Matthew Denney has worked with the fine and decorative arts all of his life. He worked as an auctioneer and valuer with a number of firms and is currently a senior valuer and head of department at Lawrences in Crewkerne, one of the country's leading provincial auctioneers..

From the very first Great Exhibition in London held in the magnificent Crystal Palace, to the awe-inspiring events in Paris, New York and across the world there have been many exhibitions that could be considered Great Exhibitions or World’s Fairs.   In this study day, we will trace the development of Great Exhibitions from their birth in London in 1851 at the heart of a thriving Empire, to Europe, in particular Paris where many wonderful events were held, across the Atlantic to America and New York in the post-war period and further East to China, Japan and beyond in recent times.

These events all tell of a city and people at a certain moment in history holding a huge and elaborate fair for the world to attend.

For more information and a booking form, please click HERE

The inaugural lecture of the East Grinstead Decorative and Fine Arts Society took place on 8th October 1985.

This year the society, now known as "The Arts Society, East Grinstead", is celebrating its 40th anniversary.   Our guest lecturer was historian, author and TV presenter Lucy Worsley.

The evening started most enjoyably with drinks and canapés. There was a lovely atmosphere of camaraderie and expectation.   The history of TASEG since its foundation was displayed in a very effective manner with photographs of all its previous Chairs and their personal reflections.   In fact there were four previous chairs attending as well as the current incumbent.   The Bookshop provided a pop-up book stall full of Lucy Worsley books and the author herself perched on a stool with a lectern signing books which was much appreciated by our members.

We then proceeded into the auditorium for our lecture. 

Lucy was a vision in a deep pink outfit.   This was most appropriate as red and deep pink were colours favoured by monarchs and their courtiers.

Lucy Worsley is the consummate professional.   Her lecturing style was clear, beautifully illustrated, incredibly detailed, often humorous but always entertaining and educational. 

Her subject, Queen Caroline, wife of George II, was a favourite of Lucy’s.   She and her husband lived in Kensington Palace.   There was no love lost between George I and his son. In fact George I took the children away from their parents to live with him refusing to allow Caroline to visit them. 

After George I died and the family was re-united, their home was Kensington Palace.   Lucy had an ingenious way of setting the scene of Georgian England and its people and their customs.   The main staircase ‘The King’s Staircase’ had its wall decorated by paintings by William Kent.   This was a vivid recreation of the court of George I.   Depicted are those people who lived and worked at that lively 18th century Court.   By relating stories of some of those people, Lucy allowed one to get a real flavour of the times.   The King’s mistresses were depicted, ‘The Wild Boy’ a rather sad court oddity and even the Artist himself were shown.

Caroline was born in 1683 in Ansbach, Germany and sadly had lost both her parents by the time she was thirteen.   She and her brother were fortunate enough to gain the guardianship of Frederick I of Prussia and his wife Sophia (sister of George I).   The Prussian Court in Berlin suited Caroline’s lively intelligence and she readily developed an interest in Science and the Arts.

But we didn’t only find out about the more royal and aesthetic aspects of the times.   Lucy’s sense of mischief led her to deal with the more basic issues of the court.   For example, we were shown a picture of the ‘gravy boat’ that was used by the drawer-less ladies to relieve themselves under their voluminous crinolines.   We also were privy to the King’s haemorrhoids treatment.

All of this made for an enjoyable evening of laughter, warmth, appreciation and applause.   There were numerous happy faces leaving the auditorium.

On a personal note, I managed to exchange a few words with Lucy both before and after her talk.   I asked her if she missed her work at the Royal Palaces to which she replied that she missed her friends and colleagues but had gained the personal freedom to diversify and explore her subjects more fully.   Later I asked her how she had maintained her energy levels and good humour over such a long and intensive evening.   Her answer ‘I was enjoying myself’.   This, I think, sums Lucy up!

For a selection of images presented by Lucy, please click HERE

Peter Medhurst is well known to us in East Grinstead.   He did his musical training at the Royal College of Music in London, studying singing, organ and composition.   His work as singer, pianist and lecturer-recitalist has taken him all over the world and his  travels in  the last few years have included tours of New Zealand, Australia, and South Africa as well as mainland Europe.  

We eagerly anticipated this Special Interest Day.   After all, during Covid shutdown, Peter had invited us into his London home on February 10th 2021.   Who else has a Concert Grand piano, an organ and a harpsichord in his basement Music Room?   Peter Medhurst as a presenter, scholar, bass-baritone, harpsichordist and organist certainly does. 

We were not to be disappointed. Peter gave us three fascinating lectures and to quote the man himself:

"Of the 3 musical giants born in 1685 - GF Handel, JS Bach and D Scarlatti - Handel was the most cosmopolitan in terms of a personal musical style.  His compositions display influences from his native Germany, from Italy (especially from Rome and Venice) from France and from England, where he settled from the age of 25. Through images and musical examples the Study Day tells the story of Handel's life in London and then plots the progress of his developing musical style.  The Study Day also discusses how Handel was always prepared to adapt his music to suit current tastes and trends without compromising his very high musical standards".

As the lecture progressed, so I began to feel that I knew George Frideric Handel personally.   I understood his warm personality, sense of fun, love of music and creativity.   I understood his determination to become a musician and carve his own way in life.   As a young man, he managed to smuggle a little clavichord  into the attic of the family home in defiance of his father’s wishes, teaching himself to play and compose.   He did however oblige his father by studying Law but, at the first opportunity, returned to music.   On a visit to Weissenfels, Duke Johann Adolf overheard him playing on the court organ and became his benefactor.   This led to Handel travelling from Germany, to Italy, to France and thereafter to England.   His readiness to compose orchestral music, opera and oratorios, which were appropriate to the events of the time, led to Royal Patronage.   After moving to London in 1710, Handel quickly gained the attention and favour of Queen Anne.   After her death in 1714 and the ascension of George I, Handel continued to establish himself as a favoured composer amongst the elite.   He became a British subject in 1727, which allowed him to be appointed as a composer of the Chapel Royal.   With the support of the Royal Family first George I, then George II and Frederick, Prince of Wales, Handel established himself as the premier composer in London and indeed in Europe.

His music has stood the test of time and is easily recognisable and much appreciated and, particularly with his famous ‘Handel’s Oratorio’, can be extremely moving.

Thank you Peter for such inspiring, informative, well-illustrated and musically delightful lectures.   All delivered in a style that both engaged and entertained his audience. Peter showed a readiness to interact with our members by both questioning them and responding to their questions.   We left The Ark as very happy bunnies!

Thank you also to Jenny and Choo for choosing such musically delightful lectures to brighten up a rather dull February!

Click HERE for a selection of images from the day

Douglas Skeggs read Fine Art at Magdalene College Cambridge and has been a lecturer on paintings since 1980.   In that time he has given over 8000 lectures to universities, colleges and art societies.   He was the director of  The New Academy of Art Studies for three years and is presently a regular lecturer at The Study Center, Christie's course 'The History of Art Studies' and other London courses.   Among his more improbable venues for lectures are the bar on the QE2, MI5 headquarters, the Captain's Room at Lloyds, and an aircraft hanger in a German NATO base.

The three lectures on The Medici delivered by Douglas were a tour de force. Their titles were;

-‘Bankrolling the Resistance’

-‘Popes and Patrons’

-‘From Riches to Royalty’

We were treated to the History, Art and Culture of this very influential, complex and fascinating family.   We gained an insight into their strengths and weaknesses and complex relationships.   We began to understand the power gained by various Medici family members from banking, the church, association with prominent figures of the day and even royalty.   The Medici Bank was foremost at the time, there were four Medici Popes and two Medici queens of France. 

Artists such as Brunelleschi, Donatello, Fra Angelico, Botticelli, Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo all thrived under Medici patronage.   The Medici's patronage of the arts helped to make the Renaissance a cultural movement.   They also commissioned architecture, including the Uffizi Gallery, Boboli Gardens, Belvedere, Medici Chapel, and Palazzo Medici. 

Douglas’ lecturing style was relaxed and easy on the ear.   His knowledge of the Medici Family was extensive, informative and beautifully illustrated with high quality slides.   The technique he used was to create a flowing pictorial story where the main picture was flanked by the previous picture and often the next picture in the sequence was also displayed.   Also sections of the picture were enlarged on screen to further illustrate a point.   This allowed a continuity to his story which was seamless.   His stories were punctuated by asides where his dry wit caused many chuckles from his audience.

This was a day well spent and thoroughly enjoyed by all.   To see some of the images presented, please click HERE

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Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend, or Are They if They’re Fake?   A Princely Seminar on the Story of Jewells in the 19th and 20th Centuries

Our Spring Special Interest Day featured Andrew Prince, an acknowledged expert on, designer of and maker of spectacular jewellery, as well as being a thoroughly accomplished, spirited and entertaining speaker, full of humour and unafraid of sharp satire.   Just what the oldies of TASEG should enjoy on a dull February day.   If we had any spark left in us, this is what ignited it, with dozens of Members crowding around the table displaying the jewellery he had created for the Downton Abbey television series.   Sadly, not for sale.

We were treated to a parade of images of exquisitely conceived, expertly made jewellery, covering the late 18th century to the 1950s, incorporating varieties of precious stones, as world trade provided them and cutting technology improved, originally the preserve of the ruling classes of the19th century, but extending to the rich entrepreneurs of the earlier 20th century and eventually to the common man (more accurately perhaps woman) in modern times.

Several themes ran though Andrew’s stoccato presentation.   The main proposition was that jewellery was, except in absurd cases, a reflection of sociopolitical changes that were sweeping the world, the introduction of cubism and surrealism in art, radical changes in women’s fashion, and of all things the revolutions in engineering and technology.   One consequence of the last of these was that minor jewellery could symbolise everyday life, elevating it to the status of fine art, rather than vulgarity or mere ostentation, yet good taste and available to all.

We also learned that at the high end, jewellery was dynamic in the sense that complex pieces could be broken up and recreated, reflecting the value of the stones they contained, which in historic times were a form of currency.   This led us to the question of whether imitation pieces with cheaper components could have the same impact.   Andrew was emphatic that jewellery was now to be judged in context with the wearer.   If it made her (occasionally him) feel good, it had served its purpose.

Finally, we had glimpses of Andrew’s rise to nationally and internationally achieved acclaim as an expert, in a brief biography.   Unlike most TAS speakers who are draped in degrees and qualifications, he worked himself up the ladder with apprenticeships in the jewellery industry.   Hence, he makes as well as designs pieces to commission.   What an expert!

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Raise a glass to Mark Hill, or even a vase, or a decanter or two.

Our autumn Special Interest Day welcomed Mark Hill, an expert in modern ceramics, especially British glass, who guided us through the fashions, foibles and technicalities of collectable objects over the last 150 years, with reference points in the adjacent worlds of furniture, interior design and fashion.

We adopted a special format for the day, which proved attractive (the seminar was sold out), in which we had two lectures in the morning and then an after-lunch session in which Mark evaluated items brought in by Members, which adorned a table adjacent to the screen, making the Dove Suite look momentarily like a charity shop (complete with ceramic giraffes).   BUT Mark was at pains throughout to point out that as fashions and technologies ebb and flow ANYONE could have a classic piece in their cabinet AND such pieces remain affordable if you come across them.   Functionality is at a premium, i.e. can you actually use a vase, decanter, canapé server or candle holder?   The best designers consider this.

Mark reminded us of how professional TASEG speakers have become.   Not only did he set up his own projection, he showed relatively few slides, but each one featuring half a dozen examples of the design he focussed on, discussed in detail so we were educated as well as informed.   It even included demonstrations of how glass blowing to high standards is performed.   His presentation was dynamic, so we could add entertaining.   If he had sung and danced in addition, we would hardly have been surprised (he didn’t). 

Altogether brilliant.

For illustrations of some of the pieces presented, please click HERE​

The two Gustavs: Klimt and Mahler, and their revolt against the decaying   Habsburg State through Art: zenith and disillusion

Our Spring 2023 Special Interest Day featured Vienna expert and captivating speaker Gavin Plumley, who managed to combine a complete grasp of the subject with a nice measure of 2023 humour, thus putting the audience at ease for grappling with a complex subject, always the hallmark of an excellent lecturer.

In the first of three discourses, Gavin reviewed the 19th century history of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, focusing on its pompous façade but rotten interior, autocratic constitutional conservatism contaminated with pervasive antisemitism.   This was illustrated by contemporary art and photography, and notably the permitted (or at least approved) architecture in the iconic Vienna Ringstrasse.

The next two talks addressed, respectively, Klimt and Mahler, but noting the empathies that they shared, literally and in developmental parallel.   Both had relatively humble backgrounds, but rose to prominence in their respective fields through hard work, sheer talent and willingness to evade the traditional bounds of their professions, while retaining attention and respect by virtue of their huge abilities.   Thus Klimt painted cherubic ceilings and Mahler enthusiastically conducted comic operettas, while their real feelings about the decay of the world in which they lived were perhaps concealed.

Once established, both obtained “establishment” positions: in Klimt’s case prominence in the so-called Secessionist movement within Austro-Hungarian art, and in Mahler’s case his consecutive Directorships of many of the significant orchestras and opera houses in the Empire and in Germany (do football managers come to mind?).   Klimt blossomed into spectacular symbolic art. Gavin’s view of this was that it was a preview of female emancipation.   In Mahler’s case, his explosive Symphonies blasted classical music into the 20th century, building on the example of Beethoven a hundred years before.   However, both Klimt and Mahler were vilified in their own time, but did they propel us to holding modern values?   Mahler’s symphonic music was rejected in Vienna, so he moved elsewhere, including a short period in the United States.   Both men came to rely on physical isolation to feed their muses, preferring lakeside quietude to the hustle and bustle of Vienna, and both died relatively young.

Lots of food for thought.   For a selection of images presented, please click HERE

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The Autumn Special Interest Day was delivered fluently and engagingly by the well qualified and Arts Society affiliated Art Historian expert Vivienne Laws, on the subject of “Art Deco, The Bauhaus and International Modernism”.   The format of the Seminar is two lectures in the morning and, after a generous lunch, a third in the early afternoon

With a carefully cultivated relaxed delivery and (unusually for TAS speakers), employment of the Socratic approach (asking frequent questions of the audience and actually expecting responses).   Thus we were educated (a TAS specification), as well as entertained, and also kept awake (not to mention the physical exercises we were asked to perform during the third lecture on the Bauhaus: a TASEG first!). 

A bit like School?   Not really: many of the audience demonstrated a keen knowledge of the Fine Arts in their vocal contributions, skilfully accommodated and appreciated by the speaker in her responses. It seems we Wrinklies are not so stupid as we look! Neither are we as disinterested in what is described as “Modern Art” as might be supposed.

Explaining Art Deco in the context of 20th century art is a challenge.   Vivienne rose to this by tracing the derivation of the style from the artistic upheavals of the later 19th and earlier 20th centuries, and how it fed on to so many modern applications in design, architecture, typography, advertising, manufacture and even fashion.   Broadly defined, the Art Deco style dispensed with the curvatures and extravagancies of previous trends, notably Art Nouveau, in favour of linearity and simplicity.   This was extensively illustrated on the screen.   The one sentence moto to apply to all examples was “Less is More”.   This opens the mind to the real universe in which we live, as well as our daily lives. 

The final lecture focused on the Bauhaus, now an icon in 20th century Art History.   We learned that this was a collective term for a number of art schools in Germany established between the World Wars, which uniquely accommodated many of the artists now acclaimed as the founders, and subsequently widely dispersed disciples of so many modern directions in Art.   Clearly nothing remains static, and Art will always escape national boundaries.

For a selection of images displayed and discussed, please click HERE

The Spring Special Interest Day took place this month at The Ark in Turners Hill, our usual venue for these events, which are essentially high quality seminars on focused topics, naturally accompanied by a generous lunch between lectures.

Elizabeth I was the most remarkable woman of a remarkable age. Her reign was one of the great creative periods of English history – literature, music, art, architecture and overseas exploration all reached unprecedented heights.

A well illustrated and confidently presented series of talks were presented by Mark Cottle, an accomplished Arts Society speaker, on the huge achievements of 16th century Elizabethan England in initiating so many progressive fields of development in governance, art, architecture, music, global adventure, military technology, English literature, naval tactics and even fashionable dress for the noble and wealthy. Truly comprehensive in scope.

Amongst the highlights of the day were samples of the exquisite choral and instrumental works of Tallis, Byrd, Morley, Dowland and other contemporary composers of choral and instrumental music, played over powerful speakers. I think most of us were mesmerised. The case was made.​

In the second autumn Sussex Area Special Interest Day, held in Turners Hill, TAS accredited lecturer Linda Smith gave sequential lectures on the 18th century British artists William Hogarth, Joshua Reynolds and James Gillray.   The beautifully illustrated and flawlessly delivered talks were used to support the thesis that between them these three established British art (and in particular portrait art) as an accurate and technically exemplary mirror of British social structure, moral values (including immoral values), aristocratic and political behaviour, and also everyday life for middle class and working class people.   This supplanted the previous tradition of importing Continental artists and took advantage of the broadening of tolerance during this century for artwork that was or appeared critical of the Establishment or suggestive of the darker side of life at all levels of society from the monarchy downwards.   All three had embraced engraving as a way of bringing their art to a much broader audience, notably Gillray, and their brilliant attentions to detail all over their compositions, most of which cameos within their depictions had their own story to tell. 

The Hogarth lecture emphasized his skill as a satirical caricaturist and his realistic portraiture.   Reynolds, the founder of the Royal Academy of Art, was shown as a subtle presenter of character in the many subjects who commissioned portraits from him and who linked classical sculpture to the poses of the aristocrats and other notables whom he painted for large fees.   Gillray was, of course, the most entertaining talk, not least for the easy transmissibility of his satire into the 21st century, but also for the astonishing effrontery of his portrayals, sparing nobody from the monarchy downwards.

For a selection of the illustrations presented during the day, please click HERE 

As usual, the Area SID comprises two morning lectures separated by a comfort break, then a lunch break in which an excellent repast (with wine) is provided by a reliable local caterer.   Followed by the final talk.   It ends around 3 pm.​

Dr. Steven Kershaw (B.A. (Hons.); Ph.D.) has had a special interest in the world of the Ancient Greeks and Romans ever since being introduced to Homer's Iliad by an inspirational teacher at his primary school.

Dr Kershaw led this Study Day on the Roman cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum, consisting of three sessions:

1.    The Rise, Destruction and Rediscovery of the cities.

2.    Public Architecture and Public Life.

3.    Private Art and Private Life.

For a review of this excellent study day, please click HERE

The Arts Society, Sussex Area have published advance information on a series of Special Interest Days to be held in autumn, in The Ark, Turners Hill.

Dates for your diary are:

4 October - Music and Art 1450-1800 What Does That Painting Sound Like?, presented by Adam Busiakiewicz.

1 November - From Magic Lanterns To Metro Goldwyn Mayer: The Birth of the Silver Screen and the Artists it Inspired, presented by Geri Parlby

29 November - The Sublime To The Ridiculous: Hogarth, Reynolds and Gillray, presented by Linda Smith

We have enjoyed excellent lectures/SID's from all 3 presenters recently.

Preliminary information is available HERE.

Note:  It is hoped that bookings for these events will open in July 2021

This SID, organised by The Arts Society, Turners Hill, will consist of 2 online lectures with a lunch break in between.

In the first lecture, Andrew will show how the rise of Cinema and Hollywood had such an important impact on fashion and jewellery design.

The second lecture is entitled "A Portrait of Jewels: Following missing treasures through canvass", which is self explanatory.

Further information can be found by clicking HERE

Peter appears in the UK and abroad as a musician and scholar, giving recitals and delivering illustrated lectures on music and the arts. He studied singing and early keyboard instruments at the Royal College of Music and at the Mozarteum in Salzburg.

For a review of this excellent study day, please click HERE

Geri Parlby is a former Fleet Street journalist and film PR. She has a first-class honours degree in History and Theology, a Masters in History of Art from the Courtauld Institute and a Theology doctorate from Roehampton University in London. She has been lecturing for the past 14 years both in the UK and internationally. She is also principal lecturer on The Arts Society South West Area’s History of Art course and is an Honorary Research Fellow at Roehampton University.

On the 27th November 2020 we were treated to a Christmas Special Interest Day, when Geri gave us two very entertaining Lectures on “Snakes, Saints, Cribs,
Pawnbrokers and Kings” in which she unpicked and explained some of the legends and traditions which define the modern Festival.   It was fascinating to learn that the tradition of Christmas trees didn’t begin when Queen Victoria married Prince Albert, and whoever would have imagined that snakes had anything to do with it?!