Chairman’s Report HDFAS 2016 My final year as Chairman of Hallamshire DFAS has been busy and rewarding. The national society is in good health with around 98,000 members worldwide and growth continuing. Our own membership continues to be just under 200 but we would welcome more members and we urge you to introduce friends to the interest and enjoyment of being a member, perhaps by attending first as a visitor with you. Attendance at lectures has generally been over 100 this year, which is excellent, but our nice venue will hold up to 250. Thankfully parking has been available with no sudden loss of facility this year! Members of the committee have worked hard and willingly, meetings are convivial and yet things get done! In a survey of the membership I found the majority wanted evening meetings and, to compensate for the lack of socialising time at the lectures, day trips especially are valued. The current venue gets the thumbs up all round! Ann le Sage has worked hard to arrange the lecture programme with broad appeal, including topic ideas from the committee and lecturers that appealed at the annual Directory meeting. The programme focused on Victoriana early in the season with excellent talks on Pevsner by Susie Harries and Birmingham Town Hall by Anthony Peers, and this his first NADFAS lecture too. We completed our furniture series with Janusz on Victorian furniture. Talks then diversified covering a wide range of subjects, including the quirky topic of secrets behind art in the passport, Scotland’s castles, Indian art, Art Deco with our “own” Clyde Binfield and a trip down memory lane with John Ericcson looking at children’s book illustrations. We continue to support students at WORK. Their crafts are on display and for sale in the newly refurbished Hidden Gem Café. The trip to Estonia, so well organised by Gwyn and Hella, was a great success with the chance to really begin to understand the complexities of the Baltic region under expert guidance. We spent some time in stylish Tallinn and then explored the east and northern areas in a very posh coach. Driving north through the Forests I was on the lookout for bears. I saw none! Narva, on the Russian border was very atmospheric and so different from Tallinn and the difference between native Estonians and their Russian neighbours was evident facially and behaviourally. Helen Lloyd very ably organised the enjoyable four societies lunch at Hassop Hall, which we were hosting for the first time. Next year we can sit back and relax! The study day in Manchester (Gwyn Davies) took us to the delights of the Salford Quays Lowry Centre where we saw Lowry’s busy little figures so “alone in the crowd”. It is a wonderful exhibition. Then we travelled to the Whitworth, which is architecturally stunning, and I have to admit that the superb tea (made with leaves) in the restaurant, seemingly in the trees, was a highlight.

HALLAMSHIRE DECORATIVE AND FINE ARTS SOCIETY

Annual Report and Newsletter July 2016

More recently we have had a fascinating visit to the Wedgwood collection near Stoke (Grenville Turner). We had a lecture and a tour of different areas in the palatial centre. It was wonderfully organised and gave us much information about an English institution. A trip to Renishaw Hall just before the AGM will complete a very busy and satisfying year. My thanks to all the committee for their continued support and camaraderie. It has been a fun three years and I wish the Society well in the future. Sally Craig

 Art, Architectural and Historical Tour of Estonia in September 2015 Estonia, a small country of 1.3 million people, wedged between Russia and Latvia, its capital Tallinn facing Helsinki across the Gulf of Finland, is unknown to most Brits. It emerged in 1918, at the end of WWI and the collapse of empires, only to be forcibly occupied by the Red Army in 1940. It re-appeared as an independent state in 1991 after the collapse of the USSR. Its Finno-Ugric language is incomprehensible to all but the Finns. Governed by Czarist Russia since 1721, it was originally settled by Germanic Teutonic knights, with help from Denmark, and later occupied by Poland and Sweden. How it became the destination for a HDFAS tour is lost in the mist of time. Let it just be said that my wife is the Estonian-speaking daughter of émigré parents whilst I am an incorrigible Estophile and that we spend much time in Estonia each year. When we drew up the plan for an “Art, Architectural and Historical Tour of Estonia” 16 curious and courageous HDFAS members signed up for it. Our aim was to show them the ‘real Estonia’, which we know well, rather than follow an off-the shelf itinerary which travel companies offer under the NADFAS banner. In September 2015 the group arrived in Tallinn and its mediaeval walled Old Town, with cobbled narrow streets and the slopes which separate the Upper Town with its Lutheran and Orthodox cathedrals, as well as the Parliament building, from the Lower Town, which traces its history back to the days of the Hanseatic League. The next day, resting our feet, the architecture of more modern parts of the city was explored by coach, guided by a curator from the Estonian Architectural Museum. Visits were also made to the Song Festival Ground, the Forest Cemetery and the WWI-era Sea Plane hangers, restored in 2011 when Tallinn was a European Capital of Culture, and now a remarkable Maritime Museum. After two days in Tallinn we headed East, towards Narva and the Russian frontier travelling first through the Lahemaa National Park, the first such park to have been created in the Soviet Union. This afforded an opportunity to visit a number of restored manor houses, built and occupied by the so-called Baltic Barons, Germanic land-owners and administrators, most of whose forebears had arrived with the Teutonic knights. Their lands were sequestrated after Estonian independence in 1918 and those who remained left when Hitler called them home in 1939: ‘Heim ins Reich’. The unique Viinistu art gallery was also an important port of call. Housing the definitive collection of 20th Century Estonian art, it was created from the former concrete cold store of a Soviet-era collective fish farm by the business manager of Abba, who emigrated to Sweden with his parents in 1944, returning to Estonia after 1991. Near to Narva, a brief tour was made of Sillamae. A closed town in Soviet times, when a local factory separated weapons-grade uranium from locally mined oil shale, it provided a good example of Stalinist-era Soviet architectural design. The Russophone border town of Narva offers the impressive sight of the Swedish-era

Hermann castle facing Ivan the Terrible’s castle in Russian Ivangorod; the EU facing Russia across the narrow Narva river

Turning South towards Tartu, Estonia’s second city, the road skirting Lake Peipus, a visit had been arranged to the acclaimed manor house of Alatskivi. Built in the late 19th Century the owner had based its design on that of Balmoral! If Tallinn is the dynamic, money-making ‘head’ of Estonia, Tartu, with its University founded by the Swedes in 1632, is its ‘heart and soul’. The academic year was just beginning when the HDFAS group arrived. A busy programme allowed for a visit to the main university building, the restored St. John’s church and the botanical gardens, as well as a lecture by a ‘post-modern’ artist and a visit to the Tartu Art House. Unfortunately, time was short. The last full day in Estonia was spent back in Tallinn, largely in and around the magnificent Kadriorg Park designed by Peter the Great for his wife Catherine. Amongst other buildings, the park houses Peter the Great’s palace, now the Foreign Art Museum, the President’s official residence and KUMU, (Kunsti Muuseum), one of the most impressive art galleries in Europe and winner of the European Gallery of the Year award in 2008. It and its exhibitions are a must for any visitor to Tallinn and Estonia; allow at least half a day! Perhaps Hella and I are the least qualified to judge how well the overall trip went; we had worked very hard to put it together and hoped that it would “hit the spot”. By all accounts it did just that! Gwyn Davies

Study Day Visit to the Lowry and Whitworth Galleries, November 24th, 2015 Was that a statue of L S Lowry sitting on a roadside bench in Mottram? It may well have been. How appropriate. On a dull, wet day in November, a group from HDFAS passed the spot on a Study Day visit to two Manchester art galleries: that within the Lowry Centre at Pier 8 of Salford Quays, on the site of formerly derelict dockland, and the Whitworth, in Whitworth Park, off the bustling Oxford Road.

The Lowry Centre, a theatre and gallery complex, opened in 2000 by the Queen, has been described as “not quite Salford’s Guggenheim”! Once inside its art gallery, however, one is barely aware of the building’s architectural idiosyncrasies. The exhibition of Lowry’s work is so all-absorbing. Laurence Stephen Lowry, (1887-1976), was a very accomplished painter whose work extends far beyond that of stick figures against a northern, industrial landscape, for which he is best known. By way of example, some of his seascapes, painted on frequent trips to Northumberland, are remarkable. His portraits are also truly enigmatic. He deserves greater recognition from the art establishment. Despite Brian Sewell’s description of Lowry as “a cloth-capped nincompoop” it is worth noting that, in 1962, Lowry was elected to the Royal Academy, where he had been exhibiting since the 1930s and in 1968 turned down a New Year’s Honours List knighthood. The exhibition at the Lowry, the largest-ever exhibition of his work, not only emphasises his skill and creativity but also poses many questions about L S Lowry, the person. Unmarried, an introvert who lived with his domineering mother until she died in 1939, he undoubtedly suppressed his inner feelings until late in his artistic career. Who was Ann? We will never know. Whereas the story of the Lowry Gallery is the story of the exhibition, that of the Whitworth is much more that of the building. After a major redevelopment, receipt of the 2015 Museum of the Year award by the Arts Fund and being on the final short-list of six for the RIBA Stirling Prize, the Whitworth’s exhibitions, the current ones at least, struggle to match the impressive evolution of the exhibition space. For example, the water colour paintings in the renowned John Edward Taylor collection, (Taylor was the founder of the Manchester Guardian), are shown in a crowded, uniformly framed way with little explanation and attribution. The textile exhibitions are also sparse, despite the Whitworth’s collection being one of the largest in the world. The visit to the Whitworth by the HDFAS group was nonetheless a rewarding experience, thanks to the excellent guide, David Morris, the Whitworth’s Head of Collections. He enthusiastically guided the group through the history of the ’Gallery in the (Whitworth) Park’ and its most recent architectural evolution. As part of the University of Manchester, with academic links to Manchester Metropolitan University, it is more than an attractive exhibition space. It also houses a, user-friendly, modern, learning space with a study centre, a ‘learning studio’ and a ‘collections centre’ with extensive opportunities for research. For many, a coffee and cake in its café, a long, glass-framed structure on stilts, which juts out into the park, is also reason enough to pay a visit to the Gallery! Gwyn Davies

The “World of Wedgwood”, 11th April 2016 Monday 11th April, 2016 saw the ever enthusiastic HADFAS coach party setting out for a day in the ‘Potteries’, our destination, the ‘World of Wedgwood’. On arrival one finds an extensive site (the overall Estate is some 240 acres) which is still partly under remarkable landscaping and which houses the current Wedgwood Factory and, in a separate block, the purpose built Museum, Flagship Store and Tea Room, with the magnificent Dining Hall in yet another new building complete with a Factory Outlet, not to be missed! Our tour began with a fascinating lecture, suitably entitled the “Age of Enlightenment”, which traced the origins of the Wedgwood family; Josiah, the eleventh and last child of Thomas & Mary, was born into a ‘potting’ family in Burslem in 1730; by the age of nine, he was already a skilled potter and survived a childhood bout of smallpox to serve as an apprentice potter; the smallpox left him with a weakened knee and unable to effectively operate the foot pedal of a ‘potter’s wheel’, so Josiah focused on design and experimentation, following all the best practices of contemporary scientific method by keeping copious notes and meticulously recording the varying proportions of the novel ingredients used in each firing, successful or otherwise!

Josiah is credited with industrialising the manufacture of pottery; "..it was by intensifying the division of labour that Wedgwood brought about the reduction of cost which enabled his pottery to find markets in all parts of Britain, and also of Europe and America.” His products were always considerably more expensive than those of his fellow potters; every new invention that Wedgwood produced - green glaze, creamware, black basalt and jasper - was quickly copied. Having once achieved perfection in production, he achieved perfection in sales and distribution! After the lecture the party split into groups for fully guided visits,

either side of a splendid lunch, to the Museum and Archives; the latter being a particular treat for this writer with the opportunity to pore over and handle, with gloves of course, JW’s experimental records and pattern books etc! To examine and read the late 18th century salesman’s “Traveller’s Book” (catalogue) in which the salesman had to hand-draw all the illustrations of the company’s wares, as well as record the items, sizes, colours, decorations and prices, was a treat indeed. A wonderful experience which I’m sure many of us will want to repeat to include a Factory Tour’ next time; thank you Grenville for yet another marvellous day out. Geoff Craig

Sheffield from Heeley, c1830, by an unknown artist There are plans to open a Social History section at the Mappin Gallery at Weston Park later this year. Sheffield Museums have plenty of artefacts for display but many are in poor condition and the budget for restoration is severely limited. It is one of the principles of NADFAS that local societies should support initiatives in their area so Hallamshire DFAS tentatively offered to help. Our approach was enthusiastically received and 4 committee members were invited to the store to choose a picture from the many which needed restoration and which we could support. We settled on an

attractive painting of Sheffield from the south. Its condition did not seem too bad and the bill not excessive so we offered to pay the estimated cost of £360, which was accepted. Predictably when the picture was cleaned and assessed by the restorers the work involved was greater than anticipated, as the canvas needed replacing. A group of members have visited the restorers, Lucy Critchlow and Eeva Kukkonen, at their workshop in Heeley, to see the work in progress and have individually contributed a little more to the fund. It is hoped that further visits to the museum store and the restorers might raise further money. All being well the fully cleaned and repaired painting will be on public display by the end of 2016. Helen Lloyd Four Societies Lunch, November 5th 2015 Hallamshire DFAS was chosen to host the Second Four Societies Lunch in 2015, which was held as usual in the sumptuous surroundings of the Ballroom at Hassop Hall. One hundred members from Sheffield, Cavendish, Dove Valley and Hallamshire societies enjoyed a lavish lunch and wine before listening to a short talk entitled “Are Today’s Artists Trained?” The guest speaker on this occasion was Emma Bulley MA PhD. Originally from London, she is a university lecturer and practising artist now based in Sheffield, and a new NADFAS lecturer.

She gave a controversial and thought provoking talk on the training of artists today informed by her own experiences and research. The Third Four Societies Lunch will be held at Hassop Hall on Thursday November 3rd 2016 and Sheffield DFAS will be our hosts. Helen Lloyd Spring Lunch, 26th April 2016 The spring lunch was held on the 26th April at the Norfolk Arms, Ringinglow. The chair of Sheffield DFAS Michael Banks and his wife Jenny, who attended as our guests, commented how much people were enjoying it, partly judged by the noise level! After an enjoyable lunch Hannah Brignell, archivist from Museums Sheffield, brought us up to date on the restoration of the picture of Heeley in the 1800s, we have chosen to support. On leaving the venue we were all shocked to see heavy snow falling thickly after a winter largely free of snow! Susan Thompson Presentation of award for sponsored silver design, February 4th 2016 On Thursday 4th February two of the committee members went to the presentation of the cheque for this year’s sponsored silver design. Tutors, Sheffield museum curators, and members from both Hallamshire and Sheffield were present to see Rob Anderson receive the cheques and show us the piece of work he had researched and designed for Joe Cocker. Students take a name, blindly, from a list previously chosen by the tutor, and then research that person; the resulting piece should reflect the character of the chosen person. The specifications called for a pouring vessel, and Rob had made a whisky tumbler, with a lip to share the whisky with friends, is heavily textured, and seems dented to allow for it to be dropped with no resulting obvious damage. It was a very happy occasion with Rob interacting with his audience, and saying how much he enjoyed our reaction. The current Head of Department, Chris Knight, is a well-known local and national figure designing and making silver pieces. He was kind enough to take some of us into the gallery and show us his impressive past pieces, which are on permanent exhibition there. This year’s piece, as all other sponsored pieces, is donated to Sheffield Museum and will be part of an exhibition of all the silver sponsored originally by the NE Area of NADFAS, and more recently, by Hallamshire and Sheffield DFAS. This exhibition will be on view from 17th September in the Millennium gallery for a year, when it is hoped the whole collection will go on tour in the North East Region. Wendy Atkinson Programme of Lectures for 2016 to 2017 (overleaf) Lectures are held in Lecture Theatre 1, Dainton Building, Brook Hill, University of Sheffield, S3 7HF. Lectures start promptly at 7.30pm: Please be seated by 7.15 pm

‘Taking a Likeness: The Art of the C18 Portrait’ - September 21st 2016 (AGM) Lizzie Darbyshire is particularly interested in the wider social and economic context for works of art. She will examine Reynolds and Gainsborough among others, and will touch upon the fashions and foibles of their many patrons. ‘The Festival of Britain’ - October 19th 2016 Sally Hoban will explain how the 1951 Festival showcased the best of post-war British design and explore its impact longer term. ‘Brilliant British Humour in the forgotten art of the Picture Postcard 1909 to 1939’ - November 16th 2016 James Taylor prepares us for summer when he looks at the boom time for the postcard from 1900 to WW11, and explains why its appeal faded. ‘Sir John Soane: Architect of a Lost London’ - January 18th 2017 Christopher Rogers specialises in the history of the British landscape and architecture and in this talk will take us to our great capital city and examine how it has evolved. ‘The Hands of Leonardo’ - February 15th 2017 Guy Rooker was a surgeon, and he will speak from the world of science, and surgery in particular. He will look at how knowledge of anatomy developed through art, and the contribution made by Leonardo da Vinci. ‘Jewellery from C15 to C18. The allure of imitation jewels and gems’ - March 15th 2017 Susan Rumfitt will show us some lovely jewellery and track its role as a symbol of wealth, power and fashion over the centuries ‘A Portrait of Lord Nelson’ - April 19th 2017 Peter Warwick will show how portrait painters and sculptors captured some public and private moments in Nelson’s life: a man who sat more frequently than most famous people other than Royalty! ‘Sweet Swan of Avon’ - May 17th 2017 Elizabeth Merry will tackle the turbulent and often dangerous world of Elizabethan and Jacobean England, and look at the development of English Renaissance theatre and Shakespeare’s contribution. ‘The Honourable East India Company and the textile trade of the C18’ - June 21st 2017 Vivienne Lawes will describe the East India Company and how it furthered trade from the east. The eighteenth century was a time of travel, discovery, and growing imports of goods specifically designed to please European taste. (This lecture was originally scheduled for June 2016) ‘Emperor Qianlong: the ultimate Renaissance ruler and fine art collector 1735 to 1796 China’ - September 20th 2017 (AGM) David Rosier will give us a picture of a China closed to imports and foreign influence. He will draw on over 25 years living and collecting in Asia to illustrate Chinese history, Imperial insignia and art.

Hallamshire DFAS web site: www.hallamshiredfas.org.uk