Week 1: 12-16 July 2010

NEW COURSE

Course 7: Dr Rebecca Arnold and Beatrice Behlen

Fashion in London/London in Fashion

£420

N.B. We regret that due to unforeseen circumstances this course had to be cancelled

This season, London Fashion Week celebrated its 25th anniversary.  Its shows were held in the courtyard of Somerset House, its classical façade providing a backdrop for the myriad styles produced by the city’s designers.  But what does London fashion represent?  What do Londoners wear? Where do they read about and buy fashion?  And how has this changed since the early twentieth century? This course will explore the ways designers from Lucile to Mary Quant and Vivienne Westwood to Christopher Kane have shaped the way London fashion is viewed, as it has evolved as a fashion city.  We will examine surviving dress in the Museum of London’s storeroom, to see what people wore, how it was made and what it meant.  We will also consider how fashion connected to its wider social and cultural contexts, and how it connected to art, film, theatre and popular culture.  A wide range of visual, literary and documentary evidence, and visits to relevant museums and archives will be used, and we will walk around areas of the city that are key to London fashion – past and present.  We will explore the ways fashion connects to national and personal identity and how it has shaped the image of London itself.



Week 2: 19-23 July 2010

NEW COURSE

Course 16: Helena Pickup

Luxurious Liaisons: The Decorative Arts of 18th-century France

£445

The Prince de Talleyrand claimed that, ‘Anyone who did not live in the 18th century before the Revolution knows nothing of the sweetness of life and cannot imagine what happiness it can hold.’  In the rarefied atmosphere of ancien régime France the decorative arts reached an apex of refinement.  We will look at the people who bought art, from royalty to courtesans - especially influential individuals such as Madame de Pompadour and Marie Antoinette - and explore the world of shops and shopping.  Our theme is ‘Luxurious Liaisons’ and the liaisons we will look at include the collaboration of  different artists on the same pieces; the combined use of porcelain and gilt bronze on furniture; the influence of silver on porcelain and the relationship between decorative painting, textiles and panelling.  Finally, we will examine how these elements combined to make a harmonious whole in châteaux and townhouses; and unveil the social rituals played out against this backdrop.  Among our primary sources will be drawings by designers such as Juste-Aurèle Meissonnier and Charles de Wailly.  After the French Revolution the priceless objects they had created were dispersed all over the world: we will visit the Wallace Collection, the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Rothschild Collection at Waddesdon Manor, Buckinghamshire, to look at some of the most important survivals.

 

Week 3: 26-30 July 2010

NEW COURSE

Course 25: Dr Julian Stair

Ideas, Materials and Practice: 20th-century and contemporary British ceramics

£445

This course will provide an overview of British ceramics from the early 20th century to the present day through a series of lectures, gallery talks, a handling session and visits to contemporary artists’ studios. The course will examine the development of ideas from the Arts and Crafts movement to the pioneering studio potters Bernard Leach and William Staite Murray, to the diversity of current practice and the work of Turner Prize winner Grayson Perry.  The course will also illustrate the importance of materials in the expression of ideas through a one-day session in Julian Stair’s London studio. Here he will discuss basic ceramic techniques and procedures, explain firing techniques and demonstrate how different materials such as earthenware, stoneware and porcelain impact on the production of contemporary ceramics.

Week 4: 2-6 August 2010

Course 33: Dr Rose Kerr

The Development and World Influence of Chinese Porcelain

£420

Thin-bodied, white, translucent porcelain was first made in China around AD600, more than one thousand years before its fabrication in the West.  How was this sophisticated material discovered, and how did it develop?  This course looks at geological and technical issues affecting manufacture, as well as economic, social and historical factors that influenced the growth and spread of kilns.  Porcelain in China was used at court, and certain forms and designs were reserved for imperial use.  By contrast, mass-produced items were shipped around the world starting in the ninth century AD, and had a significant effect across Asia, in the Middle East and Europe. The course includes visits to the ceramic galleries at the Victoria & Albert Museum, and the Percival David Collection Gallery in the British Museum.