3 December 2020
The Oxford Art Society Associates                         

Appointment of our new President

The OASA committee is pleased to announce the appointment of Professor Martin Kemp, Emeritus Research Professor in the History of Art at the University of Oxford, as the new President of the Oxford Art Society Associates.

Professor Kemp, who lives in Woodstock, is an internationally renowned art historian and a leading authority on the life and works of Leonardo da Vinci. After obtaining a degree in natural sciences and art history at Downing College, Cambridge and then studying the History of Western Art at the Courtauld Institute, in London, he moved to Scotland, where he was first, a lecturer at the University of Glasgow (1966-1981) and then, Professor of Fine Arts (1981-1990) and later, of the History and Theory of Art (1990-1995), at the University of St. Andrews. He served as Professor of the History of Art in the University of Oxford between 1995-2007. He is a fellow of Trinity College, Oxford and of the British Academy and an honorary fellow of Downing College, Cambridge. He held a British Academy Wolfson Research Professorship between 1993-1998.

Professor Kemp’s research and educational interests have focused on imagery and visualization in art and in science, from the Renaissance to the present day. He is the foremost scholar on the art, science, methods, thoughts and inventive genius of Leonardo da Vinci, on whom he has written and lectured extensively.  Over an extended career he has curated exhibitions on Leonardo and other subjects at the Hayward Gallery, the V & A, the Barbican Art Gallery and the National Gallery of Art in Washington and he has held visiting professorships at Princeton, New York, North Carolina, Los Angeles and Montreal.

Over the years, Professor Kemp has written, lectured and broadcast extensively on a range of themes that have maintained a focus on scientific method in art and the employment of art in the sciences with topics including, colour science in art. He has been involved with the application of scientific techniques to analyse works, such as the Salvator Mundi, to locate them more securely in their historical contexts.

The committee bid Professor Kemp a warm welcome on behalf of the members and friends of the OASA and look forward to his guidance and advice in the future planning of the association’s activities.

With his help, we are putting together an exciting programme for the coming year which we will be sending to you later this month. At the beginning of the year, we will also provide advice about registering for and attending the talks which will be held on Zoom.

 

History and future meetings of the Oxford Art Society Associates  

The Oxford Art Society Associates (OASA), founded in 1962, was established to provide a regular window on the visual arts for the residents of Oxford and its environs. While members of its parent organisation, the Oxford Art Society, are artists, working in a wide range of media, members of the OASA comprise those interested in the arts, including those with specialist knowledge, but not necessarily practitioners.

Until the appearance of the COVID-19 pandemic at the beginning of 2020, talks were held regularly on Mondays, in the Headley Lecture Theatre of the Ashmolean Museum, with drinks available from 5.15pm and lectures delivered between 5.45pm – 6.45pm. Meetings have always been noted for their friendly atmosphere and for the lively discussions that ensue after each presentation.

Because of the continued restrictions on public gatherings related to the pandemic, it has been necessary to cancel all OASA lectures for the current year (2020). However, it is planned to hold a full series of Zoom lectures in 2021 with the expectation of including many of those lectures cancelled in the current year. The likely dates of these Monday lectures are:
8 February 2021
8 March 2021
10 May 2021
14 June 2021
11 October 2021
8 November 2021
We will be posting the full programme later this month.

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.

OFFICERS of the OXFORD ART SOCIETY ASSOCIATES
President: Prof Martin Kemp: martin@martinjkemp.com
Chair: Prof Anthony Bron: anthony.bron@ndcn.ox.ac.uk
Acting Hon. Secretary: Ms Sarah Thorn: sarahthorn63@yahoo.co.uk
Hon. Membership Secretary: Ms Sarah Thorn: sarahthorn63@yahoo.co.uk
Hon. Treasurer: Judith Brown: judithbrown111@gmail.com
Committee Members: Lucy Stopford: lucystopford@btinternet.com
Linda Whitely: linda.whiteley@hoa.ox.ac.uk
Martin Smith: martin.smith_art@ntlworld.com