ARTLOOK April 2021

Robert Indiana, Love, 1966-1998 at Fondation Pierre Gianadda

Dear Art Friend

Given the season and positive feelings engendered by the vaccine rollout, many of us are feeling cautiously hopeful for the coming year. Not that things will necessarily return to how they were, but life will get better. Your Art Friends Warwickshire committee is eager to understand how you feel about future talks and events so that we can plan a programme which interests you and helps raise funds for the future of art. To that end, we recently issued a survey to all members and supporters and if you have not yet responded, please do so by 7 April so that we can feature the results in our next issue. Whatever your feedback, be assured we would only plan in-person events when it is safe to do so.

March saw our Inaugural General Meeting, a year later than anticipated, when our chairman, Brian Phillips, thanked members for their wholehearted support in getting Art Friends Warwickshire off the ground in such challenging circumstances. Details of our achievements, presented to the 55 attending, are in the report on Page 2, as well as the recipients of the Art Friends Warwickshire 2020 Awards.

Following the excellent talk on Hogarth’s election paintings by Vivien Heffernan, in this issue we include a piece by member, Barrie Bemand, a volunteer at Upton House, in which he reviews the property’s three Hogarths and discusses the painter’s involvement in freemasonry. David Freke has sparked much interest in the graffiti to be discovered (often by raking torchlight) in North Cotswold churches. As soon as it is permitted, there will be many of us heading off to local villages to inspect the stonework and no doubt investigate the local pub for lunch.

We are happy to feature the magnum opus of one of our members and highly regarded speaker, Margaret-Louise O’Keeffe, who devoted many years to researching As We Were: a week-by-week

1 account of the Great War in four volumes. Do follow the links to the reviews in The Times and Spectator – what an achievement.

The Fondation Pierre Gianadda in Switzerland is a gem of a place and the translated article written by my friend of fifty-five years, Pierre Ançay, gives a flavour of the art it offers permanently and in exhibitions. Definitely a museum to visit.

A new talk added to our schedule is Japanese Art in the Royal Collection, a talk I enjoyed last year and heartily recommend. It will be presented by one of the Royal Collection Trust’s assistant curators. In August we are planning a talk on mediaeval Warwickshire, presented by Dr Jenny Alexander of the University of Warwick. Date and venue/Zoom will depend on the progress of ‘unlocking’ so to be advised later.

Diary Dates

• Monday, 19 April, 10.30 via Zoom, Clara in Qatar. • Wednesday, 5 May, 10.30 via Zoom, Art in the Landscape • 9 June –sadly the owners of Perrycroft, near Malvern, an Arts-and-Crafts house designed by Voysey, have decided to remain closed until 2022, so a treat in store for next year. • Tuesday, 15 June, 10.30 via Zoom, Japanese Art in the Royal Collection

Contributions As ever, please let us have your articles on a piece of art that you hold special or an art holiday which you particularly enjoyed. The next issue of ARTLOOK will appear in mid-May and we would require copy by the beginning of the month.

Dianne Page, Editor [email protected]

Art Friends Warwickshire Committee:

Brian Phillips, Chairman, Gill Ashley-Smith, Sandra Clowes, Alex Corrin, Dianne Page, Susan Yeomans

Art Friends Warwickshire Inaugural General Meeting

On 24 March, Chairman, Brian Phillips, welcomed members and recalled that Art Friends Warwickshire emerged from the former Art Fund Volunteers, disbanded in 2019, following encouragement to continue activities which would provide informative, fund-raising talks and visits for those interested in the world of art. Most members of the Art Fund Committee transferred to the new independent group and were joined by Alex Corrin. In time, the Awards Committee was formed, comprising Faith Matthews and David Howells, to advise the committee where grants should be presented. Art Friends Warwickshire was launched in January 2020 with a programme of events that achieved a fantastic response and, thanks to members’ subscriptions, we were able to get under way. Brian continued: “We got off to a good start with an excellent talk at Budbrooke from the curator at the Fitzwilliam Museum and Art Gallery, Cambridge, Feast and Fast, then our regular visit to Princethorpe College for Vivien Heffernan's talk on Women Painters from the 16th to the 20th Century. We were pleased to donate the surpluses from these events: to the Fitzwilliam in order to support student attendance at a linked conference; and to Princethorpe College we donated the Bauhaus Trophy, an annual award for students showing particular promise in the aesthetics of design. We are so grateful to the college for allowing us to use their excellent facilities free of charge.

“Then the pandemic struck, forcing the cancellation, at practically no notice, of the first attempt of an inaugural general meeting of Art Friends Warwickshire. Gradually items on our well-planned schedule of events were cancelled: a trip to Cambridge, talks on Cézanne and Art in the Landscape, the summer holiday and the visit to Strawberry Hill. A lot of work from all on the committee gone to waste. Even

2 more, there was the effort to return people's money and we are most grateful to those who waived their refunds as a donation. Particular sympathy goes to Gill Ashley-Smith, organiser of the popular summer holidays for several years. She had done the preparation, which takes the best part of a year, for the 2020 holiday, only to endure the additional labour of cancelling all the arrangements.

“Out of this misery rose the Newsletter, our first miracle of 2020, which has become ARTLOOK, brilliantly edited by Dianne Page and supported by many members who have contributed articles. The frequency increased to six-weekly; this was the only way, under lockdown conditions that we could maintain our objective of a social grouping of people interested in the arts.

“In August we carried out a survey of members' views and thanks to the large number of you who responded, we learnt that although many would support in person events when safe and permitted, many would also be interested in receiving on-line talks at home.

“And so, we launched a series of talks by Zoom, beginning with one on Cranach by the curator of the exhibition at Compton Verney, which was open for so short a time. This was followed by The Art of Persia ahead of a V&A exhibition. The series continued with an intriguing talk on Paul Cézanne by leading expert, Dr Paul Smith; by Vivien Heffernan on and by David Freke on Medieval Graffiti in North Cotswolds Churches.

“This was our second unexpected miracle. We have been overwhelmed by the response, being encouraged to raise the limit of 50, which we thought was manageable, to over 70. I make special mention of the part played by Sue Yeomans who not only carried out the tricky process of admitting everyone in such a short space of time – without losing anyone, but also handled the bookings. These lectures have achieved two of Art Friends Warwickshire's objectives, social gatherings, albeit virtual, and raising funds. And after each talk, we always receive a raft of emails expressing your appreciation. Thanks to everyone who has participated for your support.

“During 2020 we have been involved in the development of a website. We engaged a professional designer but in the summer his business collapsed leaving us with a product, half of which worked. Eventually, and with some adjustments, we have been able to use it for these last few months, including the distribution of ARTLOOK and receiving membership applications.

“Being an organisation independent of a parental body puts greater demands on several aspects, particularly financial management. Sue Yeomans has been supreme in handling a colossal number of applications and re-payments. Our books have been audited by member and chartered accountant, Paul Preston (our special thanks to him), and declared to be satisfactory. After reviewing our financial situation, we have arrived at a budget for 2021, which includes offering free membership to those who joined last year. We have also been able to allocate £3,000 to be awarded to deserving causes. Recommendations this year are Art in Dunchurch and Artie:

• Art in Dunchurch, participating in Warwickshire Arts Week 19 June – 4 July, would like help to meet its advertising and publicity costs as Warwickshire Open Studios has decided to produce an on-line brochure only. • Artie – part of Healing Arts which is designed to make the hospital environment welcoming and interesting. Artie is an Art Cart full of free creative arts and craft packs for in-patients of all ages covering UHCW and St Cross.

“So, what is in our programme for 2021? While the lockdown persists, there will be our monthly lectures by Zoom. What else we do, will be guided by the replies to the survey we have launched recently. We have had a good response already but need your view too. Please respond and provide your comments before the 7 April deadline. Unfortunately, again there cannot be a summer holiday this year, but we live in hope of having a visit or two. Rest assured, you will be informed as soon as we can organise something. Keep your eyes on the website, www.artfriendswarks.uk .

“Considering the difficulties of launching a new organisation during a pandemic, I think I can say that we have achieved our objectives for 2020. This has been due to the hard work and generation of ideas from everyone on the committee: Gill Ashley-Smith, Sandra Clowes, Alex Corrin, Dianne Page and Sue Yeomans, and I thank them all, most sincerely. And finally, I would like to thank all the members of Art Friends Warwickshire for their incredible support.” Brian Phillips, Chairman

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ART FRIENDS WARWICKSHIRE LECTURES All bookings for the following lectures, including for free Virtual Training, will be handled by our Treasurer - Susan Yeomans Email [email protected] or [email protected] Book on line via Events – Art Friends Warkwickshire (artfriendswarks.uk) or see P.15 for booking details. Please note, closing date is two days before the event. Clara in Qatar: A New Life for a Meissen Porcelain Rhinoceros Monday, 19 April 2021 10.30 Zoom Lecture

Johann Joachim Kändler (1706-1775), Porcelain Figure of an Asian Rhinoceros (Clara) c. 1747 OM.1000. Qatar Museums/Orientalist Museum, Doha, Qatar.

The Orientalist Museum in Qatar has a small, but important, Meissen Porcelain statue of a rhinoceros. This rhino is none other than Clara, the same rhinoceros which toured Venice in 1751, and enjoyed a career spanning some twenty years touring Europe. She became so famous that she was commemorated in art of a variety of media and is represented in two celebrated paintings by Pietro Longhi and Jean-Baptiste Oudry, in bronze sculpture, and even appeared as part of the background of an engraving in an eighteenth-century anatomy book. This entertaining talk will introduce Qatar’s Meissen rhinoceros, its provenance and highlight the ongoing travels of Miss Clara.

Dr Sophie Bostock is Curator of Prints and Drawings at the Orientalist Museum, part of Qatar Museums, in Doha. She obtained her PhD at the University of Warwick on the Pulcinella drawings of Domenico Tiepolo. Sophie formerly worked as Assistant Curator of Prints and Drawings at the Barber Institute of Fine Arts. Art in the Landscape Wednesday, 5 May 2021 10.30 Zoom Lecture

©Jonty Wilde, AshDome

Sarah Shalgosky, the popular Curator of the University of Warwick, will speak in her usual knowledgeable and lively style on Art in the Landscape. Henry Moore said that ‘I would rather have a piece of sculpture put in a landscape, almost any landscape, than in or on the most beautiful building I know.’ Sarah will discuss different examples of art in the landscape from Vanbrugh to Antony Gormley. She will illustrate her talk with her recent experiences of creating a sculpture park, with references from the region including Compton Verney, Ragley Hall and National Trust projects.

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Japanese Art in the Royal Collection Tuesday, 15 June 2021 10.30 Zoom Lecture Rachel Peat, from Royal Collection Trust, will introduce the wide-ranging Japanese holdings in the British Royal Collection, which tell the story of 300 years of diplomatic, artistic and cultural exchange. These outstanding works include rare pieces of porcelain and lacquer, samurai armour, embroidered screens and official gifts from the reigns of James I to Her Majesty The Queen. Together, they offer a unique insight into the worlds of ritual, honour and artistry linking the two nations. This unique story, and the exceptional pieces in the lecture, form the basis of the forthcoming exhibition Japan: Courts and Culture at The Queen's Gallery, (opening spring 2022).

Rachel Peat is Assistant Curator of Non-European Works of Art at the Royal Collection Trust. She is editor of Japan: Courts and Culture (published May 2020), the first publication dedicated to Japanese material in the Royal Collection, and curator of next year’s exhibition.

The Royal Collection is one of the largest and most important art collections in the world, and one of the last great European royal collections to remain intact. Comprising almost all aspects of the fine and decorative arts and running to more than a million objects, the Collection is a unique and valuable record of the personal tastes of kings and queens over the past 500 years. The Royal Collection is held in trust by The Queen as Sovereign for her successors and the nation. It is not owned by her as a private individual.

Zoom Tip Did you know that while you are watching a PowerPoint presentation on Zoom, you can enlarge the image? Sometimes it is good to be able to zoom in on part of a painting and it is easy to do. On a PC, once the presentation has started and you are in Full Screen, at the top of the screen you will find View Options. Click on this to get drop-down box and Zoom Ratio and click further to get the following options: Fit to Window; 50%;100%;150%; 200%; 300%. You can then move this enlargement around the image using your mouse. I tend to click between Fit to Window and 150%, though I could imagine it might lead to heated words when there is a couple watching the same screen. For a tablet, simply pinch open the image using fingers directly on the screen.

AWARDS COMMITTEE Each event raises money for Art Friends Warwickshire to donate to arts-related causes. In some cases, where the speaker generously waives their fee, we invite them to suggest a destination for a donation of that amount. However, as the overall fund accumulates, the Awards Committee would welcome members’ suggestions for future worthy recipients. The criteria are broad but Warwickshire-based projects would be preferred. Please contact Faith Matthews ([email protected]) with your suggestions.

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William Hogarth and Freemasonry by Member, Barrie Bemand

William Hogarth is best known to us as a colourful recorder of 18th century London life. He told us of the inequalities between rich and poor, the hypocrites of society whom he loved to lampoon, often viciously to modern eyes. He also was a xenophobe who intensely disliked the French and Dutch. He was a Freemason and lived through a period where modern Freemasonry really began; a difficult birth marked by a schism in 1735 between modernisers (Moderns) and the traditionalists (Antients). Hogarth was a supporter of the latter.

Hogarth’s elopement in 1729 with Jane, the daughter of the artist Sir James Thornhill, was an awkward start to their relationship. However, Hogarth’s talent and enterprise were recognised by his father-in- law. Thornhill was Serjeant Painter to William III, whose frescoes still adorn the interior of the dome of St Paul’s Cathedral and The Painted Hall in the Old Royal Naval College at Greenwich. He was instrumental in helping shape and promote Hogarth’s career, who followed in his father-in-law’s footsteps, being appointed Serjeant Painter to George II in 1757.

Upton House has three Hogarth paintings. One is of a baby, Gerard Anne Edwards, more to come later. The other two are of a series, called The Times of the Day, are Morning and Night. They were painted in 1736 and released as prints in 1745. Hogarth knew that only the wealthy could afford his oil paintings and hit upon the scheme of allowing customers to subscribe weekly to future sets of prints. His prints were so popular that unofficial, plagiarised, cheap and inferior copies often flooded the market. This led him to persuade the Government to introduce the first Engraving Copyright Act in 1735. The Queen Anne Copyright Act of 1710 covered authors’ works only. Hogarth often altered the prints to make them easier to interpret than the original oil paintings so that his message was even more obvious.

In Night, two Freemasons walk down an alley off where the statue of King Charles l is seen in the background. It is Oak Apple Day (May 29) celebrating the anniversary of the restoration of Charles II. The sky is lit by a bonfire that may have got out of control. The two Masons wear oak leaves in their hats; another oak branch hangs from the barber’s pole. The two Masons are miniature portraits of Sir Thomas De Veil wearing his Masonic Sash and Master’s Jewel, a Justice of the Peace who is drunk and being escorted home by Andrew Montgomery (Modest Montgomerie). De Veil had fallen out with Hogarth at a Lodge meeting and is seen leaving the Rummer and Grapes, where the Grand Lodge met, the sign hangs behind them. But Hogarth also hated his hypocrisy and corruption, he was notorious for being lenient towards prostitutes and other women in return for sexual favours. Henry Fielding, a close friend of Hogarth, succeeded De Veil as Bow Street magistrate in 1747 and based his character, the corrupt Justice Squeezum on De Veil in his play Rape upon Rape.

In the top window above the barber’s shop a man throws a chamber pot of urine over De Veil. It was

6 also well known that, as a heavy drinker, De Veil was reported to have tasted a bottle in a tavern only to find that it contained urine! De Veil is ignoring the street children under the barber’s window, a failure of charity that shows his arrogance and self-obsession. One street child is asleep whilst the other is blowing on a lit cord to make it flare up. He was known as a link boy and earned his meagre wages by escorting people through the streets for money. By providing some light they would avoid the many pitfalls of 18th century London streets such as potholes and human and animal excrement dumped in the streets. De Veil is shown wearing red heels, a reference to his French Huguenot roots, a custom that was mocked in England and yet another reason why Hogarth disliked him.

De Veil’s gait is staggering but this may be a reference not just to his drunkenness but also to the changes in initiation steps that new entrants to the Moderns had to learn. Just behind Montgomery is a man (the Landlord of the Rummer and Grapes) watering down his beer into a barrel. Montgomery’s wig is strangely shaped and Hogarth makes it look like it is being poured into his ‘empty’ barrel-shaped head, hence ‘simple’ Modest Montgomerie. Just behind De Veil and Montgomery is a bonfire which has caused the Salisbury Flying Coach to overturn. The pub sign behind is the Earl of Cardigan and is a gentle mockery of the 4th Earl George Brudenell, renowned for his reckless carriage driving. De Veil and Montgomery are holding a sword and cane, just opposite them two people are holding a wooden sword and staff. Each makes two triangular shapes separating the Square and Compass, hinting at the schism in Freemasonry.

The barber visible in his shop is shaving a customer by candlelight and makes the sign of the Masons with his razor. He has already cut his customer and this was a reference to the Schism in the Barber Surgeons - at each-other’s throats! The Surgeons separated from the Barbers in 1745 and the Royal College of Surgeons was founded in 1800. The barber’s pole makes the Sign of Euclid; the Moderns were all about teaching Geometry.

Behind the group of figures, just under King Charles’s statue, is a cart piled high with furniture - people doing a midnight flit to escape their landlords; an event that parallels and has echoes with our time. A chair, just visible, is a reference to Passing the Chair another difference in Masonic rituals between the two groups. It is important to remember that Hogarth was not trying to antagonise fellow Antients, only the Moderns, whom he despised.

The other Time painting at Upton House, Morning, depicts a fashion-conscious, self- obsessed spinster on her way to St Paul’s church in Convent Garden at 7.10 am on a frosty winter morning. So concerned to show her fashion sense, she does not wear a cloak, despite the cold. On her way to church, yet she ignores the beggars and her freezing footman but looks wistfully at two young men coming out of Tom King’s Coffee House, canoodling with two women - prostitutes. This coffee house, once smart and fashionable, is a brothel. There’s a fight going on inside; a wig flies out of the door. The spinster seems oblivious to the dangers pointed out by Hogarth; behind her, a sign advertising a man who sell pills to cure the pox, i.e. venereal disease. She has also decided to wear many beauty spots, a fashionable ploy to disguise the skin rash of syphilis, without realising what others may think of her reputation. It is interesting that Hogarth has shown himself as one of the young men with the prostitutes.

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The final painting at Upton House is of a baby boy, Gerard Anne Edwards. Mary Edwards was, like Hogarth, a patron of Captain Coram’s Foundling Hospital, England’s first orphanage. Her father was a very wealthy Leicestershire man, having made his fortune by laying the early toll roads in Lincolnshire. She was the most eligible and wealthy spinster in London, worth between £50,000 and £60,000. Unfortunately, she was seduced by a penniless Scottish earl, Lord Anne Hamilton, who took her to the Fleet Prison Chapel to be married in secret. To the dismay of her friends, he started to run through her fortune. Sometime after 1734, a group of friends, who may have included Hogarth, went to the Fleet Prison Chapel and tore out the marriage record allowing her to reclaim her inheritance. She took the extraordinary step of declaring herself a single woman, despite having a son, and took further legal steps to create evidence that no marriage had ever taken place, thus making her son, Gerard Anne Edwards, illegitimate. He is like many of Hogarth’s subjects, painted warts and all, yet years later, when an eligible wealthy bachelor, was known in London society as Handsome Edwards!

Going to the Fleet Prison Chapel would have brought back unhappy memories for Hogarth because in 1709, when he was ten years old, his father, Richard, was imprisoned for debt in the Fleet. Luckily for Richard and the family, he somehow managed to pay the five guineas’ fee that allowed him to live outside the prison in lodgings ‘’within the Rules’’. By 1713 he was free and the family moved out of the Fleet to Long Lane.

The Hogarth paintings are on display at the National Trust property Upton House and it is to be hoped that lockdown restrictions being eased will allow the house to re-open to the public later in the year.

I am indebted to Jeremy Bell, author of Hogarth, a Freemason’s Harlot published in 2017, for the insights into Hogarth’s works, and who has most generously assisted my understanding of the Freemasonry Schism that William Hogarth showed in his work. Jerry has asked me to include his website so that anyone who may wish to, can download his book as a pdf: www.brotherhogarth.com .

Ed. The images Night and Morning have been digitally enhanced to improve visibility in this article. Even more reason to visit Upton House to see the paintings for real.

Hanbury Hall near Droitwich has a wonderful Thornhill mural on the staircase, ostensibly Achilles arming for the Trojan war but research indicates it is a satire on Queen Anne and her female friendships.

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Creating a Magnum Opus by Member, Margaret-Louise O’Keeffe

As We Were: a week-by-week account of the Great War in four volumes

Author: David Hargreaves; Researcher: Margaret-Louise O’Keeffe

As We Were, a four-volume, week-by-week account of World War One has just been published. In the summer of 2014 Robert Cottrell, editor of the online magazine, The Browser, asked David Hargreaves, who had just retired after nearly thirty years as a history teacher and housemaster at School, to write a weekly article to mark the centenary of the First World War. The idea was to illustrate the impact of the war in the UK and the articles were to be published weekly in The Browser.

David was excited by the project and my husband, Dermot, was available to research coverage of the war in newspapers and journals of the period. I became drawn in and started doing research myself. In due course, the weekly essays, with illustrations, appeared on The Browser’s sibling website, centuryjournal.com. After the initial months, Dermot had other work to do, so David and I carried on the project whose nature expanded, dealing with the war on a global basis. Each week, I would send between 3,000 and 6,000 words of copy to David in London, he would write the articles and we would then proofread them over the telephone.

I knew little in detail about the Great War apart from the war poetry it inspired so I had a great deal to learn. I scoured charity shops and built up an excellent library of war books. Each week, I would consult internet sites to check what was happening and then research further under these headings: Western, Eastern and Southern Fronts; Russia; USA; Middle East, Africa & Elsewhere; Naval; Aerial; Medical; Political; Domestic; Miscellaneous. We covered the global war and our aim was to portray events as they happened, without the benefit of hindsight, including as much personal detail as possible. I used quotations from newspaper accounts, Parliamentary debates, citations, diaries, letters, memoirs, poetry, so the articles are enriched by words of people of all types, touched by the war.

British Red Cross Volunteers I went on a battlefields tour of Gallipoli, attended Western Front Association meetings in Warwick, visited the Imperial War Museum and war memorials, and everywhere I noted names, as we wanted to highlight the individual sacrifice, suffering and heroic contribution of combatants and civilians alike. We covered momentous events which still have repercussions now: revolutions in Russia and the fall of the Romanovs; the 1916 Easter Rising in Ireland; the Arab Revolt; the collapse of the German and Austro- Hungarian Empires.

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One of the joys of the work lay in encountering a host of remarkable characters: exceptional soldiers like ‘Oc’ Asquith; outstanding doctors and nurses like Dr Harvey Cushing and Nurse Edith Appleton; the German ace, Manfred von Richthofen, who struggled with his celebrity status; a schoolboy, Yves Congar, who railed against the German occupation of his hometown, Sedan; so many others.

Because the Germans had just imposed a heavy tax on dog owners, the Congars decided to kill their dog, Kiki. Yves (11) saw him as a martyr, dying for France.

Saturday 15 May 1915 Today,15th May, a sad memorable day when the martyrdom took place of a hero, killed for his country. The vet came at about 3.30pm and we gave the dog a bit of meat which he devoured then tied his jaws with string, as tightly as possible, held his paws and injected poison into his heart, burying him immediately when his body was still warm.

Friday 15 February 1918 ....in town there was a band of prisoners, Russian, Romanian and Italian, all dying of hunger, exhausted, indescribable. It was sad being there powerless before such suffering without being able to offer help to any of these unfortunates.

Above all, As We Were allowed us to celebrate our shared humanity and, as David concluded, the great legacy of the war is that it proved the human spirit could rise, time and again, beyond every reasonable expectation. We see it, week in week out, in the letters and diaries through which serving men and women poured out their love and longing; we see it in the intensity and loyalty of rough companionship.

This was their gift, and it is one by which each succeeding generation has been blessed: in the face of bestiality and terror, common humanity and love still prevailed.

Irish Rifles

The so-called Spanish flu featured increasingly during the last months of the war and there are parallels between the privations of war and our pandemic: restrictions on travel, restaurants, alcohol and meetings; food shortages; censorship. People then were luckier in many ways than us, as at least they could meet, embrace and chat without restrictions, but they grew accustomed to not seeing fathers, brothers, friends, female volunteers. We too haven’t seen people for so long, and some we will never see again. Perhaps we can share the feeling of one superb diarist, Cynthia Asquith, who lost two brothers, a brother-in-law and several close friends in the conflict, and who wrote at the prospect of peace: I think it will require more courage than anything that has gone before. One will have to look at long vistas again, instead of short ones, and one will at last fully recognize that the dead are not only dead for the duration of the war.

Publisher: Chris Wold & Whitefox Publishing https://www.bookdepository.com/We-Were-First-World-War-David-Hargreaves/9781913532369 Review: https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/up-close-and-personal-voices-from-the-great-war-week-by-week https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/as-we-were-by-david-hargreaves-and-margaret-louise-okeeffe- review-the-first-world-war-week-by-week-kgbntj3b9

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Martigny: Town of History, Art and Culture at the Crossroads of the Alps by Pierre Ançay The Swiss town of Martigny sits at the ‘elbow’ of the river Rhône at the French-speaking end of the canton of Valais. Strategically placed in the heart of the Alps, from time immemorial it has been a resting place at the four-way crossroads for Europeans travelling north-south and east-west. Martigny, close to popular ski destinations like Verbier and Crans-Montana, is also a centre for culture, primarily known for La Fondation Pierre Gianadda. Martigny has been the stopping point for traders, armies and, since the beginning of Christianity, pilgrims who would come from England and the Rhinelands intent on reaching Italy. This arterial route created the close links, via the Great St Bernard Pass, which united the people of the Aosta Valley and the Valais since the Neolithic Era. In the 5th century BCE Gallic tribes settled in the Rhône plain. A small Celtic settlement, Octodurus was the first Valais town to be noted in history, being mentioned in Julius Caesar’s De Bello Gallico where he devoted a whole chapter to the battle of Octodurus, later to become Martigny. The development of the town owes a great deal to its Roman past. During subsequent centuries this interchange of commerce and ideas suffered invasion from Burgundians, Franks and Lombards and, latterly in 1800, by Napoleon. When in 1976 Léonard Gianadda planned to build a block of apartments on his land, he discovered the remains of an ancient Celtic temple, the oldest of its type in Switzerland. Shortly afterwards, his younger brother, Pierre, died tragically following an aeroplane accident and he decided to create a foundation in his memory. The cultural centre built around the temple was inaugurated in 1978 as La Fondation Pierre Giannada and includes in the museum the main archaeological discoveries from Gallic Octodurus to the Roman Forum Claudi Vallensium: coins, stelae, pottery, jewellery and armoury, as well as the famous Octodurus Bronzes (tricorn bull’s head) and other treasures.

Entrance to Fondation Pierre Gianadda Plaster cast Burghers of Calais, Auguste Rodin 1889

Dahlias in a Delft vase, Paul Cézanne, 1873 2019 Rodin Giacometti exhibition

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The Fondation is famous for its temporary exhibitions where artworks loaned from private collections and museums all over the world are displayed surrounding the archaeological treasures. Cézanne, Klee, Goya, Rodin, Giacometti, Kandinsky, are just a few artists whose work have attracted thousands over the years. Gustave Caillebotte will feature from 23 June to 24 November 2021 and then it will be the turn of Jean Dubuffet from 3 December 2021 to 12 June 2022. This is in addition to the permanent collection of Louis and Evelyn Franck including work by Cézanne, Van Gogh, Lautrec and Picasso.

Les Baigneurs, Niki de Saint Phalle, 1984 Pouce, César, 1965,

Roue Oriflamme, Jean Arp, 1962 Landscaped water gardens host the Sculpture Park. Set amidst the Roman remains, the permanent collection includes work by Rodin, Brancusi, Miró, Moore, César, Dubuffet and many more all representing XX Century sculpture. Visitors enjoy a pleasant route among the artworks and also the greatly admired monumental mosaic, La Cour Chagal, which comprises three panels of mosaic with magnificent lyre birds, created for collectors, Ira and George Kostelitz, and later donated to La Fondation Gianadda.

Les Piques-niqueurs du dimanche, Elisheva Engel, 1986, La Cour Chagall

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To demonstrate its breadth of interest, part of the museum is devoted to around fifty vintage cars (from 1897 to 1939), all in working order. Furthermore, each year the Fondation stages a prestigious season of music with internationally renowned artists which have included Brendel, Menuhin, Rostropovitch, Barenboim and Cécilia Bartoli, all performing in the centre of the museum.

Léonard Gianadda’s support of the arts did not stop with his museum and in 1994 he proposed a novel concept to the town’s council: to replace all traffic light crossings with a roundabout hosting a work of art. Martigny is the only Swiss town to provide such an exceptional sculpture tour and today 17 roundabouts are graced by a sculpture chosen by and paid for by this generous patron of the arts.

Antoine Poncet, Secrète, 1992 Replica of Romulus and Remus from the Capitoline Museum, gift of city of Rome

It is hoped that this brief round-up of the cultural offerings will encourage you to visit historic Martigny and this charming region surrounded by the magnificent Alps where a warm welcome awaits.

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LINKS

Even though many museums are planning to open later in May, some have been creating videos during their period of closure in an attempt to (in the words of the Reverend Richard Coles) ‘keep the pilot light alive’. I am sure that we shall be back in the galleries as soon as it is safe, but in the meantime, just a few more links for you. Pitt Rivers Museum - Art Fund If you, like me, have never visited the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford, this 14-minute film will give you a taste of what to expect. It has always struck me as over-whelming to see so many artefacts displayed in rows of glass cabinets, but the comments of the director and her team about the changing philosophy of the museum, encourage me to go and explore. Virtual tour – Tracey Emin / Edvard Munch: The Loneliness of the Soul | Blog | Royal Academy of Arts This 24-minute film shows paintings of Emin and Munch amidst the empty galleries of the Royal Academy, awaiting visitors from the re-opening on 18 May but only to 30 May. Given the short run and its likely popularity, probably this film is the nearest most will get to seeing the show.

Love Compton Verney | Compton Verney

As we look forward to museums opening, Compton Verney’s series of 2-minute-long videos gives brief explanations not only about objects of art but also about the grounds. Even if you feel you know the collection, worth viewing.

V&A · Explore The Collections (vam.ac.uk)

The V&A is launching Explore the Collections, a new digital platform that enables everyone from around the world to search, explore and discover over 1.2m objects from the museum’s collections. This new online experience forms a key part of the V&A’s goal to revolutionise access to national collections, which will culminate in its new collections and research centre at V&A East – an entirely new cultural experience and the first of its kind in the UK located at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in Stratford. www.iwm.org.uk

Four themed virtual tours have been launched by the Imperial War Museum: Spitfire celebrating this Midlands aircraft’s 85th birthday; Churchill War Rooms; The Holocaust Exhibition; and Extraordinary Highlights from the collections.

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Lectures Booking Information

All bookings will be handled by our Treasurer, including bookings for Virtual Training Sessions - Susan Yeomans Email [email protected] or [email protected]

DEADLINE FOR BOOKINGS: TWO DAYS BEFORE EVENT.

All lectures will be delivered via Zoom online to your home PC, laptop or tablet. To use Zoom, you must have a valid email address that you are willing to provide to Art Friends Warwickshire so that you can receive joining instructions and a link to enable you to view the event online.

Free Virtual Training If you are unfamiliar with Zoom, please contact Sue and arrange a date to learn how to use Zoom.

Paying for Lectures Each booking is £10. If you plan to view the lecture with more than one person, using a single laptop, PC or tablet, as a non-profit fund-raising group, we would appreciate it if you would make a booking including each viewer. You will receive email acknowledgement for each lecture booking. If you have not had an email acknowledgement by 48 hours before the training or lecture, email or call Susan to check. Tel 07831 513039. There will be no physical tickets, only the booking confirmation.

Online: Art Friends Warwickshire: LLOYDS, Ac number 36633668, Sort code 30 90 90. Please email Susan to confirm you are paying online and include the information required in the form below, especially which lecture(s). This avoids the need to post the form below.

By post: send a copy of the form below or an equivalent form of wording on notepaper with your cheque, payable to Art Friends Warwickshire, to Susan Yeomans, 7 Mallory Drive, Warwick CV34 4UD. ------Art Friends Warwickshire Lectures Name…… Email Address for the lecture…… Telephone number (home or mobile) in case of problems on the day ……………….. I am paying £ @ £10 per booking Which lecture(s)?……………………………………………………………………………………. Donation or additional contribution: £…….

I confirm that Art Friends Warwickshire is permitted to email me the joining instructions on the day before the lecture. I will not pass this link to any other person who has not booked a place. Signed………………….

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Membership subscriptions

For newcomers or supporters wishing to transfer to Membership, the annual subscription runs for twelve months from date of receipt of your payment by the Treasurer and is £15 per member. This will give access to our live events at a lower cost than for non-members and priority booking on some events.

Either go on line http://artfriendswarks.uk/join to apply or use the form below. Please mark the following Membership Application Form clearly with the name of each Member eg Jane and Joe Jones [2 @ £15] £30, and post the completed form and cheque made out to Art Friends Warwickshire, to Susan Yeomans at 7 Mallory Drive, Warwick CV34 4UD. Or pay online to the Lloyds bank account given above and email Susan on [email protected] .

------cut here

Name (s)

Address

Telephone ……………………… Email ………………………………………

I attach a cheque/I have paid on-line £ …………. for …… number memberships @ £15.

I confirm my permission for Art Friends Warwickshire to email me with information concerning this organisation.

Signature: ………………………………………

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