ANASTASIA LOPOUKHINE 'ON LINE' EXHIBITION 29th November 2023

For her first solo exhibition in London, young truly international and polyglot artist Anastasia Lopoukhine and curator Randle White kindly gave to members of the Lyceum Club and their friends the exclusivity of a private viewing and a special tour of the gallery.

Born in Paris from French & Russian parents, she was educated in the UK before graduating at the New York Academy of Art. Inspired by her story, family memories and those around her, she uses pen, ink, charcoal and collage to express her creativity in a spontaneous and humoristic way. Her style remains unique and shows already great maturity and with total control of the drawing technique.

Her auto portrait ‘I DO’, three letters which changed her life earlier this year, her series of collage of a quarter of Yerevan, her jar of countless beautiful butterflies or the two exquisite oysters, the eagles flying and many more are just examples of a very accomplished artist.

It was great that members could discover Anastasia’s talents, definitively an artist to follow. She will be back in Europe in March to exhibit in Paris.

Instagram@anastasialopalopa and website alopoukhine.com

Chanel fashion-manifesto at the v&A 5th November 2023

We had the opportunity to visit this first UK CHANEL exhibition, based on and relooked from the 2020 exhibition at the Palais Galliera in Paris. This wonderfully curated exhibition shows the evolution of Gabrielle « Coco » Chanel’s designs and the establishment of the house of Chanel - from the opening of her first millinery boutique in Paris in 1910, aged 27 yo, to the showing of her final collection in 1971.

The exhibition figures more than 200 pieces alongside jewellery, accessories and fragrance. We were also able to enjoy rarely seen looks from the V&A collection as well as archive pieces from the Chanel’s Heritage collection, including clothing worn by Lauren Bacall and Marlene Dietrich.

Coco Chanel was an Anglophile with strong personal and professional links to Great Britain which this exhibition partly reflects. She opened her first boutique in 1927 in London, offering clothes tailored for British customers, working directly with British textile manufacturers.

In the fashion industry, Coco Chanel was exceptional. She was a pioneer designer who simplified silhouettes freeing women from corsetry. She was the first one to use cotton jersey in womenswear, introduced the “little black dress”and made bouclé jacket and skirts a unique style.

Gabrielle « Coco » Chanel was not only famous for her extraordinary talent but also for her strong personality and known for her famous quotes- among them :

“Elegance is refusal.”
“In order to be irreplaceable, one must always be different.”
“I only drink Champagne on two occasions, when I am in love and when I am not.”
“Simplicity is the keynote of all true elegance »
“ I don’t do fashion. I am fashion.”

GUIDED TOUR OF THE BRITISH LIBRARY 28TH OCTOBER 2023

Our guided tour started with us looking at a 3D model of the British Library building

established in 1973, prior to that it was part of the British Museum. It was opened in 1998by Queen Elisabeth II. It houses over 170 million items including books, manuscripts, maps, newspapers, magazine prints, drawings, music scores and patents stored beneath the main library in the five levels of basement reaching 24 metres underground as deep as the Victoria line that runs alongside them. To continue to read...

MESSAGE IN THE BOTTLE AT SADLER'S WELLS 12TH OCTOBER 2023

Message In A Bottle is a spectacular dance-theatre show by Sadler's Wells Associate Artist Kate Prince, set to the music of 17-time Grammy Award-winning Sting including the hit songs "Every Breath You Take", "Roxanne", "Walking on the Moon", and more. The show features the astonishing talents of dance storytelling Zoo Nation: The Kate Prince Company. It has been filmed for cinema release in 2024.

The international refugee crisis is at the center of Message In A Bottle - an imagined story about one displaced family, and a universal story of loss, fear, survival, hope and love. To continue to read...

photo credit: Lynn Theisen

MAYFAIR ART EXPLORATION TOUR 7TH OCTOBER 2023

Jolanda Chandler’s inspiring and relaxed tour introduced us to the work of different contemporary artists starting with Yinka Shonibare at the Cristea Roberts Gallery. He is a British-Nigerian artist whose work explores cultural identity, colonialism and post-colonialism. A hallmark of his art is the brightly coloured Ankara fabric he uses. Because he has a disability, Shonibare uses assistants to make works under his direction. To continue to read...

SUMMER PROGRAMME: BERTHE MORISOT 19TH AUGUST 2023

The exhibition of the Berthe Morisot at the Dulwich Picture Gallery gave us the opportunity to explore the south of London. It is the first major exhibition of this impressionist painter who is less known to us then her friends Renoir, Monet, Manet...The 30 pieces of work are on display with other paintings by artists who have inspired Berthe when she visited England.

It was a small, nevertheless a top quality exhibition. We had enough time to visit the permanent exhibition of the museum which was the result of a commission from the King of Poland to create a Royal collection. But before the collection was completed, Poland was partitioned by its neighbors and the King was force to abdicate.

We continued with a Lebanese lunch and a walk in Dulwich Park.

SUMMER PROGRAMME: MASTERS OF ART DEGREE SHOW 25TH JULY

For our second event on our Summer Programme, we were joined by Celeste, a lovely Chinese PHD student from Madrid who is currently studying the work of two Spanish writers who were members of the Lyceum Club of Madrid. She found our website and went it to know more about us.

Together, we visited the exhibition of the recently graduated master students of the Prince Foundation's school of Arts, specialised in the transmission of tradition art. Through our discussion with the students, we found out more about the technic and medium used and what inspired them to produce such beautiful works of art and the motivation to keep alive the traditions transmitted generation after generation.

We finished our visit at a nearby bar.

SUMMER PROGRAMME: HEATHERLEYS GRADUATES 2023 19TH JULY

The first event on our Summer Programme was the visit of the exhibition of works by graduate students of the Heatherley School of Arts.

The works on display were very interesting and impressive by the standard of quality and it was a great opportunity to meet with some of the students all too happy to share their passion.

An excellent visit which was followed by a convivial lunch at the terrace of a nearby restaurant, enjoying the sunny day.