Summer Lodge Country House Hotel, 

9 Fore Street, Evershot, Dorchester,

Dorset

DT2 0JR

Plumber Manor Country House Hotel

Nr Sturminster Newton,

Dorset

DT10 2AF

The Art of William Orpen

Thursday 13 September 2021

10.00 - 13.00

A unique and lauded society painter, succeeding John Singer Sargent, and becoming the most successful artist of his day. Winston Churchill commented on his own portrait by Orpen: ‘It is not the picture of a man, it is the picture of a man’s soul.'  During 1917 his drawings and paintings of the First World War gained him the title of 'the Samuel Pepys of the Western Front'.

The total cost for the day is £35.00 which includes refreshments at break and handouts.

Artistic Couples

Tuesday 21 September

10.00 - 13.00

Exploring the life and work of couples whose romantic partnerships inspired experimentation and collaboration and radically altered the course of each artist's creative life.  Artists such as Vanessa Bell & Duncan Grant, Dod & Ernest Procter, Laura & Harold Knight, Eric Ravilious & Tirzah Garwood, Ben Nicholson & Barbara Hepworth, Robert Colquhoun & Robert MacBryde.

The total cost for the day is £30.00 which includes refreshments on arrival and break and handouts.

The Venetian School

Thursday 11 October 2021

10.00 - 13.00

From the latter part of the 15th century, Venice had a distinctive, thriving and influential art scene. The Venetian style of painting was characterised by deep, rich colours, an emphasis on patterns and surfaces and a strong interest in the effects of light, which demonstrated a departure from the more sculptural and linear technique of the Florentine painters. Looking at works by Bellini, Giorgione, Titian, Tintoretto and Veronese.

The total cost for the day is £35.00 which includes refreshments at break and handouts.

Camden Town Group

Tuesday 19 October 

10.00 - 13.00

Formed in 1911, the group included artists Walter Sickert, Robert Bevan, Harold Gilman, Spencer Gore and Charles Ginner. They portrayed everyday life in an urban setting in the era of Post-Impressionism. Their colourful paintings capture a record of the changing face of London where horse-drawn vehicles were being replaced with the motor-car and new garden cities like Letchworth were being built. 

The total cost for the day is £30.00 which includes refreshments on arrival and break and handouts.

Hogarth and Europe

Thursday 8 November 2021

10.00 - 13.00

(Based on the Tate Britain Exhibition running from 3 November 2021 – 20 March 2022) How William Hogarth and artists across Europe captured the new modernity of the 18th century. Comparing works by Hogarth and his European contemporaries in their painting of modern life – including Watteau and Chardin in France, Troost in Holland, Guardi and Longhi in Italy. The essayist and poet Charles Lamb once said of Hogarth: ‘Other pictures we look at; his pictures we read’.

The total cost for the day is £35.00 which includes refreshments at break and handouts.

Pre-Raphaelite Women Artists

Tuesday 16 November  

10.00 - 13.00

Artists who played an important role in the continuance and development of the Pre-Raphaelite style from the 1840s to the early 1900s. Artists such as Lizzie Siddal, Marie Spartali Stillman, Evelyn De Morgan, Emma Sandys, Kate Elizabeth Bunce and Eleanor Fortescue-Brickdale, including works by Lucy and Catherine Madox Brown, who are the subjects of an exhibition at the Watts Gallery, Compton in Surrey: 'Uncommon Power': Lucy and Catherine Madox Brown (28 September 2021 – 20 February 2022). Also included will be photographs by Julia Margaret Cameron ‘The Pre-Raphaelite Photographer.’

The total cost for the day is £30.00 which includes refreshments on arrival and break and handouts.

Pissarro: Father of Impressionsm

Thursday 6 December 2021

10.00 - 13.00

(Based on the Ashmolean Museum Exhibition opening in February 2022) Camille Pissarro (1830–1903) is one of the most celebrated artists of C19th France and a central figure in Impressionism. His work was enormously influential for many artists, including Monet and Cézanne. This major exhibition, of works drawn from the Ashmolean's collections as well as international loans, will span Pissarro's entire career.

We will look at some of Pissaro’s lesser-known works that evolved through Corot’s influence, a London period from 1870-71, Impressionism, Neo-Impressionism and on to his later work, mostly painted from Hotel windows.  

The total cost for the day is £35.00 which includes refreshments at break and handouts.

Art in the Snow

Tuesday 14 December  

10.00 - 13.00

In a month-relevant topic, we will look at wintry scenes beginning in the C14th with frescoes and illuminated manuscripts, through the Northern Renaissance with images by Breughel, the Romantic Movement artists such as Caspar Friedrich, Russian itinerant artists such as Surikov and Shishkin, through the Impressionists and beyond, including Kandinsky and Munch.

The total cost for the day is £30.00 which includes refreshments on arrival and break and handouts.