When Japan's borders were opened to the West in 1868 there was a huge surge of interest in all things Japanese in the West, particularly in Paris. Ukiyo-e prints were collected avidly by the leading Impressionist painters of the day who 'borrowed' wholesale from their asymmetric compositions, flowing lines, bright colours and subject matter. In this lecture Carol Justin explores how the Japanese aesthetic revolutionised Western art in the late 19th century, and how a new wave of  artists today has brought a deeper understanding of the mokuhanga technique into Contemporary Art.

Illustration - Van Gogh Flowering Plum Tree, Wikimedia Commons

Admire the glitzy hotels, iconic tube stations, cinemas and lidos in the Art-Deco style, which predominated in buildings of the period.

Illustration - Kilowatt House Bath, Somerset Bath Preservation Society

To celebrate the bicentenary of the establishment of the National Gallery in
London, a huge Van Gogh exhibition is planned for autumn 2024. The show will focus on the artist’s period in Provence where he painted some of his most recognisable paintings. Known for his brightest and most expressive works, this is also the period in which he became ill and cut off his ear.

We will look at his own personal struggles and ambitions, the art that influenced him and the art he wanted to make. Despite his time in Provence only lasting about a year and not finding the support or recognition he was craving, the paintings Vincent created in the South of France would become some of the most influential, recognisable and loved paintingsever made by an artist. Soon you will be able to see them in London or in this lecture by Dutch art historian Mariska. 

Before the outbreak of the First World War, a number of young artists settled in the picturesque Cornish village of Lamorna. This group included Laura and Harold Knight, Alfred Munnings, Frank and Jessica Gascoigne Heath and Samuel ‘Lamorna’ Birch.

Some came to study at the Forbes School of Art while others were attracted by the existing artists’ colony in Newlyn. This lecture will paint a picture of the lives of these artists: their work, their play, their loves and their losses. On the surface, it is a picture of sunny days spent painting in the coastal light of Cornwall, followed by evenings of socialising and gaiety at the Lamorna Inn. But darkness and tragedy were just below the surface and struck even before the First World War changed their lives forever.