FRIENDS OF THE ASHMOLEAN MUSEUM SUMMER/AUTUMN 2018 MEMBERS’ LECTURES AT THE ASHMOLEAN MUSEUM All lectures will be presented in the Ashmolean Lecture Theatre, with a capacity of 100 on each occasion. HOW TO BOOK Lecture tickets can be booked online, over the phone, by post and in-person from the Museum. Online: www.ashmolean.org/members-events Phone: 01865 278 112 - our ticketing line By Post: please return the booking form with cheques In Person: from the Museum Ticket Desk or main Museum Shop We do not charge a booking fee regardless of which booking method you choose. 1. Art and Power in 14th century Siena Tue 14 August 4.15pm | £20 Drinks served after the lecture In the 14th century the beautiful Tuscan city of Siena was the heart of a rich and powerful city-state whose rulers believed in the power of art and architecture to express the wealth and status of their community. This exciting lecture by Diana Matthews will seek first to unravel the hidden messages of the architecture of the Palazzo Pubblico, the seat of government in Siena, and then to explore the meaning of the art programme in the great Council Chamber and in the Sala dei Nove, the inner sanctum of ‘the Nine’, with its fascinating frescoes. What was the origin of these ideas, and for whom were they intended? Organiser: Sue Hine 2. Fabulous Cathay - how it altered the dining tables of Europe Tue 11 September 3.30pm | £18 Hot drinks and cake served from 3pm and lecture starts at 3.30pm Dinah Reynolds is a renowned Gallery Lecturer in the Ashmolean Museum specialising in ceramics and she has worked in the Department of Western Art for over 40 years as a Voluntary Assistant. We shall hear how the arrival of porcelain from China and Japan (and then from within Europe) was used to create amazing displays on banqueting tables in the 17th and 18th centuries. Gardens, temples and even rivers appeared as table centrepieces in the grand houses of Europe. This illustrated talk will show some of the dramatic ‘tablescapes’ that emerged during this period. Organiser: Rosemary Wharton 3. Chinese Ceramics Fri 12 October 3.30pm | £18 Hot drinks and cake served from 3pm and lecture starts at 3.30pm Professor Shelagh Vainker, Curator of Chinese Art at the Ashmolean Museum and Fellow of St Hugh’s College, Oxford, will give a lecture based on her extensive research on Chinese Ceramics. Chinese ceramics have always been highly regarded and avidly collected, and the Ashmolean collection mainly comprises earthenware, high-fired ware and porcelain from China’s most famous kilns. It also includes the most important collection of greenware celadons outside China. Many of the 17th and 18th century porcelains the Museum now houses were acquired during the 19th century, although a few were presented by Elias Ashmole himself in 1683. Organiser: Sue Peach 4. From Giacometti to El-Salahi: Curating Modern Art Wed 24 October 4.30pm | £20 Drinks served after the lecture Dr Lena Fritsch, Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Ashmolean Museum, will present the work of Swiss sculptor Alberto Giacometti (1901–66) and Oxford-based Sudanese artist Ibrahim El-Salahi (b.1930), both major figures of modern art. Giacometti was one of the great painter-sculptors of the 20th century. El-Salahi is a pioneer of African and Arab Modernism, and one of the most influential figures in Sudanese art today. The talk will focus on two exhibitions: the large-scale recent retrospective Giacometti at Tate Modern in 2017, and Ibrahim El-Salahi: A Sudanese Artist in Oxford at the Ashmolean at present. The latter casts fresh light on El-Salahi’s works by setting them in dialogue with select ancient Sudanese objects from the Ashmolean’s collection. Dr Fritsch will provide a ‘behind the scenes view’, talking about the joys as well as challenges of curating these exhibitions. Organiser: Tom Price 5. Charles Rennie Mackintosh and the Aesthetic Vision Thu 8 November 3.30pm | £18 Hot drinks and cake served from 3pm and lecture starts at 3.30pm Marking the 150th anniversary of Mackintosh’s birth, this illustrated talk by Dr Antony Buxton will explore the nature of Mackintosh’s work and legacy in the wider context of the decorative arts of the late 19th and early 20th century. The purity of line, form and colour in the designs of Charles Rennie Mackintosh can seem to stand as the work of timeless genius. Were his designs a unique vision or the result of collaboration and part of a wider response to the impoverishment of the arts by industrialisation, social convention and commercialisation? Dr Buxton is Lecturer on design and art history, material and domestic culture at Oxford University’s Department for Continuing Education. Organiser: Sue Hine 6. Spellbound: Magical thinking Past and Present Wed 21 November 4pm | £20 Drinks served after the lecture, followed by a private view of the exhibition The Ashmolean’s next major exhibition Spellbound (commencing August) explores the ways in which our ancestors engaged with the supernatural, and what this tells us about their inner lives. It traces the origins and evolution of magic through objects and text across three historical eras: the medieval cosmos, the early modern community and the modern home. Highlights include The Somerset Witch ladder, mystical representations of angels and demons, and a modern recreation of a ‘spiritual midden’: a secular folk ritual in which large groups of personal artefacts were hidden in specific spaces in homes. Curators Professor Marina Wallace and Dr Sophie Page (UCL) will present this lecture. This cross- university initiative is in consultation with Dr Dan Hicks (Pitt Rivers Museum), and Dr Xa Sturgis. Organiser: Ros Nicholas MEMBERS’ TRIPS AND VISITS To book a place for these trips and visits, please return the accompanying booking form by post. Any queries or questions regarding these events should be directed to the Activities Team on [email protected] or 01865 278 172. 7. Broughton Castle, near Banbury Tue 21 August | £45 Depart from Taylorian 12.30pm, Water Eaton P&R 12.45pm | Return from Broughton Castle 5pm Broughton Castle is a stunning, fortified moated manor house in a glorious parkland setting. It has remained the private home of the Fiennes family since 1477. Our private guided tour will include the Great Hall, which incorporates the original hall built in 1306 and the Council Chamber used by William Fiennes and the Parliamentarians to plot against King Charles I. More recently, Broughton has featured in many films, notably Shakespeare in Love. The gardens have been nurtured back from dereliction by the present descendants, the 21st Lord and Lady Saye and Sele, and will be a blaze of colour. We may be lucky to hear from them directly. We finish with an extravagant afternoon tea in the castle’s Tearoom. Organiser: Rosemary Wharton. Tickets available: 51. Access: There is a 5 - 10 minute walk to/from the car park and toilets. There are a number of stairs on the tour, but there is the option to remain downstairs where there is seating. 8. St. Helen’s Church, Abingdon: The Painted Medieval Ceiling Thu 30 August | £17 Meet at destination at 10.50am. By bus: from Oxford take bus X3 or X13 from St. Aldate’s bus stop H1 (opposite the Post Office), alight in the centre of Abingdon at bus stop A7 and walk immediately left down West St. Helen’s Street to the Church. By car: there is a municipal car park near the Church but it is often very busy. Tour concludes at 1pm. We will be guided around the interior of this beautiful church, learn about its long history with various re-orderings, its splendid candelabra, Victorian Chancel and numerous stained glass windows. We will visit the Lady Chapel where we will have a talk on the Medieval Painted Ceiling of 52 panels painted in 1391, which has survived for over 600 years. The subject of the panels is based on St. Matthew’s Gospel 1:1-16, Kings of the House of David, interspersed with Prophets. Tea, coffee, cake and biscuits will be served during a break. Binoculars (not supplied) would be useful for looking at the Painted Ceiling. After the tour there are many cafés, restaurants and pubs nearby if lunch is required. Organiser: Sue Peach. Tickets available: 30. Access:The Church is an ancient building, and there may be some uneven flooring. 9. Chartwell, Kent Thu 6 September | NT Members £31, non NT Members £44 Depart from Redbridge P&R 7.45am, Taylorian 7.55am, Sandhills bus stop 8.15am | Return from Chartwell 4pm Chartwell was the principal residence of Winston Churchill from 1924 until his death in 1964. The house was built to make the most of its valley setting with views of the Weald of Kent. The interiors remain much as they were when Churchill lived there, including decorations in pale colours with floral chintz curtains made by Lady Churchill. Terraced gardens laid out by the Churchills overlook a lake. Refreshments will be served on arrival. Lunch (not included) will be available in the Landemare Café. There will be time to enjoy the garden after lunch. Organiser: Ros Nicholas. Tickets available: 55. Access: Access to the House is via a sloping path and 24 shallow steps. The car park is 250 metres from the House. Chartwell can be difficult to navigate for those with access requirements. 10. Walking around Spitalfields, London Wed 19 September | £38 Depart from Redbridge P&R 8am, Taylorian 8.15am, Sandhills bus stop 8.30am | Return from Spitalfields 3.30pm After morning coffee on arrival at Hawksmoor’s Christ Church, Spitalfields, enjoy a walking tour around the atmospheric Spitalfields streets accompanied by a guide from the Huguenot Society.