Leicester Decorative and Fine Arts Society
A member of the National Association of Decorative and Fine Arts Societies
Past Meetings
Here are details of our past meetings, to give you an idea of the variety and scope of the lectures. Also members might like to use the links to find out more.
25 January 2012 -
Paul Nash
Linda Smith
Paul Nash (11 May 1889 – 11 July 1946) was an English landscape painter, surrealist andwar artist, and the older brother of the artist John Nash. He is widely considered one of the most important English artists of the first half of the twentieth century.
Painter, printmaker, designer and photographer, Paul Nash was the official War Artist in both world wars. At the forefront of British art in the first half of the twentieth century, his inspiration was drawn chiefly from the landscape but nevertheless he was an avowed modernist who experimented with Abstraction and played a major part in establishing Surrealism in Britain.
Linda Smith holds two first-
23 November 2011 -
What the Dickens: An Illustrated Talk on Charles Dickens -
Jane Tapley 
2012 is the Bicentenary of the birth of Dickens. Dickens' influence on society is as relevant today, 200 years after his birth, as it was in 1812. He was arguably the most celebrated of the Victorian novelists and his own life story is as colourful and eventful as any of his characters. He led his life in the fast lane, writing sixteen novels, five Christmas stories, a large number of articles for periodicals and thousands of letters. He was also an actor, director, philanthropist and workaholic in his professional life. In his private life he was father to ten children, a dominant and controlling husband, lover to a much younger woman and financial supporter of his dependent parents and several of his siblings and their families. Dickens is to literature as Darwin is to science.
Jane Tapley is currently the Special Events Organiser at the Theatre Royal in Bath and has lectured extensively on the History of Theatre, Pantomine, Jane Austen and Georgian Bath. She is a registered West Country Blue Badge Guide and Lecturer and frequently arranges tours and themed days for the National Trust, Theatregoing Societies, Homes and Gardens magazine etc. She is also a researcher and author of theatre going notes on Shakespeare, Sheridan and Austen.
Jane also has a deep understanding of Georgian food and eating habits and cooks and serves these meals in her Georgian house in Bath.
26 October 2011 -
Art and Revolution: Russian Culture in the 20th Century -
Rosamund Bartlett
This lecture explores the revolution which took place across the arts in Russia and
which predated the political explosion of the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917. It was
during this exciting time that Russian painters, writers and musicians came to the
forefront of the European avant-
Right: Kandinsky ’On-
Rosamund Bartlett is a writer, translator and lecturer specialising in Russian cultural history. Her books include Wagner and Russia, Chekhov: Scenes from a Life, and, most recently, Tolstoy: a Russian Life, and she is also well known for her translations of Chekhov’s stories. She is currently translating Anna Karenina for Oxford World’s Classics and writing about the history of opera in Russia. She is the recipient of the Chekhov 150th Anniversary Medal from the Russian government for her work promoting Russian culture.
8 September 2010 A Medieval Masterpiece: The Hotel-
Taking a Line for a Walk Richard Box 22 June 2011
From Posset Pots to Pew Groups – The Fashion for Collecting Early English Pottery
Jane Gardiner 25 May 2011
Jennie Churchill Anne Sebba 27 April 2011
The Rock and Roll Era: Pop Art in the Swinging Sixties Valerie Woodgate 23 March 2011
All That Glitters; Gold Craftsmanship in Prehistoric Europe Ben Roberts 23 February 2011
Arts and Craft Movement – Stained Glass Sally Hoban 26 January 2011
Men Behaving Badly: Rogues and Rakes on and off the Canvas John Iddon 24 November 2010 .
7 October 2010 Windsor: Fire, Restoration and the Queen at Windsor Oliver Everett
22 September 2010 How to Enjoy Sculpture : a Brief Guide to Art in Three Dimensions
Angela Cox
23 June 2010 Diego Velasquez 1599 -
26 May 2010 Tibet -
28 April 2010 Lalique Dr Anne Anderson
24 March 2010 Beds and Bedtime in the Tudor and Stuart Period David Bostwick
24 February 2010 The Turner Prize Barry Vennings
27 January 2010 The Kings Mother, Margaret Beaufort and her Properties in the Midlands Angie Smith
25 November 2009 Gourmet Art? Cheers! Food and Beverages in Art Through the Ages Libby Horner
28 October 2009 The Careful Collector: Fakes, Forgeries and Reproductions David Battie
23 September 2009 Linley, the Continuing Tradition Nicholas Merchant -
22 July 2009 Wonder Workers and the Art of Illusion: The History of Magic through Art and Pictures Bertie Pearce
24 June 2009 Lee Miller and Picasso: Illustrated with Lee Miller's Photographs and Picasso's Paintings Anthony Penrose (Lee Miller's son)
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