PROGRAMME Meetings will be held at Barnwell Village Hall and simultaneous Zoom hybrid transmissions will continue to be used at the discretion of the committee. Coffee will be available from 10:00am and the meeting will start at 10:50am. Guests are welcome for a fee of £10, but it is important to contact the Membership Secretary beforehand; oundlearts@gmail.com or 07917 632268. Membership year 2025/6 Friday 17th October 2025 The Scoliotic Knight: Encounters with Richard III Tobias Capwell The discovery of the grave of King Richard III in Leicester raised many fascinating new questions. The severe scoliosis exhibited by the skeleton revealed that the twisted physique of Shakespeare’s ‘Black Legend’ was based in fact. But how could a diminutive person, suffering from a significant spinal condition, have become a skilled practitioner of the knightly fighting arts? How could he have worn armour and fought in three major battles? What would his armour have looked like? In the case of a king whose royal legitimacy was questioned by many people, how were the visual trappings of knightly kingship used to solidify his claim? Tobias Capwell (left) and Dominic Sewell escorting Richard III of England for his reinterment. Friday 21st November 2025 Catherine the Great: The World’s Greatest Collector Andrew Prince In 1745, a Princess from the minor province of Anhalt-Zerbst in Saxony, married Prince Karl Peter Ulrich of Schleswig- Holstein-Gottorf, heir to the Imperial Russian Throne. She was Princess Sophie Auguste Frederike and by 1762 she had deposed her husband, Peter lll and was crowned Empress Catherine II becoming the sole ruler of the Russian Empire. Catherine the Great Easter Egg (Fabergé egg) at the Hillwood Museum & Gardens. ctj71081. Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Friday 19th December 2025 The Art of Partying Alice Foster From Greek Mosaics in the second century, through weddings in the Bible, Renaissance allegories of refinement and excess, sixteenth century peasant parties out of doors, eighteenth century harlequins, to the celebratory styles of twentieth century painters, the depiction of parties has always been popular in the history of Western Art. Alice Foster traces the variety of merrymaking, banqueting, dances and music in a feast of colour. Pierre-Auguste Renoir - Luncheon of the Boating Party Public domain Friday 16th January 2026 The Great Age of the Shogun: Art and Culture in the Edo Period Japan Marie Conte-Helm During the Edo period of rule by the Tokugawa Shogunate (1615-1868), the arts of Japan gained in richness and diversity. With the rise of the merchant class and the growth of cities such as Edo (modern-day Tokyo), a new vitality was injected into traditional forms and an emerging middle class culture gave rise to exciting developments in the visual and performing arts. This lecture will consider the arts of the period including castle architecture, golden screen painting, ukiyo-e prints, textiles, lacquerware, and netsuke, as well as the emergence of the flamboyant kabuki theatre. Danse Kabuki. Éditeur : Roger Pic (Paris) Pic, Roger (1920-2001). Public domain Friday 20th February 2026 National Treasures: Saving London’s Museums and Galleries in WWII Caroline Shenton This is the gripping and sometimes hilarious story of how a band of heroic curators and eccentric custodians saved Britain’s national heritage during our Darkest Hour. As Hitler’s forces gathered on the other side of the Channel to threaten these islands, men and women from London’s national museums, galleries and archives forged extraordinary plans to evacuate their collections to safety. Friday 20th March 2026 The Creation and Early Years of the Newlyn School Alan Read From the 1880s Stanhope Forbes, Walter Langley, Frank Bramley and others working in Cornwall began to be recognised as a discrete school. Examining the process of that recognition, there will be a description of how the work of the Newlyn-based artists responded to international movements and ultimately how they came into conflict with trends elsewhere in British art. Ladies at work at the Newlyn Art School under the direction of Mrs Stanhope Forbes, from Every Woman's Encyclopaedia, 1910. Unknown author. Public domain Friday 17th April 2026 Fire and Water: The Rivalry of Turner and Constable Matthew Morgan Two artists developed radically opposing approaches to the emotive power of landscape painting in Britain in the early 19th Century. One was dramatic, bombastic and fiery, intending to provoke powerful emotions and elevated thoughts. The other was spiritual, heartfelt and closely observed, asking the viewer to react to an intense, inward and personal approach to nature. These two artists were JMW Turner and John Constable, the leading British artists of their day. Not only did they approach painting in different ways but their lives were opposites as well. This lecture will explore their different approaches and their famous, bitter rivalry. John Constable - Wivenhoe Park, Essex Public domain JMW Turner, losanna, tramonto, 1841-42.jpg Drawings in Tate Britain. Sailko Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Friday 15th May 2026 In the Footsteps of Wren: The Architecture of Norman Foster and Richard Rogers Brian Stater Whenever a radical building appears, someone, somewhere, insists: “Christopher Wren would be turning in his grave.” That barb was certainly endured by Richard Rogers and Norman Foster, who embraced modernism, building in steel, glass and concrete, while Wren designed in the classical style, using timber and stone. But when Rogers was awarded the Royal Gold Medal for Architecture, the citation observed that he was “the rightful heir to the traditions of Wren”. And the same might very well be said of Foster. Norman Foster. Reichstag Done, Berlin. Ank Kumar, Infosys. Creative Commons Attribution- Share Alike 4.0 Richard Rogers. Looking up Lloyd's building in City of London in September 2024. Choinowski. Creative Commons Attribution- Share Alike 4.0 Friday 19th June 2026 Irma Stein (1894-1966): Flowers and Faces of Southern Africa Christopher Garibaldi Irma Stern was one of the most important and influential artists to come out of South Africa in the twentieth century. A near contemporary of Munnings, her art shows some stylistic similarities although her subjects were very different. A similar concern with figurative painting was in Stern’s case directed at the production of luxurious flower paintings in the manner of Van Gogh whilst perhaps her most original achievement were the powerful portraits she painted of black African sitters in exotic locations and costumes. Irma Stern Fruit seller in Zanzibar, with Zanzibari carved frame, Norval Foundation Cape Town Irma Stern (1894-1966) Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 Disclaimer: The Arts Society Oundle cannot be held responsible for any personal accident, damage to, or loss or theft of members’ personal property unless there is proven negligence. Legal liability insurance is in force.