Birks Art Appreciation Group

Join us at 7:00pm on the Third Monday of April, May, and June for a new Art Appreciation Group, meeting upstairs at the cinema.

Monday 20th April:
This is the first of a Spring series of discussions being held by Aberfeldy's art appreciation group. The topic will be the 'liberation of colour'. Between about 1886 and 1906, certain 'avant garde' painters - among them van Gogh, Cezanne and Matisse - began to use heightened, non-naturalistic colour, which they applied with thick, unblended brushstrokes - an approach which seemed shockingly crude and slapdash to their contemporary audience. We shall focus on just a handful of paintings by these artists, and ask what motivated them to attempt this 'liberation of colour', what were they reacting against, and what do we think of their work today? The discussion will be led by Andrew Paterson. Everyone welcome to participate; no prior knowledge required.

Monday 18th May
This is the second of a Spring series of discussions being held by Aberfeldy's art appreciation group. The topic will be the work of John Duncan Fergusson, who gave up an early ambition to become a surgeon in favour of art. He was the most internationally recognised of the Scottish Colourists: Fergusson, Peploe, Cadell and Hunter. Each spent an extended period in France in the early years of the 20th century, and were all influenced by the French modern movements of that time.

Born in Leith in 1874, to parents who both came from Highland Perthshire, Fergusson took his first trip to Paris towards the end of the nineteenth century to study there. Travel introduced him to new artists and styles, which influenced his work greatly. He was involved in the art worlds of Paris, London and Glasgow during a career that spanned 60 years. The discussion will be led by Jo Scobie and Dot Rodger. Everyone welcome to participate; no prior knowledge required.

Monday 15th June
This is the third of a Spring series of discussions being held by Aberfeldy's art appreciation group. We will be introduced to Marthe Orant (1874- 1957), a French painter who studied alongside the Nabis group. She was a contemporary of Gwen John and, like her, a single woman artist who died in poverty. Orant was born during the Belle Epoque in Poissy, North West of Paris, the only child of a middle-class family. She was educated in a convent school where she began to paint. After school, she continued with art lessons until she found the Nabis and studied with Bonnard and Vuillard. When her parents died, she moved in with a family friend and continued to paint, mainly outside, her subjects being the public gardens, working-class neighbourhoods and bustling streets of Paris. She said she felt “always helpless in the face of small problems” and that "life is nothing but disorder", yet her work is full of sensitivity, of subtle colour and lightness of touch. “In her canvases, she has imagined the spaces where she could have lived happily, and which await her forever in the bright light of her dreams". We will have the opportunity to look at some of Orant’s original paintings of nature, to discuss her life, the circumstances that can affect an artist’s approach to their work and why it is/was so hard for women artists to achieve recognition. The discussion will be led by Louise Carney. Everyone welcome to participate; no prior knowledge required.

Tickets: £5