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The Exotic in English Architecture Feb 2010

2010-03-04T09:36:00.002Z

Taste was not limited to tea in defining fashionable society's view of China and India in the mid 18th and 19th centuries. Chinoisie was chic. From the first Chinese house built in 1738 (and still standing after three moves) to furniture, wallpaper, pavilions, pagodas, boat houses gardens - and bizarre manifestations, such as the Duke of Cumberland's oriental yacht - the British Manufactured their images of the East. Although Frederick II of Prussia tried to keep up by building a tea house, the real royal hero was the Prince of Wales, later George IV, patron of the arts and Brighton's Pavilion. Bath moved into the second league as the place to be seen. In the 1780s Brighton was a small village but by the end of the Napoleonic wars it was clearly on the map and John Nash added both Chinese and Indian elements to the new Royal Pavilion and stables. Cartoonists caricatured George as a Chinese emperor enthroned in his fantasy world. His successor, William IV, also favoured Brighton but Victoria was not amused and sailed off to the Isle of Wight. Fortunately the town took over the Pavilion and preserved it until its recent revival. After Nelson had injured Napoleon's pride on the Nile, Egyptian artifacts also gained in popularity. Obelisks multiplied. An MP even prepared for the afterlife by building his own pyramid-shaped mausoleum. Modelled on the former Egyptian Hall in Piccadilly, a house in Chapel Street, Penzance is a noble survivor of this vogue but Harrods probably has the last word. Thanks to Patrick Conner, a specialist on historical paintings illustrating the China trade and the impact of Oriental architecture in the West, we gained a fascinating insight into the exotic.

Annual General Meeting

2010-03-04T09:30:00.002Z

A succesful AGM was held at the Thurlestone Hotel. The principal change to the committee was the retirement of Dr Malcolm Waite (2007-2010) and his replacement as Chairman by Dr David Howells. After the AGM, 45 members stayed on to enjoy a splendid lunch held at the Hotel.

Bath History and Development

2010-02-03T09:45:00.002Z

Bath has the only true HOT spa in the country (others are merely warm or tepid, claimed our enthusiastic lecturer Jane Tapley as she gave us a fascinating talk on its history and re-development). Fed by rain which falls on the Mendips before passing through natures own 2 mile long water heater and emerging at a constant 46 degrees Celsius. Baths spring was a centre for worshiping Celtic gods before being discovered by the invading Romans, who built the baths as Britains first R & R or leisure centre in AD 80. They discovered curative qualities as well as pleasure in the waters and as Bath's fame spread wealthy visitors were attracted from as far as Rome itself. After 400 years the Romans left and the baths languished until the 17th century. Famous visitors then included Samuel Pepys and Beau Nash. In the 18th century Queen Anne found relief in the waters (from the considerable effects of her 17 pregnancies!). Bath became a fashionable place for the Georgians (who were said to wallow rather than swim in such hot water) before it declined in the 19th century. The Victorians revived Bath and reconstructed the buildings, and all was well until our own time when a case of meningitis led to the baths being closed. But now after several years of blood sweat and disastrous mistakes followed by more sweat and tears and expenditure of £45 million- plus a celebratory concert by the Three tenors- a magnificent new centre is welcoming crowds of visitors to indulge in the revived hot bath, open air pool on the roof (cooled down to 33 degrees and with its own jacuzzi) a mud bath and many other features. Perhaps best of all the water is not only purified but has had the smell of sulphur removed!

Annual General Meeting

2009-12-02T15:22:00.004Z

The Kedfas AGM will be held on:

Thursday 21st January 2010

The Thurlestone Hotel

11.45 am

All members of the Society are invited and encouraged to attend.

Annual General Meeting

2009-12-02T15:22:00.001Z

KEDFAS New Year Lunch

2009-12-02T15:15:00.002Z

Members and Guests are invited to a New Years Lunch

The Margaret Amelia Restraunt

The Thurlestone Hotel

Thursday 21st January 2010

12.30 for 1.00pm

Details from:

Mrs S Wright, Higher Barn, 4 Scoldens Close, Modbury Tel: 01548 831 349

e-mail: wrightsusan@onetel.com

A Painted Mirror

2009-12-02T14:57:00.002Z

Patricia Wright's brilliantly illustrated talk carried on an exceptionally high standard of this season's KEDFAS programme. Her examples of Medieval art vividly and humorously brought to life some of the more surprising aspects of Medieval life- a life which was often short and hard with death being very real and constantly present, and where much was dominated by the Church which was over-rich, over-mighty and over-indulged; when the frontier between heaven and earth was considered almost porous, so patron saints were fully expected to deliver defence in return for prayer and gifts. It was a time when marriage was almost a circulating currency yet the concept of romantic love was newly invented. Everything was expressed in art with an ingenious symbolism which, when so clearly and amusingly explained to us, peeled back the centuries and let us see our ancestors' lives in fascinating detail. Among many beautiful slides we saw a marriage contract being negotiated, passionate yearnings being expressed through a code of colours and jewels, a group of men and women enjoying themselves in a pub, and a communal bath scene- which might be X-rated today- being spied upon by a King in full regalia. In short, and as promised, Pat showed us a Painted Mirror reflecting life in an earlier age. What we had not expected was the fun and laughter!

Treasures of the Royal Collection

2009-12-02T14:35:00.002Z

How could you possibly give the flavour of a collection of 485,000 items in one hour? Oliver Everett, Librarian Emeritus of the Royal Library, Windsor Castle, did just that, brilliantly and excitingly, in his October lecture to the Society. The Royal Collection represents the personal tastes of our sovereigns over the past 500 years- our present Queen added the first Turner, his magnificent watercolour of Windsor Castle; surprisingly non of her predecessors liked him- plus gifts, and even booty from some of our past wars. The greatest collectors were, in Oliver's eyes, George IV, George III, Charles I and CharlesII. The greatest vandal was Oliver Cromwell who sold much of the collection to fund his Commonwealth, much of which was later bought back by CharlesII who also bought some 600 Leonardo Da Vinci drawings. The statistics are mind blowing: 30,000 Old Master drawings, 80 Holbeins, 27 Van Dykes including the triple head study of Charles I (for a bust by Benini, Later destroyed by fire), 5 Rembrandts, 17 Stubbs, 1 Vermeer. And that is before you get to the amazing pottery, gold and silverware jewellery, Faberge Eggs, the Diamond Diadem (as seen on our postage stamps) and of course the Cullinan Diamond. Oliver Everett's great achievement was to put over all these facts whilst showing magnificent slides of many key works in the collection, so we could appreciate the full scope and scale of the Collection at the same time as absorbing the fine detail of many of the treasures.

Stained Glass of York Minster

2009-12-02T14:19:00.002Z

This lecture had to be abandoned due to the speaker being taken ill during his performance.

KEDFAS Introduction

2009-08-14T07:29:00.002+01:00

KEDFAS – COULD IT BE FOR YOU?

I must admit to feeling a bit wary when it was suggested that I join the newly formed KEDFAS – Kingsbridge Estuary Decorative and Fine Arts Society – back in 1993. Beyond sometimes “knowing what I like” I knew nothing much about any of the arts, decorative or otherwise, and a group with that name would surely be full of people who knew everything … about all of them. I would feel a complete ignoramus, frightened to open my mouth, and anyway what could they offer that would possibly interest someone with my common or garden tastes?

Luckily I was persuaded to try it and for the past 16 years the KEDFAS lecture has been a regular highlight of each month between September and June. Very often the less I have expected to be interested, the more I have enjoyed the talk. Some of the slides are quite amazing. The lecturers are all experts in their field and great enthusiasts, so they make each subject fascinating to everyone – whether you start by knowing anything about it, or nothing at all. And the subjects are so varied and often very unusual. Of course most of the lectures are about the works and lives of great painters, sculptors, composers, or ancient monuments and outstanding buildings etc, but this season for instance we also had a specialist detective who told us of his adventures and successes in tracking down international art thieves, even how they recovered jewellery and art objects hidden in false walls or buried in fields. Past lecture subjects have included The Original Olympic Games, Beds and Bedtime, Historic Pubs, Brighton Station, even “Bogs, Baths and Basins”! We have heard the Story of Chinese Jade, the Life and Times of Samuel Pepys, History of the Long Case Clock… the range of subjects is endless.

KEDFAS offers many other activities too: expertly guided visits to art collections, historic venues, important houses and gardens in the South West; occasional tours to interesting places overseas as well as at home; study days to look at specific subjects in more detail under the guidance of an expert tutor. All these are “optional extras” but the annual subscription of £36 per head covers the nine lectures (giving a very reasonable price of only £6 for each one) and each member also receives the arts journal “NADFAS REVIEW” free each quarter.

You can find out much more about KEDFAS by calling 01548 857507 or e-mailing kedfasinfo@yahoo.co.uk.

For a small donation you could even come to one of our lectures as a “taster”.

Try it – you may well find it’s for you!

KEDFAS Christmas lunch

2008-12-09T09:33:00.003Z

The Annual Christmas lunch was held at Dartington Old Hall on monday 8th December when 65 members of KEDFAS not only enjoyed a splendid lunch, but were also entertained to a piano recital by KEDFAS member Robin Brett and pupil Catherine Shepard.

Welcome

2008-07-19T15:55:00.001+01:00

A very warm welcome from Chairman, Malcolm Waite. I begin my third year as Chairman of the Society with hope that despite the economic woes, KEDFAS will continue to prosper. There are challenges ahead, during 2008-2009 your committee instigated the fora to ensure fed back came from the membership. During 2009-2010 the membership will begin to see some of the suggestions implemented. Again my task will be to ensure the continuing quality of the programme of lectures and study days. I look forward to seeing you at the lectures.

Continuing Good News

2008-07-11T15:55:00.002+01:00

A reminder of good news. The annual membership fee has been maintained at £36 per person. The fee covers the nine lectures, gives membership to NADFAS (with discounts on access into many museums and art galleries) and allows reciept of the Arts magazine NADFAS Review