THURSDAY 12 APRIL 2018
Royal Institution, 21 Albermarle Street, London W1S 4BS
7 - 9pm
The programme will begin with actor, novelist, film director and screenwriter Julian Fellowes in conversation with Deborah Gage, as a prelude to an illustrated, dramatized talk by the Revd. Mary Sitwell and Linda Hallums, based on the recently published book, The Bloomsbury Group in Berwick Church, by the Revd. Peter Blee. The reading illustrated with images of the pictures and preparatory sketches evokes the story of the commissioning of the paintings by Duncan Grant, Vanessa and Quentin Bell in 1941 by Bishop Bell of Chichester for the church of St. Michael and All Angels, Berwick nestled in the lee of the South Downs. They represent one of the most important commissions in 20th century British Art and probably one of the most complete decorative schemes of modern artists for an ancient rural church in this country.
Organised jointly by the Art Fund and the Berwick (Sussex) Conservation Trust (founded to conserve the paintings 75 years following their installation and dedication in the church in 1943), the occasion will be enhanced by the extraordinary and historic setting of the Royal Institution, in the celebrated raked amphitheatre, where scientists, artists, authors and politicians have shared their ideas for 200 years.
Tickets for the evening may be purchased through the Art Fund web site here:
