Lectures & Workshops Archive

THE GARDEN OF IDEAS LECTURE SERIES

GARDENS IN 19TH CENTURY AUSTRALIAN LITERATURE & DIARIES with Sue Martin Wednesday 24 August 2011, 10.15 am to 11.45 am, $30.00 Gardens feature in 19th century Australian writing in various ways – as proof and celebration of settlement, as a way of resisting the environment or a way of coming to terms with and incorporating it. This talk will consider these representations and their literary and symbolic meanings in fiction, but also in 19th century diaries, where descriptions of gardens and gardening sometimes serve different ends. SUE MARTIN has published articles in The Victorian Naturalist and the prestigious journal Studies in the History of Gardens and Designed Landscapes. She is an Associate Professor in English at La Trobe University. Recently she co-authored Reading The Garden which looked at individual gardens, both public and private. This book illuminates the meaning and uses of gardens and gardening in Australia from white settlement to the late 20th century.

TEXTS IN GARDENS & WILD PLACES with Ian Marr Wednesday 7 September 2011, 10.15 am to 11.45 am, $30.00 In this talk Ian Marr will consider the play and tradition of text in landscape – of prose, poetry and stray leaves from popular culture in gardens and wild places. The form draws on diverse practitioners, including William Shenstone, Ian Hamilton Finlay, Eric Gill and his web of influence, 19th century sign writing and copybooks, memorial arts, and contemporary thinking on typography and sign. In the Australian landscape, this language inhabits riverine and desert places with a physically enduring art of words and ideas. IAN MARR is a painter and a letter-cutter in stone whose farm in southern New South Wales is becoming infused with inscriptional works escaping from the old garden into paddocks and waterways. His work is represented in public and private collections across Australia and internationally.

BOSTON IVY:  MELBOURNE & ITS GARDENS Paul Fox in conversation with Christine Reid & Denise Gadd Wednesday 21 September 2011, 10.15 am to 11.45 am, $30.00 A conversation about Melbourne and its gardens: looking at the inheritance of ideas from botanic garden to suburban garden ... and where now for Melbourne gardens? Garden historian Dr Paul Fox talks with The Age garden editor Denise Gadd and Country Style garden editor Christine Reid. DR PAUL FOX has written Clearings: Six Colonial Gardeners and their Landscapes. He has also been the recipient of the University of Melbourne’s Wettenhall prize for the best post-graduate thesis in Australian history. He is currently writing Travelling and Standing Still: How Australians See the World, as well as creating his own paradise garden in conjunction with a graphic design cooperative in Tehran.

EXPERIENCING THE BAROQUE GARDEN with David Marshall
Wednesday 12 October 2011, 10.15 am to 11.45 am, $30.00

In pursuit of the Baroque garden experience, this lecture takes a leisurely stroll through some of the finest Baroque gardens. It explores the way the Baroque garden constituted an ideal, courtly world while embodying royal or princely power. It explores the festivals that took place in them, the statues that animated them, and the illusions that made them an optical experience.

DAVID MARSHALL’S research interests focus on aspects of painting and architecture in 17th and 18th century Italy, especially architecture, depictions of architecture, and ruin and topographical painting (Codazzi, Panini, Canaletto). He also has research interests in garden design, antiquarianism, collecting and display and connoisseurship.

THE LUNGS OF PARIS: GARDENS OF THE SECOND EMPIRE with Sylvia Sagona
Wednesday 19 October 2011, 10.15 am to 11.45 am, $30.00

When Napoleon III swept to power in 1851 his first priority was to create a healthy and secure city out of the dark mediaeval labyrinth of central Paris. Nostalgically recalling his years of exile in London, Napoleon III dotted the city with ‘squares’, created whimsical gardens for the bourgeoisie and workers and showcased exotic species at the Serres d’Auteuil.

In this presentation we will examine the political and aesthetic ideas behind the idealistic greening of Paris and the images that have been left by the Impressionists and writers of the time.

SYLVIA SAGONA is an internationally recognised specialist on 19th century French society. She retired from the French Department at the University of Melbourne to work on historical documentaries for French and Australian television and is currently researching a book on Parisian women in the 19th century.

THE GARDEN OF IDEAS STUDY DAY 2

CONVENED BY RICHARD AITKEN

FAIR HALL & GLAD PARLOUR – BRINGING THE GARDEN INDOORS
Saturday 10 September 2011, 9.30am to 2.30pm, $80.00

CUT & DRIED: ARRANGING AUSTRALIAN PLANTS with Richard Aitken

The history of gardening with Australian plants is but imperfectly known, yet there is sufficient evidence to suggest that the incorporation of this distinctive flora in Australian homes and gardens was widespread from early colonial times. The history of floral art using Australian plants is even less well understood, yet recent research presented here suggests that flower arranging was a significant step in the wider public appreciation of Australian flora.

RICHARD AITKEN is a Melbourne-based architect, curator and historian. He has prepared conservation plans for many of Australia’s most significant historic gardens. His publications include The Garden of Ideas: four centuries of Australian style (2010), Botanical Riches (2006), Seeds of Change (2006), Gardenesque (2004), and The Oxford Companion to Australian Gardens (2002).

FAKING IT: ARTIFICIAL FLOWERS IN THE AUSTRALIAN INTERIOR with Elizabeth Anya-Petrivna

The making of flowers was a cultural fad, a leisure activity, and a home industry. The constellation of production, consumption, and design will be explored in the context of 1880s Melbourne and will plot the careers of local practitioners. This talk will look at the popular use of artificial flowers as decoration in 19th century interiors and fashion. It will question the cultural fascination with ‘sentimental botany’ to find negotiations or liaisons with interior decoration.

ELIZABETH ANYA -PETRIVNA is a Curator in the Collections Team of the National Trust of Australia (Victoria), whose responsibilities include the Trust’s outstanding costume collection. She is currently completing post-graduate study at RMIT University based on her innovative research and analysis of artificial flowers.

STILL LIFE: MODERNIST ART AND THE AUSTRALIAN INTERIOR with Gloria Strzelecki

Modernism of the early to mid-20th century was often introduced into the domestic setting through works of art, including floral art. Using the collections of Carrick Hill and works of artists who contributed to this rich legacy, domestic modernism is examined through the eyes of such figures as Edward Bawden, Adrian Feint, John Piper, and Stanley Spencer.

GLORIA STRZELECKI was the guest curator for the major retrospective on Kathleen Sauerbier: A modern pursuit held recently at Carrick Hill in South Australia and is currently gallery manager for Adelaide Central School of Art.

THE SYLVIA SAGONA SERIES

SYLVIA SAGONA is an internationally recognised specialist on 19th century French society. She retired from the French Department at the University of Melbourne to work on historical documentaries for French and Australian television and is currently researching a book on Parisian women in the 19th century.

DANGEROUS LIAISONS: THE COURTESANS OF THE REGENCY & THE SECOND EMPIRE
Thursday 18 August 2011, 10.15 am to 11.45 am, $30.00

While virtuous women were confined to a drab existence of home and hearth, their outrageous sisters of the night, under the elite patronage of the Gentlemen’s
Jockey Club in Paris and the Carlton Set in London, blazed a trail of diamonds and destruction through European aristocracy, influencing politics and art on the way.

BY POPULAR DEMAND PARIS, CITY OF LIGHT: THE PETIT PALAIS COLLECTION AND THE UNIVERSAL EXHIBITION OF 1900 with Sylvia Sagona Saturday 8 October 2011, 10.15am to 11.45 am, $30.00 The Petit Palais was built for the 1900 Universal Exhibition to showcase French culture and refinement. Its ornate jewel box structure soon attracted wealthy 19th century families who donated their collections. It is now a little known treasure trove of decorative arts from the Renaissance to the early 20th century as well as housing important collections of both Salon and Impressionist art. This lecture will discuss the role of the great 1900 Exposition Universelle as a vehicle for the myth of Paris, City of Light.

THE JOHN WILTSHIRE SERIES

JOHN WILTSHIRE was a Professor at La Trobe University until his retirement in 2007. He is the author of several books about Jane Austen, and has edited Mansfield Park for the authoritative Cambridge edition. His most recent books are The Cinematic Jane Austen (2009) and The Making of Dr Johnson (2009).

IS PRIDE & PREJUDICE A ROMANTIC NOVEL?
Thursday 11 August 2011, 10.15am to 11.45 am, $30.00

Pride & Prejudice is unquestionably a novel about love. But does this make it a romantic novel? Many people think so, especially people who haven’t read it. The story of Elizabeth and Darcy is the story of two different kinds of love, though, and Pride & Prejudice is as much about money, class and family interference as it is about romance. This talk will focus on the treatment of love in this, very much loved, novel.

MRS BENNET’S NERVES: JANE AUSTEN & THE BODY, HEALTH & MEDICINE Thursday 25 August 2011, 10.15am to 11.45 am, $30.00 Like her contemporary, King George III, Mrs Bennet complains of her ‘nerves’. She is one of many characters in Jane Austen’s novels who suffer from real, or possibly imagined, illnesses: Marianne Dashwood, Mrs Churchill, Mr Woodhouse, Mary Musgrove, and the Parker sisters in the unfinished novel Sanditon among them. This talk will discuss these characters along with medical practice in Jane Austen’s time.

WILLIAM JOHNSTON’S DERBY with Robyn Ives
Tuesday 30 August 2011, 10.15am to 11.45 am, $30.00

William Johnston loved flowers, a love visible in his collection of Derby porcelain. Urns swathed in floral garlands, picturesque landscapes, roses in bud and full bloom, all exquisitely hand-painted. Join Robyn Ives to explore William Johnston’s Derby and begin to understand his fascination for it.

ROBYN IVES is a collector with a particular interest in Post Medieval English pottery (including Wedgwood), and a lecturer on English ceramics from the 17th to the 20th century.

Royal Crown Derby Inkwell on Stand decorated by William Edward Mosley, circa 1925 (A0571-1989)

 

‘SO LIKE & BEAUTIFULLY PAINTED’: EARLY PORTRAITS OF QUEEN VICTORIA & PRINCE ALBERT BY FRANZ WINTERHALTER with Eugene Barilo von Reisberg Thursday 1 September 2011, 10.15am to 11.45 am, $30.00 What do official royal portraits tell us? What messages do they communicate about the sitters – and from the sitters? This paper focuses on early official portraits of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert by Franz Xaver Winterhalter (1805-1873). It examines hidden meanings within Winterhalter’s early British royal portraits, and explores in particular the emphasis on Prince Albert’s newly-acquired ‘Englishness’ and the notion of a ‘gender reversal’ within the context of traditional marital portraiture. EUGENE BARILO VON REISBERG is a Melbourne-based arts writer, curator, and blogger. His research on works by Franz Xaver Winterhalter (1805-1873) has gained international recognition, and he is currently working on a PhD thesis on the artist at the University of Melbourne, which investigates the iconographic construction of contemporary aristocratic ideal within Winterhalter’s portraits. detail of Queen Victoria (1819-1901), 1843 ©HM Queen Elizabeth II (Windsor Castle)

CHIPPENDALE & THE PAXTON STYLE: THE INFLUENCE OF THE GENTLEMAN & CABINET- MAKER’S DIRECTOR with Martin Purslow
Tuesday 6 September 2011, 10.15 am to 11.45 am, $30.00

Thomas Chippendale rose from humble Yorkshire origins to supply new, integrated interior ‘styles’ to both the established aristocracy and by association in The Cabinet Maker’s Director, to the style conscious nouveaux-riche of the 18th century. Using images, several original 1750s plate engravings, and even a small piece of Cuban mahogany from his workshop, this talk looks at Chippendale’s design practice as illustrated by his seminal Director and his documented commissions, including Paxton House, Scotland where his designs reinforced the status, and aesthetic sensibilities of his client.

MARTIN PURSLOW, CEO, National Trust of Australia (Victoria) was former Director of the National Gallery of Scotland’s first ever outstation, Paxton House operated by the Paxton Trust. With a background in design and architectural history, antiques restoration and retail and heritage management, he is an expert on Chippendale furniture and Scottish Regency furniture.

‘The Dining Room’, Paxton House, Berwickshire, Scotland Decorated and furnished by Chippendale Haig & Co, 1774-6

 

CARE & PRESERVATION OF TEXTILES with Bronwyn Cosgrove
Wednesday 14 September 2011, 10.15am to 11.45 am, $30.00

Storing and displaying textiles the correct way is very important for their long-term care and preservation. With the proper care and storage, antique textiles can last for many more years. Join conservator Bronwyn Cosgrove to learn about the care and preservation of textiles. Examples will be provided and attendees are invited to bring along their own collection items for assessment.

BRONWYN COSGROVE is a Senior Conservator at the National Gallery of Victoria, specialising in textiles. Before arriving at the NGV in 2003, Bronwyn worked as a textile conservator at the Australian War Memorial, the Australian National Maritime Museum, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the National Gallery of Australia

CHARLES RYDER DROWNING IN HONEY: BRIDESHEAD REVISITED with Mark Nicholls
Thursday 15 September 2011, 10.15 am to 11.45 am

This lecture considers the enduringly popular 1980s television series, Brideshead Revisited and illustrates the way that the feminine and the maternal are represented in the series in architecture and places (Castle Howard, Oxford, Venice), key characters, and in the institution of the Roman Catholic Church itself. Brideshead Revisited is considered here as an Oedipus and the Sphinx encounter between Charles Ryder (Jeremy Irons) and a series of maternal surrogates ever-threatening to overwhelm him.

MARK NICHOLLS is Senior Lecturer in Cinema Studies at the University of Melbourne where he has taught film and television since 1993. He is author of Scorsese’s Men: Melancholia and the Mob (Pluto/Indiana Uni Press) and a forthcoming book on the films of Jeremy Irons. Nicholls’ work as a film critic has included regular reviewing and commentary for ABC radio and television and between 2007 and 2009 he was author of The Age EG’s weekly film column, ‘Buff’s Choice.’ Mark is active as a theatre writer, director and producer.

BEASTLY CRIMINALS & CRIMINAL BEASTS: STRAY WOMEN & STRAY DOGS IN OLIVER TWIST with Grace Moore
Tuesday 27 September 2011, 10.15 am to 11.45 am, $30.00

This talk will examine Dickens’s use of dogs in his novels. It will focus particularly on Oliver Twist and the extraordinary relationship between the criminal Bill Sikes, his mistress Nancy, and his dog Bull’s-eye, examining the ways in which taboo subjects and emotions are displaced onto the dog.

GRACE MOORE teaches at the University of Melbourne. She is a Dickens scholar with research interests in neo-Victorianism and, more recently, literary representations of bushfires. Her most recent book is the edited collection Pirates and Mutineers of the Nineteenth Century (Ashgate, 2011).

A SHARED LOVE: ELIZABETHAN DECORATIVE DEVICES IN GARDENS & TEXTILES with Stephen Gallagher Tuesday 4 October 2011, 10.15 am to 11.45 am, $30.00 The invention of the Gutenberg printing press in around 1439 saw the spread of accessible decorative motifs for use by all forms of artisans. New combinations of decorative details were now used in interior and exterior decoration by metal smiths, painters, masons, ceramicists, embroiderers and garden designers. This talk will explore the relationships of the decorative arts to Elizabethan garden design and the impact of new world flora upon Elizabethan expression. STEPHEN GALLAGHER is a Melbourne based artist, whose work is informed by the Elizabethan era, and uses contemporary materials to realise his designs. Gallagher received the Ethel Oates Scholarship 2001 from The Embroiderers Guild, Victoria which enabled him to study their Elizabethan embroideries in English collections. He is currently Curator at RMIT School of Art Galleries. detail of a bodice said to be made for QEI, commissioned by Countess of Essex, Lettice Knollys

DICKENS & AUSTRALIA with Elisabeth Neales, John & Margaret Leonard Friday 7 October 2011, 10.15 am to 12.00 pm, $30.00 Dickens himself never came to Australia but two of his sons and some of his characters did. This talk deals with the author’s distant perceptions of Australia and includes some moving letters home from convicts and settlers. ELISABETH NEALES is a graduate of Oxford University and has taught English and History in secondary schools in England and Australia. She is currently Secretary of the Dickens Fellowship Melbourne Branch. JOHN AND MARGARET LEONARD have diverse experience with the performing arts and now delight in sharing their enthusiasm for literary classics through dramatised readings.

NASMYTH, ALVA & MR JOHNSTON with Richard Aitken (in conjunction with the AGHS) Tuesday 11 October 2011, 10.15 am to 11.45 am, $30.00 Mr Johnston’s much-loved painting Alva House (circa 1830), attributed to Patrick Nasmyth, depicts the Scottish seat of James Johnstone, nestling into the Ochil Hills near Stirling. Purchased for its coincidental patrimony, this work abounds with other Australian links of which Johnston could not have been aware. Explore a rich heritage of Scottish landscape painting and gardening and the role of the emigrant landscape gardener in shaping the Australian countryside. RICHARD AITKEN is a Melbourne-based architect, curator and historian. He has prepared conservation plans for many of Australia’s most significant historic gardens. His publications include The Garden of Ideas: four centuries of Australian style (2010), Botanical Riches (2006), Seeds of Change (2006), Gardenesque (2004), and The Oxford Companion to Australian Gardens (2002). detail, Patrick Nasmyth (attrib.), Alva House, Stirlingshire, circa 1830s–40s (A0975-1989)

IN THE GARDEN WITH JANE AUSTEN with Lise Rodgers
Thursday 13 October 2011, 2.00 pm to 3.30 pm, $30.00

Jane Austen shared a love of gardening with her Mother and sister Cassandra, with her letters being often coloured by references to what’s in flower, what’s being planted etc. From the immediacy of her cottage garden to the grandeur of the grounds of Pemberley she leaves us with strong impressions of the garden style of the day.

LISE RODGERS is an accomplished Melbourne actress whose career has spanned stage, screen and radio. An interest in the world and characters of Jane Austen is the inspiration behind her series of Jane performances.

ORNATE EFFECTS: THE FAMOUS HUGUENOT DESIGNER, DANIEL MAROT with Robert Nash Friday 21 October 2011, 10.15am to 11.45 am, $30.00 Trained at the court of Versailles, the refugee Daniel Marot was the most influential architect and designer in late 17th century Europe. His work ranged from architecture to gardens, interior design, silver, ceramics and furniture. He is credited with having disseminated the style of Louis XIV in England, and was official architect to William of Orange. ROBERT NASH is Secretary of the Huguenot Society of Australia. A descendant of Huguenot silk weavers, he was educated at Oxford and Cambridge. Nash has published numerous historical articles on Australian Huguenot genealogy and descendants, and is the editor of the recent book, The Hidden Thread: Huguenot Families in Australia. The State Bed from Melville House, V&A, London

BY POPULAR DEMAND

ROBERT ADAM TO REGENCY: NEOCLASSICISM IN BRITAIN with Christopher Menz
Thursday 18 August 2011, 7.15 pm - 8.45 pm, $30.00

The pursuit of neoclassicism during the second half of the 18th century developed in Europe was directly influenced by excavations carried out at Herculaneum and Pompeii from 1711 and 1733. The influence of the newly discovered ancient art and architecture on European design and architecture was vast. Robert Adam was the major British architect of the second half of the 18th century and was the seminal figure in the spread of neoclassical taste in Britain and Europe. Robert Adam,

CHRISTOPHER MENZ is a specialist in decorative arts and has published extensively on the subject. He has worked as curator at the National Gallery of Australia, National Gallery of Victoria and Art Gallery of South Australia. From 2005 to 2010 he was Director of the Art Gallery of South Australia.

Entrance hall, Syon House, London, early 1760s

THE SUSAN SCOLLAY SERIES

SUSAN SCOLLAY is an internationally recognised specialist in textiles and carpets, and Islamic art and culture. She is contributing editor of HALI, the London-based journal of carpet, textile and Islamic art, and is currently completing a PhD at La Trobe University, Melbourne. Scollay was guest curator of Fluid Borders: Ways of Seeing Oriental Rugs, and convenor of the accompanying Carpet Study Day, both held at The Johnston Collection in 2010.

DRACULA, DRAGONS & OTTOMAN PRAYER RUGS: HOW ORIENTAL CARPETS CAME TO DECORATE THE WALLS OF LUTHERAN CHURCHES IN TRANSYLVANIA & WHY THEY’RE STILL THERE TODAY
Tuesday 16 August 2011, 10.15 am to 11.45 am, $30.00

Transylvania, the northern most province of modern-day Romania, is home to the largest corpus of Turkish rugs and carpets outside the Islamic world. About 400 of these are preserved, and still used, on the walls of the Lutheran churches in the Carpathian Mountains – in the region made famous in the West by Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel, Dracula. The church rugs include many examples of the acknowledged ‘golden period’ of Ottoman Turkish art spanning the 300 years from the middle of the fifteenth to the middle of the 18th centuries. Among them, classical types such as the so-called Holbeins, Lottos and Oushaks hang side by side with prayer rugs and other textiles for the historic looms of Anatolia.

 

THE FLOWERING OF THE SHAWL: FROM THE GARDENS OF KASHMIR TO THE DRAWING ROOMS OF JANE AUSTEN’S ENGLAND Tuesday 2 August 2011, 10.15 am to 11.45 am, $30.00 At the turn of the 19th century fashionable European women began to wear luxurious cashmere shawls imported from Mughal India. At first in France, then in England, these prestigious and exotic garments became so popular that local manufacturers began to make imitation Indian shawls in an effort to meet growing demand. As Jane Austen’s novels attest, by the 1820s women from all walks of life were wearing some version of the shawl in the Indian Style. A few manufacturing centres such as the small town of Paisley in Scotland successfully marketed their shawls right through to the later years of the century when fashions changed and demand came to a sudden end.

THE SYLVIA SAGONA SERIES

SYLVIA SAGONA is an internationally recognised specialist on 19th century French society. She retired from the French Department at the University of Melbourne to work on historical documentaries for French and Australian television and is currently researching a book on Parisian women in the 19th century.

THE CONSOLATION OF AN EMPRESS: The Château de Malmaison gardens & collection
Thursday 7 July 2011, 10.15am to 11.45 am, $30.00

Always the master of self promotion, Napoleon bought Malmaison to showcase collections of the luxury trades, such as porcelain, gilt and cabinet making, which he had revived after the Revolution. After her divorce, Josephine devoted herself to her roses and botany collection, featuring Australian plants grown for the first time in Europe.

CORSETTED & COSSETTED: THE FRENCH BOURGEOIS WOMAN & THE VELVET PRISON OF THE BOUDOIR
Thursday 14 July 2011, 10.15am to 11.45 am, $30.00

With marriage and motherhood her only options, the innocent bride’s tightly policed upbringing led to neuroses which the medical profession then used to prove that she was unfit for education and public life. Her only confidants were her diary, piano and the pampered pets whose artificial lives mirrored her own. This lecture will explore the meaning behind the seemingly idyllic images of the art of the Salon and Impressionist painters.

THE ELEGANT ECCENTRIC: THE BEATRICE DE ROTHSCHILD-EPHRUSSI GARDENS & COLLECTION
Thursday 21 July 2011, 10.15 am to 11.45 am, $30.00 Sold Out

Thursday 28 July 2011, 10.15am to 11.45am, $30.00 Places Available

Inheriting the wealth of two branches of the Rothschilds’ fortune, Beatrice could afford to travel with a suitcase full of wigs and construct a Renaissance/Moorish mansion amid seven themed gardens overlooking the deep blue of the Bay of Angels near Nice.

TO BE MISTRESS OF PEMBERLEY: REGENCY WOMEN AS WIVES & BUSINESS MANAGERS with Jennifer Forest Thursday 4 August 2011, 10.15 am to 11.45 am, $30.00 It is very easy to view Regency marriages as merely the romantic endings of Jane Austen novels. To be mistress of Pemberley though, was indeed to be somebody. Exploring the lives of Regency women in the United Kingdom and Australia, this lecture will trace the experiences of women in their homes, the centre of the family business enterprise. JENNIFER FOREST is the author of the best-selling Jane Austen’s Sewing Box, a unique combination of history, literature and artistic interpretation. She has worked in museums and taught history in secondary schools. Jennifer’s passion is fabric arts and crafts. She works in various media including needlework, felting, knitting and screen-printing.

FROM MINUSCULE TO METAPATTERN: FEATHERS, PETALS, POLLEN & THE IDEA OF THE SUBLIME with John Wolseley Wednesday 10 August 2011, 10.15 am to 11.45 am, $30.00 Contemporary landscape artist John Wolseley will explore the relationship between the ‘landscape’ and the ‘landscaped’. He will discuss his recent work and his search to discover how we dwell and move within nature – a meditation on how the earth is a dynamic system of which we are all a part. JOHN WOLSELEY was born in England and settled in Australia in 1976. His paintings and works on paper can be found in all state galleries and numerous public and private collections. The most recent publication on his work is Lines for Birds Barry Hill and John Wolseley Poems and Paintings, Perth, 2011.

THE GARDEN OF IDEAS: AN INTRODUCTION with Richard Aitken
Wednesday 6 July 2011, 10.15 am to 11.45 am, $30.00

The Garden of Ideas tells an inspiring and engaging story of Australian garden design beginning with the imaginings of emigrant garden-makers of the late-18th century. Central to this is the transfer of ideas, principally from England and Europe, but also from Asia, The Cape, Rio, and North America. Discover stories behind the works that comprise The Johnston Collection’s new exhibition, from early engravings and lithographs to mid-century books and photographs.

RICHARD AITKEN is a Melbourne-based architect, curator and historian. He has prepared conservation plans for many of Australia’s most significant historic gardens. His publications include The Garden of Ideas: four centuries of Australian style (2010), Botanical Riches (2006), Seeds of Change (2006), Gardenesque (2004), and The Oxford Companion to Australian Gardens (2002).

 

APPRECIATING OLD GARDENS: HISTORY OR ROMANCE? with James Broadbent Wednesday 13 July 2011, 10.15 am to 11.45 am, $30.00 Every garden should be a continuation of the house it surrounds, and where the dwelling is old and sleepy the garden too must be drowsy and lie under the spell of ages wrote Norah Lindsay in Country Life in 1931. James Broadbent discusses this proposition. JAMES BROADBENT is an eminent cultural historian whose working life has been devoted to historic buildings and gardens. He has a profound appreciation for plants which are appropriate historically and aesthetically, and which enhance the architectural elements.

WILLIAM KENT & THE ALLEGORICAL SIGNIFICANCE OF ROUSHAM HOUSE & STOWE with Gerard Vaughan Wednesday 27 July 2011, 2.00 pm to 3.30 pm, $30.00. Dr Gerard Vaughan will present a stimulating lecture on the 18th century landscape designer, William Kent, and the invention of a new landscape style: Rousham and Stowe. DR GERARD VAUGHAN is Director of the National Gallery of Victoria and an art historian who wrote his doctoral thesis at Oxford on 18th century taste for the Antique. His research interests are particularly concerned with the history of taste and art collecting in the 18th century and 19th centuries, ranging from neo-classicism to post-impressionism.

THE GARDEN OF IDEAS STUDY DAY 1 CONVENED BY CHRISTINE REID Saturday 9 July 2011, 9.30 am to 4.00 pm, $125.00 (inc lunch box) CHRISTINE REID, a Melbourne-based garden writer with a particular interest in garden history and cultural landscapes, contributes regularly to a wide range of Australian and international publications. With Professor Harriet Edquist, she is undertaking a major study of the cultural geography of western Victoria. When not visiting other people’s gardens, she is rejuvenating a neglected garden in Kew. THE GARDEN OF IDEAS – AN OVERVIEW: FINDING & RESEARCHING GARDENS with Richard Aitken Gardens are repositories of ideas, but often their messages are muted or effaced through time and neglect. Understanding how to ‘read’ gardens—through an analysis of documentary research, an understanding of context, and the physical experience of reception— provides insights into this rich yet often overlooked cultural resource. RICHARD AITKEN is a Melbourne-based architect, curator and historian. He has prepared conservation plans for many of Australia’s most significant historic gardens. His publications include The Garden of Ideas: four centuries of Australian style (2010), Botanical Riches (2006), Seeds of Change (2006), Gardenesque (2004), and The Oxford Companion to Australian Gardens (2002). VANISHING SCULPTURES 1 with Terence Lane Melbourne’s 19th century fathers enriched the city’s gardens and art gallery with copies of classical and neoclassical sculptures. Just what were these statues and why were they removed from public view? Terence Lane will reveal some surprising answers. TERENCE LANE is one of the foremost authorities on Australian art of the nineteenth-century, a respected author and former senior curator at the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne. VANISHING SCULPTURES 2: THE FLIGHT FROM SUBURBIA OR LEAVING FROM MOONEE PONDS with James Broadbent A witty and provocative view of the suburban garden. James will challenge some long-held assumptions. JAMES BROADBENT is an eminent cultural historian whose working life has been devoted to historic buildings and gardens. He has a profound appreciation for plants which are appropriate historically and aesthetically, and which enhance the architectural elements. OLD WORLD/NEW WORLD: THE AUSTRALIAN GARDEN FROM THERE TO HERE Through droughts and flooding rains, where to for the garden in 21st century Australia? A panel discussion led by Christine Reid and Richard Aitken, with Terence Lane, James Broadbent and Neil Robertson. NEIL ROBERTSON has been involved in Australia’s Open Garden Scheme since 1988, and was one of the chief architects of its national expansion. He was the Scheme’s National Executive Officer from 1990 to 2010. He is a dedicated gardener - his own garden, Westport at New Gisborne, opens regularly for the Scheme - and when not armed with trowel and secateurs, he is to be found ensconced with a good book in his library.

TOYING WITH COSMOPOLITANISM: CHINOISERIE IN GARDEN DESIGN UNDER CATHERINE THE GREAT with Jennifer Milam Friday 8 July 2011, 10.15 am to 11.45 am, $30.00 In 1771, Catherine the Great translated Chambers’ Designs of Chinese Buildings into Russian, which led to the creation of the largest complex of Chinoiserie in any 18th century European garden. Taking as its focus the gardens of Tsarskoe Selo, this talk explores the tensions between cosmopolitanism, exoticism and imperialism in Russian garden design under Catherine the Great. JENNIFER MILAM is an Associate Professor in the Department of Art History at the University of Sydney. Her books include the Historical Dictionary of Rococo Art (2011), Fragonard’s Playful Paintings. Visual Games in Rococo Art (2006) and Women, Art and the Politics of Identity in Eighteenth-Century Europe (2003). Vladimir Borovikovsky, Catherine the Great walking in the Gardens of Tsarskoe Selo, circa 1794

THE ANNETTE WELKAMP SERIES ANNETTE WELKAMP is an arts and heritage consultant and Director of Cultural Connotations. In addition to working across Australia, she was formerly a Visual Arts Curator in the Groninger Museum in the Netherlands. MEN O’ WAR, TULIPS & SOME VERY NAUGHTY CATS: THREE DUTCH PAINTINGS IN THE JOHNSTON COLLECTION Wednesday 3 August 2011, 10.15 am to 11.45 am, $30.00 The Johnston Collection contains a small number of objects from the Netherlands, including three paintings. Their subjects range from a grand sea battle between the English and the Dutch in the manner of Abraham Storck (circa 1670), a dark still life of flowers from the circle of Jean Baptiste Monnoyer (circa 1720), to a rather chaotic cat fight taking place on a table laden with food, attributed to Melchior d’Hondecoeter (circa 1650). This lecture will explore the Dutch obsession with the sea, trade, bulbs and sideboards groaning with food, particularly as it is presented in paintings. detail from dessert service Sir James Duke and Nephews, Hill Top Pottery, England, circa 1860-64

NOT QUITE THE GOLDEN AGE, BUT STILL RATHER GRAND: SOME DUTCH ARCHITECTURE & INTERIORS FROM 1750–1850 Tuesday 19 July 2011, 10.15 am to 11.45 am, $30.00 Despite its small size, the Netherlands undoubtedly became the centre of world trade during the 17th century. It was rich, powerful, innovative and influential. The 18th century witnessed a slow and slight decline in comparison, especially with rising competition from France and England. This lecture will take a tour of well-known and less familiar houses, palaces and other properties across the country, including Paleis het Loo (Arnhem), Fraeylemaborg (Slochteren) and Museum van Loon (Amsterdam). detail from the Museum Willet-Holthuysen, Amsterdam

HALLMARKS, HISTORY & HESTER with Patrick Street
Tuesday 26 July 2011, 10.15 am to 11.45 am, $30.00

British hallmarks have acted as a safeguard to purchasers of silver articles for over 600 years. Hallmarking is still one of the most important forms of consumer protection. Hester Bateman (1708–1794), often called the ‘Queen of English Silversmiths’, was particularly interested in design and was well-placed to take advantage of the neo-classical style introduced by the architect Robert Adam. Her last mark was registered on 3 August 1787. This talk will consider the development of the hallmark alongside the eventful and innovative career of Bateman.

PATRICK STREET has been the Melbourne-based editor of The Silver Society of Australia Newsletter for more than six years. He has been collecting silver for more than 20 years and has a collection of English, French and Continental silverware. Mr Street retired as a Deputy Chief Magistrate of Victoria in 1999

OH, DO GROW UP… Childhood in England 1750–1850

AN EXHIBITION AND LECTURE SERIES TO COINCIDE WITH THE CENTENARY OF WILLIAM JOHNSTON’S BIRTH ON 8 JUNE 1911

Inventing Innocence with Michelle Smith
Wednesday 23 March 2011, 10.15 am to 11.45 am, $30.00

Children were not always imagined as innocent. This lecture explores how artists and writers created the idea of the Romantic child in the 18th century. It will compare how adults of the period pictured children, especially in literature written for children, with the experiences of actual boys and girls, many of whom did not enjoy the same period of ‘innocence’ as the children of wealthy families.

Dr Michelle Smith is an Australian Research Council Postdoctoral Fellow in the School of Culture and Communication at the University of Melbourne. She is the author of the book Empire in British Girls’ Literature and Culture: Imperial Girls, 1880-1915 and is currently researching colonial Australian girlhood.

The Child’s Book: Amusement Renders Knowledge More Palatable with Russell Oke in conversation with Angela Hesson
Wednesday 20 April 2011, 10.15 am to 11.45 am, $30.00

Children’s books are now a regular part of most children’s lives, but before 1744 there were few books designed for children. Oke will discuss the history and development of fourteen children’s book titles published between 1744 – 1844 including their authors, illustrators, publishers and production.

Russell Oke has a collection of over 5,500 books including a large section on history and children’s books. Oke has developed knowledge on books and their history over the years. He has researched books and their history for organisations, book dealers, individuals and deceased estates.

Angela Hesson is Assistant Curator at The Johnston Collection, and a former lecturer in Literary Studies at the University of Melbourne.

Not Entirely Child’s Play Wednesday 30 March 2011, 10.15 am to 11.45 am, $30.00 The earliest recorded doll house dates from 1557–58 and was made for Duke Albrecht V of Bavaria. It was not for children, but a display house for himself. For the first three centuries of doll house history, they were largely novelties for adults, their survival preserving details of domestic architecture and interior design. From the middle of the 19th century onwards, they became the playthings of children, providing instruction in household management.

TWO LECTURES WITH LILA RAIT

Lila Rait is the author of Through the Nursery Window: A History of Antique and Collectable Dolls in Australia, 1788–1950. She has collected dolls and doll houses for more than 40 years and is regarded as one of the leading experts in Australia.

The History of Dolls in the Western World Wednesday 25 May 2011, 10.15 am to 11.45 am, $30.00 This talk will examine the history of dolls in the western world from the earliest surviving Roman rag doll (1st century CE) to the 20th century. It illustrates the changing role of children in society and charts the rise and distribution of industrial production throughout the 18th and 19th centuries.

WILLIAM JOHNSTON CENTENARY LECTURE

Peter Piper, Peg Tops and Puzzles: Illustrated Books for Good Regency Children with Merete Colding Smith
Wednesday 15 June 2011 at 10.15 am to 11.45 am, $30.00

Before the mid-18th century there were very few illustrated books for children in England. The situation had changed by the end of the century. This talk will consider some of the illustrated books published for children between 1750 and 1850 from the Morgan Collection of Children’s Books at the University of Melbourne.

Merete Colding Smith (formerly Curator of Rare Books, The Baillieu Library, University of Melbourne) is undertaking a PhD and curated To all the Little Master and to all the Little Misses (1997).

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THREE LECTURES WITH VALERIE KRIPS

Dr Valerie Krips is Associate Professor Emerita of the English Department of the University of Pittsburgh, and Honorary Fellow in the School of Culture and Communication at the University of Melbourne. She is the author of The Presence of the Past: Memory, History and Childhood in Postwar Britain, she is completing a book on cultural memory.

From Limbs of Satan to Innocent Lambs: The Creation of Childhood in Georgian and Regency England
Wednesday 13 April 2011, 10.15 am to 11.45 am, $30.00

The period 1750-1850 saw the rise of the idea of the child as an innocent dependant and of childhood as a distinct period of life to be cherished and remembered. This first talk in a series of three on the idea of childhood in Georgian and Regency England, focuses on the way in which the slow secularization of attitudes to children came into conflict with long-held beliefs in original sin. Beginning from the ‘sinful polluted creatures’ of Evangelical tracts, the child slowly came to be understood as ‘trailing clouds of glory’. The talk discusses this fascinating trajectory and its influence, then and now.

 

Pictures of Innocence: The Child in Painting and Literature
Wednesday 27 April 2011, 10.15 am to 11.45 am, $30.00

British portraitists played an important and early role in creating the idea of childhood innocence, as Joshua Reynolds’ famous The Age of Innocence (1788) attests. The image that Reynolds and other painters and sculptors of the period created was also to be found in a new literary form. Children’s literature, or books written specially for children began in 1743, with the publication of A Little Pretty Pocket-Book by John Newbery. This talk discusses the interaction of these ‘images’ of childhood, the role they played in their contemporary moment, and continue to play today.

The Governess: Fact and Fancy
Wednesday 4 May 2011, 10.15 am to 11.45 am, $30.00

Of all the figures associated with children in Georgian and Regency England, few carry more complex associations than the Governess. By turns too strict or too lenient (and even bawdy) her figure appears again and again in the literature of the period, and in the history of childhood of the time. This talk discusses her role in education, and also her more ambivalent role as a figure of imagination. Her status, in between the gentry she served and the servants who served them, and her role as stand-in for the parent provide, as we shall see, a rich canvas for contemporary imagination.

BOOK INDIVIDUALLY @ $30.00 OR ALL THREE LECTURES TO RECEIVE A 10% DISCOUNT.

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Hard Labour: Childbirth in the time of Jane Austen with Cheryl Calwell
Wednesday 11 May 2011, 10.15 am to 11.45 am, $30.00

Calwell will discuss the birthing practices of the time, touching on the traditions around childbirth, the social and medical context, and the reasons why childbirth, in ‘at risk’ cases, was so dangerous to mother and baby, and why it is significantly safer today. The talk will make reference to the letters of Jane Austen and other sources for contemporary accounts.

Cheryl Calwell is a past President of the Jane Austen Society of Melbourne. She is a registered midwife, currently working in the field of Maternal and Child Health. She is also a Marriage Celebrant and hopes to develop and diversify her celebrancy career in retirement.

 

Horses for Courses: A Flying Gallop Around Nursery and Fairground with Patricia Mullins Wednesday 1 June 2011, 10.15 am to 11.45 am, $30.00 This lecture will trace the evolution of the ride-on wooden horse, focusing on its development in 18th century England. What was ‘the flying gallop’? Approaches to conservation and restoration will also be explored, using examples from the carousels at the Melbourne Zoo, Luna Park and selected rocking horses, including the one included in the exhibition. Patricia Mullins is the author of The Rocking Horse: A History of Moving Toy Horses, internationally acclaimed as the definitive history of the subject.  She is also well known in Australia as a children's book illustrator.. With over thirty years experience in wooden horse restoration work, in 1998 Patricia established Equus Art Pty Ltd, specialising in the fine restoration and conservation of carousel and rocking horses.

For Better, For Worse: Marriage in the World of Jane Austen with Lise Rodgers
Thursday 16 June 2011, 2.00 pm to 3.30 pm, $30.00

‘It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife’, wrote Jane Austen as the opening line to Pride & Prejudice. Marriage was frequently a ‘business’ affair rather than one of the heart, and a woman’s security could be dependent on her making a good match.

Lise Rodgers is an accomplished Melbourne actress whose career has spanned stage, screen and radio. An interest in the world and characters of Jane Austen is the inspiration behind her series of ‘Jane’ performances.

The Dear Departed: Children and the 19th Century Concept of Death with Sylvia Sagona
Wednesday 22 June 2011, 10.15 am to 11.45 am, $30.00

The development of medicine and the strengthening of family ties in the 19th century saw a new attitude to death emerge. The memory of the ‘departed’ was kept alive by every means, from séances to post mortem photography. Increasingly elaborate mourning rituals were defined, clothing and jewellery were designed, garden cemeteries were created where the dead could ‘sleep’, epitaphs were invented and the geography of the afterlife was redefined. This lecture will examine the Victorian cult of the dead in relation to children.

Sylvia Sagona is Fellow of the School of Languages at the University of Melbourne (Department of French and Italian Studies) and specialises in 19th Century French art and society.

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Furniture Full of Pictorial Art: A Brief History of Pre-Raphaelite Furniture with Alison Inglis Saturday 11 June 2011, 10.15 am to 11.45 am, $30.00 Alison Inglis will investigate the enthusiasm for Gothic Revival painted furniture in Britain during the mid–19th century. Her paper will focus on the work of the Pre-Raphaelite artists associated with the designers William Morris and William Burges. Why was this furniture so popular? What were the subjects depicted on the various cabinets, wardrobes and chairs? And how influential were these very distinctive works of decorative art? Alison Inglis is an internationally recognised specialist in British 19th century art. She also has a research interest in Australian art museums and the history of collecting and display in this country. She is currently researching a book on the circulation of works of art around the British Empire between 1850 – 1950.

THE CHRISTOPHER MENZ SERIES

Christopher Menz is a specialist in decorative arts and has published extensively on the subject. He has worked as Curator at the National Gallery of Australia, National Gallery of Victoria and Art Gallery of South Australia. From 2005 to 2010 he was Director of the Art Gallery of South Australia.

Robert Adam to Regency: Neoclassicism in Britain
Tuesday 12 April 2011, 10.15 am to 11.45 am, $30.00 SOLD OUT

Thursday 18 August 2011, 7.15 pm to 8.45 pm Places available

The pursuit of neoclassicism during the second half of the 18th century developed in Europe, directly influenced by excavations carried out at Herculaneum and Pompeii from 1738 and 1748 respectively. The influence of the newly discovered ancient art and architecture on European design and architecture was vast. Robert Adam was the major British architect of the second half of the 18th century and was the seminal figure in the spread of neoclassical taste in Britain and Europe.

Nineteenth Century British Decorative Arts: The Aesthetic Movement and Influences of Japan Tuesday 24 May 2011, 10.15am to 11.45 am, $30.00 British design for the decorative arts during the second half of the 19th century underwent dramatic changes and was subject to reform in all areas. Eclectic sources were featured and designers drew inspiration from ancient and exotic cultures as well as Europe’s more recent past. The Aesthetic Movement, which drew on several sources, was largely influenced by the fashion for Japanese art and design. Two of the Movement’s most celebrated designers were Christopher Dresser and E W Godwin. Worcester, Aesthetic teapot, 1882

COLLECTING PARIS SERIES WITH SYLVIA SAGONA Sylvia Sagona is Fellow of the School of Languages at the University of Melbourne (Department of French and Italian Studies) and specialises in 19th century French art and society.

Paris: City Of Light: The Petit Palais Collection and The Universal Exhibition of 1900 Thursday 24 March 2011, 10.15 am to 11.45 am, $30.00 SOLD OUT The Petit Palais was built for the 1900 Universal Exhibition to showcase French culture and refinement. Its ornate jewel box structure soon attracted wealthy 19th century families, who donated their collections. It is now a little-known treasure trove of decorative arts from the Renaissance to the early 20th century, housing important collections of both Salon and Impressionist art. This lecture will discuss the role of the great 1900 Exposition Universelle as a vehicle for the myth of Paris, City of Light. BOOK INDIVIDUALLY @ $30.00 OR ALL THREE LECTURES TO RECEIVE A 10% DISCOUNT.

Marmottan Thursday 17 March 2011, 10.15 am to 11.45 am, $30.00 Paul Marmottan, the dilettante son of a self made 19th century industrialist, was an avid collector of Napoleonic memorabilia and donated his collection to the Academy of Fine Arts. The charming Belle Époque mansion would benefit from numerous legacies of amazing diversity. Dr de Bellio, who was the doctor to Monet, Pissarro, Sisley and Renoir, donated his collection of impressionist art, which in turn inspired Monet’s son to bequeath his father’s collection. This lecture will explore these legacies, and discuss artistic philanthropy in 19th century Paris.

Cognacq-Jay
Thursday 10 March 2011, 10.15 am to 11.45 am, $30.00

The Musée Cognacq-Jay was established and donated to the city of Paris by the 19th century entrepreneur Théodore Cognacq and his former shop girl wife, Louise Jay, who jointly founded the landmark Parisian department store, the Samaritaine. The elegant Hotel Donon in the Marais houses an exceptional collection of fine and decorative arts which includes snuffboxes, jewels and furniture, as well as paintings by Fragonard, Boucher, Watteau and Tiepolo. Even more fascinating is the story behind the Samaritaine and how shopping was transformed into a vehicle for female emancipation

BY POPULAR DEMAND! The Wallace Collection with Sylvia Sagona Saturday 9 April 2011, 10.15 am to 11.45 am, $30.00 SOLD OUT Displayed in the sumptuous London town house of the first four Marquesses of Hertford and Sir Richard Wallace, the Wallace Collection is a treasure trove of French painting, porcelain, gold boxes and furniture from the 18th century, as well as art work by Titian, Rembrandt, Hans Hals, Velasquez and English portraitists. It bears witness to the fascination that the French 18th century held for the British. We will explore both the house and the collection, as well as the fate of the now lost French Wallace Collection bequeathed to Lady Sackville. Sylvia Sagona will also be presenting a further series of lectures in the second half of 2011 as well as The Dear Departed on Wednesday 22 June 2011. (See details below)

The Case of Pietro da Cortona: True or False in The Johnston Collection with Simona Albanese Friday 20 May 2011, 10.15 am to 11.45 am, $30.00 Pietro da Cortona worked extensively in Rome during the 1630s and 1640s, when he depicted his most famous artwork The Triumph of Divine Providence for Cardinal Barberini between 1633 and 1639. This lecture will compare The Johnston Collection’s artwork to examples of the artist’s work of the same period in Rome, and attempt to establish if the work was produced by Cortona or one of his followers. Simona Albanese completed her MA on Pietro da Cortona while working in several galleries in Rome. In New Zealand she has lectured and worked as curator, while in Australia she is currently carrying out research on Italian paintings in Australian collections.

On Watch Pockets, Fitted Boxes and Chatelaines... with Dr Genevieve Cummins Tuesday 10 May 2011, 10.15 am to 11.45 am, $30.00 Complete chatelaines and fully fitted boxes with original or compatible contents have fascinated this speaker for decades. Following research on watch chatelaines, a further study has been undertaken on the manner of wearing watches. One interesting feature here has been the watch pocket – as part of an outfit, as an item to be worn, or for use at night. All these ideas will be covered in this talk. Genevieve Cummins, a Sydney based Paediatric Surgeon, is the co-author with Nerylla Taunton, of Chatelaines: Utility to Glorious Extravagance (1994), and the author of Antique Boxes – Inside and Out (2005), and How the Watch was Worn: A Fashion for 500 Years (2010).

Toussaint L’Ouverture: Napoleon’s ‘Gilded African’ or Wordsworth’s Tragic ‘Chieftain’ with Deirdre Coleman Thursday 28 April 2011, 10.15 am to 11.45 am, $30.00 In the mid-19th century the American abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison denounced the way in which slavery treated black people ‘as if they were not men, but automata or chattels’. In The Johnston Collection there is a French automaton clock representing Toussaint L’Ouverture, the hero of the Haitian revolution in the late 18th century. This lecture looks at a range of visual and textual representations of L’Ouverture, from the sympathetic British view of him as a hero, to the hostile French view of him as a traitor and buffoon. Deirdre Coleman is the Robert Wallace Chair of English and Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Arts at the University of Melbourne. She is a specialist in the Romantic period and has published extensively on the abolitionist movement in the 18th century. She is also interested in early automata.

BY POPULAR DEMAND! Living With Antique Furniture with Michael and Ulrike Garwood Tuesday 5 April 2011, 10.15 am to 11.45 am, $30.00 SOLD OUT Tuesday 19 April 2011, 10.15am to 11.45am, $30.00 Places Available   This workshop will present practical information about what to do and what not to do with antique furniture and wooden objects. Hands-on demonstrations (e.g. showing you how to clean and wax furniture) and discussions (with some examples presented illustrating common problems), will help inform you about how to care for and maintain the beauty and function of your antique furniture. Michael Garwood and Ulrike Garwood are conservators of objects, especially wooden objects. Both are graduates of the British Antique Dealers Association programme at West Dean College in the UK, and subsequent internships in the Furniture Conservation Section of the Victoria & Albert Museum in London. They have worked in Melbourne for a number of years as conservators in private practice.

Tying The Knot: Marriage in Dickens with Elisabeth Neales and John & Margaret Leonard
Wednesday 6 April 2011, 10.15 am to 12.00 pm, $30.00

This talk investigates marriage in the life and writings of Charles Dickens. First dealing with the unhappy marriage of the novelist himself, Margaret and John Leonard will give dramatised readings of marriages that are portrayed in the novels themselves.

Elisabeth Neales is a graduate of Oxford University and has taught English and History in secondary schools in England and Australia. She is currently Secretary of the Dickens Fellowship, Melbourne Branch. John and Margaret Leonard have diverse experience with the performing arts and now delight in sharing their enthusiasm for literary classics through dramatised readings.

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The Concept of Style with Tony Preston
Tuesday 29 March 2011, 10.15 am to 11.45 am, $30.00

‘Style’ can be two things - either the collective characteristics of an artistic expression, or that often elusive, intangible element that elevates an object in such a way that it completely transcends its company: put simply, we intuitively recognise it as palpably superior. A quixotic selection of man’s creative genius from 1500 BCE to the present will provoke discussion and debate about the concept of ‘style’, and this judge’s decision is not final - correspondence may be entered into on the day!

Tony Preston has extensive experience in the art world, both nationally and internationally, and was Chief Education Officer and Public Programmes Coordinator at the National Gallery of Victoria before establishing the new Christchurch Art Gallery in New Zealand in 2003, as its founding Director.

Discover Villas in the Western District with Timothy Hubbard
Wednesday 9 March 2011, 2.00 pm to 3.30 pm, $30.00

This talk provides an introduction to The Friends of The Johnston Collection Western District tour in April 2011

With imperial aspirations and some architectural pretension, for over fifty years Western District squatters established themselves in a vast pastoral landscape. Their homesteads were self-sufficient complexes supported by orchards, gardens and libraries. Situation and a sense of retreat were two further criteria for the villa lifestyle. The squatters claimed the landscape not only by occupation but also with the sophistication of their designs. These mostly Italianate villas were a Picturesque synthesis of style, form and function.

Timothy Hubbard is a consultant in the conservation of historic buildings, gardens, sites and landscapes. He is currently restoring Old St Andrews, the former Presbyterian Church and Manse at Port Fairy, where he now lives.

After Hours Series With Susan Scollay Book individually @ $30.00 or all three lectures to receive a 10% discount By popular demand!  In Praise of God: Islamic architecture and built form Thursday 15 July 2010, 7.15 pm – 8.45 pm, $30.00 Many features and concepts of religious and secular architecture overlap in the Islamic world, yet the mosque is so central to the Islamic faith that this session will focus on its origins and development, using examples such as the Great Mosque at Qairouan in Tunisia, its counterparts in Cairo, Damascus, Ottoman Turkey and Mughal India.                                      By popular demand!  Roses in Paradise : the role of gardens and garden culture in landscape, literature and decoration in the Islamic World Saturday 14 August 2010, 10.15 am – 11.45 am, $30.00 Large and elaborate gardens were planted around the palaces of all the Islamic countries - from Spain right across to India and Central Asia. At the same time small gardens, shrubs and potted flowers graced the courtyards of more modest residences - reflecting the universal love of gardens and passion for flowers amongst Muslims.  By popular demand!  Like Light from the Sun: Tiles and Ceramics in the Islamic World Thursday 19 August 2010, 7.15 pm – 8.45 pm, $30.00 Highly decorative and sumptuously coloured tilework was the preferred means of embellishing Islamic architecture - both inside and out.  Its production was closely linked to ceramic vessels and tableware, and made use of designs similar to those used by metal workers, book illustrators and weavers.

The Susan Scollay Lecture Series

Susan Scollay is an internationally recognised specialist in textiles and carpets and Islamic art and culture. She is contributing editor of HALI, the London-based journal of carpet, textile and Islamic art, and is currently completing a PhD at La Trobe University, Melbourne

Book individually @ $30.00 or all four lectures to receive a 10% discount

1.  Carpet for Kings
Wednesday 7 July 2010, 10.15 am – 11.45 am, $30.00

The history and traditions of carpet weaving in Asia – and ways in which eastern carpets were introduced to Europe and European interiors.  This session will focus particularly on the court carpets of the great Islamic empires of the 14th to 19th centuries.

2.  Fatma’s Story 
Wednesday 14 July 2010, 10.15 am – 11.45 am, $30.00

Techniques and dyeing – a step-by-step outline of the way a carpet is made, and how this can vary from region to region. This session will focus particularly on urban and village carpet production. It will also consider the questions: what makes a ‘good’ rug, and what does a collector look for?

3.  Woven Gardens
Wednesday 21 July 2010, 10.15 am – 11.45 am, $30.00

Designs in oriental carpets – their origins and influences. The major design ‘families’ of oriental rugs and carpets based on geographic and visual differences. This session will look at designs across the whole spectrum of oriental carpet traditions: urban, village and tribal.

4.  Woven from the Heart
Wednesday 28 July 2010, 10.15 am – 11.45 am, $30.00

The concluding session will focus on carpet weaving in the nomadic traditions of Central Asia, Iran and Turkey. A highlight will be a series of photographs taken by the late Josephine Powell, who spent thirty years documenting the weaving and daily lives of eastern Anatolian nomads.

 

 

The Jane Austen Series

John Wiltshire begins our series with a set of three lectures.  Professor Wiltshire is the author of several books about Jane Austen, and has edited Mansfield Park for the authoritative Cambridge edition.  His most recent books are The Cinematic Jane Austen (2009) and The Making of Dr Johnson (2009)

Book individually @ $30.00 or all three lectures to receive a 10% discount

1.  Mr Darcy's Smile
Thursday 22 July 2010, 11.15 am – 12.45 am, $30.00

Perhaps the most important turning point in the relationship between Elizabeth Bennet and Mr Darcy in Pride and Prejudice occurs at a peculiar moment - when Elizabeth stands in front of Darcy’s portrait at Pemberley, and sees that he is smiling.  What does his smile mean, and why haven’t readers seen it before?  This talk explores this intriguing question.                        

2.  Mrs Bennet's Least Loved Daughter
Thursday 29 July 2010, 11.15 am – 12.45 am, $30,00

In Pride and Prejudice, Elizabeth Bennet severely criticises her father for his behaviour in the family, but we are never told what she thinks of her mother, whose influence is so much more powerful in the novel.  This talk explores the hints that Pride and Prejudice gives about the actual relationship between Mrs Bennet and her ‘least loved daughter’.

3.  The Bluestocking Ladies
Thursday 5 August 2010, 11.15 am – 12.45 am, $30.00

This talk introduces guests to a fascinating gallery of late 18th century ladies, who met at great houses in London for the purpose of intellectual and literary conversation.  Among them were Hannah More, Elizabeth Carter and Fanny Burney.  Dr Johnson praised their wit and learning, saying, ‘three such women are nowhere else to be found’.

 

Afternoon Tea with Jane Austen with Barbara Summerbell
Tuesday 3 August 2010, 2.00pm – 3.30pm, $30.00 Sold Out

Tuesday 10 August 2010, 2.00pm-3.30pm, $30.00 Places Available

Within Jane Austen’s Georgian world, hospitality was the framework which fuelled and oiled all social relationships.  Social occasions demanded attention to consumer items, be they fashionable clothing, fine china or a Pembroke table.  Join Barbara Summerbell in a conversation to explore the decorative arts within Jane Austen’s writings.

Barbara Summerbell, a Melbourne University graduate in literature and history, has researched the Regency world with particular reference to the nuances related to consumerism in Jane Austen’s writings.

The 3 R’s According to Jane – Reading, Writing & Romance
with Lise Rodgers
Thursday 12 August 2010, 10.15am – 11.45am, $30.00

Using letters written by Jane Austen to her sister and nieces, interspersed with passages from the novels, we gain much insight into Jane’s approach to both writing and matters of the heart.

Lise Rodgers is an accomplished Melbourne actress whose career has spanned stage, screen and radio.  An interest in the world and characters of Jane Austen is the inspiration behind her series of ‘Jane’ performances.

Elegant Dining in Jane Austen’s Time with Margaret Leonard Tuesday 17 August 2010, 2.00pm – 3.30pm, $30.00 In Jane Austen’s day eating was quite a different experience from what we know today.  Meal times, the dining-table and even the dining room in middle and upper class homes would be quite strange to us.  The 18th century saw the beginnings of the Agrarian and Industrial Revolutions.  What happened to second-hand tea leaves and how a syllabub was made are some of the questions which will be answered. Margaret Leonard was formerly a French and English teacher.  She is currently a member of the Jane Austen Society. Jane Austen & The Country House with Linda Young Wednesday 15 September 2010, 10.15am – 11.45am, $30.00 Jane was, like Elizabeth Bennett, a gentleman’s daughter – though poor, she was sufficiently genteel to have the entrée to a number of great families and their stately homes.  This talk traces some of her visits and her perceptions of fine houses, the people who inhabited them and the style in which they lived. Dr Linda Young is a Senior Lecturer & Course Director in Cultural Heritage & Museum Studies at Deakin University.

A Series of Four Lectures with  Sylvia Sagona

Sylvia Sagona is a fellow of the School of languages at the University of Melbourne and specialises in 19th Century French art and society.

Book individually @ $30.00 or all three new lectures to receive a 10% discount

1.  The Wallace Collection:  Nostalgia for the Ancien Regime
Thursday 26 August, 10.15 am – 11.45 am, $30.00 Sold Out

Displayed in the sumptuous London town house of the first four Marquesses of Hertford and Sir Richard Wallace, the Wallace Collection is a treasure trove of French painting, porcelain, gold boxes, furniture from the 18th century and art work by world renowned artists.  This talk explores both the house and the collection as well as the fate of the now lost French Wallace Collection bequeathed to Lady Sackville.

2.  Dealing with The Scarlet Pimpernel:  Buckingham Palace and George IV’s Sèvres porcelain collection
Thursday 9 September 2010, 10.15 am – 11.45 am, $30.00

George V’s taste for the exotic, rare and extravagant produced what is considered the finest collection of Sèvres porcelain in the world. The sumptuous pieces formed glamorous accessories to the visual theatricality of his glittering receptions held at Carlton House. This lecture will explore the collection and the intriguing Chinese Regency style furniture and design brought from the Royal Pavilion at Brighton to Buckingham Palace to set off this display.

3.  Porcelain & Propaganda:  The Empress Josephine’s decorative arts collection at the Chateau de Malmaison
Thursday 23 September 2010, 10.15 am, - 11.45 am, $30.00

Napoleon Bonaparte was more fascinated by Josephine’s aristocratic network and exquisite taste than he was by her well rehearsed femininity and frivolous Creole charm.  Their home at Malmaison is a splendid example of the styles she would make famous.  Exported throughout her husband’s new Empire, her taste was adopted by all the courts of Europe.       

By popular demand! Power Dressing: Marie Antoinette and the fashion that brought down the Ancien Regime
Saturday 11 September 2010, 10.15 am – 11.45 am, $30.00 Sold Out

Saturday9 October 2010, 10.15am - 11.45am, $30.00 Places Available

This lecture investigates the layers of social, cultural and political significance that lay beneath the seemingly frivolous changes in fashion instigated by Marie Antoinette from the time she arrived in Paris as a teenager, to her death on the scaffold.  Style does matter.                                                          
 

                                                                                                                                               

Further Lectures & Workshops

Workshop:  An Introduction to Georgian Glass with Bill Davis
Wednesday 25 August 2010, 10.15 am – 11.45 am, $30.00 Sold Out

The invention of English glass of lead by George Ravenscroft in 1674 led to the establishment of the English table glass industry which became the envy of glass manufacturers throughout the industrialised world for over 200 years.  The much admired quality of this glass, its styles and decoration developed during the 18th century will be discussed and appreciated through handling of examples in a hands-on workshop environment.
Bill Davis is glass adviser to The Johnston Collection and a glass collector.

 

 

Buying Antiquities in 18th Century Rome and Naples with Gerard Vaughan Thursday 2 September 2010, 10.15 am – 11.45 am, $30.00 The Townley Collection of heavily restored Roman marbles at the British Museum is today largely ignored by the millions of visitors who flock to the British Museum to view its ‘primary’ collections of Greek and Roman antiquities.  But that was not the case in the 18th century when the Townley Collection was one of the most celebrated in Europe. This talk will throw light on Charles Townley’s activities in Rome and Naples at a key moment of classical revival in European taste and ideas. Dr Gerard Vaughan is Director of the National Gallery of Victoria and an art historian with extensive experience within the international art and museum worlds. Johan Zoffany, Charles Townley and his friends in the library of his house at 7 Park Street, Westminster, 1781-3, Townley Art Gallery & Museum, Burnley

English Commemorative Glass of the 18th and 19th Centuries with Bill Davis Tuesday 7 September 2010, 10.15 am – 11.45 am, $30.00 Throughout history, drinking glasses have been used to record important events. This lectures includes a brief introduction to English lead table glass of the 18th century, some events of historical significance recorded on glass of this period and discussion on the glasses themselves. Bill Davis is glass adviser to The Johnston Collection and a glass collector.

Three Lectures With Valerie Krips Dr Valerie Krips is Associate Professor Emerita Department of English University of Pittsburgh and Honorary Fellow School of Culture & Communication University of Melbourne. Book individually @ $30.00 or all three lectures to receive a 10% discount The World of the Nursery: Childhood in The Country House Tuesday 21 September 2010, 10.15 am – 11.45 am, $30.00 What was childhood really like in the country house and how did it intersect with that of the children who lived nearby?  Who did or did not go to school?  Who were the wet-nurses, nursemaids and governesses and why did the parents of these children leave so much of their upbringing in the hands of servants?

With Her Face to the Wall: The Housemaid
Tuesday 28 September 2010, 10.15am – 11.45am, $30.00
The housemaid was the person who made the house comfortable for its inhabitants.  Yet of all the servants, she was the least thought of.  If she was seen in the day by any of those for whom she worked, she had to turn her face to the wall.  Who was she and what was it, exactly, that she did?

History in the House?
Thursday 7 October 2010, 10.15am – 11.45am, $30.00
Would it make a difference if all, or any, of the objects in The Johnston Collection were fakes or forgeries?  This talk discusses the question of ‘authenticity’ and what makes it so important.  What is the difference between a souvenir and an ‘important piece’?  What is a ‘new’ antique?  Is there, should there be, only ‘history’ in the house?

Georgiana McCrae:  Her Life in Miniatures with Caroline Clemente Thursday 30 September 2010, 10.15am – 11.45am, $30.00 Georgiana McCrae was a fully trained miniature portraitist, banned by her husband’s family from practising professionally.  Many of her surviving works will be illustrated in this talk.  They reflect her remarkable story which opens in her father’s ducal family, her move to London with her husband and concludes with her pioneering life in early Melbourne. Catherine Clemente is author of Australian Watercolours in the National Gallery of Victoria 1802-1926, and the ‘Catalogue of Plates’ for Brenda Niall’s biography of Georgiana McCrae. Portraits in Pottery: Portrait medallions and intaglio seals by Wedgwood and other potters with Ken Barnes Tuesday 5 October 2010, 10.15am – 11.45am, $30.00 This lecture traces the development and interest in small ceramic portraits and likenesses as personal keepsakes or reminders of historical figures before the invention of photography, with emphasis on the contribution made by Josiah Wedgwood in the 18th century, along with other British and Continental potters. Ken Barnes is a collector and lecturer with an extensive knowledge of black basalt and other forms of stoneware produced in the 18th and 19th centuries. Timeless Tin Glaze: English Delftware with Robyn Ives Tuesday 12 October 2010, 10.15am – 11.45am, $30.00 Tin-glazes were known in Mesopotamia about 1000BCE.  The technique was revived around the 9th century when potters in Iraq used tin to opacify lead glazes.  Over time the technique spread to Europe and into England. Explore how the English created their unique English Delftware, discover the techniques and influences on production. Robyn Ives is a collector and lecturer on English ceramics, with particular interest in Post Medieval English pottery; tin-glazed earthenware is a class within this field.

An Introduction to Clocks and Barometers and their Works with Fergus Forsyth Wednesday 13 October 2010, 10.15am – 11.45am, $30.00 An historical overview of time-telling and its increasing importance to an expanding world, including information about barometers and their role in maritime exploration, concluding with some helpful advice about the care and setting up of your time piece or barometer. Fergus Forsyth has a Diploma in conservation and Restoration of Antique clocks and has lived and worked in Australia for over 20 years.  He recently returned to working with clocks and barometers. Workshop: How to Handle and Clean Ceramics with Penny Byrne Tuesday 19 October 2010, 10.15am – 12.45pm, $30.00 Presenting practical information about what to do and what not to do with ceramics.  Practical, hands on demonstrations and discussion to help inform you about how to care for and maintain the beauty, function and value of your pieces. Penny Byrne is a conservator of objects, especially ceramics.  She is based in Melbourne and works as a conservator and is a practising artist. The Silkweavers of Spitalfields with Robert Nash Friday 22 October 2010, 10.15 – 11.45am, $30.00 Sold Out This talk will concentrate on the silkweaving industry of the East End of London which flourished in the 18th and early 19th centuries, and in particular on the role of Huguenot refugees and their descendants in that industry. Robert Nash is Secretary of the Huguenot Society of Australia and editor of the book The Hidden Thread: Huguenot Families in Australia.

Oriental Carpet Study Day
Saturday 10 July 2010, 10 AM – 4PM

Includes morning and afternoon tea and light sandwich lunch.  Cost $110 per person.

PROGRAMME:

The Pazaryk Carpet:  Frozen in Time with Leigh Mackay, President of the Oriental Rug Society of NSW

The Trinitarius Carpet with Roger Leong, Curator, International Fashion and Textiles at the National Gallery of Victoria   

Oriental Carpets in Europe with Susan Scollay, internationally recognised specialist in textiles and carpets.                                                                                                                                                                        
Learning to See:  Encounters with Carpets with Elizabeth Cross, art historian, artist and independent curator

Book now by telephoning 03 9416 2515 or email us via our contact us page.

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Staging Past & Present: Piranesi’s Rome with Mary Kisler Thursday 24 June 2010, 10.15 am – 11.45 am, $30.00 A Venetian who spent most of his working life in Rome, Giovanni Battista Piranesi (1720–1778) developed a passion for Roman architecture. Archaeological ruins and sculptural fragments were constantly being uncovered, and he delighted in ‘re-constructing’ these, not only imagining how they would have looked when first built, but also creating fantastical structures of colossal proportions. Connoisseurs and critics applauded his architectural prints, but it was his poetic flights of fancy that had a major impact on the European visual imagination. Mary Kisler is Mackelvie Curator International Art at Auckland Art Gallery and is an art historian with a particular interest in Renaissance and Baroque art.

Ceramics Conservation & Restoration: An illustrated talk with Penny Byrne
Thursday 17 June 2010, 10.15 am – 11.45 am, $30.00

Ceramics Conservation and Restoration is a highly skilled profession and in this illustrated lecture Penny will explain the processes and intricacies involved, and highlight some of the pitfalls to be avoided, including amusing anecdotes gleaned from over 15 years of practice as a freelance conservator/restorer.

Penny Byrne is a conservator of objects, especially ceramics. A graduate of the British Antique Dealers Association program at West Dean College in the UK, Penny is based in Melbourne and works as a conservator and is a practising artist.

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The Embroiderers Guild, Victoria Lecture Series In conjunction with The Embroiderers Guild, Victoria 50th Anniversary celebrations.

Embroidering with Mr Morris with Robert Reason
Wednesday 16 June 2010, 10.15 am – 11.45 am, $30.00- SOLD OUT

Wednesday 16 June 2010, 2.00 pm - 3.30 pm, $30.00 - SOLD OUT

William Morris’ interest in embroidery was evident from the establishment of Morris & Co. in 1861 when he set about designing flowers that Jane Morris could embroider on curtains for Red House. Embroidery remained an integral part of the firm and due to the embroidering talents of the Barr Smith family in Adelaide, we can still savour the exceptional skill, beauty and design ethos of Morris from the collection of the Art Gallery of South Australia.

Robert Reason is the author of Morris & Co. Designs & Patterns (2003); Gladys Reynell (2006), and co-author of Empires & Splendour: The David Roche Collection (2008).

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Birds, Beasts & Flowers... Discovering Asian symbols found in The Johnston Collection with Ruth Clemens Thursday 10 June 2010, 10.15 am – 11.45 am, $30.00 Numerous Asian symbols are found in The Johnston Collection, from a variety of sources or categories such as mythology, nature, Daoism, Buddhism, puns derived from the homophonic Chinese language, and so on. Through various materials employed such as porcelain, lacquer and textiles, this talk will reveal different aspects of signs and symbols to be discovered. Ruth Clemens is currently a Voluntary Guide at the National Gallery of Victoria with a special interest in Asian culture. She is a collector of and specialist in Chinese textiles.

Daughters of Victoria: Revolution, Refinement & Respectability with Vivien Caughley
Wednesday 2 June 2010, 10.15 am – 11.45 am, $30.00

During the Victorian era the craft of embroidery witnessed radical change in its materials and techniques, its makers, and especially its end-purposes. Much Victorian embroidery was created for domestic use to reflect the sanctity of the Home.

Vivien Caughley is a volunteer in Applied Arts at Auckland War Memorial Museum. Her work has been published in local, international and academic publications since 2005.

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Hidden Beauties: Australian Needlework Samplers with Peg Fraser
Tuesday 11 May 2010, 10.15 am – 11.45 am, $30.00

During the Georgian and Regency periods, English girls produced needlework samplers of exquisite beauty and workmanship. Small wonder, then, that many people are disappointed in the simple, coarse samplers of their Australian cousins.

Peg Fraser professional historian completed her thesis on Australian samplers and invites you to explore the social history behind the humble Australian sampler and discover that the simplest objects can unlock the greatest stories.

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Embroidered Flowers in the Military with Evangelia Erturk
Wednesday 19 May 2010, 10.15 am – 11.45 am, $30.00

This presentation will review Evangelia Erturk’s 40 years of experience and focus around the use of floral emblems in Australian military embroidery and the techniques used to create them.

Evangelia Erturk OAM is an internationally recognised master ceremonial embroiderer specialising in military embroidery, rank insignia, flags and banners.

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The Midas Touch with Lesley Uren
Wednesday 5 May 2010, 10.15 am – 11.45 am, $30.00

Gold embroidery has been executed almost universally and is as old as the goldsmith or weaver. The history of this magnificent and rich tradition of embroidered embellishment will be discussed including the intricate making of the thread.
Lesley Uren is a recognised specialist in metal thread embroidery. She is a founder, and still active member of the EGV. She is currently completing embroidery for several major exhibitions to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of The Embroiderers Guild, Victoria in 2010.

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Treasured Tools for the Embroiderer with Wendy Ritchie
Wednesday 24 March 2010, 10.15 am – 11.45 am, $30.00

Wendy Ritchie’s illustrated lecture will be based on her extensive collection of antique embroidery tools which has lead to an abiding interest in their history and the history of work that resulted from their use.

Wendy Ritchie has lectured widely on this topic and is the Curator of The Embroiderers Guild, Victoria Tools Collection.

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What The Dickens: An introduction to Charles Dickens with Elisabeth Neales & readers, John & Margaret Leonard
Friday 28 May 2010, 2.00 pm – 3.30 pm, $30.00

This presentation includes biographical material and examination of five principal aspects of the novels copiously illustrated with dramatised readings from the texts.

Elisabeth Neales is a graduate of Oxford University and has taught English and History in secondary schools in England and Australia. She is currently Secretary of the Dickens Fellowship Melbourne Branch.
John and Margaret Leonard have diverse experience with the performing arts and now delight in sharing their enthusiasm for literary classics through dramatised readings.

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Bess of Hardwick (1527-1608): Matriarch, Builder, Embroiderer with Dorothy Morgan

Morning Session: Wednesday 10 March 2010, 10.15 am – 11.45 am, $30.00 SOLD OUT

Afternoon Session: Wednesday 10 March 2010, 2.00 pm – 3.30 pm, $30.00 PLACES AVAILABLE

In a time of political beheadings and imprisonments, Bess, or Elizabeth of Shrewsbury as she became, survived four husbands, bore eight children, built stately homes and a significant business empire and still found time to embroider. Discover more about this second most powerful woman of the Elizabethan period.

Dorothy Morgan, Guest Curator of Flowering Needles: Embroidery from Elizabeth to Victoria, is an honours history graduate of Melbourne University and a keen embroiderer.

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EMPIRES & SPLENDOUR: aspects of the David Roche Collection with Martyn Cook

 

SOLD OUT

 

Wednesday 22 April 2009, 2.00 pm – 3.30 pm, $30.00

A lifetime spent collecting, David J K Roche has assembled a superb collection of 18th and 19th century English, French, Russian and German decorative arts.  The lecture Empires & Splendour is taken from the superb catalogue produced by the Art Gallery of South Australia for their exhibition celebrating the David Roche Collection held in Adelaide during 2008.  Highlights include magnificent Empire, Regency and Russian furniture, porcelain clocks and objects by renowned designers, cabinetmakers and manufacturers such as Chippendale, Thomas Hope, George Smith, Fabergé, Meissen, Worcester, Chelsea, Gardner and more.  A remarkable selection of treasures in this outstanding private collection will be revealed through this lavishly illustrated talk.

Martyn Cook, a fixture at the top end of the Australian antiques trade, has known Adelaide collector David Roche for some 25 years travelling the world for the D J K  Roche Foundation as commission agent.  Since 1982 Martyn Cook Antiques Sydney has specialised in the finest English and French furniture from the 18th and 19th centuries and the decorative arts.

A SERIES OF THREE LECTURES WITH SYLVIA SAGONA

1. CRINOLINE CRISIS:  the effect of women’s fashion on furniture and interior design in 19th century Paris
SOLD OUT

Tuesday 28 April 2009, 10.15 am – 11.45 am, $30.00

In the mid 19th century the Empress Eugénie took advantage of newly developed steel under skirts to expand the crinoline to extraordinary proportions.  This move, designed originally to boost the French luxury goods trade, had repercussions not only on women’s health and her status as a decorative ornament, but on the design of furniture, the decor of rooms and the interior layout of the new mansions.  The Musée Galliéra in Paris houses a fascinating collection documenting the unexpected effects of the rise of the first great fashion industry.

2. DYNASTY:  the story of the ill-fated Camondo family and their collections
SOLD OUT

Tuesday 5 May 2009, 10.15 am – 11.45 am, $30.00

The immense wealth of the Camondo Bank, founded in Istanbul, transferred to Italy and then to Paris at the time of Napoleon III, allowed the brothers, Count Moise and Count Isaac de Camondo to devote their lives to collecting 18th century decorative arts.  At their death, both collections were donated to the City of Paris and form the basis of the collection of the Museum of Decorative Arts.  At the centre of the frantic pace of the artistic circles in Paris, they persuaded other Jewish families of the Second Empire, such as the Fould, Cernuschi and Péreire to follow their philanthropic mission.  The Hotel de Camondo collection is particularly rich in silverware and china and stands as a poignant reminder of the dream of international culture.

3. THE LAST CONNOISSEUR:  the Calouste Gulbenkian Collection in Lisbon
SOLD OUT

Tuesday 12 May 2009, 10.15 am – 11.45 am, $30.00

Born in Istanbul in 1869, this fascinating London educated, French speaking Armenian diplomat played a major role in the founding of the Royal Dutch/Shell, Iraq and Turkish Petroleum Companies at the time of the dismantling of the Ottoman Empire.  Moving seamlessly from one culture to another, he used his immense wealth to amass what is considered to be one of the greatest private collections in the world, now housed in Lisbon, Portugal, where he died. This all encompassing eclectic collection which we will investigate is particularly strong in Art Nouveau jewellery and glass, 19th century painting and Classical antiquities.

(Book individually or all three lectures for $85.00)

Sylvia Sagona is Fellow of the School of Languages at the University of Melbourne (Department of French, Italian and French Studies) and specialises in 19th century French art and society.

CONVERSATIONS WITH PORCELAIN COLLECTORS with Robyn Ives
Thursday 21 May 2009, 10.30 am – 12.00 pm, $30.00

How do porcelain collections begin?  Why do collectors pursue objects for their collections?  Learn the answers to these questions and more when Robyn Ives talks to collectors about their porcelain and discovers what drives their passion.

Robyn Ives is the Guest Curator for An Astonishing Revolution – Porcelain 1640-1840, Ceramics Advisor to The Johnston Collection and a former Vice-President of the Ceramics and Glass Circle of Australia.  She is a collector and lecturer who finds the philosophy of collecting and its interpretation fascinating.

THE FOUR AGES OF FURNITURE:  a walk in the Oak, Walnut, Mahogany and Satinwood forests with Ben Hodgetts
Wednesday 27 May 2009, 10.15 am – 11.45 am, $30.00

In 1904 designer and furniture collector Percy Macquoid grouped English furniture into four distinct categories.  His four volume study A History of English Furniture created the ages of Oak, Walnut, Mahogany and Satinwood.  These convenient periods have been used ever since.  Why did these woods emerge as a handy classification system instead of the reigns of the monarchs?  Why do we still refer to them when it is easier to identify designers and makers?  Do these Ages still work today?  Based on his knowledge of The Johnston Collection, Hodgett’s will help us discover why these terms still matter.

Conservator Benjamin Hodgetts trained at the London College of Furniture (now the Guildhall University).  For over 25 years, he has undertaken numerous commissions to sympathetically restore furniture, both in the United Kingdom and in Australia, for government, museums, other public institutions and private clients.

TOURING THE ORIENT:   William Johnston, Orientalism and the Arts of the Islamic World
A series of four lectures with Susan Scollay

A continuing theme in the travels and collection of William Johnston is his pursuit of what has been described as the ‘Orientalist’ aesthetic.  In this series of four illustrated lectures, Susan Scollay will outline the origins of ‘Orientalism’, with its artistic and cultural references to the former European colonies in Islamic North Africa, the Levant and India.  Using WilIiam Johnston’s travels in Tunisia, Egypt and northern India as a starting point, the four lectures will provide an overview of the arts of the Islamic world, with particular reference to:

1. IN PRAISE OF GOD:  Islamic architecture and built form

Wednesday 10 June 2009, 10.15 am – 11.45 am, $30.00

Many features and concepts of religious and secular architecture overlap in the Islamic world, yet the mosque is so central to the Islamic faith that this session will focus on its origins and development, using examples such as the Great Mosque at Qairouan in Tunisia, and its counterparts in Cairo, Damascus, Ottoman Turkey and Mughal India.  Palace life and architectural patronage will also be discussed.

2. ROSES IN PARADISE:  the role of gardens and garden culture in landscape, literature and decoration

Wednesday 17 June, 2009 10.15 am – 11.45 am, $30.00

Large and elaborate gardens were planted around the palaces of all the Islamic countries - from Spain right across to India and Central Asia. At the same time small gardens, shrubs and potted flowers graced the courtyards of more modest residences - reflecting the universal love of gardens and passion for flowers amongst Muslims. Garden themes were ubiquitous in Islamic poetry and dominated the design repertoire of all the arts and crafts.  

3. LIKE LIGHT FROM THE SUN:  tiles and other ceramics Wednesday 24 June, 2009, 10.15 am – 11.45 am, $30.00

Highly decorative and sumptuously coloured tilework was the preferred means of embellishing Islamic architecture - both inside and out.   Its production was closely linked to ceramic vessels and tableware, and made use of designs similar to those used by metal workers, book illustrators and weavers.

4. SPUN FROM THE HEART; WOVEN FROM THE SOUL :   a hands-on introduction to oriental carpets 
Wednesday 1 July, 2009, 10.15 am – 11.45 am, $30.00

Several of William Johnston’s own carpets will be used to demonstrate different weaving techniques used in the major carpet production areas.  Other means of identifying and dating carpets will be discussed - including dyes, pattern and changing production methods.

Book individually or  all four lectures for $115.00

Susan Scollay is an internationally recognised specialist in textiles and carpets, and Islamic art and culture.  She is a contributing editor of HALI, the London-based journal of carpet, textile and Islamic art, and is currently completing a PhD at La Trobe University, Melbourne

CONVERSATIONS WITH JANE AUSTEN with Barbara Summerbell
Tuesday 14 July 2009, 2.00 pm – 3.30 pm, $30.00

Within Jane Austen’s Georgian world, hospitality was the framework which fuelled and oiled all social relationships.  Social occasions demanded attention to consumer items, be they fashionable clothing, fine china or a Pembroke table.  Join Barbara Summerbell in a conversation to explore the decorative arts within Jane Austen’s writings. 

Barbara Summerbell, a Melbourne University graduate in literature and history, has researched the Regency world with particular reference to the nuances related to consumerism in Jane Austen’s writings.

CERAMICS FOR THE QUEEN – CREAMWARE & PATRONAGE with Robyn Ives
Wednesday 8 July 2009, 10.30 am – 12.00 pm, $30.00

Join Robyn Ives to explore the invention and development of creamware in the 18th century.  Learn how this ceramic body was fashioned into objects sought by royalty, the aristocracy and the middle class and discover the effect of patronage on its popularity.

Robyn Ives is the President of the Wedgwood Society in Australia.  She is a collector and lecturer with an extensive knowledge of Wedgwood of all periods and styles.  18th century Wedgwood comes within her particular interest in Post Medieval English pottery.

A SERIES OF FOUR LECTURES WITH PROFESSOR JOHN WILTSHIRE

1.  WHY DO WE READ JANE AUSTEN? 
Tuesday 4 August, 10.30 am – 12.00 pm, $30.00

Jane Austen’s novels make them, perhaps more than any other classics, resistant to translation into films.  This talk discusses the absence of the visual in her work, the continuous presence of an ironically-disposed narrator and her pervasive anti-romantic treatments and values.  The talk suggests that films bearing Jane Austen’s name turn this anti-romantic novelist back into a romantic novelist and that this is the source of their ongoing appeal.

Virginia Woolf once wrote that Jane Austen ‘should have laid a wreath on the grave of Fanny Burney’ – meaning that the younger novelist could not have written without Burney’s example.  The following talks show that there is much evidence of Austen’s affection for Burney’s books, but it goes on to suggest that they are radically different writers.

2.  JANE AUSTEN AND FANNY BURNEY
Tuesday 11 August, 10.30 am – 12.00 pm, $30.00

This talk shows that there is much evidence of Austen’s affection for Fanny Burney’s books but suggests they were radically different writers.  Burney combined the romantic novel with the comic novel and she is most at home in the city, whereas Austen is a novelist of country life.  Most importantly, Austen was a great artist and Burney, for all the vivacity and incident of her novels, was not. 

3.  FANNY BURNEY AND HER WORLD (PART 1)
Tuesday 18 August, 10.30 am – 12.00 pm, $30.00

Frances or ‘Fanny’ Burney lived from 1752-1840.  In 1778, she published her best selling novel Evelina.  Shortly afterwards she was persuaded to take up a place at court where she led five years of frustration and torture.  Escaping the court she fell in love with and boldly married the penniless Count d’Arblay.  She wrote Camilla to finance the house they built together.  Jane Austen was one of the subscribers to this novel.

4.  FANNY BURNEY AND HER WORLD (PART 2)
Tuesday 25 August, 10.30 am – 12.00 pm, $30.00

Burney’s life radically changed following her exile to France in 1802.  She endured a mastectomy of the right breast without anaesthetic in 1810, she witnessed the battle of Waterloo, and later in Bath, she nursed her dying husband, vividly recording all these events.  Burney’s journals offer fascinating personal insights into the period covered by The Johnston Collection.   

(Book individually or all four lectures for $115.00)

John Wiltshire was a Professor at La Trobe University until his retirement in 2007.  He is the author of several books about Jane Austen, and has edited Mansfield Park for the authoritative Cambridge edition.   His most recent book is The Cinematic Jane Austen (2009).

GETTING DRESSED WITH JANE AUSTEN with Lise Rodgers
Thursday 27 August, 2.00 pm – 3.30 pm, $30.00

Using the letters of Jane Austen, opinions of the day and some historical background, we delve into the world of Georgian fashion, by spending an hour or so getting dressed with Jane from the underwear to the outerwear and beyond.

Lise Rodgers is an accomplished Melbourne actress whose career has spanned stage, screen and radio. An interest in the world and characters of Jane Austen is the inspiration behind her series of “Jane” performances.

PORTRAIT OF A COLLECTOR:  John Twycross and The Melbourne Exhibition Collection with Charlotte Smith
Wednesday 7 October, 10.15 am – 11.45 am, $30.00

The John Twycross 1880 Melbourne International Exhibition Collection comprises approximately 150 objects bought by wealthy wool merchant John Twycross at the 1880 Melbourne International Exhibition. Recently donated to Museum Victoria, the collection includes decorative, functional, and novelty objects and works of art. The collection provides a remarkable snapshot of late 19th century taste and style, which Dr Smith will explore in relation to the Melbourne International Exhibition.    

Dr Charlotte Smith is Senior Curator, Public Life & Institutions at Museum Victoria.  An historian with over 15 years experience working in museums and universities in England and Australia, Charlotte is particularly interested in museology and built heritage.

AFTERNOON TEA WITH JANE AUSTEN with Barbara Summerbell
Monday 19 October, 2.00 pm – 3.30 pm, $30.00

SOLD OUT

Within Jane Austen’s Georgian world, hospitality was the framework which fuelled and oiled all social relationships.  Social occasions demanded attention to consumer items, be they fashionable clothing, fine china or a Pembroke table.  Join Barbara Summerbell in a conversation to explore the decorative arts within Jane Austen’s writings.   

Barbara Summerbell, a Melbourne University graduate in literature and history, has researched the Regency world with particular reference to the nuances related to consumerism in Jane Austen’s writings.

THE ART OF THE CABINET with Matthew Martin
Thursday 3 September, 10.15 am – 11.45 am, $30.00

Of all the productions of the European furniture tradition, the cabinet stands as the epitome of magnificent form and luxurious technique.  It has for centuries formed a central element in European cultures of collecting and display.  This talk explores the fascinating history of this marvellous furniture form and will be illustrated by examples drawn from The Johnston Collection as well as other Melbourne collections. 

Dr Matthew Martin is Assistant Curator - Decorative Arts & Antiquities at the NGV and is the recipient of The Copland Foundation Attingham Scholarship for 2009. He is co-curator of the forthcoming Chinoiserie exhibition at the NGV.

THE EDWARD LORD MONTAGU PORTRAIT AND ELIZABETHAN COSTUME with Roger Leong Wednesday 14 October, 2.00 pm – 3.30 pm, $30.00 One of the challenges of studying dress from the Elizabethan period is the scarcity of extant garments. Of the magnificent clothes worn at the court of Elizabeth, nothing remains. There are however many securely dated paintings from which the developments of dress and its details can be established. This talk will discuss the clothes worn by Edward Lord Montagu in his 1601 portrait and look at the broader context of men’s fashion in Elizabethan England.    Roger Leong is Curator – International Fashion & Textiles at NGV Melbourne and has recently curated Persuasion: Fashion in the Age of Jane Austen. He has been responsible for numerous exhibitions on historic and contemporary fashion including The Ballets Russes of Serge Diaghilev.

AN ASTONISHING REVOLUTION - PORCELAIN 1640-1840   ends 24 July 2009   An Astonishing Revolution – Porcelain 1640-1840  is an exhibition of porcelain from private collectors, illustrating seven great moments in porcelain history. As well as the visual delights of the exhibition, superb images will take you on a journey of 200 years of ceramics production to discover the people behind the objects and the circumstances that influenced their manufacture.   Robyn Ives is Guest Curator for An Astonishing Revolution – Porcelain 1640-1840, and Ceramics Advisor to The Johnston Collection.  She is a collector and lecturer who explores the social, political, economic and technical influences on the manufacture of porcelain, as well as its aesthetic.   A minimum group booking of 8 is required for the Gallery Experience (maximum 16). The cost is $144 per group of 8.   For individuals wanting to book into our Gallery Experience the following dates are currently available: Monday 4 May 2009, 10.15 – 11.45 am and Thursday 16 July 2009 10.15 am – 11.45 am. The cost is $22.00 Adult/$18.50 Concession.

THE HUGUENOTS OF THE WEST END AND SOHO with Robert Nash
Friday 23 October 2009, 10.15 am – 11.45 am, $30.00

SOLD OUT

In the early 18th century, Soho and the surrounding areas of London were home to a rich cultural mix of various foreign craftsmen who produced an enormous variety of luxury goods for the English aristocracy and the emerging mercantile classes. Prominent among these were a large number of Huguenot refugees: French Protestants who had fled persecution in their native land. This talk will look at this refugee community and assess its considerable contribution to the artistic and cultural life of the British capital.   

Robert Nash is Secretary of the Huguenot Society of Australia. A descendant of Huguenot silk weavers, Nash was educated at Oxford and Cambridge. He has published numerous historical articles on Australian Huguenot genealogy and descendants

 

FROM CHAWTON TO PEMBERLEY:  A journey through the decorative arts with Jane Austen
5 August – 21 October 2009

 

Discover Georgian and Regency society through the writings of Jane Austen (1775-1817) and the fine and decorative arts objects used during her lifetime.
 
A minimum group booking of 4 is required for the Gallery Experience.

For individuals wanting to book into our Gallery Experience the following dates are currently available:
Thursday 13 August, Monday 7 September and Wednesday 14 October 2009.   Cost:  Adult $22.00 Concession $18.50 (inc. Seniors).

 

A Series of Five Lectures with Sylvia Sagona

Sylvia Sagona is a Fellow of the School of Languages at the University of Melbourne specialising in 19th Century French art and society.

 

Book individually at $30.00 or all five lectures to receive a 10% discount.

1.   Love, Pain & the Whole Damn Thing: Deciphering the Art of the Romantic Period (1800-1850)
Tuesday 9 March 2010, 10.15 am – 11.45 am, $30.00

The Romantic movement spread across Europe in response to the philosophy of Rousseau and emphasised man’s sensitivity, idealism and his connection with nature. This lecture will investigate how artists translated onto canvas the angst and drama of the themes of love, death and melancholy and how this vision still informs the way we perceive ‘True Love’ in the 21st century.

2.   Dying to Please: The Romantic Heroine of the mid 19th century
Tuesday 16 March 2010, 10.15 am – 11.45 am, $30,00

The Romantic movement of the early 19th century idealised women provided they made themselves eternally unobtainable by retreat into a convent, madness or death. More beautiful and desirable in death than they ever were in life, these ethereal heroines haunted the art and literature of the early 19th century in both England and France. This lecture will investigate their creation and their legacy.

INTRODUCING TJC AFTER HOURS SERIES

3.   By Popular Demand  Power Dressing: Marie Antoinette & the fashion that brought down the Ancien Regime
Saturday 13 March 2010, 10.15 am – 11.45 am , $30.00

This lecture will investigate the layers of social, cultural and political significance that lay beneath the seemingly frivolous changes in fashion instigated by Marie Antoinette from the time she arrived in Paris as a teenager to her death on the scaffold. By presenting herself as an individual with outrageous coiffures, male outfits and peasant dresses, she flouted French royal traditions and was considered a traitor to her class and country. Style does matter.

4.   By Popular Demand  Dynasty: The story of the ill-fated Camondo family and their collections
Thursday 18 March 2010, 7.15 pm – 8.45 pm, $30.00

The immense wealth of the Camondo bank, founded in Istanbul, transferred to Italy and then to Paris at the time of Napoleon III, allowed the brothers, Count Moise and Count Isaac de Camondo to devote their lives to collecting 18th century decorative arts. At their death, both collections were donated to the City of Paris and form the basis of the collection of the Museum of Decorative Arts. At the centre of the frantic pace of the artistic circles in Paris, they persuaded other Jewish families of the Second Empire, such as the Fould, Cernuschi and Péreire, to follow their philanthropic mission.

Visions of Cathay: The West’s unending fascination with the East with Tony Preston
Tuesday 13 April 2010, 10.15 am – 11.45 am, $30.00

At its giddy height in the mid 18th century, the phenomenon of chinoiserie – the innumerable European notions of Eastern exoticism, based on ‘visions of Cathay’ was garnered from imported objets de vertu and often wildly unreliable travellers’ tales. This lecture will trace the fascinating waxing and waning of this fashion from the 15th century onwards.

Tony Preston has extensive experience in the art world, nationally and internationally and was Chief Education Officer and Public Programs Coordinator at the National Gallery of Victoria.

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Period Rooms in Australian Museums: History & context with Alison Inglis Tuesday 30 March 2010, 10.15 am – 11.45 am, $30.00 The lecture will examine the phenomenon of the ‘period room’ in Australian museums and its hey-day in the early twentieth century. Parallel developments in museum display in Europe and America will also be identified and the context for this exhibition practice – with its combination of fine art, decorative art and architectural design – explored through a series of case studies. Alison Inglis is an internationally recognised specialist in British 19th century art. With a research interest in Australian art museums and the history of collecting and display in this country. She is currently researching a book on the circulation of works of art around the British Empire between 1850 –1950.

Wrapped in Silk & Gold: A History of Stumpwork with Alison Cole
Wednesday 7 April 2010, 10.15 am – 11.45 am, $30.00

An illustrated presentation on the history of Stumpwork, the stories behind the embroideries, the women that embroidered them and the common elements within the designs.

Alison Cole is an internationally recognised specialist in Stumpwork and Goldwork embroidery. She is the author of two books with a third in progress.

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By Popular Demand  Crinoline Crisis: The effect of women’s fashion on furniture & interior design in 19th century Paris Saturday 8 May 2010, 10.15 am – 11.45 am, $30.00 In the mid 19th century the Empress Eugénie took advantage of newly developed steel underskirts to expand the crinoline to extraordinary proportions. This move, designed originally to boost the French luxury goods trade, had repercussions not only on woman’s health and her status as a decorative ornament, but on the design of furniture, the décor of rooms and the interior layout of the new mansions. Sylvia Sagona will also be presenting a further series of lectures in the second half of 2010.

Jane Austen’s Sewing Box: Jane Austen’s women & their crafts with Jennifer Forest Morning Session: Wednesday 21 April 2010, 10.15 am – 11.45 am, $30.00 SOLD OUT Afternoon Session: Wednesday 21 April 2010, 2.00 pm – 3.30 pm, $30.00 PLACES AVAILABLE An illustrated journey through the beautiful handiwork of the Regency Era. Drawing on the crafts worked by Jane Austen’s friends, family and characters in her novels, a range of skills from netting and knotting to tambour and white work will be explored. Jennifer Forest is the author of the best-selling Jane Austen’s Sewing Box, a unique combination of history, literature and artistic interpretation. She works in various media including needlework, felting, knitting and screen-printing.

Timeless Tin-Glaze: English Delftware with Robyn Ives Wednesday 12 May 2010, 10.15 am – 11.45 am, $30.00 Tin-glazes were known in Mesopotamia about 1000BCE. The technique was revived around the 9th century, when potters in Iraq used tin to opacify lead glazes. Over time the technique spread to Europe and into England. Explore how the English created their unique English Delftware; discover the techniques, decoration and influences on production. Robyn Ives is a collector and lecturer on English ceramics, with a particular interest in Post Medieval English pottery; tin-glazed earthenware is a class, within this field.

Flowering Needles: Embroidery from Elizabeth to Victoria
A superbly illustrated talk and exhibition: 9 March – 25 June 2010

Through embroideries from the 17th to 19th centuries, you can explore the history of this fascinating artform – the inspirations, the people, the techniques and its uses, many featuring lush flowers. Sourced through The Embroiderers Guild, Victoria in conjunction with the 50th Anniversary celebrations of The Embroiderers Guild, Victoria. This exhibition has been curated for The Johnston Collection by Dorothy Morgan.

To book the Gallery Experience on a date of your choice, a minimum group booking of 4 is preferred. For individuals wanting to book into our Gallery Experience the following dates are currently available:
Monday 22 March
Thursday 29 April
Wednesday 26 May
Friday 18 June 2010

Time: 10.15 am–11.45 am
Cost: Adult $22.00, Concession $18.50

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A SERIES OF THREE LECTURES WITH DR VALERIE KRIPS

1. DASHING AWAY WITH THE SMOOTHING IRON:  A social history of the art of the laundry
Tuesday 15 September, 2.00 pm – 3.30 pm, $30.00

This talk takes us behind the scenes in the Victorian laundry, with a backward glance to the earlier smoothing stones of the Chinese and the Vikings.  What role did ironing play in the management of great houses?  What was and is the social importance of fine linen and draperies?  And what has any of this to do with Beatrix Potter’s Mrs Tiggy-Winkle?    

2. THE SECRET LIFE OF OBJECTS:  Merryweather’s Prognosticator and the Hand of Glory
Tuesday 22 September, 2.00 pm – 3.30 pm, $30.00

How does an object move from the kitchen to the display case in a museum?  What makes one thing a valuable antique and another a piece of rubbish?  This talk looks at the ways in which objects move from one position to another by looking at two remarkable pieces in a museum at Whitby, the birthplace of Captain Cook.     

3. REPRESENTING THE PAST:  Costumed guides in historic houses
Tuesday 29 September, 2.00 pm – 3.30 pm, $30.00

In many historic houses today costumed guides invite the visitor to enter a past period.  What are the advantages and disadvantages of this approach? Does it enable the visitor to better understand the past, or does it create a fictional account of it? 

(Book individually or all three lectures for $85.00)

Dr Valerie Krips is Associate Professor Emerita of the English Department of the University of Pittsburgh, and Fellow in the School of Culture and Communication at the University of Melbourne.  She has been a consultant to the Jorvik Viking Centre in York, Castle Howard in Yorkshire, and Shugborough in Staffordshire.  The author of The Presence of the Past:  Memory, History and Childhood in Postwar Britain, she is completing a book on cultural memory.

LIVING WITH ANTIQUE FURNITURE WORKSHOP with Michael Garwood
Thursday 17 September, 10.15 am – 11.45 am, $30.00

This workshop will present practical information about what to do and what not to do with antique furniture and wooden objects.  It will show you how to clean and wax furniture and how to care for and maintain the beauty, function and value of your antique furniture. 

Michael Garwood and Ulrike Garwood are restorers and conservators of objects, especially wooden. Both are graduates of the British Antique Dealers Association program at West Dean College in the UK and subsequent internships in the Furniture Conservation Section of the Victoria & Albert Museum in London. They work in Melbourne as conservators and restorers in private practice.

THE TREE OF LIFE:  Textile Journeys East and West with Carol Cains
Thursday 10 September, 10.15 am – 11.45 am, $30.00

Illustrating the enduring appeal of the Tree of Life motif, three textiles from India, England and Italy will be discussed in the context of its varied and continued use in Asia and Europe, particularly in relation to its role in interior design.  Held in the NGV collection, these textiles have never been on display and will feature in Chinoiserie, an exhibition which opens at the NGV in October 2009. 

Carol Cains is Curator of Asian Art, National Gallery of Victoria. Initially trained as a textile conservator, she has an interest in textiles and costume. Cains has worked with Asian Art collections at the National Gallery of Australia and the NGV. She is co-curator of the forthcoming Chinoiserie exhibition at the NGV.

AN AFTERNOON WITH JANE AUSTEN with Lise Rodgers
Thursday 1 October, 2.00 pm – 3.30 pm, $30.00

Using the words of Jane Austen, and some opinions of the day, we gain an insight into daily life in Georgian England – but more particularly, how Jane herself might have spent her days.  

Lise Rodgers is an accomplished Melbourne actress whose career has spanned stage, screen and radio. An interest in the world and characters of Jane Austen, is the inspiration behind her series of “Jane” performances.