Art & Coffee at The Beaumont, Friday 15th August 2025: The Art of Georgia O’Keeffe

Greetings!

I hope you will be able to join us

on Friday 15th August, 11.30am (for about an hour)

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

to explore the art of Georgia O’Keeffe (1887-1986).

Renowned for her over-sized flowers with their textural detail and intense colours, we’ll follow O’Keeffe’s career as an artist through her paintings of New York skyscrapers to the symbolic skulls of Ghost Ranch.

Georgia O’Keeffe’s “Pink Spotted Lilies” from 1936, c/o Christie’s

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

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And I’ve been plotting further explorations for the next few months:

Friday 19th September. We’ve been looking at the work of John Lavery very broadly as a cosmopolitan artist. In September, I thought we’d pick up on his Irish heritage to look not only at another aspect of his work (and asking how his portrait of Hazel Lavery ended up on the Irish pound note from 1928), as well as the art of his contemporary Irish artists.

Friday 17th October. Lavery is considered as one of The Glasgow Boys (we met George Henry and Edward Atkinson Hornel at the beginning of the year), and in October we’ll look at other artists associated with the group, with a focus on Arthur Melville whose paintings will take us from Spain to Egypt and beyond.

And how better than to end the year in our November and December meetings (dates to be confirmed) by looking at the generation of artists inspired by The Glasgow Boys: The Scottish Colourists who gloried in Post-Impressionism and would refine a very sophisticated style for the 1920s Jazz Age?

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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 at The Beecroft, Saturday 26th July 2025: Art, Artists and The Ballets Russes – Interlude: Matisse in Moscow

Greetings!

I hope you will be able to join us

on Saturday 26th July, 11.15am (for about an hour & a half)

at The Beecroft Art Gallery, Victoria Avenue, Southend

As Sergei Diaghilev was bringing the shock and awe of the Ballets Russes to Paris and London, so Sergei Schukhin was bringing the shock and awe of Post-Impressionism to Moscow with a collection of art that included work by Monet, Cezanne, Gauguin, Picasso and Matisse. Conservative critics were, of course, appalled, but a younger generation of artists, including Malevich and Goncharova, were thrilled and inspired by this private collection of radical new paintings.

Then, as we shall explore today, in 1911, Matisse himself visited Russia…

Henri Matisse (1869-1954): Dance II [1910; Hermitage, St Petersburg]

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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Art & Coffee at The Beaumont, Friday 18th July 2025: The Art of John Lavery – from Grez to Hollywood (Part 2)

Greetings!

I hope you will be able to join us

on Friday 18th July, 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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