Oxford Art Society Associates

 

OASA LECTURE PROGRAMME 2023

20 February

Alice de Rothschild (1847-1922) and Waddesdon Manor: reassessing a collector’s legacy
Mia Jackson

20 March

“No good place, and ryghtly fear’d …”
Inigo Jones, proportional dividers, and an anomaly in Palladio’s Quattro Libri dell’Architettura
Philip Pullman

15 May OASA AGM at 4.45pm

Making Art Histories: curating the British Pavilion at the Venice Art Biennale 2022
Emma Ridgeway

 

5 June

The Secret Lives of Paintings: what they hide from view
Jevon Thistlewood

9 October

‘The Afterlife of Edgar Wind: a scholar and his collection’
Colin Harrison

6 November

‘Hidden Images: portraits and their covers in Renaissance Italy’
Catherine Whistler


 

 

Dr Martin Kemp

January 1st 2021
Letter from the OASA President to the Associates

To find myself as President of the Oxford Art Society Associates is totally unexpected and a considerable honour. I am well aware that following Jon Whiteley is a formidable challenge. Jon’s personal and academic qualities will be well-known to members of the Associates, and I recall with huge gratitude his integrity and support in all matters that lead to the creation of the undergraduate degree in the History of Art.  As a poacher turned gamekeeper (having spoken to the Associates), I will strive to do what I can in his succession.

After an extraordinarily testing year, we may now look forward with some optimism and indeed learn from the positive aspects of how individuals and organisations have maintained their activities and programmes, often in new and creative ways. Above all this has been achieved with internet presence via Zoom, Skype, Teams, FaceTime… At times I have felt zombied by Zoom. I am convinced that face-to-face contacts – talks, events and performances – will always be at the core of communication in the arts, but we have discovered that we can reach out to audiences throughout the world. I recently spoke at the Mumbai Literary Festival from my office at home. There are big audiences out there, and our programme is of the quality to attract a wide following. An ambition in 2021 is to speak in person in India about my new book on Dante and divine light in painting (Lund Humphries). We will have to see what is possible.

Another area we can look to enhance our reach is locally. It would be good to build on (or create) relationships with Modern Art Oxford, the Ruskin School, the Picture Gallery at Christ Church, the Museum of History of Science, the Department of the History for Art, the student Edgar Wind Society. We might look to share some events. There is no town in Britain (other than unmanageable London) that can offer more fulsome riches in the visual arts than are available in Oxford.

And an advertisement: I am due to talk on the David Hockney shows I am co-curating in Cambridge  as a kind of presidential inaugural on 8 November, by which time we hope to be back to something like normal. At least the visuals will be extraordinarily vivid and varied.

It will be a privilege to be directly involved with the Associates.

With the best wishes to everyone for 2021.

Martin Kemp

Prior to each lecture, links will be provided to all OASA members who have provided the committee with their email addresses.

If you have query about membership please contact the Membership Secretary. Details of the Officers of the OASA are given below.

 

Dante and the Art of Divine Light

Martin Kemp’s new book Visions of Heaven
Dante and the Art of Divine Light was published in March 2021

 

Oxford Art Society Associates Programme 2022

Thomas Rowlandson (1757–1827), Filial Piety!, 1788, RCIN 810287
Royal Collection Trust / © His Majesty King Charles III

Dear Members of the Oxford Art Society Associates,

First of all, I know you will all be sorry to hear that, very sadly for us, our exemplary Chairman, Professor Gervase Rosser, has had to resign. We were privileged to have enjoyed his excellent direction of our affairs.

Meanwhile, I am taking on the role of acting chair, and want to remind you of our forthcoming lecture:

Kate Heard – curator, the Royal Collection Trust – ‘Scurrilous caricatures & infamous things: the British monarchy and satirical prints, 1780–1830

17:45 Monday 7th November

Yours

Linda

OFFICERS of the OXFORD ART SOCIETY ASSOCIATES

Prof. Martin Kemp: President

Ms Judd Flogdell: PA to President

Linda Whitely: Acting Chair

Ms Lucy Stopford: Hon General Secretary – Artist. Member of the Oxford Art Society

Ms Judith Brown: Hon Treasurer – Past treasurer of NADFAS

Steve Street: Acting Membership Secretary  and Zoom Meeting Manager

Prof. Samson Kambalu: Committee Member – Magdalen College and Associate Professor of Fine Art at Ruskin School of Art

Dr. Linda Whiteley: Committee Member – Art Historian. Research Associate of the Dept. of the History of Art, University of Oxford

Debs Digby: OAS Secretary – Occasional secretarial support