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Click here for future lectures

13 October 2026The Painting Secrets of Freud and Bacon
14 July 2026Historic Building Mythbusting
09 June 2026Balenciaga, Dior & Fath: Haute Couture's Holy Trinity
12 May 2026The Three Great Game Changers of 19th Century Opera: Verdi, Wagner and Puccini
14 April 2026The DeBeers Diamond Cartel: Romancing the Stone
10 March 2026The Rebuilding of the town of Ypres after its total destruction in the Great War
10 February 2026MAKING SENSE OF PORTRAITS IN COUNTRY HOUSES
13 January 2026The Gardens of Impressionism - Monet and the other Impressionists as gardeners and painters of gardens in the context of the French craze for horticulture as a middle-class leisure activity
09 December 2025THAT PRETTY GERMAN TOY – MUSINGS ON THE CHRISTMAS TREE
11 November 2025LONDON BRIDGED - 3,500 YEARS OF CROSSING THE THAMES
14 October 2025SECRET ART IN THE PASSPORT - HOW WE USE IT TO FOX THE FORGER (S)
08 July 2025A PIECE OF THE AUCTION: BEHIND THE SCENES OF AN INTERNATIONAL AUCTION HOUSE
10 June 2025VERMEER AND HIS WORLD
13 May 2025THE ART OF STATE CEREMONIAL MUSIC
08 April 2025SHIPS AND BOATYARDS OF THE EAST COAST OF THE UK IN ART
11 March 2025Banksy - Fraud or Genius
11 February 2025Imperial Calcutta: Arts and Architecture
14 January 2025The beauty of cuneiform: apprenticeship, mastery and calligraphy in the world’s oldest script and literature
10 December 2024'Harp and Holly' – its history, design and music with a seasonal flavour
12 November 2024Coventry Cathedral - Icon and Inspiration
08 October 2024World-Famous Photographs: Images that shaped our culture
09 July 2024Resurgam - The Music of St Paul's Cathedral
11 June 2024Monopoly
14 May 2024The Imperial Easter Eggs of Carl Fabergé - Before the Revolution
09 April 2024The Divine Art of the Sunflower
12 March 2024Imperial Purple to Denim Blue. The colourful colour of Textiles
13 February 2024Island Sanctuary: Refugee Artists in Britain from Huguenots to Present Preceded by the AGM at 10.15
12 December 2023The Art of the Cartoonist
22 November 2023The Arts Society West Essex have asked us to publicise this lecture: The Opera House: an Inside View
14 November 2023Wild About Oscar: Famous for being Famous and Infamous
10 October 2023Politics and Sentiment: The Jewels of Queen Victoria
12 September 2023Cedric Morris - Irises and Beyond, Painter and Plantsman
11 July 2023An Actor's Life for Me
13 June 2023Canal History and Heritage
09 May 2023Elizabeth 1: Gloriana and the Art of Queenship
11 April 2023The Splendour of the City Churches followed by a visit on Wednesday 14th June
14 March 2023The Sun King and the Court of Versailles
14 February 2023Stone to Stone; The Men who Built Cathedrals
13 December 2022Coventry Cathedral
08 November 2022Faber & Faber; Ninety Years of Excellence in Cover Design
11 October 2022The Stirling Prize; The British Architect Oscars
13 September 2022Kettles Yard, Cambridge: A Masterpiece of Curatorship
12 July 2022Adventures and Misadventures in a Museum
14 June 2022Ravillious and Bawden and the Bardfield Artists
10 May 2022Dame Laura Knight
12 April 2022Agatha Christie, Queen of Crime.
08 March 2022The Word's Most Expensive Art; Where Leonardo Meets Picasso
08 February 2022The Angel of Charleston by Tessa Boase.
14 December 2021The Curious History of Christmas Food
09 November 2021Koh-I-Noor The most famous diamond in the world.
12 October 2021Cathedrals - safe places to do risky things
14 September 2021The Glamour Years - Jewellery and Fashion 1929-1959 on Zoom
13 July 2021The slums that shamed Victorian London on Zoom
08 June 2021A brief story of wine on Zoom
11 May 2021Bodies in Balance - Asian Medicine in Art on Zoom
13 April 2021Through a glass darkly by Jane Gardiner on Zoom
09 March 2021Sculpture and Architecture on Zoom by David Worthington
09 February 2021Making a Stand- Sporting Architecture-list it or lose it
12 January 2021Virtual coffee morning on Zoom! 10.00 - 11.00
08 December 2020O Come all ye faithful - The Nativity in Art on Zoom
10 November 2020Devonshire Duchess and housewife 1920 - 2014 on Zoom 10.45 for 11.00
13 October 2020The life and works of William Morris by Fiona Rose on Zoom meeting opens at 10.45 for 11.00
08 September 2020Mad about the boy - Noel Coward by Malcolm Jones on Zoom
11 August 2020No meeting
14 July 2020The Glamour Years - Jewellery and Fashion 1929 - 1959 LECTURE CANCELLED but REBOOKED for 2021
09 June 2020Tibet - The roof of the World LECTURE CANCELLED
12 May 2020Cathedrals - safe places to do risky things LECTURE CANCELLED
14 April 2020Through a Glass Darkly LECTURE CANCELLED
10 March 2020The Life and Art of Charles H Mackie
11 February 2020The Magnificent Maya – Fact and Fantasy
10 December 2019Top of the Bill - Music Hall and Variety
12 November 2019Christmas at Covent Garden
08 October 2019Tantrums and Tiaras
10 September 2019Oh, we do like to be beside the seaside
09 July 2019Painter of Sunlight: Joaquin Sorolla
11 June 2019Food and Art through the ages
14 May 2019The City of London and its Livery Companies
09 April 2019Timurid Carpets and the Workshop in Uzbekistan
12 March 2019Wind in the Willows through its illustrations
12 February 2019AGM followed by lecture The Queen of Instruments. The Lute with old masters' paintings
11 December 2018Christmas Customs and Traditions
13 November 2018The Hands of Leonardo da Vinci
09 October 2018The architecture of the British Raj is remarkable; let's celebrate it.
11 September 2018Les Parisiennes: how women lived, loved and died in Paris
10 July 2018Underground Cathedrals
12 June 2018Autioneer's Tales; twenty five years in the Art Market
08 May 2018Votes for women, art, suffragettes and female politicians

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The Painting Secrets of Freud and Bacon Alice White Tuesday 13 October 2026

Alice tackles two giants of British figure painting: Lucian Freud and Francis Bacon. This lecture is a celebration of the chaotic and the carnal, evoking the spirit of 1960s Soho nightlife. 

Fleshy models, furious drinking habits, fractious tempers and fabulous fame combine in the story of these artists, whose life-long competition had lasting impact on each other and the art world. 

If you like paint, passion and personality, this talk is for you.

Image © National Portrait Gallery, London / Francis Bacon; Lucian Freud © Harry Diamond 1974

Biography

Alice White is a contemporary oil-painter, and a Tutor at the University of the Arts London and University College London. She has provided Guest Lectures at King's College London, The Art Workers' Guild, the Courtauld Institute of Art. 

Her essay 'A Painter's Perspective' is published in Alfred Cohen: An American Artist in Europe (Alfred Cohen Art Foundation and Ben Uri Gallery 2020). Her article ‘How to Look at Painting’ was printed in The Art Society Magazine (July 2020).  

Alice’s solo show 'A New Wave' documented her year’s residency as Artist for Animals at ZSL London Zoo. Recent projects include 'The Art of Science' (Scott Polar Institute, University of Cambridge 2021). She regularly exhibits at the Mall Galleries in London.