Art & Coffee at The Beaumont, Friday 17th April 2026: To St Ives with Peter Lanyon (Part Two): Ghostings – Generation, History and Myth

Greetings!

I hope you will be able to join us

on Friday 17th April, 11.30am (for about an hour)

at The Beaumont, Barchester Care, 15 Cannon Hill, Old Southgate, N14 7DJ

to further explore the life, times & art of Peter Lanyon (1918-1964), one of the foremost artists of the post-war St Ives School who combined abstraction with landscape, portraying his native Cornwall in rich brushstrokes of colour and texture. Today we’ll look at his paintings for what I’ll call “ghostings” – the generative accumulations of events, history and myth that lie on and under the surface.

Landscape with Cup (Annunciation) [1946; private c/o Christie‘s; and note the essay on Sotheby‘s]

There’ll be lots to look at and discuss – I hope you’ll be able to come along!

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The discussions are for everyone, whether residents or local community. Please note a £3 on-the-door request to cover the cost of coffee and biscuits. With all thanks to Barchester Health Care.

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Notes:

Very interesting books:

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Art, Books & Culture Research Group at The Beecroft, Saturday 28th March 2026 – The Last of the Neo-Romantics

I hope you will be able to join us on

Saturday 28th March, 11.15am (for about an hour & a half)

at The Beecroft Art Gallery, Southend-on-Sea.

as we continue our research into the ‘long decade’ of 1950s Britain, from the end of World War II to Pop Art.

This month we’ll focus on the post-war Neo-Romantic painters inspired by artists such as Paul Nash, John Piper and Graham Sutherland like John Craxton, Keith Vaughan and others who – remembering the work of Samuel Palmer and The Ancients a century before – sought an imaginative, visionary, even nostalgic art of landscape.

Greek Fisherman by John Craxton [1946; Pallant House Gallery]; A Path in the Woods by Graham Sutherland [1957; Norfolk Museums Service] Walking Figure by Keith Vaughan [1958; Jerwood Collection]

There’ll be plenty to see & discuss as always!

Tickets are £10 (cash) on the door and include coffee & a biscuit at The Jazz Centre afterwards.

Looking forward to seeing you!

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Notes:

There’s a very good short over-view essay on the Pallant House Gallery website on British Neo-Romanticism by Gerard Hastings here: https://pallant.org.uk/a-different-light-british-neo-romanticism/

Also, both online and at the John Swarbrooke Gallery, Fitzroy Square until 15th March, the exhibition A Paradise Regained: Neo-Romanticism in Britain; see https://privateviews.artlogic.net/2/12ac8f93e419afa9873e58/

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Art & Coffee at The Beaumont, Friday 20th March 2026: To St Ives with Peter Lanyon (Part One): Landscape

Greetings!

I hope you will be able to join us

on Friday 20th March, 11.30am (for about an hour)

at The Beaumont, Barchester Care, 15 Cannon Hill, Old Southgate, N14 7DJ

to explore the life, times & art of Peter Lanyon (1918-1964), one of the foremost artists of the post-war St Ives School who combined abstraction with landscape, portraying his native Cornwall in rich brushstrokes of colour and texture.

Silent Coast [1957; Manchester Art Gallery; artuk.org]

There’ll be lots to look at and discuss – I hope you’ll be able to come along!

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The discussions are for everyone, whether residents or local community. Please note a £3 on-the-door request to cover the cost of coffee and biscuits. With all thanks to Barchester Health Care.

*

Notes:

Very interesting books:

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The Common Viewer notes… 13th February 2026: Gwen John, Constable and a Lanscroon!

Greetings!

A few odds & ends, links & resources that might be interesting…

The Gwen John: Strange Beauties exhibition has opened at the National Museum Cardiff – the Museum’s website has an interesting & insightful overview by Neil Lebeter: click here and there is a catalogue available (ISBN 9780300286571): “The first comprehensive survey in 40 years brings new scholarly attention and a feminist perspective to the Welsh painter with a singular vision of female interior life”. I would also recommend:

Indeed both Alicia Foster and Judith Mackrell appear in the BBC documentary Keeping the World Away – Finding Gwen John now on i-player here, and there’s a related essay by Natalie Grice, on the BBC News website here.

Keeping with the BBC, Susan Owen’s brilliant “Constable’s Year” is currently on Radio 4 / Sounds – here – but for a very limited time (18 days at time of writing!)

And for those of us intrigued by Gerald Lanscroon’s extraordinary Baroque mural at The Beaumont, an easel painting by the artist was auctioned at Bonhams this week:

Sadly there’s doesn’t seem to be anything known about the picture which is undated, and only desriptively titled: “Portrait of a child full-length, in a yellow costume with a red cloak, holding flowers and standing before a landscape”.

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Art, Books & Culture Research Group at The Beecroft, Saturday 28th February 2026 – Into the 1950s: Art & Festival

I hope you will be able to join us on

Saturday 28th February, 11.15am (for about an hour & a half)

at The Beecroft Art Gallery, Southend-on-Sea.

as we continue our research into the ‘long decade’ of 1950s Britain, from the end of World War II to Pop Art.

This month we’ll focus on the Festival of Britain (1951) and the associated “Sixty Paintings for ’51” exhibition, as well as the Coronation (1953) and the “Britain of Tomorrow” exhibition (1956) to look at the diversity of artworks in subject and style during what was a period of radical cultural transition for art and society.

There’ll be plenty to see & discuss as always!

Josef Herman (1911-2000): Miners Singing
[1950-51; Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales; http://www.artuk.org/artworks/miners-singing-116855; artuk.org]

Tickets are £10 (cash) on the door and include coffee & a biscuit at The Jazz Centre afterwards.

Looking forward to seeing you!

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Art & Coffee at The Beaumont, Friday 20th February 2026: Socially-committed Art: Cliff Rowe & Alexander Deineka

Greetings!

I hope you will be able to join us

on Friday 20th February, 11.30am (for about an hour)

at The Beaumont, Barchester Care, 15 Cannon Hill, Old Southgate, N14 7DJ

to explore the life, times & art of Cliff Rowe (1904-1989) with particular reference to his post-World War II works and the influence of Soviet artist Alexander Deineka (1899-1969).

Left: Cliff Rowe’s “Textile Workers” [People’s History Museum; artuk.org]

Right: Alexander Deineka’s “Textile Workers” [1927; Russian Museum]

There’ll be lots to look at and discuss – I hope you’ll be able to come along!

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The discussions are for everyone, whether residents or local community. Please note a £3 on-the-door request to cover the cost of coffee and biscuits. With all thanks to Barchester Health Care.

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Notes:

Very interesting book:

Film on Ruskin Spear

There’s a fabulous short film / HENI Talk with Dr Tanya Harrod (author of “Humankind: Ruskin Spear
Class, culture and art in 20th-century Britain” published by Thames & Hudson, 2022) on the ArtUK site here.

And, currently at Tate Britain, the have a Tate Archive exhibition: “Artists International – The First Decade”; see: https://www.tate.org.uk/visit/tate-britain/display/artists-international along with Andy Friend’s new book “Comrades in Art: Artists Against Fascism 1933-1943”

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Art, Books & Culture Research Group at The Beecroft, Saturday 31st January 2026 – Into the 1950s: (1) from Existential Angst to the Everyday World

I hope you will be able to join us on

Saturday 31st January, 11.15am (for about an hour & a half)

at The Beecroft Art Gallery, Southend-on-Sea.

With a focus predominantly on the Art of Ruskin Spear (1911-1990), today we’ll enter the ‘long decade’ of 1950s Britain, from the end of World War II to Pop Art – a period of radical cultural transition for art and society. There’ll be plenty to see & discuss as always!

Ruskin Spear: Daydreaming, Portrait of the Artist’s Wife
[1930s; Southend Museums Service; http://www.artuk.org/artworks/daydreaming-portrait-of-the-artists-wife-2716%5D

Tickets are £10 (cash) on the door and include coffee & a biscuit at The Jazz Centre afterwards.

Looking forward to seeing you!

Art & Coffee at The Beaumont, Friday 16th January 2026: The Art of Ruskin Spear

Greetings!

I hope you will be able to join us

on Friday 16th January, 11.30am (for about an hour)

at The Beaumont, Barchester Care, 15 Cannon Hill, Old Southgate, N14 7DJ

to explore the life, times & art of Ruskin Spear (1911-1990) with particular reference to his focus on the everyday world of mid-20th century Hammersmith.

Ruskin Spear: Snow Scene, Hammersmith
[1946; Tate; http://www.artuk.org/artworks/snow-scene-201949%5D

Let’s hope the weather doesn’t look like this!!!

There’ll be lots to look at and discuss – I hope you’ll be able to come along!

*

The discussions are for everyone, whether residents or local community. Please note a £3 on-the-door request to cover the cost of coffee and biscuits. With all thanks to Barchester Health Care.

***

Note:

There’s a fabulous short film / HENI Talk with Dr Tanya Harrod (author of “Humankind: Ruskin Spear
Class, culture and art in 20th-century Britain” published by Thames & Hudson, 2022) on the ArtUK site here.

Art & Coffee at The Beaumont, Friday 12th December 2025: The Art of Maria Prymachenko

Greetings!

I hope you will be able to join us

on Friday 12th December, 11.30am (for about an hour)

at The Beaumont, Barchester Care, 15 Cannon Hill, Old Southgate, N14 7DJ

to explore the art of legendary Ukrainian artist Maria Prymchachenko.

Ukrainian Milkmaids Work Hard Like Miners [1970; c/o WikiArt]

There’ll be lots to look at and discuss – I hope you’ll be able to come along!

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The discussions are for everyone, whether residents or local community. Please note a £3 on-the-door request to cover the cost of coffee and biscuits. With all thanks to Barchester Health Care.

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Art, Books & Culture Research Group at The Beecroft: 13th December 20205, The Art & Artists of Ukraine.

I hope you will be able to join us on

Saturday 13th December, 11.15am (for about an hour & a half)

at The Beecroft Art Gallery, Southend-on-Sea

to explore The Art & Artists of Ukraine.

With a focus on the life and times of Ukraine’s legendary artist Maria Prymchenko, we will explore a century of Art & Artists in Ukraine – and resources to find out more. Lots to see & discuss as always!

Ukrainian Milkmaids Work Hard Like Miners by Maria Primachenko [1970; c/o WikiArt]

Tickets are £10 (cash) on the door and include coffee & a biscuit at The Jazz Centre afterwards.

Looking forward to seeing you!