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'No Visible Means of Support': 1950s Style in Britain
To be held Saturday 24 April 2010, Clifton Hill House, University of Bristol
This study day takes a cross cultural look at Britain in the 1950s to see if the decade produced a unique and distinctive style. The title recalls a response to the Skylon, the futurisitic sculpture that epitomised the 1951 Festival of Britain; predictably, the phrase was soon applied to the nation itself. While America emerged from the Second World War as 'the Affluent Society', Britain had to buckle down to a period of ‘reconstruction and regeneration’. It was the era of milk bars and dance halls, slacks and cigarettes, spies and sputnik, cocktails and carnivals; it saw the rise of the Cold War and the death of the Debutante. The Festival of Britain, followed two years later by the Coronation gave rise to a self-conscious patriotism and by 1957 Harold Macmillan could finally assure his people, ‘You’ve never had it so good!’ Examining key figures in visual arts, architecture and garden design we will attempt to tease out preoccupations, themes and motifs to determine if there really is a 50s style, and if so, what it looked like.
Speakers include
Frances Spalding on John Piper, Rachel Flynn on Graham Sutherland, Jeremy Gould on suburban architecture, Timothy Mowl on the architecture of the Festival of Britain, Anne de Verteuil on Sir Frederick Gibberd, Trish Gibson on Brenda Colvin and Paige Johnson on atomic gardens.
For further information and application forms, contact Dr Katie Campbell at katie@gardenhistoryinstitute.co.uk.
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' Elysian Fields, Pindaric Shades and a Myriad Inchanting Mansions’: The Life and Work of Thomas Wright (1711-1786)
A one day conference to celebrate the contribution of Thomas Wright to eighteenth-century landscape to mark the tercentenary of his birth will take place on Saturday 25 June 2011 at Clifton Hill House, Bristol.
Further information will be posted at a later date...
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Lecture Series
Open to all: 4.30 pm Clifton Hill House, Lower Clifton Hill, Bristol
17 October 2009: Helena Gerrish: Avery Tipping at High Glanau
24 November 2009: Michael Liversage: Sex and the Georgian Garden
8 December 2009: Christmas Drinks for MA course and guests
26 January 2010: Ben Lennon: Savernake Forest
16 February 2010: Sara Whittingham: On Ferns
23 February 2010: Dr Katie Campbell: Geoffrey Bawa- Inventing Sri Lankan Style
March 2010: Dr Clare Hickman: on Japanese Parks and Gardens (final date to be announced)
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