Lecture Programme 2011-2012

Lectures take place in the Salón Varietés Theatre , Fuengirola at 16.30 on the second Monday in the month - visitors are welcome.

February 13th 2012
The Valparaiso Restaurant Lecture
An evening with Lord Byron
Regarded as one of the greatest British poets, influential Lord Byron was born in 1788.  His celebrated life as an aristocrat and a leading figure in Romantism with excesses including high debts, numerous love affairs and self-imposed exile, he finally left England in 1816 never to return, settling at the Villa Diodati on Lake Geneva in Switzerland. His personal physician, Dr. John William Polidori accompanied him on a trip through Europe.  It was at the Villa Diodati where they met Mary Shelley and Percy Bysshe.  Mary followed in her parents’ literary footsteps, becoming famously known for her creation of Frankenstein, which was the most enduring result of the evening at Villa Diodati.  Mary had met Percy Bysshe during a visit to her parents’ home and bookshop.  Although married, he fell in love with Mary and leaving his wife, they traveled to Europe.  On a stormy night in June 1816 with thunder and lightning flashing across the lake, Lord Byron encourages his guests to tell ghost stories, exploring the fascination of vampires, monsters and other horrors.  Elizabeth Merry, our lecturer, promises to intrigue us with the darker fascinations from this period to include the authors Henry Fuseli, William Blake and Joseph Wright highlighting not only literature, poetry, classical art and architecture of that era but the thoughts of these artists, writers, philosophers and poets.
Lecturer:  Elizabeth Merry, M.A.,B.A.(Hons), P.G.C.E

March 12th 2012
The Blevins Franks International Lecture
Art and Architecture of Cuba
Cuba’s popularity as a holiday destination increased in the 1990s, when the Castro government identified tourism as a means of attracting foreign currency to stave off economic collapse, once Russian financial support diminished. The rich, diverse architectural and cultural heritage spreads across five centuries, following the Spanish Colonization in 1512.  Old Havana was laid out to a sophisticated plan, with a grid of streets, spacious plazas, grand buildings with central courtyards and arcades.   European Baroque and Neo-Classical styles were overlaid with Latin exuberance.  Cuba struggled but was granted independence from Spain in 1899, but the settlement of the Spanish-American War in 1902, brought in strong American influence as the price for establishing the Republic. Art Deco skyscrapers and hotels were typical of the 1920s, and Cuba remained popular for Americans even after the 1929 Wall Street Crash.  Development and investment peaked in the 1950s but coincided with the corrupt Battista government, and growing guerrilla activity, encouraged by Fidel Castro and Che Guevara.  The 1959 Revolution brought hard-line communism, backed by Russia for 30 years – health and education progressed, but at the cost of precious personal freedom.  Cultural triumphs included the National Ballet, with Covent Garden superstar Carlos Acosta. Old Havana was declared a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1982.  Training of conservation craftspeople matches standards found in the west, but given economic poverty, the challenge remains enormous. 
Lecturer:  Dr. Mervyn Miller Ph.D.,B.A.,Bachelor of Architecture

April 9th 2012
The Clinica Noruega Lecture
The Dollar Princesses - American Heiresses
Anne Sebba‘s forte is books about women; she is a biographer and former Reuter’s foreign correspondent. She is the author of ‘Jennie Churchill, Winston’s American Mother’.  Jennie and her sisters married Britons but brought debt rather then dollars to their new families.  Her latest research is the life of Wallis Simpson, who stormed the highest echelons of the British aristocracy without bringing dollars to the royal coffers.  Between 1870-1914 hundreds of American heiresses flooded the shores of continental Europe.  When the Great War broke out, most of Europe’s titled families could boast at least one wealthy American somewhere amid the branches of the family tree.  Consuelo Vanderbilt became Duchess of Marlborough; Jennie Jerome married Lord Randolph Churchill; Mary Leiter, the Chicago railroad heiress married Lord Curzon and became Vicereine of India; May Goelet married the Duke of Roxbughe.  The cultural, financial and social backdrop to these marriages will be explained. They may have kept the grand estates from collapsing but few provided lasting happiness when the fairytale was exposed.  Brash Americans and their money were taking husbands away from English girls. Anne Sebba will also talk about the lives of Winaretta Singer the lesbian Sewing Machine heiress, famously a patron of the arts and Anna Gould another railroad heiress and the great houses they helped to preserve.  The Dollar Princesses have been immortalized in literature by Edith Wharton, Henry James, Trollope and Frances Hodgson Burnett’s novel ‘The Shuttle’.  Anne has written the introduction to the newly republished version of this book. 
Lecturer:  Anne Sebba, B.A. ( Hons )

May 7th 2012
The Heather Barnes Memorial Lecture
The Benin Bronzes
Among the most important and valuable works of art from Africa are the Benin Bronzes.  These are sculptures from the West African kingdom of Benin which is in present day Nigeria.  Seized by the British in 1897 as a result of the Punitive Expedition, many were given to the British Museum in London and others were divided between various collections.  When they were first seen in Europe the technical accomplishment of these pieces astounded critics and the superb workmanship and outstanding aesthetic quality of Benin’s royal sculptures rivals the very best work of the Italian Renaissance. They are believed to have been cast as early as the thirteenth century, depicting a variety of scenes, including animals, fish, humans and scenes of court life.  This lecture reveals the sophisticated production processes, the symbolism and ritual use of the bronzes, as well as investigating the response of  avant-garde artists such as Picasso and Matisse, who struggled to place them within their category of ‘the primitive’.  Nigeria bought around 50 Bronzes from the British Museum between the 1950’s and 1970’s and has repeatedly demanded the return of the remainder.  Controversially this issue equals the Elgin Marbles claimed by Greece and the Rosetta Stone claimed by Egypt.  The British Museum still houses the richest collection but many examples are on show in museums across Britain and Europe.
Lecturer:  Dr. Clair Walsh, B.A. ( Hons ), M.A.(Distinction), Ph.D.