Despite rainy weather a group of 25 members made their way to Suffolk to visit Gainsborough House in Sudbury where we were guided through the house and the main exhibition area, followed by a buffet lunch. There was also an opportunity to see the other exhibition of landscapes by Gainsborough, Constable and Turner as well as a few lesser known artists. Unfortunately the weather precluded eating lunch in their beautiful garden. We then journeyed to Long Melford and had a guided tour of the stunning church

A group from the Society braved the slightly complex travel requirements (made more difficult by a sudden problem on the mainline railways) and enjoyed a fascinating visit to the Dorich House Museum near Kingston, named after the original owners of the late 1930's house, Dora Gordine and her husband Richard Hare.

Dora was a well-known sculptor in her day and her husband was famous for his collection of Russian Art. Many of their items were on display and the house itself which they designed was built to enhance the sculptures and as a work studio.

After a welcoming hot drink and slice of homemade cake we were treated to a guided tour of the Museum, now overseen by Kingston University

A sizeable goup of members made a visit to Harrow School, braving the cold and wind at he top of Harrow on the HIll.

We visited the original school building complete with carved names of the famous (Byron) and not so famous old pupils, the war memorial building, the auditorium and church and admired what would have been the splendid views of Canary Wharf if the weather had been better.

Dear Highgate Opera Circle Friends,

For our next Opera Circle event on 3 December we are having a pre-Christmas celebration of Lehar's The Merry Widow.

We are very privileged to have special guest Nick Curry, who in his stage management roles at ENO and Scottish Opera amongst others, has helped to take the work round the world.

He will be introducing us to the history of operetta and its impact on society, as well as playing many wonderful historic clips, including Franz Lehar, Richard Tauber, and Maurice Chevalier.

Bringing us up to date we will also be hearing Elizabeth Schwarzkopf, Jeremy Brett, Thomas Allen, and even Wagnerian singers, Rene Kollo and Gwyneth Jones!

To get you in the pre-Christmas Merry Widow mood, watch this glorious MGM black and white film version, where Maurice Chevalier is pursuing Jeanette McDonald.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUeuocLQglw&t=22s

£10 HLSI Members in advance

£15 for non-members

£15 for all on the door

advance booking closes at 1pm on the day of the event.

Doors open at 7.00. Please join us in good time for a sociable drink before the action commences at 7.30!

A very special evening not to be missed!

Best wishes,

Geoff Hunt
Opera Circle Chairman

Highgate Literary & Scientific Institution, 11 South Grove, London N6 6BS. Telephone: 020 8340 3343, 

Company Limited by Guarantee (with company number 15381311) and has been registered by the Charity Commission for England and Wales under the number 1206943.

Some members will recall the visit in May to Ealing Road in Wembley on the Immersive Tour of India ably led by Vaishali Patel. This experience has now won the 2025 Merit Award from the British Guild of Travel Writers' International Tourism section. Many congratulations to Vaishali.

A group of members visited a small but impressive exhibition of American women painted and drawn by John Singer Sargent,  who ventured across the Atlantic to marry into the British aristocracy and upper middle classes. Our guide was the co-curator and our President Richard Ormond who gave us an excellent snapshot of these womens' place in British society.

A very succesful tour of Ealing Road starting at at Alperton station and visiting a Hindu temple, sweet shop, fabric and sari shops and sampling street food. The picture shows the second group of our two tours from Highgate that day.

A very successful reception was held for our new members at Brian Palmer's house near the HLSI after the lecture. 12 new members attended together with the committee.

Our Tour to Nancy and Metz to learn about Art Nouveau

Finding MacDonald Gill Works

Painted Maps in London

Two large painted panels showing A Map of the City of Westminster and A Plan of the Houses of Parliament in St Stephen's Porch (public entrance to House of Commons), Palace of Westminster.

Large painted map on canvas showing the University of London Colleges in Chancellor's Hall, University of London, Senate House, Malet St. London WC1E 7HU (by appointment).

Large tapestry map of South Africa , reception, South Africa House, Trafalgar Square (by appointment).

A Map of the City of Westminster on wall by stairs in reception of City of Westminster Archives Centre, St Ann's Street, London SW1P 2DE.

Painted panel A Map of Bromley Home Guard 'P' Sector. Bromley Archives, Bromley Library (view by request).

Painted ceiling mural decorations, St Anselm's church, Hayes Town, Middx.

Posters

There are many of MacDonald Gill's poster maps (and some artwork) in collections including: London Transport Museum (at depot in Acton) - by appointment/or on some open days. V&A (poster store/Prints & Drawings Room) The British Library Royal Geographical Society

Painted Maps accessible to the public outside London

The Arctic and The Antarctic ceiling maps in the entrance hall domes at The Polar Museum, Cambridge (open to the public - free).

A Map of Cambridge, Mayor's Parlour, Guildhall, Cambridge (by appointment).

A Map of the A Map of the Pytchley Hunt, Kelmarsh Hall, Northants (open to the public - entrance fee).

A Map of Worthing and the Neighbourhood, Worthing Town Hall, Worthing, West Sussex (by appointment).

Nashdom wind-dial, at Nashdom house, Bucks. Now apartments but the map is viewable by appointment with the Estate Manager - see website).

A Map of Hertfordshire, County Hall, Hertford, (by appointment). Lindisfarne wind-dial panel map, Lindisfarne Castle entrance hall, Lindisfarne, Northumberland (National Trust).

A Map of the Tillingbourne Valley, Shere Museum, Shere, Surrey (free but donations welcome).

Howth Castle wind-dial, Howth Castle, now a hotel, Dublin, Republic of Ireland (by appointment).

A Prospect of Windsor Castle, 17ft painted tile map, an alley off Thames Sreet, leading to the river, Windsor.

A happy group of TASH visitors to Cardiff

Dear Members

As you will be aware the March, April and May meetings of the Society have been cancelled. These are unprecedented times and your Committee is trying to deal with the many challenges that now face us.

This will mean that our communications with you will be via email for the foreseeable future.  We are fortunate that the overwhelming majority of our members are contactable in this way.  Those of you who do not have email will be contacted by post or telephone depending on the circumstances.

Our next meeting is due on the 25th June and the committee is trying to see if that lecture or a replacement can be provided online.  Our AGM was also due on that date and we therefore propose to send out the AGM papers shortly and to ask that questions to be returned to us by email or post by 2nd June.  The Committee will respond to those by the 25th June but will adjourn the final AGM decision to a date and time when we can be sure to have as many members as possible attending.  This will enable the society to continue functioning during this period.

Looking to arrangements for the rest of the year, it seems unlikely that we are going to be able to have lectures in their present format.  Government rules on gatherings of 100 or more and the demographics of our Society suggest that the September meeting will have to be delivered remotely.  We are fortunate that we have some reserve funds.  Therefore it has been decided that we will reduce the subscription for the 2020-21 year from £50 to £40.  The Society will bear the cost of this reduction as a gesture of goodwill and in recognition of the disruption to our programme which the pandemic has caused. 

We hope very much that you will continue to support us by renewing your subscription.  We shall try and provide a full programme albeit that some lecturers may be given remotely.  We shall also look at ways in which those of you who are unable to access online content might nonetheless be enabled to see lectures.

Kind regards

Brian Palmer

https://insidersoutsidersfestival.org - until end March 2020

REFUGEES FROM NAZI EUROPE AND THEIR CONTRIBUTION TO BRITISH VISUAL CULTURE

Edited by Monica Bohm-Duchen

Insiders/Outsiders: Refugees from Nazi Europe and their Contribution to British Visual Culture examines the extraordinarily rich and pervasive contribution of refugees from Nazi-dominated Europe to the visual culture, art education and art-world structures of the United Kingdom. In every field, émigrés arriving from Europe in the 1930s – supported by a small number of like-minded individuals already resident in the UK – introduced a professionalism, internationalism and bold avant-gardism to a British art world not known for these attributes.

At a time when the issue of immigration is much debated, the book serves as a reminder of the importance of cultural cross-fertilization and of the deep, long-lasting and wide-ranging contribution that refugees make to British life.

Contributions by: Richard Aronowitz, Harriet Atkinson, Michael Berkowitz, Morwenna Blewett, Monica Bohm-Duchen, Charmian Brinson, Andrew Chandler, Hans Christian Hönes, Leyla Daybelge, Rachel Dickson, Keith Holz, Amanda Hopkinson, Shauna Isaac, Swantje Kuhfuss-Wickenheiser, Simon Lake, Sarah MacDougall, Anna Müller-Härlin, Sir Norman Rosenthal, Anna Nyburg, Michael Paraskos, Antony Penrose, Alan Powers and Daniel Snowman

Burgh House and Hampstead Museum until 29th March 2020

Hampstead has been a place of refuge, reflection and community for centuries. This exhibition aims to show the response of some of its most creative residents to the tumultuous political events of the early twentieth century; from the Spanish Civil War to the rise of the Nazi party and the outbreak of the Second World War and beyond. Including art and artefacts relating to Roland Penrose and Lee Miller, Fred Uhlman, Milein Cosman, FHK Henrion and many others, this exhibition will examine the artists’ reactions to these events, and the communities of support that developed as a result.

Riga and Tallinn October 2019

A personal view

I went to Riga and Tallinn anticipating wonderful art and architecture.  I left overwhelmed by the extraordinary political and social history of Latvia and Estonia.  Of course the two are inextricably linked as we learnt from our  Rigan guide as he took his captive audience through a degree-level course in his subject.   Those of us who listened attentively learnt an enormous amount, those like myself with a less developed attention span learnt more gradually the painful and heart rending history of Latvia, a country endlessly occupied by other nations, most recently the Swedes, the Germans and the Russians.   Their people have been sent to the Gulags, have been murdered and oppressed by the Nazis and have coped with massive Russian and other immigration over the years.

All of this is reflected in their extraordinary range of architecture.  We saw streets of wonderful  Art Nouveau houses from a period between occupations;  we wandered around a maze of hidden lanes and winding streets with gabled houses;  we saw restored 15th century  merchants’ houses, gothic and baroque churches and Stallinesque buildings from more recent times.  We visited the world’s largest market in buildings once used to store zeppelins. We had  an enjoyable winding boat trip through attractive gardens, splendid in autumnal colours, passing delightful statues and elegant houses. 

After 3 days we drove to Tallinn in Estonia through flat empty sparsely populated country, with beautiful woodland turning brown yellow and orange.  We took in an extraordinary art nouveau house in Parnu, where we were treated to tea proudly advertised  as  “Afternoon tea - a timeless ritual of British charm and class known all over the world”.   Well, it’s good to have a worldwide reputation for something.

Tallinn, another Hanseatic port, again influenced by Swedish German and Russian occupations,  afforded more narrow streets as we explored the medieval town centre and visited the last surviving Gothic town hall in Europe, churches,  a cathedral and a castle.   A highlight was Kadriorg Park named after Catherine I with splendid grounds and a considerable art collection.  Our Tallinn guide, more attuned to the group’s intellectual and developmental level, left us to explore this ourselves alongside helpful guidance.

 Personal highlights in both countries were their museums of occupation, leaving me with a sense of shame that I had known nothing about their suffering and stoicism. Their independence in 1991 - barely 30 years ago -  feels fragile, and the spectre of their Russian neighbours clearly hangs over them. A most heartening revelation was an account of The Baltic Chain in 1989- a 430 mile human chain through Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania denouncing the Soviet Union as a “colonial power” just months before they attained their independence.  Given  their tiny populations (Latvia 2 million, Estonia 1.3) being  members of  the European Union, is hugely important  to them and they clearly found our current position incomprehensible and regrettable.  

Any reservations we may have had about Baltic food were disabused in both countries, and those of us who had prepared for arctic weather were more than comfortable, whilst those who had not just looked a little chilly.   The rain was intermittent and we even had some sunshine.

As for our group, probably because we were out of season we were never taken for a stag or hen party (or  a bit of both),  these elegant towns being famed for such  torrid activities   

Our patient and good tempered leader, Sue Dennis, left London with 24 members of mixed ability (attention spans and mobility)  and either intentionally (or unintentionally) returned with the group intact. On the whole we had behaved quite well, with only the occasional mislaid person, and a pretty good record of punctuality.  Whether or not we would have taken a degree in Rigan history I think we left  feeling very grateful for the warm reception from our hosts, and with considerable affection and respect for these brave and beautiful Baltic countries.

Felicia Olney

                   Highgate Arts Society North Yorkshire Tour

May 12th – 16th, 2019

At 8 o’clock on Sunday, May 12th twenty four of us left in a coach from outside St. Michael’s Church bound for our Highgate Arts Society visit to North Yorkshire. The sky was blue and the weather forecast good.

The sun shone and we moved pretty quickly up the M1 and A1 to arrive at Harewood House in time for lunch and a guided tour of this wonderful home of the Earl of Harewood, renowned for its stunning architecture, magnificent Adam interiors , Chippendale furniture, fine porcelain and outstanding art collections.    We were also there at the time of the Harewood Biennial celebrating craft and craftsmanship, and of course to enjoy its beautiful gardens at their springtime best under the Yorkshire sun.  

And we then moved on to our home for the next four nights – The White Hart - an elegant Georgian hotel centrally placed in the Montpelier Quarter of Harrogate, where we all had dinner together.

The following morning, with the sun still shining, we were met by David, our local guide, who took us on a walking tour of this historic spa town which ended in the café for which Harrogate is so well known – Betty’s Tea Room.

We could of course, have spent hours there, but couldn’t linger too long as we had to move on by coach to Fountains Abbey and the Studley Royal Water Gardens.

This ‘wonder of the north’, located in a secluded valley and one of the most beautiful and sites, as recognised by its World Heritage status.   The magnificent Cistercian Abbey built in 1132 is the largest monastic ruin in the country and was mind-blowingly impressive – both in size and in beauty.   And the adjoining 18th C gardens of Studley Royal were truly spectacular water gardens, with its temples, follies, statues, tranquil ponds and rushing cascades.

The following day was one designed to give us an overview of the Yorkshire Dales.    First we travelled north to Barnard Castle where we had a guided tour of The Bowes Museum which really was the most amazing and stunning French style Chateau situated on a hillside overlooking the village of Barnard Castle.   I have to say looking somewhat out of place in its elegance and grandeur, but its contents were a cornucopia of treasures (mostly French) where we, as enthusiasts for all sorts of art, were in our seventh heaven!

But the swan song there was literally given by a swan – the famous Silver Swan – that automaton that performs just once a day at 2 o’clock and mesmerises us for a total of  32 seconds as it sits on a ‘stream’ of glass rods, surrounded by silver leaves,  dips down to ‘catch’ and ‘eat’  the small silver fish that can be seen ‘swimming’, before lifting its head to look around.    The ultimate swan song before we left to finish the afternoon with a journey through the Northern Yorkshire Dales, passing through Masham and Leyburn with a stop for tea in Richmond, before returning to our hotel for the evening.

On Wednesday, May 5th we spent most of the morning in Ripon, where we visited their Cathedral and shown round by  a most excellent guide who explained the Cathedral’s long history with its plethora of architectural styles, and who kindly and exceptionally allowed us to visit the Saxon Crypt.

We then moved on to Ripley Castle, the ancestral home of the Ingilby family who have been in residence for twenty six generations.   We again were shown round and even caught a glance of the current Lady of the Manor who was ‘doing’ the flowers!

After lunch the final visit of the day was to Newby Hall, where we were again given a guided tour and had plenty of time to explore the most beautiful gardens, which is famous for its double herbaceous borders which sweep down to the River Ure.   Newby Hall is home to the Compton family and was built in the late 17th C.    A really elegant and beautiful home, including a domed Sculpture Gallery and Tapestry Room built to hold the classical statuary and Gobelin tapestries brought back by one of their ancestors from his Grand Tour in the mid 18th C.

And then it was our final day.  A day to travel back to the south.   A journey to reflect on all that we had seen during four very full days.  But we weren’t quite ready to leave Yorkshire yet.

On leaving our hotel in Harrogate we journeyed west to Wakefield, and 45 minutes later we were outside the award-winning Hepworth Gallery in Wakefield, designed by David Chipperfield Architects, opened in May 2011 and perfectly sited on the waterfront in the City where Barbara Hepworth was born.     We had time for a very informative guided visit and time to enjoy at our own pace, before boarding the coach to head south.

Colin, our wonderful driver who had been with us throughout the tour, drove us safely back to Highgate and our heartfelt thanks went out to him for his care and interest and all those little things he did to ensure that our journeys were smooth and comfortable

We arrived at St. Michael’s Church in the early evening, with our heads packed with memories of a really enjoyable few days.  Not only had we marvelled at so many of the treasures and sites of North Yorkshire and enjoyed the company of our fellow Arts Society Highgate members, we had also been blessed with the most fantastic May weather – clear blue skies with lots of sunshine and NO rain. We might not have come back in such a happy mood if we had had grey skies and rain!  I hope everyone enjoyed it as much as I did.

Sue Dennis

See our tours page for a report of this trip

On a bright Sunday morning at the beginning of October, 25 members of the Arts Society Highgate met outside St. Michael’s Church to meet the coach that was to take us up to Liverpool, where we were to spend the next few days exploring the City and its surroundings.

We stopped on the way for lunch at the National Memorial Arboretum, where we also enjoyed a guided tour.  It was a fascinating and moving experience to see many memorials to those from both military and civilian organisations who had given their lives for our country.  But with 130 acres of woodland, formal gardens and wildflower meadows, it was just a passing visit.   Liverpool called!

We arrived at our perfectly located Marriott Hotel right in the heart of the City and settled into our rooms that we would occupy for the next four nights, and had dinner together in their dining room.

The following morning we were met by a local guide, Marie, who was to show us some of the key sites in Liverpool over the next few days.  We started at the Unitarian Church, built in the 1890s and with stained glass windows by Edward Burne-Jones, followed by the Sefton Park Palm House, built to house exotic plants and surrounded by statues dedicated to explorers and naturalists.

And then coffee in the Philharmonic Public House, where the main attraction were the grade II listed toilets, especially the Gents, which was invaded by many of the ladies in our group anxious to take photographs  (not to be published!)

And then to Liverpool’s TWO cathedrals – the Neo-Gothic Anglican Cathedral designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott – a Catholic – and then to the Catholic Metropolitan Cathedral of Christ the King (nicknamed Paddy’s Wigwam) designed by Frederick Gibberd - an Anglican. Two cathedrals built in the 20C and both so completely different. Amazing!

Our final visit of the day was to the Walker Art Gallery, with one of the finest art collections in the North, although some of us sneaked out and visited the impressive neoclassical St. George’s Hall, which contains both concert halls and the law courts.

The following morning we went to savour a bit of sea air.  We went a few miles north to Great Crosby where we walked (very carefully) over the sands to meet some of the 100 cast iron sculptures of and by Anthony Gormley looking out to sea. It was a very unique and special experience.

And so on to Port Sunlight, built by Lord Lever to accommodate both his soap factory and his employees.  And what a delightful garden village it was – and a village that set the scene for many similar new garden towns throughout Britain.  But it also had an Art Gallery.   And what an Art Gallery!   The Lady Lever Gallery for me was the perfect art gallery.   A huge collection of Pre-Raphaelite paintings, as well as by other great painters too numerous to mention, as well as beautiful furniture, sculptures, tapestries, Chinese porcelain and Wedgwood china.

Another day, another feast of Arts and Heritage.

Our last full day in Liverpool was spent by the River – the Mersey of course.   We ‘did’ the newly restored Albert Dock with its Tate Gallery, Museum of Liverpool and a Museum on Ships and Slavery, and then went on a ferry across the Mersey – which sadly was the wettest and murkiest hour of our trip – before driving south to Speke Hall, one of the best Tudor Manor Houses in the country, built in the early 16C and looking over the Mersey.

The day ended at the iconic Panoramic 34 Restaurant, 34 floors up with wonderful views over the Mersey and Liverpool where we had the most delicious ‘fine dining’ dinner.   Beautifully presented, deliciously tasty, washed down with a glass or two of wine, an amazing view, and the most excellent company.   What a way to spend our last evening!  

The only disappointment as far as I was concerned, was that little interest was shown in going to the Cavern.  How could all of us (60s folk!) go to Liverpool and not visit the Cavern (even though it is a replica)?  So a few of us didn’t  go straight back to the Marriott.   We sloped off and shared a little 60’s music several floors underneath Matthew Street!

But of course that was not the end of our tour.  The finale was a private visit on our way back to Boughton House, the home of the Duke of Buccleuch and described as ‘the English Versailles’.   There we enjoyed a delicious lunch of soup and sandwiches before being guided round this magnificent chateau by Alan, a gentleman of a certain age, who had been brought up on the Boughton estate. There was nothing he didn’t know about the vast house and its spectacular contents and we could have listened to his stories all afternoon, but we had to leave after about two hours in order to continue our journey home.

And so we duly arrived back at St. Michael’s.  I think we would all say that it was a very successful tour – five star Liverpool and five star company!

This is the last President's Day out that Jean Horsman will have organised and was once again extremely successful.

Here we have Jean relaxing with our President

Just before 9 o’clock on the morning of Sunday, October 9th twenty four members of Highgate DFAS boarded a coach outside St. Michael’s Church bound for Luton Airport from where we flew to Porto on the Portuguese coast. This was the beginning of an enjoyable and memorable six day tour of Porto & Galicia which had been arranged in conjunction with Heritage Travel.

In September, Valerie Packer attended the London Volunteers in Museums Awards, having been nominated by the Charles Dickens Museum for the Long Service Category. Our congratulations go to Valerie for being chosen as runner-up in that category.The event was held in the Old Royal Naval College and Valerie enjoyed a lovely evening. It was heartening to learn of so much important work being done by volunteers, including young people as well as those of us with more spare time on our hands for whom the work can spark new interests and be very rewarding.
 

Our 6-day visit to the City of the Tsars was a resounding success. St Petersburg truly deserves to be called 'The Venice of the North' with its many baroque palaces and summer residences and beautiful ornate churches. The sun shone every day melting the ice on the canals and the ice flows in the river and sea.