*COVID-19 UPDATE - January 2021*

Dear Members,

Membership for 2021 is now open and you can find the form to join/ renew your subscription on the membership tab above.

You can also find more information on our upcoming lectures, which we will continue to host online until we can finally return to the Barber Institute of Fine Arts.

We hope that you are in good health and thank you for your ongoing support.

The Arts Society Birmingham Evening.

Our Society embraces the arts in all its various forms e.g. painting, pottery, architecture and music. The Society has a Lecture Programme, Bite-Size activities, Heritage Volunteering and visits to places of special interest.

Lectures are given by speakers who are experts in their field and who have been accredited by The Arts Society.

Previous lectures include Leonardo da Vinci, Tracey Emin, Art in Prisons, Art Deco Architecture, Inn Signs, Cars and Culture, French Impressionists, the Beatles and their Artists, Scottish Colourists and the Art & Architecture of Travel. Titles in our 2021-2022 lecture series can be found under the 'Lecture' tab.

Our talks normally take place on Thursdays at 7 pm in the Barber Institute of Fine Art at the University of Birmingham which is renowned as one of the best University Art Galleries in the world.  The Barber Institute can also display objects from its collection which reflect the theme of a particular lecture.

Members and visitors receive a glass of wine and soft drinks before lectures.  We particularly welcome students! There is free parking after 4.30 pm.

The Bite Size programme showcases the specific skills and industrial heritage in Birmingham and surrounding area. Guided talks throughout the year to highlight different local trades and industries are arranged, such as the Jewellery Quarter, the Canal Network, the Locksmith's House concluding at pubs with a unique history and architecture eg Bartons Arms, The Queen's Arms and the Rose Villa Tavern.

Our Heritage Volunteering group has completed a gardening project at Winterbourne House reinstating the herb wheel and is in the process of working on a Blue Plaque Trail.  TASBE has supported Young Arts via a grant to our partner organisation - The Royal Birmingham Society of Arts (RBSA).

Out and About with TASBE - day trips have included a trip to Southwell Minster accompanied by a former chorister and Tynesfield House with the consultant architect on its renovation.  

Why not become a member?

Our society is operated entirely by volunteers. We are dependent on peoples’ skills such as digital media, media promotion and sponsorship, secretarial, finance and accounting.

If you would like to help in any way we would welcome your assistance.

John H Smith 

Chairman

June 2018

Email chairman@tasbe.org

About our main image

PIERRE-AUGUSTE RENOIR (1841 – 1919)

YOUNG WOMAN SEATED

PARIS, ABOUT 1876-7

OIL ON CANVAS

66 X 55.5 CM

The sitter, Nina Lopez, was one of Renoir’s favourite professional models, so this is not a commissioned portrait.  Renoir painted many half-length figures and they often subsequently acquired evocative titles from the art trade.

This work became known as La Pensée or Thought.  It was painted at the time of the second and third Impressionist exhibitions in 1876 and 1877 to which Renoir was a major contributor.  The soft oranges, reds, greens and blues are typical of the Impressionist palette at that date.  The colour contrasts are not as daring as in some works, however, perhaps making it more saleable.