Marlborough Decorative & Fine Arts Society (MaDFAS)

Welcome to MADFAS. Each lecture is delivered by our international and New Zealand experts and offers a wide range of fine arts including, art history, sculpture, design, porcelain, craft, archaeology and ceramics. Lectures are lively, interesting and beautifully illustrated.

Our lectures start at 6.15pm in the Marlborough Research Centre, 85 Budge Street Blenheim. Lectures are an hour long and finish with a glass of wine and a sandwich and an opportunity to meet the lecturer.

our 2026 programme

In 2026 we offer seven The Arts Society lecturers and one Australian-based lecturer. Six of these will be with us in person and two will come via live broadcast from the UK. With the online lectures, there are opportunities to view additional topics from home, tuning in to the lectures hosted by the other Societies around the country.

We hope that things will run smoothly but will be ready to adapt our programme arrangements if necessary.

Membership

New members: The 2026 annual subscription is $165.00 per person, or $300.00 for a couple. To join Marlborough DFAS, please complete the MaDFAS 2026 Membership Application Form and email  to the Membership Coordinator – marlboroughdfas@gmail.com

Please make payment by direct credit to our bank account: Marlborough Decorative and Fine Arts Society Incorporated
BNZ Account number: 02 0600 0338224 000 – please use your name and “2026 Subs” as reference.

Returning members:  please make online payment as above and email us if any of your contact or other details have changed.

Membership is limited and if the Society is over-subscribed there will be a waiting list.

Membership is not transferable.

Guests

We have limited door sales available at $25.00 per lecture. Members wishing to bring guests are given priority for spare seats, provided you contact us by the Monday preceding the meeting date. After that date supporters and casuals will be accepted on a ‘first request’ basis.
The cost for a casual attendee is $25.00 and the fee for visiting DFAS members is $20.00.

For more information or to notify changes of contact details please email
marlboroughdfas@gmail.com

MARLBOROUGH – 2026 LECTURER BIOGRAPHIES AND TOPICS

Susannah Fullerton

Marlborough Date : Thursday 5 March 2026 – 6.15pm

Susannah Fullerton, OAM FRSN, is Sydney’s best-known lecturer on classic novels. She lectures regularly at the State Library of NSW, at conferences, schools and libraries. She is a registered speaker for ArtsNational (previously the Australian Decorative and Fine Arts Society). She gives talks on famous writers and their novels, poems and plays at a great variety of places around NSW, Australia and overseas. Susannah has been President of the Jane Austen Society of Australia for almost 30 years. She is also Patron of the Kipling Society of Australia, a founding member of the NSW Dickens Society and of the Australian Brontë Association. She is a Lady Patroness of the International Heyer Society.
Susannah loves to share her passion for great works of literature. In addition to being the author of several books on literary figures and topics, she has published articles and reviews, organised literary events and conferences, is a tour leader and literary awards judge, and is often interviewed on TV and radio about literary concerns.

THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING OSCAR: THE LIFE AND WORKS OF OSCAR WILDE

“Somehow or other I’ll be famous, and if not famous, I’ll be notorious” declared the young Oscar Wilde: he proved to be both! Wilde’s genius as a raconteur and coiner of epigrams made him the most quoted man in London. He translated his genius into stories, plays, poems and a novel and gained a place amongst the great Victorian writers. Wilde once stated that he had put only his talent into his works, but had put his genius into his life. Susannah Fullerton discusses Wilde’s extraordinary life story, his fall from fame and the creation of his great works of literature. Dramatic readings bring those works to life and slides provide the sort of sumptuous visual background that Wilde himself would have appreciated.

James Butterwick

Marlborough Date : Thursday 16 April 2026 – Broadcast live from the UK – 6.15pm

James Butterwick began collecting and selling Ukrainian and Russian Art in 1985 and has established himself as one of the world’s leading dealers and experts in the field. From 1994, he lived in Moscow, becoming the only foreign member of the Russian Society of Private Collectors, forming collections, contributing to museum exhibitions and reading lectures on the history of Russian Art. In 2013, he visited Kyiv, the first of over fifty visits to Ukraine before the start of the war.
A fluent Russian speaker, James lectures on Soviet Avant Garde painters, including the Ukrainian, Oleksandr Bohomazov (1880-1930) as well as on the issues of authenticity that surround the Ukrainian and Russian Avant Garde. He has spoken at the Tretyakov Gallery and the Museum of Russian Impressionism in Moscow, New York and Cambridge Universities, the Kyiv Centre of International Relations and, in January 2021, at the seminal ‘Original or Fake’ conference, at the Ludwig Museum, Cologne. A regular on radio and television, James had his own slot of Radio Matryoshka in London.

THE DARK SIDE OF THE BOOM: THE MASS FAKING OF THE SOVIET AVANT GARDE

The Soviet Avant Garde contained some of the greatest names of art history. Malevich, Chagall, Kandinsky, and countless others, blazed a trail through Art History for an all-too brief period. With their creativity stunted by the advent of Socialist Realism in 1932, their work disappeared only to re-appear after the collapse of the Berlin Wall, when a flood of newly-discovered works appeared on the Western and domestic markets of which the vast majority, up to 98%, were fake, having neither verifiable provenance nor exhibition history, their authenticity supported by documents from unscrupulous Russian and Western art historians and bogus certificates of chemical expertise. This scandal reached a crescendo in January 2018 with an exhibition of 24 dubious works of the period at the Ghent Museum of Fine Arts in Belgium. James Butterwick examines the background behind the mass faking of the Soviet Avant Garde, the history of these paintings, universally rejected by museums and the art market, as well as the methods used to ‘create’ authenticity. James was recently an expert witness exposing Russian fakes, ‘The Zaks Affair. Anatomy of a Fake Collection’, which aired on BBC4 on March 12th 2024 and he also appeared on ‘Fake or Fortune.

Note: With his online speaking circuit, James will be delivering a second topic to the NZ Societies so there is an opportunity to view this from home. Details and links will be sent in advance.

Rosalind Whyte

Marlborough Date : Thursday 21 May 2026 – 6.15pm 

Rosalind Whyte holds a BA and MA from Goldsmith’s College, and an MA (distinction) from Birkbeck College. She is an experienced guide at Tate Britain, Tate Modern, the Royal Academy and Greenwich. Rosalind lectures at Tate, to independent art societies and on cruises.

DAME LAURA KNIGHT

Dame Laura Knight was a woman artist who achieved extraordinary things in her career, including becoming the first woman to be elected as a full member of the Royal Academy in London in 1936, 168 years after its establishment. She was the only British woman to be given War Commissions in both the First and Second World Wars and the only British artist to cover the Nuremberg Trials of 1946. In her long and productive career, she painted landscapes, portraits and seascapes, as well as scenes from the circus, the ballet and the theatre. This lecture provides an overview of her fascinating career and some of the remarkable achievements of her long life.

Charles Harris

Marlborough Date : Thursday 18 June 2026 – Live Broadcast from the UK – 6.15pm

Charles Harris has had a life-long career in advertising around the world, most of it as a Creative Director in global agencies (J Walter Thompson, Bates, FCB, Publicis, Leo Burnett). Responsible for the quality of the creative ideas and finished production of advertising campaigns, his work for many of the world’s great brands including British Airways, QANTAS, Sony, Nestle, Kraft, BP, Gillette, and more has earned him global awards in New York, Hollywood, Singapore and Sydney. His experience as a creative advertising man gives his poster presentations a unique behind-the-scenes insight as to what works, what doesn’t, and why.

MIND THE GAP

Examines the world-beating graphics, designs, maps and poster created for the London Underground. From early days through the inventive inter-war years, this lecture is rammed with well-known artists and great stories. Modern London was shaped by the Underground. Tunnel vision has never been so celebrated.

Note: With his online speaking circuit, Charles will be delivering eight unique talks to all the NZ Societies so there is an opportunity to view additional topics from home. Details and links will be sent in advance.

Mark Cottle

Marlborough Date : Thursday 23 July 2026 – 6.15pm

Mark Cottle was born on the Isles of Scilly and educated at Truro School, Cornwall and Birmingham University where he graduated with an MA in late medieval society and culture.  His career has been spent in teaching, training and lecturing at home and abroad. He has been with The Arts Society since 2007 and has lectured widely in England, Wales and Scotland.  He has also lectured in the Isle of Man, Berlin (Arts Society) and in 2023 for a month in Australia for ADFAS.

PORTRAITS IN STONE: THE GREAT CATHEDRALS OF MEDIEVAL ENGLAND

Over a timespan of some five hundred years, the great medieval cathedrals of England were built. In terms of resources called upon, space covered, design and craftsmanship employed, this period marks the greatest single architectural achievement in English history. From Durham to Gloucester the lecture follows the evolution of cathedral building with reference to structural and aesthetic details together with some of the fascinating figures and events behind them.

Charlie Hall

Marlborough Date : Thursday 27 August 2026 – 6.15pm

A passionate arts educator, lecturer, and guide, Charlie Hall is based in London and Italy. Director of the highly regarded John Hall Venice Course, (est. 1965) Tour lecturer and leader for Kirker Holidays since 2013, and of independent tours in Italy. Designer and host of a series of art talks and events for the Soho House group of private member’s clubs. Designed and led courses for Christie’s Education and The Serpentine Gallery ‘Collector’s Circle’. Arts Society lecturer specializing in all things Italy.

CARAVAGGIO – BAROQUE ‘N’ ROLL

Michelangelo Merisi travelled to Rome from the village of Caravaggio, just outside Milan. He arrived at the tail end of the sixteenth century and was soon taken on by the painter Giuseppe Cesari, otherwise known as the Cavaliere d’Arpino, who was one of the papal favourites. He found himself employed painting flowers and fruits and rapidly developed a luscious style that combined the ‘tenebrist’ drama of artists such as Tintoretto or Luca Cambiaso with the meticulous accuracy and observational skills of the Flemish artists. His work was spotted by a highly influential man, the Florentine Cardinal Francesco Del Monte, and his career took off. Through his influence he was commissioned to paint what turned out to be three superb canvases of the life of Saint Matthew for the church of San Luigi dei Francesi and after that he became the hottest ticket in town, an artist who appeared to live a doomed rockstar life.
This presentation takes in his extraordinary life, which was dominated by an accusation of murder that forced him to flee Rome, become a Knight of Malta and then escape from their prison to Sicily, Naples and then meet a mysterious death on the Italian coast at Porto Ercole. From his stellar rise until today, his art has fascinated and drawn in collectors and art lovers worldwide, and this talk will take on his life and legacy, and open up a few fascinating details not generally known.

Ashley Gray

Marlborough Date : Thursday 8 October 2026 – 6.15pm

Ashley Gray is Director of fashion and textile gallery Gray M.C.A and a recognised textile expert specialising in Modern Artist Textiles, their design and history. As a leading authority on the subject, he has published many articles and essays and is regularly invited to lecture and sit on committees of the leading International Art Fairs. As a curator, he has worked on an extensive array of exhibitions including Material Textile: Modern British Female Designers and Material Textile: Creativity, History & Process at Messums Gallery, Common Thread at New Art Centre and From Bauhaus to our House at Cromwell Place, London. He also curates the highly acclaimed Styled by Design exhibition that celebrates the innovation of modernist textile design. Ashley explores the textile innovators of the early to mid-20th century and the fusion between the applied, decorative and fine arts. From Cryséde to Cresta, Ascher to Edinburgh Weavers, Sanderson and David Whitehead. The evolution of textile design was a critical catalyst in the democratising of Modern Art. Sutherland, Hepworth, Moore, Picasso, Leger and many Modernist masters were commissioned for visionary artist textiles that brought Modernism into the home and onto the street in a blaze of colour that revitalised the post war world.

THE POST WAR TEXTILE VISIONARIES OF MODERN ART: ZIKA AND LIDA ASCHER, MODERN ART IN FASHION

Post war, the world of fashion, interiors and modern art fused with dynamic results. Czech emigrees Zika and Lida Ascher left Prague in 1939. Their modernist aesthetic took London fashion by storm, commissioning leading modern artists from Moore to Topolski, from Derain to Matisse. Ascher through fashion brought modern art into the heart of fashion and joyous colours onto the street. This lecture considers the role fashion and textiles played in democratising modern art through the eyes two innovative textile visionaries. An amazing story of courage, tenacity and success.

Amanda Herries

Marlborough Date : Thursday 19 November 2026 – 6.15pm

Amanda Herries read Archaeology & Anthropology at Cambridge University. From 1978-1988 she was Curator at Museum of London specialising in the decorative arts 1714 to present day, exhibitions, lectures, booklets, broadcasts. In 1988-1995 she  moved with family to Japan, lecturing and writing on Oriental / Western cross-cultural and artistic influences. In 1995 she returned to UK, fundraising for arts companies, writing, lecturing and guiding tours to Japan and of gardens and general history in Scotland. Amanda has curated an exhibition on Japanese plants and gardens in London and Edinburgh as part of Japan/British celebrations in 2001 and is currently preparing an exhibition for 2026 on the Scottish Colourist S.J. Peploe. Amanda has contributed to many publications on Japanese plant and garden influences in the West.

OPIUM: SEDUCTION, GREED, ART

The source of the stuff of dreams, the poppy is a beautiful, fragile flower with immense power. Opium (from the Greek ‘opion’ – poppy juice) is a hypnotic bringer of sleep, delightful lethargy and relief from pain. It is also highly addictive. Greed led to the introduction of this hugely desirable substance first to China, and then to Europe. The beguiling seduction of its effects led to its use to quieten troubled minds and calm agitated children and babies. Its use – often by those with troubled minds – led to the creation of great works of art in music, art and literature. Social and art history meet as this lecture unfolds.