Diss U3A January 2016 “Flower Power in the History of Art” by Tanya Harrington

Tanya is a member of Diss U3A with a wealth of knowledge about art history. She gave our group a fascinating account of how flowers and plants have featured in the paintings and drawings of numerous artists, opening with an example from David Bomberg, whom she is currently researching for a book she is writing.

The next meeting of Diss U3A will be on Thursday 4th February, starting at 10.30 am in the United Reform Church, Diss. The guest speaker will be Christine Adams who will give a talk entitled, “Miss May Savage Moves House”.

For further information on Diss U3A please visit the website: www.dissu3a.org.uk

We saw works from a wide variety of artists, including Pablo Picasso, Albert Dürer, Jan Brueghel, John Everett Millais, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Van Gogh, Henri Matisse, Paul Monet, Paul Nash, Salvador Dali, Edward Burra, Lucian Freud, Diego Rivera, Georgia O’Keeffe, David Hockney and Tracey Emin. Impossible to say which were our favourites but Tanya skilfully brought each painting to life explaining the artists’ style and the art movements they subscribed to as well as providing us with interesting biographical details.
Tanya also included examples of flower painting from the Renaissance, the Dutch school, Japanese woodblocks, Islamic manuscripts and the medieval Book of Hours.

There was definitely enough material here for several more talks so we hope to persuade Tanya to return with a follow up session. She has already expressed an interest in talking about women artists.

These images are a few examples from the artists that Tanya talked about. Some, but not all, are very well-known. How many artists do you recognise?

The next meeting of Diss U3A will be on Thursday 4th February, starting at 10.30 am in the United Reform Church, Diss. The guest speaker will be Christine Adams who will give a talk entitled, “Miss May Savage Moves House”.

For further information on Diss U3A please visit the website: www.dissu3a.org.uk

Cookies For Comments Image
%d bloggers like this: