Lectures

Nicholas Bagshawe has now over 15 years experience as a lecturer. He has lectured for Southampton University, Southampton Solent University, Tate Britain, the Victoria and Albert Museum, Sotheby’s Institute and numerous affiliated groups of the National Association of Fine and Decorative Art Societies (NADFAS). His lectures cover subjects in the Fine Arts from the 18th century to the early 20th century.

These can be tailored to suit the needs of any group and can range from a straightforward hour’s talk to an entire day’s in-depth study of a subject.

CURRENT LECTURE LIST

“THE EDWARDIAN VAN DYCK”: John Singer Sargent and his place as an English portrait painter.

This lecture looks at the meteoric career of this flamboyant and much loved portraitist. It charts his early life, his successes in Paris and his rise to fame in London. Illustrated with Sargent’s lavish, extravagant full lengths, this also tries to explain how it was that an American came to dominate the very English art of society portrait painting.

“PAINTING THE EDWARDIAN FACE”: British Portraits 1880-1920

The art of portrait painting has been practised in this country to a consistently solid standard ever since the arrival of Holbein at the court of King Henry V111. Now and again though it raises itself onto an even higher plateau and for a decade or two produces highly ambitious work of exceptional quality. This lecture, illustrated with some lavish examples, argues the case that the Edwardian age was one such period.

“A VERY IMPORTANT BROTHERHOOD”: Rossetti, Millais, Holman Hunt and England’s early Pre-Raphaelites.

Perhaps Millais, Hunt and Rossetti, with their formation of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood in 1848, created the most important art movement this country has ever known. This lecture looks in some depth at the development of these artists and artists such as Burne-Jones and Ford Maddox Brown. The slides will include some of the best-known Pre-Raphaelite images.

“PAINTERS OF MYTHS AND DREAMS”: England’s Late Pre-Raphaelites

This lecture looks at the group of British painters, who, towards the end of the 19th Century chose to paint subject matter from classical myth, from Arthurian legend, from medieval folklore and from fairy-tales. These are painters who all, at one time or another came under the spell of Burne-Jones and emerged interpreting his themes in their own particular way. These pictures, colourful, exciting and romantic are now highly prized by collectors and are attracting the attention of art-historians again.

“DREAMERS OF DECADENCE”: Europe’s Symbolist Painters at the end of the 19th Century.

European Symbolism remains a little understood backwater of late 19th Century art. These are a group of loosely connected painters working on strange dreams inspired by myths and legends of olden times. Here are Salomes, Esthers and Judiths from the bible, sirens and seductresses from the old mythological tales, the femme fatale in all her many fin-de-siecle guises. Interestingly many seem to take English late Pre-Raphaelism as their starting point and in turn point the way themselves to Surrealism.
This lecture shows us Art-Nouveau escapism at its best.

“VIENNESE VISIONS”: Painting in Vienna 1880 - 1920

Fin-de-Siecle Vienna conjures up a vision of artistic elegance and decadence set against a background of enormous political and social upheaval. This period produced some remarkable painters, the best known of whom are Gustav Klimt and Egon Schiele. This lecture looks at their work and the work of their associates, followers and imitators. In the years around 1900, these painters produced work, which could rival Paris in terms of style and innovation and which, for today’s viewer, still exudes a heady scent of the exotic.

A VICTORIAN DREAM OF GREECE AND ROME : England’s classical painters at the end of the 19th century.

Lord Leighton, Alma Tadema, Edward Poynter, G.F.Watts, Albert Moore – all these painters working in the second half of the 19th century were inspired by the arts of Greece and Rome and constantly strove to give Victorian England their vision of the classical idyll. This lecture gives us a chance to look at their work and that of some of their followers and imitators and to further an understanding of these very Victorian dreamers.

“THE GREATEST OLYMPIAN”: The work of Frederic Lord Leighton

Leighton was the embodiment of the Victorian art establishment and presided over the Royal Academy in its most popular and influential years. He remains the only British artist ever to be raised to the peerage. This lecture provides a concise overview of the life and works of the artist and provides a chance to see some of his greatest and best loved paintings.

“BRITISH IMPRESSIONISM” : Britain’s late 19thc plein-air painters.

What is British Impressionism? Have we in fact ever had any Impressionists in this country? This fairly recently coined phrase is now gaining credence in art-historical circles, and however one cares to categorize them, these artists are due for re-assessment. This lecture looks at the work of such painters as Sir George Clausen, H.H.La Thangue, the Newlyn School and the Glasgow Boys. Comparisons will be drawn with the highly influential French painters of the day and also with the generally accepted avant-garde of late 19th century Britain, Whistler, Sickert and Wilson Steer.

“A BRITISH OBSESSION”: British Sporting Painters 1750-1950”

Sporting art is often regarded as a peculiarly British obsession. For an art form that is so prevalent here though, there is surprisingly little known, taught or written about it. There are some well-known names – Stubbs in the 18th century, Herring in the 19th, and closer to our own time, Sir Alfred Munnings. However most of the painters rate only a few lines in the dictionaries. This lecture will look at both the known and less well-known painters, assess them from an art-historical angle and try to explain their seemingly unending popularity.

A DEALER’S STORY: Dealing in the British Art Market.

This talk, loosely chronological, touches on various levels of operation in the commercial art world. Nicholas Bagshawe has been a student at Sotheby’s, done portering at auction houses, dealt from the back of the car, at one day fairs, at ten day fairs and from London gallery premises. The talk, illustrated with a number of items the speaker has bought and sold over the years, aims to give something of an insight into the colourful nature of the dealing world.

THE SCOTTISH COLOURISTS

Of all the British painters at the beginning of the 20th Century, it was probably the group now known as the Scottish Colourists who absorbed most fully the influences of the great French painters of the day. These 4 Scots – Peploe, Fergusson, Cadell & Hunter – were fascinated by the experiments in France from Manet and the Impressionists to Cezanne, Matisse and the Fauves. This lecture will introduce audiences to the vibrant works of this very forward-looking group, who are finally becoming well known beyond the bounds of their native Scotland.

PHILIP DE LASZLO – Last of the Grand Manner Portraitists

Philip De Laszlo, who died in 1937, made a substantial reputation for himself painting the great and the good both in England and abroad. Strangely though, despite being fondly remembered by a pre-war generation, De Laszlo’s reputation today is slightly obscure. Until January 2004 with a loan show at Christie’s, no major exhibition of his work had been held since his death in the 1930’s. This lecture, illustrated with a number of his most sumptuous works, will try to assess De Laszlo’s oeuvre with an objective eye. Getting on for a century after the execution of his best work, can today’s critics justify his earlier acclaim?

ALFRED MUNNINGS - A Master among Horse Painters

Munnings is often only remembered by art-historians as the unlikely president of the Royal Academy who, in a drunken resignation speech in 1949 damned and cursed all the modern art-movements of the 20th century. But he is a much more sophisticated artist than that suggests. He is an East Anglian landscape painter with a clear understanding of Constable. He was a part-time Newlyn School painter working with artists like Laura Knight. He had also, of course, an almost unparalleled understanding of the anatomy of the horse. A colourful man and a colourful painter will make for a colourful lecture.

JOSEPH WRIGHT of Derby - “A Great and Uncommon Genius”

Wright was an out and out Derby man and one of that small celebrated band of painters who made a national reputation outside the capital. His money was made by a successful portrait painting practice, producing highly direct likenesses of an increasingly affluent Midland middle class – very much warts and all. However he is best remembered for his observations of the scientific and technological advances of his day. His “Philosopher giving a Lecture on the Orrery” and his “Experiment on a Bird in an Air-Pump” are quite outstanding – not only for their technological content, but for their highly unusual treatment, being delivered in Wright’s characteristic ‘candle-light style’, heavy with the effects of light and darkness. This lecture will look at all sides of this strikingly individual Midland painter and attempt also to place him in the context of his day – that of the 18th Century Enlightenment.