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Saturday Academy

Art and Ideas: a Series of Illustrated talks by John Clarke on Saturday afternoons at the Wye Valley Arts centre, Llandogo  

26 October 2013  Art and Revolution in the Romantic Period

This was a time of great transformations in philosophy and society generally as well as in the arts, and this talk explores the work of some great artists of the period (for example David, Delacroix, Goya, Blake, Turner, Friedrich) in the context of revolutions in politics and philosophy.

22 February 2014  The Renaissance Revolution in Art and Architecture

An exploration of some of the remarkable works of art and architecture of fifteenth century Italy which were greatly influenced by Ancient Greek philosophy, especially that of Plato, and which contributed towards later developments in the arts and sciences.

10 May 2014   The Picturesque Movement in Context

Introduction to the Picturesque movement that began in the valley of the River Wye in the 18th century, outlining its origins in the philosophy and culture of its time, and its place in the history of landscape painting.

27 September 2014  Modernism in Art and Philosophy: the Shock of the New

Many people have a problem in understanding and appreciating modern art. Philosophy can be helpful here. This illustrated talks examines ways in which new ideas in philosophy and related fields early in the twentieth century can throw some light on the beginnings of the modern movement in art.

9 May 2015  Art and Ideas in the Age of Anxiety: Dada to Sartre

This talk shows how the visual arts (especially Dada and Surrealism) of the inter-war period, a time of great cultural, social and political turmoil, mirrored some of the revolutionary movements and ideas of that period.

7 November 2015 Art and Ideas: Chinese Philosophy and the Art of Chinese Landscape Painting: An illustrated talk by John Clarke

"The tao of living and the tao of painting are one and the same" (Chinese saying)

Landscape painting is considered by the Chinese to be the supreme form of art in that it most fully embodies the idea of the tao. It expresses all that is of central value in traditional Chinese culture, and conveys the essence of the three great philosophical traditions of China: Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism.

This illustrated talk draws on John's experience of teaching philosophy for some years at the University of Singapore which led to several books including The Tao of the West: Western Transformations of Taoist Thought, and to an interest in the history and techniques of Chinese landscape painting. There will be an opportunity to view his collection of Chinese hanging scrolls and painting materials

19 November 2016 Landscape into art: The philosophical and artistic significance of garden design. An illustrated talk by John Clarke

The philosophical background to the universal phenomenon of gardens, with particular focus on the development of the art of landscape garden design in Britain and France the 17th and 18th centuries.