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STUDY COURSES AT RIPLEY ARTS CENTRE
2011–2012

Our study courses are an in-depth look at a particular subject.
They take place on Friday or Monday mornings over two or three consecutive weeks.
A separate charge is made for these courses, which are open to members only.

Bustles and Breeches: Dress through the ages
Fridays 20 and 27 January 2012
Lecturer: Claire Walsh
The first lecture will be a broad sweeping survey of the changes in English dress and fashion covering cut, materials, meaning, making and cleaning, whilst lecture two is about the well dressed English Gentleman, tracing changes in the history of men’s dress at the top end of the social scale.

Post-Impressionists: Van Gogh and Cezanne
Fridays 10 and 17 February 2112
Lecturer: Douglas Skeggs
Douglas is a very popular lecturer who came to us recently to talk about Dutch paintings. He returns to lecture to us on the world of these two artists and how they influenced each other.

REVIEW
Bustles and Breeches – the story of dress and fashion.
In a fascinating study course of two lectures in January, that almost got entitled Crinolines and Codpieces, Dr Claire Walsh gave us a history of dress through the ages for both men and women. Claire detailed with great humour changes in styles, materials, cut and technology, locating clothes in their economic, social and cultural context.
We learned about the evolution of trousers for men and much later the development of the suit, and about the intricacies of corsetry for women as fashions in body shape changed. The Tudor era, with the need for nobles to appear frequently at court in highly decorated outfits, brought the first “mix and match”, with separate sleeves, bodices, skirts and over-skirts for women and breeches, over-breeches, hose, and doublets for men so that variations could be made to produce a fresh look on each occasion. Since all these pieces needed to be assembled, no wonder that lords and ladies needed an army of servants to look after them.

Study Courses are held at Ripley, Bromley during the winter months. Booked for next year are:
Louise Schofield, On the Riverbank, the archaeology of the area around the Tigris and the Euphrates.
Diana Lloyd, Sevres and Meissen ware and their influence on English factories.
Eric Shanes, Turner and his works.