Dulwich Decorative & Fine Arts Society

The theme for our 2011-12 season is Art and the Lifecycle, demonstrating how changing social attitudes and rites of passage practices are reflected across the stages of the lifecycle in British and international art.

Our lectures take place the second Thursday of the month at 8pm, with coffee & biscuits available from 7.30pm, in the JAGS Sixth Form Centre (see 'Where we meet').

Click here to see this season's lectures that have already taken place.

MEDICINE AND THE HUMAN BODY THROUGH THE ARTIST'S EYE

The image of the good doctor has existed in Western art from antiquity to the present day. This lecture explores the association between religion, art and healing, and between science and art in the media of film, photography and painting. Mary Acton was course director of the diploma course in history of art at Continuing Education, Oxford University and is the author of Learning to Look at Paintings, Learning to Look at Modern Art, and Learning to Look at Sculpture.

THE RING FINGER IN EUROPE 1600-1900: A SYMBOL FOR ALL OCCASIONS

This lecture looks at the many reasons why rings are worn – as symbols of love and marriage, wealth and status, mourning and commemoration – and at the variety of designs that occur, the amatory or humorous mottoes with which they are inscribed and the sheer technical virtuosity of their manufacture. Since 1974 Judy Rudoe has worked at the British Museum as a specialist in jewellery and 19th and 20th century decorative arts. She has organised and written catalogues for several exhibitions, including Cartier 1900-1939. Her latest book, co-authored with Charlotte Gere, is Jewellery in the Age of Queen Victoria: a Mirror to the World (2010).             

LANDSCAPE, POETRY AND POWER: BRITISH NEO-ROMANTIC PAINTERS AND WORLD WAR TWO

The British Neo-Romantic painters of the mid 20th century, including John Piper, Graham Sutherland, John Craxton and Paul Nash, form a bridge between the landscape traditions of the 18th century and the art of today. They created a vision of the British landscape that was vital to Britain’s self image during the Second World War. Jo Walton has lectured on a variety of periods in art history, guided at Tate Modern and Tate Britain, worked with Christies and set up and runs the Atrium Bookshop in Cork Street.

ART FOR AN AFTERLIFE: ANCIENT EGYPTIAN TOMB SCENES AND FUNERARY GOODS

This lecture focuses on the tombs of the New Kingdom (1500 – 1000 BC) when Egypt was at the height of its power and prosperity under pharaohs such as Tutankhamun and Rameses II. Also covered will be the stunning array of funerary goods with which the Ancient Egyptians were buried. Lucia Gahlin is an Egyptologist and extramural lecturer at universities of Bristol and Exeter. She chairs the Friends of the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology and is deputy director of the Bloomsbury Summer School, organising courses and study days on Ancient Egypt. She is the author of books including Egypt, Gods, Myths and Religion.

ITALIAN MEMORIAL SCULPTURE 1820-1940: A LEGACY OF LOVE

The lecture looks at the depiction of domestic and working life as well as the erotic and macabre in monuments from the cemeteries of Milan, Genoa, Turin and Bologna and other cities. Robert Freidus ran a contemporary photography and sculpture gallery in New York. Over the past 20 years he has developed a keen interest in Italian memorial sculpture. He is a member of the Church Monument Society and the Mausolea & Monument Trust. He was the photographer and editor of a book of the same title as this lecture.