Tuesday 31 January – Thursday 16 March 2023
Twenty-thousand years before modern humans arrived in Europe, a cave dweller on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi reached into a cold fire and pulled out a burnt stub of wood. Inspired, perhaps, by some sense of urgency, perhaps due to hunger, they stole away into the mysterious depths of a cave, where they swiftly painted a lively and corpulent pig on the wall. We will never know the thoughts that impelled that person to create the image of a wild pig, whether shamanic or not, but we can safely say that an instinct to leave marks and identifiable representations of the natural world on walls, whether in dark caves, tiny chapels, hidden tombs or country villas has impelled artists for millennia. Every coloured brushstroke or simple line seems cognizant of the necessitous interaction between the image and the scale of the wall on which it is applied. Every stroke communicates awe at the symbiosis created between the abstract expanse and contour of the wall and the figurative image that brings quivering life to what was previously a anonymous blank expanse.
At a time when modern travel is bedevilled by plagues, strikes and unruly passengers, for this two part course we will fly in a virtual time capsule enjoying painless transitions from ancient cave and tomb painting in France to their counterparts in Ajanta, India ( possibly the finest surviving picture galleries from the ancient world) and Mount Sinai, Egypt; and from Nero’s once splendid city palace, the Golden House in Rome; to Giotto’s astounding Arena Chapel in Padua; and from Ghirlandaio’s vernacular Tornabuoni Chapel in Florence to Pinturicchio’s all-embracing library narrative in Siena; and from Verrio’s grandiloquent entrance hall at Chatsworth to Graham Rust’s airy staircase at Ragley Hall, and from Diego Rivera’s monumental murals at the National Palace in Mexico City to Tim Chalk and Paul Grimes’ intricate Leith mural outside Edinburgh. The second part of the course will begin Tuesday 9th May 2023 – Thursday 29th June 2023.
Our studies will sometimes be enormously enhanced by recent optical technology utilising custom-built digital cameras that are able to scan an entire painted canvas or wall millimetre by millimetre and produce high-resolution images. Every mark can now be brought into crystal-clear focus. Never-before-seen details now emerge from obscurity revealing the points of contact between the hand of the artist and his/her chosen material and wall support. We can verify with our own eyes the breathtaking skill and strong intention of the creator. We can witness the alchemy whereby beauties of light and shade in landscape, or the line of an animal’s muzzle, can be represented simply by the subtle juxtaposition of colourful mineral pigments. This technology is not just a step forward, but represents a revolution in optics and opens the door to an extraordinary dimension in our relationship to art.
Our experience of wall art is further enriched by our realization that it cannot be taken from its wall, that
is, removed from the site in which it was originally made, and is thus not at a geographical remove from the spirits or context of those who placed it there. Please join us as we engage with one of humankind’s most poignant art forms, set for all times on the stationary walls of natural and man-made structures, but more available than ever to us wherever we may be, thanks to digital technology that enables us to be as close, or even closer, to the work than the artist was when he or she created it!
Booking Information:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
This online course via Zoom will be presented by Nicholas Friend, Co-Founder, Managing Director of Inscape. It is held on Tuesdays and Thursdays. It begins on Tuesday 31 January 2023 at 4pm, and ends on Thursday 16 March 2023 at 11am.
You may choose to attend individual sessions or all seven, in which case there is a discount! If you would like to attend but cannot manage a particular date, then be assured we will be sending recordings of sessions to all participants. Each session meets from 20 minutes before the advertised time of the lecture, and each lecture lasts roughly one hour, with around 15 minutes discussion.
Cost: £295 members or £365 non-members for the course of 7 sessions or £45 members or £55 non-members per individual session. All sessions are limited to 21 participants to permit discussion.
Due to the coronavirus cheques are not a viable option at this time. Instead, please make your payment to Friend&Friend Ltd by bank transfer to our account with Metrobank, bank sort code 23-05-80, account number 13291721 or via PayPal to nicholas@inscapetours.co.uk, or credit/debit card by phone to Henrietta on 07940 719397. She is available Tuesdays 10-12 and 2-5 pm or Thursdays 10-12 and 2-5 pm. Do get in touch if you would like extra support learning how to use Zoom.
How to Set Up a PayPal account::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Click on this link: https://www.paypal.com/uk/home
In the upper right-hand corner of the screen, click “Sign up.”
On the following screen choose “Personal account” and click “Next.”
On the next page, you’ll be asked to enter your name, email address and to create and confirm a password. When finished, click “Next.”
Click “Agree and create account” and your PayPal account will be created.
How to Connect your Bank Account to your PayPal account:::::::::::::::::::::::
Log on to your account and click the “Wallet” option in the menu bar running along the top of the screen.
On the menu running down the left side of the screen, click the “Link a credit or debit card”.
Enter the card information you wish to link to your PayPal account and click “Link card” for debit card.
How to Send Money::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Log on to your account. Click Send & Request.
Enter the email address of the person you wish to send money to: nicholas@inscapetours.co.uk
Type in the amount you wish to send, click continue then press ‘Send Money Now’.
INSCAPE CULTURAL STUDY SOCIETY 