Brisbane

MIRKA AND GEORGES: A CULINARY AFFAIR
Presented by Kendrah Morgan
Wednesday 17 April, 7:30pm at Royal QLD Art Society 3/162 Petrie Terrace, Brisbane
Thursday 18 April, 10am at QLD State Library, Auditorium 1 Cultural Precinct, Stanley Place, South Brisbane

This lecture tells the story of the Mora’s celebrated hospitality in Australia and their intermingling of food, art, love and life. Arriving in Melbourne from Paris in 1951, Mirka and her husband Georges contributed significantly to the local art and restaurant scenes and the city’s gradual transformation into a sophisticated metropolis. Their apartment became a hub for the Bohemian set, who then gravitated to Mirka Café in Exhibition Street in 1954 and their two subsequent restaurants, Café Balzac and Tolarno French Bistro.

Kendrah Morgan is Senior Curator at Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne, where she joined the staff in 2003. She began her curatorial career at Auckland Art Gallery in New Zealand, after previous roles in the commercial gallery sector and as a lecturer in art and design history. Since 1998 Kendrah has curated more than forty exhibitions. Her most recent book, Mirka and Georges: A Culinary Affair, the story of the Mirka and Georges Mora’s transformation of Melbourne’s culinary and cultural landscape, was released in 2018.

EVERYTHING STOPS FOR TEA! A social history of drinking tea.
Presented by Dr Anne Anderson
Wednesday 22 May, 7:30pm at Royal QLD Art Society 3/162 Petrie Terrace, Brisbane
Thursday 23 May, 10am at QLD State Library, Auditorium 1 Cultural Precinct, Stanley Place, South Brisbane

Social History of Tea Drinking It was during the 18th century that the rituals of tea drinking were established. The cafe boom of the late 19th century resulted in teashops in the large department stores, seaside resorts enjoyed the teadance, the great transatlantic passenger liners were floating palaces where everything stopped for tea, and by the 1920s and 1930s taking tea in style was a way of life. This lecture combines social history with fashion and interior decorating and a wonderful selection of images will demonstrate the elegance of taking tea from the 18th century to the 1950s

An Arts Society (UK) lecturer since 1994, Anne was a senior lecturer in Fine Arts at Southampton Solent University and is currently an Hon Associate Professor at Exeter University, a tutor for the Victoria and Albert Learning Academy, and also the Ceramics Consultant for Russell-Cotes Art Gallery and Museum. Anne has published on Art Deco teapots, the Pre-Raphaelites, Edward Burne-Jones, and Art Nouveau architecture. She held various fellowships and has curated national exhibitions, the most recent Beyond the Brotherhood; the Pre-Raphaelite Legacy (2019-20).

INTEREST DAY 1

ART NOUVEAU: NEW ART FOR THE NEW CENTURY 1890-1914
Thursday 23 May 2024
Presented by Dr Anne Anderson
Time & Venue: 11.45am-2.15pm, QLD State Library, Auditorium 2 Cultural Precinct, Stanley Place, South Brisbane

In 1900 Art Nouveau was at its apogee in Paris. Art Nouveau was a national response and while the New Art went by various names to indicate a break with the establishment, its mission remained the same. Art Nouveau sought to address the needs of modern life, to utilise the latest technologies and to create ‘beautiful objects of everyday use’. Every woman strove to fashion a House Beautiful with stunning objets d’art, shops were transformed into palaces and Art Nouveau transformed the city: banks, department stores, restaurants and even railway stations were transformed into Palaces of Art.

WONDERS OF THE ALHAMBRA – SYMMETRY AND PATTERNS IN ISLAMIC ART AND DESIGN
Presented by David Banney
Wednesday 19 June, 7:30pm at Royal QLD Art Society 3/162 Petrie Terrace, Brisbane
Thursday 20 June, 10am at QLD State Library, the Edge, Stanley Place, South Brisbane

For more than 700 years the Alhambra Palace in Granada has delighted and inspired. A treasure trove of art and design, the Alhambra is a virtual encyclopedia of symmetry and patterns, even more remarkable given the simplicity of the tools available to the artists and craftsmen. This lecture introduces the extraordinary techniques of design and construction that lie behind the tessellations of the Alhambra.

Described by pianist Roger Woodward as ‘quite simply one of the best conductors in the country’, David is one of Australia’s most highly regarded musicians, with success as a conductor, composer, string player and educator. During studies for a PhD in music David discovered the fascinating world of symmetry and symmetry breaking. His interest in this subject has lead to numerous papers about symmetry in music, as well as interdisciplinary research with Italian physicist Giuseppe Caglioti and reproductive endocrinologist Roger Smith.

CATERPILLARS, LEMONS AND LOBSTERS: DUTCH STILL LIFE FROM 1560-1650
Presented by Daniel Evans
Wednesday 17 July, 7:30pm at Royal QLD Art Society 3/162 Petrie Terrace, Brisbane
Thursday 18 July, 10am at QLD State Library, Auditorium 1 Cultural Precinct, Stanley Place, South Brisbane

Still life painting is breath-taking. From bouquets to bread rolls and mince pies to money, this lecture will help you to discover the enormous symbolism that is embedded in simple everyday objects rendered with astonishing artistic accuracy, to convey powerful moral meaning. Examining a range of works by several Dutch and Flemish masters, this lecture will explore an incredible array of themes, such as the corruption of abundance, the mutability and ephemerality of life, and the inevitability of death.

Daniel Evans, an educationalist with a passion for European art and architecture. He teaches History and A Level History of Art at Cheltenham College, a full boarding independent school established in 1841. Dan has been lecturing since 2001, and spent 9 years working as a senior lecturer and tour guide for Art History Abroad and he was once voted the British winner of the World Guide of the Year Awards.

INTEREST DAY 2

LAYERS OF ROME
Thursday 18 July 2024
Presented by Daniel Evans
Time & Venue: 11.45am-2.15pm, QLD State Library, Auditorium 1 Cultural Precinct, Stanley Place, South Brisbane

This interest day will explore the cultural riches and opulence of Rome, from Ancient Rome’s breath-taking engineering to Renaissance Rome’s obsession with beauty and brilliance, finishing with Baroque Rome’s stupefying theatricality. Beginning with the architecture of the Pantheon, Colosseum and Basilica of Maxentius, we trace the development of theology, philosophy, and aesthetics with the emergence of the High Renaissance, finishing with the Baroque masterminds whose work allows us to understand the context and purpose of the art and architecture of 17th century Rome.

ALCHEMY AND ADVENTURE: A HISTORY OF EXOTIC COLOURS AND POISONOUS PIGMENTS
Presented by Lynne Gibson
Wednesday 14 August, 7:30pm at Royal QLD Art Society 3/162 Petrie Terrace, Brisbane
Thursday 15 August, 10am at QLD State Library, Auditorium 1 Cultural Precinct, Stanley Place, South Brisbane

Before organic chemistry emerged as a science, desirable pigments were often rare, exotic, or poisonous and sourced worldwide. Alchemists prepared deadly King’s Yellow, mysterious Vitriol of Venus and Moorish Gold. Artists kept their paint recipes closely guarded. This lecture tells the stories of alchemy and adventure behind some of our most beautiful and colourful paintings.

Lynne Gibson is a freelance lecturer in History of Art, and in Drawing, Painting and Printmaking. She has worked at the Universities of Sussex and Bristol and has conducted lectures, courses and guided tours for organisations including Art Galleries and Museums, The Art Fund, The National Trust and The Arts Society. She is a professional artist specializing in oil painting and etching,  has been exhibited widely and her work used in a range of publications. 

A HISTORY OF THE ART AND COLOURS OF GARDEN DESIGN
Presented by Timothy Walker
Wednesday 11 September, 7:30pm at Royal QLD Art Society 3/162 Petrie Terrace, Brisbane
Thursday 12 September, 10am at QLD State Library, Auditorium 1 Cultural Precinct, Stanley Place, South Brisbane

The activity that we would recognise as gardening today has its origins 10,500 years ago in the transition from nomadic hunting and gathering to a sedentary lifestyle that culminated in the dominance of an agricultural society. While the utility of gardening persists, gardens are also created to reflect philosophical ideas and provoke emotional responses. As we enter the period now known as the Anthropocene, do gardens have a new role to play in addition to their utility and their art?

From 1988 to 2014 Timothy Walker was the Director of the University of Oxford Botanic Garden.  Botanic gardens are often described as living museums, and garden curators talk about them in the same way as museum curators do. Gardens are often thought of a place where science and art meet on equal terms and Timothy’s lectures investigate this relationship.  Since 2014, he has taught Plant Biology at Somerville College Oxford. 

MOVERS AND SHAKERS: WOMEN WHO BUILT AMERICAN ART INSITUTIONS
Presented by Deborah Jenner 
Wednesday 30 October, 7:30pm at Royal QLD Art Society 3/162 Petrie Terrace, Brisbane
Thursday 31 October, 10am at QLD State Library, Auditorium 1 Cultural Precinct, Stanley Place, South Brisbane

This lecture discusses American women who built US museums: First Ladies and feminists who ran salons, wrote about art, organised exhibits and fought for equal treatment with male artists. Their mission statements still guide the large cultural institutions these pioneers founded: Jane Stanford’s Museum in San Francisco, Abby Rockefeller for MoMA and Gertrude Vanderbilt for the Whitney. And Peggy Guggenheim is a whole other story…

An American-born art historian and member of the College Arts Association, Deborah Jenner has resided in Paris since 1990. She has worked at the Ecole du Louvre, the Sorbonne, the Catholic Institute, and the British Council. Her Doctorate thesis proved non-western influences in Georgia O’Keeffe’s art. Deborah’s publications include catalogue essays for Musée d’Orsay and Centre Pompidou, scholarly papers and gallery critiques. She gives public talks, guided walks, museum tours, and study-abroad programs.

INTEREST DAY 2

FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT’S SENSE OF PLACE
Thursday 31 October 2024
Presented by Deborah Jenner
Time & Venue: 11.45am-2.15pm, QLD State Library, Auditorium 1 Cultural Precinct, Stanley Place, South Brisbane

Unlike Europe’s International Style, Wright’s architectural designs are site-specific and ecological, harmonizing perfectly with their magnificent natural landscape – from deserts and prairies to forests and waterfalls – as exemplified by the now-iconic Falling Water. Wright’s Guggenheim Museum became an icon of 20th century architecture by completely redefining gallery spaces and he was a major inspiration for Jorn Utzon, the architect behind the equally iconic Sydney Opera House.