July 2022
Summer’s Here !
Time for Tennis
Well, Summer has finally arrived and, in between the showers, tennis.
If you have been watching this year’s games at Wimbledon or perhaps the qualifying tournaments that start the whole season’s sporting jamboree going, then you may have been aware of the great variety of women’s tennis costumes, noticeable in some of the tournaments, particularly at Eastbourne, where the range of dress styles and colours was perhaps sometimes quite eccentric. The simplicity of the dress code for players at Wimbledon may well seem quite sensible if you find the variety at other venues not to your liking.
If you have been watching this year’s games at Wimbledon, or perhaps the qualifying tournaments that start the whole season’s sporting jamboree, then you may be aware of the great variety of women’s tennis costumes. Noticeable in some of the tournaments, particularly Eastbourne, the range of dress styles and colours was perhaps sometimes quite eccentric. The simplicity of the dress code for players at Wimbledon, only white, may well seem quite sensible if you find the variety at other venues rather distracting.
Things have certainly changed since 1891 when the design for a woman’s tennis dress (shown here), was designed by the female artist Madame Starr Canziani. Her comment on contemporary dress was that it could be picturesque or even quaint, but that the highest laws of beauty should consider fitness for purpose as well. Somehow, I suspect that the sun hat accompanying her costume would not prove popular with present-day players who, I feel sure, would prefer a peaked cap and a cut that allowed for greater speed and movement. Imagine playing in gloves!
And now, travelling forward in time to 2022, as we mentioned in the May Newsletter, we are giving just one live lecture each month from June through to August. The live lectures are a good way of keeping in touch with you all in addition to the Newsletter each month. In September, the normal series lectures will resume as usual. However, if you are feeling starved of art and design culture, please remember that there are numerous free talks on the open-access section of the Anne Anderson Art and Design History Channel on YouTube. Just copy and paste the Channel title into Google, or which ever browser you use, and that should take you there. We hope to be adding more material to the Channel over the summer.
The Live Lecture for July
Art Nouveau and Art Deco
in Ljubljana
To be given on Friday 22nd July 2022 at 11.00 am and repeated at 7pm
One of the tasks I find most enjoyable is researching new art tours. Back in 2019, following a successful tour looking at Liberty style architecture in Turin and Milan, I began looking further afield for cities that offered a wealth of Art Nouveau and Art Deco buildings. Having a good knowledge of the Vienna Secession I was already familiar with the Slovenia born architects Max Fabiani and Jože Plečnik. A protégé of Otto Wagner, Fabiani cultivated his interest in town planning. Badly damaged in a devastating earthquake in 1895, Fabiani was appointed the principal planner for the rebuilding of the Slovenian capital. Ljubljana was transformed from a sleepy provincial town into a modern city. In 1899-1902 Fabiani laid out Miklošicev park (or Miklošic Park) and conceived the surrounding buildings; Bamberger house and the Krisper house are very pretty Art Nouveau houses. Ciril Metod Koch added the Cuden house, making this area a must for the Art Nouveau tourist.
However, it was Giorgio Zaninovich who designed the iconic Dragon Bridge (1901), one of the city’s most famous attractions, offering tourists a perfect photographic opportunity.
After the First World War, it was Plečnik who completed the transformation of the national capital.
Plečnik’s legacy in Vienna includes the Zacherlhaus, one of the first modern buildings erected in the city centre and the remarkable Church of the Holy Spirit constructed from concrete. Following this success, Plečnik left for Prague having been appointed chief architect for the renovation of Prague Castle. When the Ljubljana School of Architecture was established in 1921, Plečnik was called home. He then set about transforming the capital with a series of monumental projects with the famous Tromostvoje (or Triple Bridge) and Central Market at the heart of his urban planning.
The National and University Library, considered his masterpiece, was completed after the Second World War.
I was able to take my first Travel Editions tour to Ljubljana in last March. Hopefully you will be able to join me for this one-hour live lecture which will take you around the best Art Nouveau and Art Deco buildings in the Slovenian capital.
How to book
To be given on Friday 22nd July 2022 at 11.00 am and repeated at 7pm
The cost of the lecture is £10 for this session. You can book this live lecture for either the morning or the evening presentation.
To do so, please email Susan Branfield at susanbranfield@waitrose.com
Please ask for ‘Morning Lecture’ or ‘Evening Lecture’ when you book your choice as the sessions have different Zoom entry codes.
You can pay by cheque or BACS (details will be supplied). Cheques should be made payable to Anne Anderson.
Or you can pay directly through Paypal
One lecture
Art Nouveau and Art Deco in Ljubljana
£10.00
| Once you register and pay, you will be sent a separate email with your link. You will need this link to access the lecture on the day so please do not delete it. After the lecture you will be sent another private link so you can access the lecture on my YouTube Channel. The lectures will be delivered live by Zoom. They will be uploaded afterwards to my YouTube channel for a limited time and you will be provided with a private link to view them again at your leisure. The lectures last for around an hour. Lecture start times are in BST. There will be a question-and-answer session at the end. As the lectures will be delivered live by Zoom, you will be able to ask your questions in person at the end. You can also use the ‘Chat’ function. I will be repeating the morning lecture in the evening of the same day for those people unable to make the morning slot. Both lectures (morning and evening) will be delivered live and you will be able to ask questions in person at the end. |
| Join me in this lecture to enjoy some of the historic culture that this city has to offer. |
Watch the latest free access video talk on The Channel!
If you would like to see and hear Anne’s reflections on curating the major UK exhibition Beyond the Brotherhood – The Pre-Raphaelite Legacy, staged in 2019-2020, this short video, the latest addition to the Anne Anderson Art and Design History Channel might be worth a look.
| Just click on the Watch Now button below to take you to the talk. |
Travel Editions Tours
Some news for those of you who are interested in the art and heritage tours, in the UK and/or abroad, that Scott and I undertake through the Travel Editions company. Following a successful run of UK tours in 2021,Travel Editions is running many of its tours this summer. Below are listed some of the tours scheduled for later this year.
In July
From Victoriana to Art Nouveau 29-31 July (based in Northampton)
Featuring a visit to 78 Derngate, Northampton, Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s only significant English work, and The Higgins Art Gallery, Bedford to see the outstanding collection of painted furniture by Victorian architect William Burges and the Gallery’s exceptional range of decorative arts objects and prints. For further details please visit the Travel Editions website: https://www.traveleditions.co.uk to check booking details etc.
In August
Monet in Normandy 5-8 August (travel by Coach, based in Normandy)
Hampshire Arts and Crafts 11-13 August (based in Basingstoke)
Gothic Castles to French Impressionism 15-17 August (based in Cardiff)
William Morris 23-25 August (based in Blunsdon)
In September
Arts and Crafts in Sussex 7-9 September (based in Brighton)
Victorian Treasures of Yorkshire 16-18 September (based in Hilton Leeds City Hotel) – a new tour for 2022.
Lotherton Hall
In this exciting new tour as well as visiting Leeds to appreciate some of its Victorian architectural splendour we will also be exploring the wonderful 19th-century art and design collections at Lotherton Hall, where you will find a magnificent Gothic style grand piano designed by Charles Bevan and made for Titus Salt Junior, son of the Victorian industrialist Titus Salt.
Burmantofts Pottery at Lotherton Hall
Also on view are numerous fine examples of ceramics made by the Leeds firm of Burmantofts Faience in the late Victorian period.
Burmantofts pottery is much sought after by collectors in the present day and several rare examples, such as the one shown here, by the previously unidentified artist who signed his work with the initials ‘LK’ are on display in the museum. The identity of this pottery painter was only finally revealed as recently as 2004 in a publication by Scott Anderson.
Other sites to be visited as part of this tour include Brodsworth Hall and Cannon Hall near Barnsley. For further details please visit the Travel Editions website: https://www.traveleditions.co.uk to check booking details etc.
Thanks to all of you who have watched films on the Anne Anderson Art and Design History Channel and particularly to those who have remembered to press the SUBSCRIBE button beneath the video window. It does not commit you to anything but helps with my stats. Thank you.
Anne Anderson 