK
    It has adorned our Christmas cards and provided centuries of artists with a chance to add exotic colour and dramatic light to their works. This talk tells the Christmas story through a series of well known and beloved images.
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  • Collecting The Grand Tour and Enlightenment of the English Gentleman
    07 Nov 2022, 11:30 – 12:30
    Widcombe Social Club, Widcombe Hill, Bath BA2 6AA, UK
    An absorbing lecture which charts the history of the Grand Tour through the lens of Marc’s interest in collecting Grand Tour souvenirs, and the influence of the Grand Tour on our museums, fashion and design over the last 400 years.
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  • Wonderful Things – The Treasures of Tutankhamun
    03 Oct 2022, 11:30 – 12:30
    Widcombe Social Club, Widcombe Hill, Bath BA2 6AA, UK
    Tutankhamun's tomb contained some of the most exquisite treasures ever discovered and in this lecture you too will discover their beauty, hear about their exciting discovery and the diary entries made by Howard Carter.
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  • Watteau the Rebel: The Court v the Commedia dell'arte
    06 Jun 2022, 11:30 – 12:30
    Widcombe Social Club, Widcombe Hill, Bath BA2 6AA, UK
    Usually thought of as the quintessential artist of the French Rococo, lecturer Timothy Wilcox explores how Watteau's immersion in the worlds of theatre, music and dance allowed him to create a parallel reality: one which resembled real life on the surface, while hinting at a different realm.
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  • The Collections of Napoleon and Josephine at Malmaison
    09 May 2022, 11:30 – 12:30
    Widcombe Social Club, Widcombe Hill, Bath BA2 6AA, UK
    What was it that made Napoleon and Josephine one of the most followed couples in history? Lecturer Carole Petipher answers these questions by exploring their collections at the Chateau de Malmaison, giving a true insight into their character.
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  • Rachel Whiteread
    Mon, 04 Apr
    Widcombe Social Club
    04 Apr 2022, 11:30 – 12:30
    Widcombe Social Club, Widcombe Hill, Bath BA2 6AA, UK
    Rachel Whiteread is a Turner Prize Winner, and one of the most important and respected British artists working today. Her preoccupation with the hidden spaces in between things has resulted in an extraordinary range of objects. Lecturer Linda Smith gives an account of Whiteread's career to date.
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  • Georgian Town Gardens
    Mon, 07 Mar
    Widcombe Social Club
    07 Mar 2022, 11:30 – 12:30
    Widcombe Social Club, Widcombe Hill, Bath BA2 6AA, UK
    The gardening image of the eighteenth century is the Arcadian landscapes of William Kent or 'Capability' Brown. But this was not the whole story. Lecturer James Bolton brings us a look at the care and expense that created the Town Gardens of the 18th Century.
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  • Skin: John Singer Sargent and the Scandal of Madame X
    07 Feb 2022, 11:30 – 12:30
    Zoom
    In 1883 John Singer Sargent implored a beautiful socialite to allow him to paint her, resulting in the portrait of Virginie Gautreau. The painting destroyed Sargent's career in Paris. Lecturer Justin Reay examines prevailing attitudes and the public response to the painting known as Madame X.
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  • A History of Western Paintings in 12 Masterpieces
    03 Jan 2022, 11:30
    Widcombe Social Club, Widcombe Hill, Bath BA2 6AA, UK
    From the beginnings of the Renaissance in 13th century Italy to the birth of Abstraction in the 20th century, lecturer Aliki Braine charts the main developments of Western European Painting, focusing on a selection of acclaimed masterpieces.
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  • In the Kingdom of the Sweets
    Mon, 06 Dec
    Widcombe Social Club
    06 Dec 2021, 11:30 – 12:30
    Widcombe Social Club, Widcombe Hill, Bath BA2 6AA, UK
    Nigel Bates brings us a close look at how The Nutcracker ballet takes its rightful place on stage and how the music of Tchaikovsky, along with the story-telling, design, dance and a little bit of stage ingenuity come together to make this magical escape for young and old.
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  • Day of Special Interest: "The Art of Graffiti"
    Tue, 23 Nov
    Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Insti
    23 Nov 2021, 10:30 – 15:30
    Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Insti, 16-18 Queen Square, Bath BA1 2HN, UK
    From the ancient cave art of early man to the post-modern street art today, artists have always produced what we call graffiti. This study day examines graffiti’s evolutionary path throughout the centuries.
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  • Illustrating 'Alice' - Some Views of Wonderland
    01 Nov 2021, 11:30 – 12:30
    Widcombe Social Club, Widcombe Hill, Bath BA2 6AA, UK
    Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland (published 1865) transformed children's literature. Elizabeth Merry takes us through the origins of the book and its first illustrations and we see how illustrators reflect different aspects of the book with their interesting artistic portrayals.
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  • Hans Holbein
    Mon, 04 Oct
    Widcombe Social Club
    04 Oct 2021, 11:30 – 12:30
    Widcombe Social Club, Widcombe Hill, Bath BA2 6AA, UK
    Lecturer Rosalind Whyte explores the religious and political background of Holbein's times and the impact this had on his life and career as an artist.
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Events
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