Past Events

Tuesday 13 May 2025: Johannes Vermeer: The Magic and the Mystery: Brian Healey

Tuesday 8 April 2025: Banksy: The A to Z of a Street Artist: Raymond Warburton

Little is known about Banksy—he’s British, from Bristol, and emerged in the 1990s with a stencil-based approach to street art. His work pops up in the most surprising places. Most memorable are large rodents, chimpanzees, girls with balloons and flower-throwing freedom fighters. Some see Banksy as a prankster but with increasingly serious cultural or socio-political points to make. The picture that shredded itself at Sotheby’s in 2018 is a good example. His installations and graffiti on or near the West Bank Wall, and in Ukraine, are another. Surprisingly, Banksy remains anonymous to the general public, despite his popularity. The lecture will trace the course of his career and describe his major artworks, as well as commenting on his identity. However, giving lectures on Banksy can be challenging, as a new piece of graffiti, or an installation, may pop up just before, or even on, the day of the lecture. Every attempt will be made to include these new pieces in the lecture! 

Tuesday 11 March 2025: Balenciaga, Dior & Fath – Haute Couture’s Holy Trinity: Scott Schiavone

Haute Couture is an art form, inseparable from fashion, that achieved some of its finest moments during the years following World War II. During this period, Paris reaffirmed its position as the Capital of Fashion and its reputation for producing the most luxurious and creative clothes money could buy. Three names became synonymous with luxury, glamour and elegance during haute couture’s most exclusive and fertile period – Christian Dior, Cristóbal Balenciaga and Jacques Fath. Undisputed masters of mid 20th century haute couture, Cristóbal Balenciaga was the father of Contemporary fashion, Christian Dior redefined post-war fashion in 1947 with his ‘New Look’ and Jacques Fath, now relatively unknown, was an innovator known for dressing “the chic young Parisienne”.  This lecture explores the life and creative output of three designers during the period widely considered as the zenith of French haute couture.

Monday 10 February 2025 : Art Nouveau and Art Deco Ceramics : Scott Anderson

In an age when few of us can afford to purchase great works of painting and sculpture, decorative ceramic items can still be affordable and very interesting to collect. The stylistic period known as Art Nouveau, from around 1895-1914, and the subsequent era of Art Deco, between the two World Wars, have left us with a fascinating design heritage in the form of pottery and porcelain vases, decorative plaques and figurines that provide the content of this course. Included is a look at the designers and their ceramic creations from Britain, Europe and the USA, ranging from little known names such as the American Genevieve Hamilton, who produced Art Deco figures, to better known producers such as Sevres, Poole Pottery, Clarice Cliff and Rozenburg, who produced Art Nouveau egg-shell porcelain that seems almost weightless when handled! Liberally illustrated, with numerous images of beautiful ceramics. 

Tuesday 14 January 2025 : The Many Endings of Dickens’ ‘Great Expectations’: an erudite romp : Professor John Drew

Dickens famously changed the ending of ‘Great Expectations’ at least three times: there’s a happy ending, a downbeat ending and a thoroughly ambiguous one.  Could he just not make up his mind?  Or are the different endings (and it turns out there were rather more than just three) telling us something about the place of the novel in C19th literature?

Professor John Drew explores the humour, themes and endings of this late great novel.

Tuesday 10 December 2024 : The Magic of Pantomime : Ian Gledhill

Half the fun of a pantomime is knowing what comes next.  (“Oh no it isn’t!”—“Oh yes it is!”)

But where did pantomime come from?  What’s its peculiar history?  Dames (who aren’t women), principal boys (who are), pantomime horses, audience participation songs, double entendres galore—there’s nothing like the riotous anarchy that’s a pantomime.

Profession pantomime artiste Ian Gledhill takes us on an affectionate exploration of its colourful history from Italian commedia dell’arte via C19th music hall to the family shows loved by millions today.

12 November 2024 : Artemisia Gentileschi: Daughter of Rome, Painter of Europe : Chantal Brotherton Ratcliffe

A woman in a man’s world.  Of over 1,300 artists painting in Italy in the seventeenth century, only a handful were women, and only one of them, Artemisia Gentileschi, is still remembered today. 

What skills did it take for a woman to become a painter in 17th century Europe?  Artemisia Gentileschi (1593-1654) was by no means the only female painter of her period, but she is a rarity, and she also ranks amongst the greatest painters of the 17th century.  Her career spanned a time of great change in Italian taste, from the power and earthiness of Caravaggio, to the more elegant classicism of Reni and Domenichino. Her sense of colour and drama were widely praised, Charles I invited her to London, she was hailed as one of Europe’s foremost artists. 

And yet she broke the mould at each stage of her career—from her training in the very male world of the Roman studio to the centring of women’s agency in every canvas.  Chantal Brotherton Ratcliffe  explores Gentileschi’s ability to paint in a style which is both individual and which also put her in the forefront wherever in Europe she found herself working.

8 October 2024 : Damien Hirst and Contemporary Art : David Worthington

Practical joker or serious artist?  Pulling in international awards, or pulling the wool over our eyes? 

Damien Hirst is the most famous British artist since Henry Moore.  However in his home country he is a deeply divisive figure.  While he’s one of only a few modern artists whose activities regularly make the papers, critics accuse him of not making proper art at all. But, as lecturer David Worthington will demonstrate, there is a deeply serious side to Hirst’s work: his influence on contemporary art is significant, influential and under-rated. 

10 September 2024 : Ancient Roots: Classical stories growing in your garden : Gillian Hovell

Dig deep into our gardens and their plants to discover fantastical tales of myth and legend.  Discover bizarre but sometimes true ancient beliefs and see the seeds of our garden design. We travel back, over 2,000 years and more, to Babylon, Ancient Greece and Rome to find the blossoming of our gardens today.

11 June 2024 : A Photographic Odyssey: Shackleton’s Endurance Expedition Captured on Camera : Mark Cottle

On Ernest Shackleton’s third Antarctic expedition in 1914, his ship, the Endurance, was trapped and eventually crushed in the pack ice. After camping for five months on the ice, Shackleton’s men rowed to the remote Elephant Island. From there, Shackleton sailed for help to South Georgia over 800 miles away. Over three months later he returned to rescue the crew of the Endurance.

 Frank Hurley, one of the great photographers of the 20th century, was the expedition’s official photographer. His photographs are a visual narrative of an epic journey which capture with great artistry new and amazing landscapes within which a remarkable human drama is played out. The aim of the lecture is to capture Hurley’s achievements as a photographer of the Antarctic in the first flush of human contact when it was still essentially terra incognita.

14 May 2024 : Rembrandt’s Eyes: portraits and self-portraits by Rembrandt van Rijn : Justin Reay

At a time when ‘selfies’ are throwaway bits of self-marketing, Justin Reay takes us back four-hundred years to C17th Amsterdam, and the quieter, more introspective world of Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn.  Rembrandt worked mainly in Amsterdam as a painter and print-maker, engaging in all genres from religious subjects to landscapes, and large-scale group portraits to intimate domestic scenes. His drawings and etchings are masterly expositions of economical line combined with intense tonality.  Achieving success and wealth early, Rembrandt’s life was marred by personal tragedy and financial hardship, but his work was always highly regarded, even when his developing style transcended the mimetic realism of his contemporaries. With such a large and varied oeuvre to consider, Justin concentrates in this talk on the revealing portraits and painfully honest self-portraits which help to forge Rembrandt’s reputation as one of the finest artists of any era.

9 April 2024 : The Story of Jewellery in Scotland : Clare Blatherwick

Gold, cairngorms, amethysts, Celtic knotwork, thistles, agates… The romance of Scottish jewellery is played out through stories from Mary, Queen of  Scots to Queen Victoria. Clare Blatherwick illustrates the craft of Scotland’s goldsmiths and jewellers through close-ups from private collections, and public portraits ostentatiously displaying a family’s wealth.  She provides a great insight into the proud history of the nation’s goldsmithing and the story of jewellery and personal adornment in Scotland.

12 March 2024 : Introduction to Ice Age Art : Paul Bahn

For 40,000 years, mankind has been drawing and creating art.  Before paper or papyrus, there were cave walls to engrave or paint on, cliffs to mark.  What techniques did Ice Age man use?  How were the subtle colours produced?  How do you paint in the darkness of a deep cave? 

Guiding us through this ancient world is Paul Bahn, who discovered the first Ice Age cave art in England—art that’s a mere 13,000 years old.  He’ll cover the story of the art’s discovery and authentication, followed by a presentation of the main techniques employed (including experimental reconstructions), the pigments, the lighting methods, and some of the many reasons why this art corpus comprises some of the greatest imagery ever produced.

13 February 2024 : The Art of Quackery: the very worst cures for nearly everything : Dr James Grant

For every ache and pain, for every ailment known to man the quack has tried to sell his wares.  For centuries right up to the present day artists have depicted the snake oil salesman and the pseudo science on which his cures are based. Dr James Grant takes us on an amusing and fascinating journey amongst the sick, the not-so-sick and the gullible.  You can trust him—he’s a doctor.

9 January 2024 : The Thirty-Nine Steps – A Cinematic Experience : Andrew Martin

On January 9th 2024, we will be celebrating the first TASDAG meeting of the new season with a literary and cinematic experience. The lecture will be about the Scottish writer John Buchan, and will focus on the creation of his classic spy thriller.

John Buchan had been a prolific published writer for twenty years when he started his  “shocker” in 1914. The world was at war, Buchan was on holiday but confined to his bed by illness,  and he found the writing of a slim spy thriller a welcome distraction. The result – The Thirty-Nine Steps – proved an immediate success.  and the fast-paced tale of hero Richard Hannay on the run in the Scottish hills has remained in print ever since, taking on a life far beyond the page. Using readings from the novel and quotations from Buchan’s correspondence, this talk describes the writing and publishing of the book and the reasons for its success and enduring appeal. 

12 December 2023 : The Christmas Card; History, Images And Symbols. : Patricia Andrew

First appearing in the 1840s, Christmas cards quickly became a central element of the Christmas season. Their images demonstrate a complex mix of religious history and secular tradition – many early cards have no religious imagery at all. In recent years, cards have shown considerable stylistic innovation, though the early designs continue to prove surprisingly resilient.

The lecture traces the history of the Christmas card from its beginnings to the present day, with thoughts on its future in a world where digital communication is increasingly the norm.

14 November 2023 : Glasgow’s Art And Architecture, ‘The Dear Green Place.’ : Evelyn Silber

The 19th/20th centuries saw Glasgow build on its rich industrial heritage and flourish as a centre for the arts. Alexander ‘Greek’ Thomson and Rennie Mackintosh carried the architectural torch, the ‘Glasgow Boys’ and Colourists the artistic. Glasgow was a true ‘powerhouse’ of the arts, manufacture, trade and wealth. 

This talk will explore the city’s rise to be the ‘the second city of Empire’ with a focus on the later 19th and early 20th centuries; the architecture of Alexander ‘Greek’ Thomson, the painting of the Glasgow Boys (c1870s-80s) and the architecture and design of Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Frances and Margaret Macdonald, Herbert McNair (‘the Four’) and their Contemporaries.  

10 October 2023 : ‘From Opera To Oratorio’ – How George Fredrick Handel Changed The Musical Life Of Britain : Roger Askew

This lecture explores how a musician from a relatively obscure German state came to transform the musical life of Britain, from his arrival in 1710 to his death in 1759, and beyond.  He created some of the finest music for ceremonial occasions, and during his lifetime was the one composer to whom people turned when they wanted to celebrate a national event.  He invented the English oratorio which is central to much of the professional and amateur music-making up and down the country. The lecture explores this most British of composers and is illustrated with a variety of musical examples, some well-known, others less familiar.

12 September 2023 : Charles Dickens, Conjuror; A Playbill Of His Most Famous Show : Ian Keable

Charles Dickens was an amateur conjurer for around seven years of his life. His best known show was on the Isle of Wight in 1849 when he wrote a highly amusing, and informative, playbill to promote his appearance. This playbill, in which Dickens called himself the ‘Unparalleled Necromancer’, provides the focus to learn about how Dickens became a conjurer, what sort of magic he did and how his magic sheds light both on his character and his writings. Included in the talk are a couple of Dickensian magic tricks performed in Ian’s own inimitable style.

13 June 2023 : Captain Cook’s Voyages, 1768-79; The Arts And Science Of Exploration : Marie Conte-Helm

Described as the ‘British Christopher Columbus’ James Cook, product of the Enlightenment, was instrumental in advancing knowledge of Pacific peoples and places, flora and fauna, together with his companions Joseph Banks and the official artists on his voyages.

13 November 2018 : Les Parisiennes: How women lived, loved and died in Paris 1939-49 : Anne Sebba

Les Parisiennes is a story about women’s lives during the dark years of Nazi occupation and beyond and includes British and American women caught in Paris as well as native born resisters who were eventually sent to camps, couturiers and jewelers, some of whom flourished in wartime, as well as actors, singers, night club dancers and housewives.

9 October 2018 : The Punch and Judy Show : Bertie Pearce

Mr Punch – the most famous puppet character of all time. His comic irreverence gave “Punch” magazine its title. His anarchic vitality has inspired opera, ballet and punk rock and his enduring popularity has seen his likeness on goods ranging from Victorian silverware to computer video games.

11 September 2018 : 20th Century Scandinavian glass : Charles Hajdamach

In 1916 the Swedish firm of Orrefors took the exciting step of appointing fine artists to their design team. As a result their glass won endless awards at international exhibitions and became the benchmark for many other countries.