Maggie Giraud’s art talks



Fairlynch volunteer Maggie Giraud has just updated her website (www.talksaboutart.co.uk) and would like to draw your attention to some of the talks she has booked, which she hopes will interest and entertain you in the coming (colder!) months.


Maggie is a locally-based freelance art historian and curator. Her talk ‘Understanding Henri Matisse’ was chosen to round off the Museum’s AGM on 29 April. It was one of many talks which she has given during 2015.

A Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, Maggie lists her specialist topics as Renaissance Florence, the early 20th century period in Paris, and Dartington Hall, where she was employed as curator and archivist.  However her talks on art cover a wide range.

“The ongoing series at The Castle Hotel, Taunton, ends on 12 November with a new lecture on Francis Bacon who has preoccupied me for a long time,” she writes.

“Presenting him coherently is a considerable challenge, but his fame is such now that he cannot be ignored easily, and will not go away.

If you fancy a day of deep immersion the Castle have also organised a lecture on Goya, by Trish Jones in the morning of the 12th November, and for £50 you can attend both lectures and have lunch at the Hotel. Both talks are bookable separately if your stamina does not run to Goya/Lunch/Bacon!

Starting on the 27 October, and into next year, there is a series of talks at Brook Gallery Exeter, which is in a most beautiful historic terrace in Exeter. This is exciting for me in several ways, with some new talks, and the opportunity to have an established venue in the city.

Next year, in February, I am giving one of the lunchtime lectures at RAMM in Exeter, on Dartington Hall, a place very close to close to my heart. And for those of you in London, I am speaking again at Richmond Art Society about Sergey Shchukin in March.

I hope you can find something to enjoy, and look forward to seeing you soon.

I am just in the process of discussing a full day course on Dartington Hall at Dillington House,Somerset, for March next year - another beautiful venue!”

For more information click on www.talksaboutart.co.uk 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

WW2 100 – 3 July 1941 – ‘Our beloved son’: Private Stanley John Holloway (1914-41) 12th Battalion, Devonshire Regiment

Image
Continued from 11 June 1941 ‘A German platoon fired a salute of honour over the grave’ FLYING OFFICER PETER HAROLD HOWARD PRITCHARD (1921-41)   https://budleighpastandpresent.blogspot.com/2021/11/ww2-75-11-june-1941-german-platoon.html   Image credit: www.FindaGrave.com Stanley’s sad death at the age of 27 stirred various thoughts in me when I first read about it. He is not listed on Budleigh Salterton’s War Memorial, yet his grave is in St Peter’s Burial Ground on Moor Lane. His family were not local, yet he seems to have been killed while engaged in the highly hazardous work of protecting Budleigh against invasion.   The Commonwealth War Graves Commission records him as a member of the 12 th Battalion, Devonshire Regiment with the Service Number was 5627659. According to the same source, his parents were George and M. Holloway, of Hounslow, Middlesex.   Tackling this WW2 project chronologically as I am, it was clear that Stanley had died on the same day as Private Clifto
Read more

People from the Past: 3. Reg Varney (1916-2008)

Image
Reginald Alfred 'Reg' Varney was an English actor, most notable for his role as a cheerful Cockney bus driver in the 1970s TV sitcom On the Buses . For ten years he lived at Dark Lane House on picturesque Dark Lane in Budleigh Salterton, seen above.  Millions of television viewers remember him with affection. He has been described as belonging to the old school of comedians, with his dislike of much contemporary television and his pride in never using swear words to get a laugh. Varney was born on 11 July 1916 in Canning Town, which was then part of Essex but is now part of East London. His father worked in a rubber factory in Silvertown and he was one of five children who grew up in Addington Road, Canning Town. He was educated at the nearby Star Lane Primary School in West Ham and after leaving school at 14, he worked as a messenger boy at the Regent Palace Hotel, pictured above.  
Read more

A home that Hatchard-Smith built: Lavender House

Image
Lavender House, one of no less than 50 houses in Budleigh Salterton designed by Hatchard-Smith   Instantly recognisable with their red and white decoration and their front doors set within brick arches, the houses built by architect William Hatchard-Smith (1887-1987) are still sought after and appreciated by their owners for their elegance and comfort, their sturdy construction and their attention to practical detail. Plans for one of the houses designed by Hatchard-Smith Lavender House, on Moorlands Road , is a four-bedroomed detached family residence built by Hatchard-Smith in the late 1920s when it was originally named Lavenderhay.   Set within what are described as beautifully landscaped gardens of approximately an acre it has recently undergone an extensive refurbishment programme while retaining much of the original charm and character. The stained glass memorial in Budleigh Sa
Read more