Greetings!

I hope you will be able to join us

on Saturday 5th July, 11.15am (for about an hour & a half)

at The Beecroft Art Gallery, Victoria Avenue, Southend

to explore impresario Sergei Diaghilev’s radical new ballet. Each performance was a unique collaboration of composers, choreographers and – at the heart of our discussion today – artists, including Nicholas Roerich, Natalia Goncharova, Pablo Picasso and Giorgio de Chirico. The impact of the Ballets Russes on European and British visual culture was immense – from interior design to fashion and painting – and so we’ll also look at British artists, in particular John Lavery and Laura Knight, who both portrayed the stars of the Ballets Russes in their work.

It’ll be a feast for the eyes, with lots to see and much to discuss – do come along if you can, it’s open to everyone! Please note a £10 request on the door to cover Lecture Theatre hire costs as well as tea/coffee/biscuits at the Jazz Centre downstairs afterwards.

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Greetings!

I hope you will be able to join us

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

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

to explore the art of John Lavery (1856-1941) from his time in Grez-sur-Loing as an art student through his beautiful society portraits, glorious Tangier seascapes and delicious depictions of leisure and pleasure from the French Riviera to Hollywood!

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.

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Sir John Lavery (1856-1941): Spring in a Riviera Garden [detail; 1921; Sothebys]

As ever, the best place to start is Art UK, which has 389 paintings by John Lavery that are in public collections. I’ve put them in date order: here. When you click on an image that interests you, scroll down as there is often a link to the Gallery’s website with further detailed information.

Then Christies [here], Sothebys [here] and Bonhams [here] not only have fabulous images of paintings that are in private hands (and have been to auction), but usually when you scroll down there is a fully-researched catalogue essay.

The Ulster Museum website has a good introduction to John Lavery [here], and Kenneth McConkey has written about Lavery’s seascapes on Art UK [here].

Indeed Kenneth McConkey is the authority on John Lavery as curator of exhibitions and writer of catalogues, including:

John Lavery: Diary of a Painter [2010; Publisher: Atelier Books; ISBN: 9781873830215]

and Lavery on Location [2023; published by National Galleries of Ireland; 9781911716020] which is from the most recent Lavery exhibition and there’s a podcast/film “In Conversation with Kenneth McConkey” on YouTube [here].

With hope these might be useful starting points!

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