August 2023

Well, after our Summer hiatus it is good to be back in the office working on a variety of projects including material for the Website and the YouTube Channel. I have had a very busy couple of months. In late April I was in Philadelphia attending the annual gathering of the Transfer Collectors Club, for enthusiasts who collect pottery decorated with transfer prints! For all of May I was in Australia doing another lecture tour for ArtsNational, the Australian organisation that approximates Britain’s Arts Society.

In June Scott and I were in Florida visiting  The Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of American Art, Winter Park, to view the most comprehensive collection of the works of Louis Comfort Tiffany, to be found anywhere. We did, as you can see from the picture above, also take time off to visit Walt Disney’s Magic Kingdom which provided plenty of entertainment. Unfortunately, Florida, like so much of the USA was experiencing an almost unprecedented heatwave with temperatures up in the 30s and extremely unpleasant levels of humidity, so we were rather pleased to return home to grey skies, rain and lower temperatures.

Free Live Lecture for August

Monet at Giverny:

Celebrating 150 years of French Impressionism 

With the opening of the 2024 Olympics, all eyes have turned to Paris yet again. Millions have been spent on restoring the Grand Palais, originally built for the Pairs Universelle Exposition in 1900.  It will be the venue for fencing and other sports. However, one hundred years ago it showed cased the glory of French Art- not just works by Delacroix and Ingres but Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings.  The admission of the ‘radicals’ into the hallowed circle of officially accepted academic art caused quite a furore. Cézanne was represented by three works, Pissarro by 8, Manet by 12, and Monet by an astonishing 14 paintings.

The first Impressionist exhibition, held at Nadar’s gallery on April 15, 1874, is lauded as “the day that launched the avant-gardes.” To mark the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the first Impressionist exhibition, the Musee D’Orsay held its traditional blockbuster, Paris 1874. This illustrated the radical vision of the Impressionists by comparing their paintings with conventional works shown at the Salon. The Musee D’Orsay also lent works to regional galleries, Manet’s L’Evasion de Rochefort (1881) being featured in Impressionism and Sea held at the Musee of Impressionism, Giverny, the village in which Monet settled in 1883.

To connect with Monet, to understand the man as well as his art, a trip to his house and garden is essential.  While May is said to be the best month to visit, hopefully to see the wisteria on the Japanese bridge, the garden changes with seasons. My favourite time is late summer, to see the sunflowers and nasturtium ally. The house allows glimpses of Monet the family man, his extended household composed of Alice Hoschedé and her six children alongside his own sons Jean and Michel. It was an unconventional household that raised a few eyebrows in the village!  Enjoy a tour of the garden, the Clos Normand and the Japanese water garden, before entering the house; you may be surprised by the bright yellow dining room, covered with Japanese prints, and the kitchen with its luminous blue tiles. Monet clearly loved colour!

If you would like to learn more about Claude Monet , his garden at Giverny and his paintings, please join me for one of our two free Zoom talks on

Tuesday, 6th August, at either 11.00am or 7.00pm BST.

We present the same lecture at both time sessions so you only need to ‘Join Zoom Meeting’ for one or the other at your convenience.

Morning Session, 11.00am BST :

Anne Anderson is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Topic: Art History with Anne
Time: Aug 6, 2024 11:00 AM London

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88681895817?pwd=dFtl0UVUOwRplj6tD8PlYTpa9UZIyS.1

Meeting ID: 886 8189 5817
Passcode: 135207

Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kb11aDw2pn

Evening Session, 7.00pm BST :

Anne Anderson is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Topic: Art History with Anne
Time: Aug 6, 2024 07:00 PM London

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86173808676?pwd=wG1NZQayYyrfBx8J05CIsRRqlE1kL4.1

Meeting ID: 861 7380 8676
Passcode: 092480

Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kcE8cELYvV

There are no charges for these sessions.

This video lecture will be recorded and be available in the near future. Please email

anne.anderson99@talk21.com

to let us know if you would like the YouTube code/address for the Monet at Giverny: Celebrating 150 years of French Impressionism  recorded talk.

Exhibitions to Visit

LONDON
The National Gallery
8 August – 27 October 2024

Hockney and Piero: A Longer Look

Throughout his career, Hockney has found inspiration in the work of other artists. 

This small and very personal show brings together two Hockney paintings, one focussing on his mother and father and the other portraying his friend, curator Henry Geldzahler. They are to be displayed with the thread that ties them together, Piero della Francesca’s ‘The Baptism of Christ’. An interesting experience in interpretation and appreciation.

LONDON
The National Gallery
14 September 2024 – 19 January 2025

Viewing Van Gogh’s A Wheatfield, with Cypresses, 1889

Van Gogh: Poets and Lovers

Although not opening until the late Summer/Autumn season, this exhibition promises to be one of the great highlights of the year and certainly is an exhibition to look forward to.

Billed as a once-in-a-century exhibition the National Gallery is bringing together some of the most loved of Van Gogh’s paintings from across the globe, some of which are rarely seen in public. They will be paired together with his extraordinary drawings allowing the audience a more comprehensive view of the artist.

ROUEN The Museum of Fine Arts 

Rouen’s Museum of Fine Arts is one of France’s greatest art galleries and if you happen to be in Normandy on vacation, if you have time, do pay a visit to see the two exhibitions listed below. Whistler is always worth a look and the Hockney exhibition is fascinating and features never-before-seen portraits and landscapes by the artist! Some hang next to paintings by Monet. See what you think of this juxtaposition and while you are there do not forget to look at the numerous other Impressionist paintings in the Museum’s collections.

WHISTLER, THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT

24 May to 22 September 2024

And

DAVID HOCKNEY NORMANDISM

22 March to 22 September 2024

What’s New on the Channel

Anne Anderson Art and Design History Channel

Just released: Artistic Life in Belle Epoch Paris 1880 -1900

This video topically features Paris. The presentation takes you back to the 1880s and 1890s when Paris was an exciting capital, witnessing great creativity in the fine, decorative and performing arts. This is a wide social history presentation looking at the artistic side of the city, investigating the lifestyles of the inhabitants who populated this exciting and sometimes rather spicy world. It is a setting brought to life through the artworks of Toulouse Lautrec, Mucha, Manet and many others.

If you would like to see and hear this presentation, entitled:  Artistic Life in Belle Epoch Paris 1880 – 1900, please go to Anne Anderson Art and Design History Channel. This s free presentation.

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.