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Click here for future lectures

09 November 2026The Architecture of Norman Foster and Richard Rogers
12 October 2026The Glasgow Girls
14 September 2026The History of the Chair from Ancient to Modern Times
08 June 2026John Singer Sargent: the private radical
11 May 2026Home Sweet Home: the domestic interior in Dutch 17th Century painting
13 April 2026AGM | Pots and Frocks: Grayson Perry from Essex potter to Superstar
09 March 2026Cezanne, Gauguin and Van Gogh: lost souls looking for direction in the Oise Valley
09 February 2026The Great Game Changers of 19th Century Opera: Verdi, Wagner and Puccini
12 January 2026Women Artists in Britain between the Wars
08 December 2025Antony Gormley: a body of work
10 November 2025The Influence of Japanese Woodcut on Western Art
13 October 2025Mad Men and the Artists: how the advertising industry has exploited fine art
08 September 2025The Art of Art Deco
09 June 2025Eric Ravilious: life and work
12 May 2025La Serenissima – the Golden Age of Music in Venice
14 April 2025AGM followed by The Manufactured Woman, the story of Pandora
10 March 2025Indians, Buffaloes and Storms
10 February 2025The Queen Mother at the Castle of Mey
13 January 2025The History of Water in the Garden
09 December 2024Joseph of Nazareth: Best Supporting Actor
11 November 2024The Century of Deception
14 October 2024Mary Cassatt: Painting in Paris
09 September 2024Caravaggio - painter extraordinaire, flawed genius
10 June 2024Now You See It, Now You Don't
13 May 2024Il Gigante: Michelangelo's David
08 April 2024AGM + Symbols of Imperial Authority and Extravagance: The Ming Dynasty 1368-1644
11 March 2024The Art of the Highlands
12 February 2024Lucian Freud: the art and the man
08 January 2024The Art of the German Expressionists: avant-garde but not 'degenerate'
11 December 2023Bruegel, the Seasons and the World
13 November 2023Tutankhamun and the Splendours of Ancient Egypt
09 October 2023The Fine Art of Saving Lives at Sea: especially Grace Darling
11 September 2023When British Art Took Off: an overview
12 June 2023The Art of Pandemics
08 May 2023Heaven on Earth: a road trip through mediaeval Burgundy
17 April 2023O Paxton! How Chatsworth's Victorian genius came to put the world under glass
13 March 2023The Art of State Ceremonial Music
13 February 2023Marathon!
09 January 2023Joseph Wright of Derby: a painter of light and Enlightenment
12 December 2022The Gold Lyre of Ur
14 November 2022A Brief History of Wine
10 October 2022How Don Quixote Conquered the Art World
12 September 2022Discovering MacDonald Gill
13 June 2022Giles: his life, times and cartoons
09 May 2022Bandstands - History, Decline and Revival
11 April 2022Raphael: a master in the making
14 March 2022The Two Gustavs: Mahler and Klimt
14 February 2022When Cotton Was King: from warehouse to palazzo
10 January 2022Les Parisiennes: how women lived and died in Paris 1920-45
13 December 2021Christmas in Bach’s Leipzig
15 November 2021A Concise History of Great British Parks
11 October 2021Backstage at the Royal Opera House
13 September 2021Dame Laura Knight RA
14 June 2021Cecil Beaton
10 May 2021The Art of the Steal: Nazi Looting During World War II
12 April 2021A Kelmscott Chaucer for Our Times
08 March 2021Peggy Guggenheim
08 February 2021The History of Russian Art
11 January 2021The Pre-Raphaelites in the North East
14 December 2020A very British Art Form : the story of pantomime
09 November 2020Winslow Homer and the Art of New England
08 June 2020Here Lies our Sovereign Lord the King
11 May 2020A Concise History of British Parks
20 April 2020A Kelmscott Chaucer of Our Times
09 March 2020From the Magic Lantern to MGM: the birth of the silver screen and the artists it inspired.
10 February 2020The Gate of Heroes: on the China Trail
13 January 2020The Age of Jazz
09 December 2019Netherlandish Influences on Italian Art
11 November 2019Dumfries House: an Ayrshire Renaissance
14 October 2019The Wind in the Willows Revisited Through its Illustrators
09 September 2019Henri Matisse's Unexpected Masterpiece: the chapel at Vence
10 June 2019Frank Matcham's Masterpieces (to include the Theatre Royal Newcatle
13 May 2019Artists of the Lake District
08 April 2019 Music and Art in the Time of Vermeer
11 March 2019Nazca Lines
11 February 2019Joan Eardley: she died too soon
14 January 2019The Hanseatic League: A Medieval European Union
10 December 2018Foreigners in London 1520-1677. Artists that changed the course of British Art
12 November 2018The Arts and Crafts Garden Idyll
08 October 2018All That Glitters Our GOLD lecture to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Arts Society
10 September 2018The Ancient Silk Road and its Hidden Treasures
08 September 2018Those Crazy Years: life and art in Paris in the Jazz Age. This lecture starts at 11.00am but come early to enjoy a complimentary drink.
01 September 2018Conceptual Art: whatever were they thinking about? This lecture starts at 11.00am but come early to enjoy a complimentary drink.
23 August 2018The Cult of the South Pacific: from Cook to Gauguin. This lecture starts at 6.30pm but come early to enjoy a complimentary drink.
09 August 2018Food and Art Through the Ages: from Renaissance Sugar Sculpture to 3D Printing. This lecture starts at 6.30pm but come early to enjoy a complimentary drink.
26 July 2018From Garbo to Garland: The Magical Art of Hollywood. This lecture starts at 6.30pm but come early to enjoy a complimentary drink.
12 July 2018Faber and Faber: 90 Years of Excellence in Cover Design. This lecture starts at 6.30pm but come early to enjoy a complimentary drink.
28 June 2018Raoul Dufy: Cradled by Music and the Sea. This lecture starts at 6.30pm but come early to enjoy a complimentary drink
11 June 2018Wonder Workers and the Art of Illusion: the history of magic through art and pictures
14 May 2018Jewellery: adornment and ritual from prehistory to the present
09 April 2018Ethiopia, 3000 years of History, Art and Architecture
12 March 2018Pugin: man of contrasts
12 February 2018Jan Van Eyck: artist and ambassador
08 January 2018After Caravaggio: light, darkness and drama - the revolutionary influence
11 December 2017The Christmas Tree from Forest fir to Festive Feature
13 November 2017The Glasgow Boys and Girls, the Scottish Colourists and the French Connection
16 October 2017The Sacred Art of Burma
11 September 2017Atkinson Grimshaw Painter of Moonlight: his life and art
12 June 2017Painting with Light: the development of stained glass in Britain from Bede to the 21st Century
08 May 2017The World of the Lindisfarne Gospels
10 April 2017A View from the Plinth - a review of public sculpture today
13 March 2017The Georgian House around the World
13 February 2017The Ups and Downs in the Lives of the Impressionists along the Seine - The Cradle of Impressionism
09 January 2017Vivaldi in Venice
12 December 2016The Secret Art of the Passport: How to use it to fox the forger
14 November 2016Lancelot 'Capability' Brown: Landscape Art and Dame Nature
10 October 2016Newcastle Silver
12 September 2016The Golden Age of European Cabinet Making
13 June 2016The Punch and Judy Show: a subversive symbol from Commedia Dell'Arte to the present day
09 May 2016Animals and Their Roles in Art: how to explore paintings for their hidden meanings
11 April 2016Chinese Court Costume & Dress Accessories of the Qing Dynasty
14 March 2016Shafts of Light: the phenomenon of mining art
08 February 2016Toulouse Lautrec and the Paris Music Halls of the 1890's
11 January 2016A Mediterranean Tour: not just a load of old stones
14 December 2015Constable's Great Landscapes: the materials and techniques of Constable's exhibited oils of the 1820s-30s
09 November 2015The Art of Waterloo
12 October 2015The Restoration of Barholm Castle, a Late Medieval Galloway Laird's Tower, 2003-6 2003-2006
14 September 2015The Arts of the Mughal Empire
08 June 2015Vermeer, Master of Delft
11 May 2015‘Thy Trembling Strings’ the C19th Century Harp & Harp-Lute
13 April 2015Medieval Illuminated Bestiaries
09 March 2015Angelica Kauffman – an C18th Artist in England
09 February 2015Edwin Lutyens: Architect to Dolls, Dukes & Dynasties Photo by Matthew Hunt
12 January 2015From Russia: Diaghilev & The Ballets Russes 1909 - 1929
08 December 2014Three Wise Men: Gold, Frankincense & Myrrh – The Traditions of the Magi
10 November 2014Thomas Hetherwick ‘ The Leonardo da Vinci of our Times
13 October 2014Power Scandal & Love : A Royal Jewel for Every Occasion
08 September 2014Gauguin’s Women: Mother, Wife, Daughter, Mistresses

Click on a row and scroll to display more details about the lecture

The Architecture of Norman Foster and Richard Rogers Brian Stater Monday 09 November 2026

Richard Rogers and Norman Foster are the most celebrated British architects of the last 100 years, building around the world in glass, steel and concrete. When Rogers was awarded the Royal Gold Medal for Architecture the citation observed that he was "the rightful heir to the traditions of Wren". And the same could certainly be said of Foster.

The allusion to Wren is startling, but this lecture demonstrates that Wren might very well have recognised Rogers and Foster as kindred spirits.  

Wren transformed the London skyline, he had a restless and brilliantly inquisitive mind, and believed that progressive design would enhance the function of his buildings. All of which (and much more) also applies to Foster and Rogers.

To remind ourselves - Rogers produced buildings such as the Pompidou Centre in Paris and the Lloyds building in London, Foster's portfolio includes the famous Gherkin, the Great Court at the British Museum and an amazing viaduct in southern France.

Brian Stater

Brian Stater lectured at University College London for 25 years, retiring in 2021 as a Senior Teaching Fellow. His principal academic interest lay in the appreciation of architecture and he has a lifelong enthusiasm for photography. He therefore offers lectures to The Arts Society on each of these subjects.

He has written on architecture for a wide range of publications and an exhibition of his own photographs was held at UCL. He is a member of the Association of Historical and Fine Art Photography and he works with a pre-War Leica camera, as used by his great hero, Henri Cartier-Bresson, and many others.

Brian is an engaging and amusing speaker who seeks to entertain as well as inform his audience.

Venue: Trinity Church, High Street, Gosforth, Newcastle NE3 4AG

Time: Please arrive before 7.20pm to allow time to sign in. The lecture begins at 7.30pm. 

Visitors are welcome, for non-members we suggest a donation of £10 per lecture.