In the field of world class architecture, British talent has always been at the forefront, and we have much to celebrate. In this talk, Ian tours around the UK and overseas showcasing the brilliance of some of the designers who have made huge improvements to the built environment and enhanced the lives of those around them. Famous names like Lutyens, Gilbert Scott, Foster, Hadid and Rogers are joined by several lesser known but equally creative architects. 

Ian Swankie
A Londoner with a passion for art and architecture, Ian is an official guide at Tate Modern, Tate Britain, Guildhall Art Gallery and St Paul’s Cathedral, and gives tours around each venue. He is also a qualified and active freelance London guide and leads regular tours for various corporations and organisations. Since 2012 he has led a popular weekly independent art lecture group in his home town of Richmond in West London. He is a Freeman of the Worshipful Company of Art Scholars, one of the City livery companies

Special Interest Day

for all the details please follow the link https://tascroydonarea.org.uk/Special/FutureSpecial.aspx

When we receive a letter or a Christmas card from someone we know, we often recognise the handwriting straight away and know who it’s from without even opening the envelope. Recognising the hand of an artist can be like that – an instant certainty that the painting must be by Rubens, or El Greco, or Rembrandt. Yet if you try to explain to someone else how you know that your letter is from that person, or what it is in their handwriting that is so distinctive, you will probably struggle to put it into words.

This lecture takes examples of a wide range of artists from the 15th, 16th 17th and 18th centuries, and will put into words what it is that tells us a picture is by Rubens rather than Rembrandt, or even, by Rubens rather than by, say, Van Dyck, who was taught by him and painted so very much like him. My lecture uses photos of small details of paintings greatly enlarged, to demonstrate some of the distinctive quirks and give-away characteristics of artists from Mantegna and Bellini to Canaletto and Gainsborough. I’ll share with you tips and tricks of art-gazing and show you how to have the enormous satisfaction of looking at an unfamiliar painting and realising that you can instantly recognise the artist.

Chantal Brotherton Ratcliffe
MA in History of Art from Edinburgh, PhD from the Warburg Institute, London University. With 40 years' experience as a lecturer, Chantal Brotherton Ratcliffe has taught at Sotheby's Institute of Art on the MA in Fine and Decorative Arts since 1989, and as a freelance lecturer for a number of societies and institutions in London, including the National Gallery and the Wallace Collection. Having also trained as a paintings conservator, she brings an understanding of the making and the physical painting.

Chardin's still-life paintings drew the astonished admiration of his contemporaries. These included the Enlightenment philosopher Denis Diderot, who remarked that Chardin's ability to evoke the appearance and texture of objects was akin to magic. Chardin's work was also appreciated and sought after by prominent 18th-century collectors including Louis XV of France and the Empress Catherine of Russia. And Chardin's reputation as one of Europe's greatest still-life painters endures to this day. This lecture follows the course of Chardin's career from obscure beginnings to his emergence as one of the most admired artists of his generation

Kathy McLauchlan 
A lecturer specialising in 19th-century art history, I am currently a course director at the Victoria & Albert Museum, organising courses and study days on the history of art and design. I teach at several institutions, including Art Pursuits. I am a graduate of Oxford University and the Courtauld Institute, with a PhD on French 19th-century painters in Rome. I am available for both individual lectures and study days. In addition to the subjects on my page, I can cover: • Sketch and Finish in 19th-century French Painting • Montmartre fin de siècle • Mucha and the Slav Epic • America and the Sublime Landscape

Gian Lorenzo Bernini is the greatest Baroque sculptor. His work was esteemed by several Popes. However, at the start of his long career, 'he had arrived in childhood where others might glory in old age', as Annibale Carracci said of his outstanding skill. At the superb Villa Borghese in Rome, is a collection of some of Bernini's stunning figural sculptures. These include the justly famous and exquisite 'Aeneas, Anchises and Ascanius' (1618-1619); 'Pluto abducting Persephone' (1621-1622); the renowned 'Apollo and Daphne' (1622-1625) and 'David' (1623-1624) which tries to outshine Michelangelo. They all come with great stories of high drama.

Hilary Williams was formerly a curator and Print Room Superintendent at the British Museum.  She is now Art History Education Officer in the Department of Learning & National Partnerships at the Museum and also lectures there and for the Wallace Collection. She is the founding Artistic Director of The Arts Society of North Kent (Evening).   A specialist in 17th century art she has published on Rembrandt.   Hilary has vast experience of giving gallery talks, of lecturing and of leading art history tours in UK, Europe, New York and Boston. For the Royal Collection Trust, she has guided Special Interest Private Tours of the State Apartments at Buckingham Palace

When the new process of photography was formally introduced and demonstrated to a joint meeting of the Académie des Science and Académie des Beaux-Arts in Paris in January 1839, the history painter Delaroche is reported to have exclaimed “from today painting is dead!”. Far from sounding the death knell of painting, photography in fact gave rise to a fascinating dialogue between both art forms. This lecture charts and outlines the birth of photography in the early nineteenth century and how its invention transformed and influenced the use, purpose and aesthetic of painting.

Aliki Braine studied at The Ruskin School of Fine Art, Oxford, The Slade School and The Courtauld Institute where she was awarded a distinction for her masters in 17th century painting. She has been working for The National Gallery for 25 years and teaches for Christie’s Education, The Wallace Collection and numerous private clients. Aliki is also a practicing artist who regularly exhibits her photographic work internationally and has taught at Camberwell College of Art

Few know that Renoir was racked with pain and struggled even to hold a paintbrush whilst producing his much loved art.  How did he manage this whilst suffering from rheumatoid arthritis, a disease I spent my career researching is the subject of this lecture: a medical   biography of Pierre-Auguste Renoir.  I particularly emphasise  the development of his rheumatoid arthritis and how that affected his life and his art.

Currently Alan Silman is a Professor of Medicine at Oxford University and Senior Research Fellow at Green Templeton College Oxford. Prior to this for 8 years he was Medical Director of the charity Arthritis Research UK (ARUK - now called Versus Arthritis). He is an epidemiologist with a particular interest in diseases of bones, muscles and joints.  He has authored over 700 research publications and a number of textbooks.  He is amongst the top 100 published scientists across all disciplines in UK universities
He is passionate about the arts and has researched intensively the medical history of well-known individuals. From these researches, he has developed a series of lectures addressing how the lives and outputs, of such individuals were affected by their health. These talks have been given widely to a number of audiences across the UK to U3A, Probus and other community and professional groups.

Umbrian artist Pietro Perugino and so began his emergence as one of the greatest masters of the High Renaissance. While lacking his older rivals Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) and Michelangelo Buonarroti’s (1475- 1564) advantage of being born and trained in Florence, he was generally admitted to be their equal. Raphael’s early work is analysed alongside his commissions in Florence and for the Papacy in Rome which demonstrate the genius of his extraordinary talent.

Dr. James Lindow was the first Renaissance PhD from the Royal College of Art and the V&A. He has convened and presented at international conferences, lectures widely in the UK and overseas and is currently a fine art underwriter in the City. He has written articles on diverse aspects of the Renaissance, and his book entitled The Renaissance Palace in Florence: Magnificence and Splendour in Fifteenth-Century Italy was published by Ashgate Press in 2007 to widespread critical acclaim

Art Deco has the reputation of being the most glamorous and popular style of the 20th century which was prevalent during the 1920s and 1930s. We will review the development of the style within the context of its social and economic environment and look at specific examples of objets d’arts, including silver, jewellery, furniture, ceramics, clocks and architecture.

Pamela Campbell Johnson, MA Hons Art History, St Andrew's University. 
Over 30 years of lecturing experience to undergraduates, adult groups, and to Friends and Patrons of the Royal Academy of Arts as part of the RA’s Adult Education Department.
Also conducted numerous guided tours, residential trips and focused gallery talks on individual works of art. Specialises in British Domestic Architecture and Modern British Art - with a particular love for the 1920s and 1930s. A permanent career at Royal Academy of Arts for 12 years.
Work experience also undertaken at Bonhams, Art Loss Register and National Trust. 
Now a freelance art consultant and lecturer. Recently curated a collection for the Lansdowne Club.