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This study day comprises three lectures looking at both the explosion of culture in the Habsburg lands at the turn of the last century and what unfolded in German-speaking Europe after the First World War.

1.      The Art and Culture of fin-de-siècle Vienna

Around 1900, Vienna was the capital of a vast empire and one of the world’s most exciting cultural laboratories. It produced painters such as Gustav Klimt and Egon Schiele, architects like Otto Wagner and Adolf Loos, the psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud and the composer Gustav Mahler. Surveying these figures within the context of their time, this talk asks how and why the City of Dreams became an artistic hotbed. 

2.      The Magic of Prague: the City and the Czech Cultural Revival

As part of the Habsburg Empire, Prague was beloved of kings and princes. During the 19th century, however, the Czechs sought to reclaim the city for their own. Looking at their roots and mythology the Czech people imagined a new future through art, reshaping cultural movements in specifically patriotic ways. This talk demonstrates how the Czechs reclaimed both country and capital through artistic means.

3.      Cultural Experiments in the Weimar Republic

After the First World War, Europe was in a state of flux. How could artists and architects create and what, indeed, would they produce while reeling from the worst conflict ever known? Out of crisis, however, came a truly stimulating period of artistic endeavour. This talk looks at the experimental culture of German-speaking Europe during the interwar years.

Gavin Plumley    

Gavin is a writer and broadcaster. He appears on BBC Radio 3 and 4 and contributes to newspapers, magazines and opera and concert programmes worldwide. He also lectures widely about the culture of Central Europe. Recent appearances include Klimt and The Kiss in cinemas worldwide and talks for the Hay and Cheltenham Literature Festivals, the Royal Opera House, the National Gallery, the National Trust, the National Theatre, the British Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum. His first book, A Home for All Seasons, is out now. 

Date: 4th December 2025

Venue: The Cardiff and County Club, Westgate Street, Cardiff CF10 1DA

Time: 10.30 am to 3.30 pm

Refreshments: Morning tea, buffet lunch and afternoon tea will be included

Price: £52

From Monochrome to Polychrome: How Colour Transformed the Art of Garden Design

This study day will be presented in three themes;

1. Broadening the Palette – This covers the creation of gardens from Medieval times to the end of the 19th century.  It includes gardens from Europe, Asia, and America, as well as England.

2.  Seeing the Light – The story now looks at the use of colour by humans in everyday life and gardening and art from 30,000 to the present day.

3.  Planting the Picture – The final part picks up the story from part one at the start of the 20th century and examines the process of, and motivation for creating living works of fine art in the garden.

This study day will be led by Timothy Walker who lectures in Botany and Plant Conservation at Somerville College, Oxford.

Date: 28th November 2024

Venue: The Cardiff and County Club, Westgate Street, Cardiff CF10 1DA

Time: Full Day

Refreshments: Morning tea, buffet lunch and afternoon tea will be included

Price: £50

This light-hearted but informative study day examines the enormous changes in our homes over a hundred-year period. It encompasses aspects of middle-class household taste - from Victorian clutter to the psychedelic ‘throw away’ furnishings of the 1970s.  Three sessions look at how social upheaval, war and technological advances transformed our houses. From the 1880s, when each interior was governed by strict convention and the home was regarded as a shrine to family life, we see how change gradually came about.  The coming of electricity and central heating altered appearance and comfort and other major design developments changed our interiors.

The study day will be led by Matthew Williams, Curator Emeritus of Cardiff Castle.

Date: Thursday 7th December 2023

Time: 10.30 am to approximately 4pm

Venue: The Cardiff and County Club, Westgate Street, Cardiff CF10 1DA

Price: £40 for members

Please note that The Cardiff and County Club operates a dress code: gentlemen are required to wear a jacket and tie and jeans and trainers are not permitted for ladies or gentlemen.

In a change to the advertised programme, our Special Study Day on Wednesday 30th November 2022 will be presented by Clare Ford-Wille. Clare has an honours degree in History of Art from Birkbeck College, University of London. She works regularly for organisations such as the Centre for Lifelong Learning at London University, the National Gallery, the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Workers' Educational Association, Morley College, the City Literary Institute, the Art Fund and the  National Trust. Clare is also involved in leading overseas study tours.

The study day will explore the lure of travel and its impact upon the work of artists from the Renaissance to the 19th Century.

Rogier Van der Weyden travelled to Italy and was impressed by the work of Fra Angelico: Italian artists were equally influenced by the work of Weyden.  Just before Van Eyck completed the Ghent Altarpiece in 1432 he was sent by Philip the Good of Burgundy to collect the Duke’s bride, the Infanta of Portugal. Upon his return Van Eyck inserted into his altarpiece the exotic plants and trees he had seen on his travels.  In 1551 Bruegel went on a study tour to Italy but what impressed him was not so much Italy as the alpine mountain ranges; these stayed with him and were included in many of his great paintings and prints on his return.  In the 17th century Rubens travelled to Spain and Italy and the work he produced during his future career was shaped by these journeys.  Van Dyck’s stay in Italy and his experience of seeing the work of Titian enabled him to transform British painting for the next three hundred years. In the 19th century Delacroix at the beginning and Gauguin towards the end of the century traveller further outside Europe to North Africa and the South Seas respectively. We also investigate how their travels informed their work.

Venue: The Cardiff and County Club, Westgate Street, Cardiff CF10 1DA. 

Programme:

10.00                                 Convene

10.30 -11.30                       Introduction

                                             Artists’ Travels in the 16th and 17th Centuries for Education and Work

11.30 -12.00                       Tea and Coffee.

12.00 - 1.00                        Travels in the 17th and the Development of the Baroque Style

1.00 - 2.00                           Lunch

2.00 - 3.00                           Artists’ Travels from the 18th to the 20th Centuries

3.00 - 3.30                           Questions and closing remarks

Price: £40 for Arts Society members and £45 for non-members

Contact email: cardiff@theartssociety.org

Please note that there is no lift to the meeting room in the Cardiff and County Club; therefore access may be restricted for those with significant mobility issues. Please also note that the Cardiff and County Club operates a dress code:  gentlemen are required to wear a jacket and tie, and jeans and trainers are not permitted for ladies or gentlemen.

Christmas tea and talk by Matthew Williams at the Coal Exchange, Cardiff.  Originally known as the Coal and Shipping Exchange, it was built as a stock exchange for trading coal in 1888.  It is now a hotel.

Burned, Bombed and Bulldozed, Britain's Lost Houses, Study Day presented by Matthew Williams, Curator of Cardiff Castle. This building at Glanusk, near Crickhowell, was demolished in 1952.

Christmas tea and talk, dining room at the Cardiff and County Club.

Study Day presented by Matthew Williams, Curator of Cardiff Castle

Study Day presented by Matthew Williams, Curator of Cardiff Castle

40th Anniversary Lecture of South Wales DFAS (previous name of The Arts Society Cardiff)

Portmeirion: An Italianate fantasy village in Gwynedd, north Wales. Built between 1925 and 1975 by Sir Clough William-Ellis it is now a tourist village perhaps most famous for a style of pottery and as 'The Village' in the 1960s tevevision show The Prisoner.