Grosvenor Museum Lecture Theatre, Saturday 30^th November. 10.30am-3.30pm

A study day exploring Art Deco, its ground-breaking architecture and how Odeon Cinemas demonstrate a particularly successful model of this, plus the stars who lit up the Silver Screen and the posters which spread the word(and pictures, of course), not to mention a snoop around Chester Odeon then and now.

All lectures by Adrian Sumner

10.30am Coffee and welcome

10.45am The Age of Jazz.

A tour of the art and design of the 1920s and ‘30s. examining the star turns; Cartier, Chanel, Ruhlman, Poiret, Lalique, Chiparus,Clarice Cliff,  but also shining a spotlight on many of the non-household names, revelation following revelation in glass, silver, fashion, jewellery, airplanes, automobiles, and, well, everything. If you don’t know Bugatti, Barbier, Puiforcat, Jean Dunand, and Bruno Zach, prepare to be amazed and seduced. A New Lecture, by the way, featuring new images from Radio City Music Hall..

12noon. Coffee

12.15pm Stars of the Silver Screen.

A  lecture looking at posters from some of the great milestones of ‘20s and ‘30s cinema. As if rising to a new challenge, poster design in this period exploded, creating some of the most memorable images of the period, images still echoing (and imitated) today. Remember Metropolis, 42^nd Street, Scarface, Nosferatu, King Kong, Pandora, Duck Soup—endless riches…

And a study of the Stars who made the Silver Screen really shine, featuring gorgeous, unforgettable, photographic images from the Kobal Collection, Museum of Modern Art,  National Film Archive, Archive Francaises du Film, and many other sources.  Remember Claudette Colbert as Cleopatra, Louise Brooks as Lulu, Divine Marlene as Shanghai Lil, Garbo as Anna Karenina…………..

1.15 Lunch

2pm Art Deco Architecture

Not surprisingly, this lecture looks at the astounding range of architecture gathered under the Art Deco banner. Bauhaus and De Stijl, Skyscrapers(both Chicago and New York), Rationalism and Expressionism, International Style and Streamline Moderne, we comb the earth for the most beautiful, most typical and most extreme examples of this most eclectic of styles. In honour of the Odeon, Chester and its transformation into the new Theatre/Library, we look at universal Cinema design, Odeon architecture across Britain, and local cinema variants in Chester,  Northwich, Winsford, Warrington etc..

3.15pm. Questions, comments and 3.30pm Goodbye

For details and booking call Adrian Sumner on 01244 976790

Cost £15, includes tea, coffee, biscuits and lunch