Tim Stimson
B.A. (Hons), P.G.C.E., M.A.

Tim’s involvement in art began with the practical; for a number of years he was a professional painter/ ceramicist in Scotland and Wales, before returning to university to study literature and the history of art, then training to teach adults.

For the last 30 years Tim has been a freelance cultural/art historian, specialising in 17th and 19th century art and society. Tim has recently completed a second lecture tour of Australia.

Tim has lectured for Cambridge University, the WEA, The Arts Society (previously known as NADFAS) and The Art Fund, and presents residential study courses in Britain and Europe.

To book a place on any of these courses please click on the underlined W.E.A link above and enter the course code in the search bar.

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PLEASE NOTE - Most of these courses will be presented via Zoom in the Autumn 2021. See the W.E.A. website for updates.

 ADFAS 2016  - TOUR OF AUSTRALIA

My first tour of Australia in 2010 took me from Perth to the Blue Mountains outside Sydney via many exotic and outlandish places. As an inexperienced traveller I fully expected my lecture in Wagga Wagga to be housed in a corrugated iron roofed hut!

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Of course,that was not the case and the Art Societies of Australia are very civilised and hospitable, and they certainly appreciate British lecturers making the long journey to speak to them.

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In May 2016 my travels took me back to Sydney and thence to Cairns with a much clearer idea of what to expect of the landscape and the people.

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Being a straight talking Yorkshireman myself, I feel a definite affinity with the straight talking Aussies!

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Early May in Sydney was like a hot Midsummer's Day in England, though the first place I visited, Mudgee, a good many miles inland, surprised me by having frost overnight and the clearest skies I have ever seen; the Milky Way like a grey band across the sky. My hosts in Mudgee were wonderful and so welcoming.

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​I then travelled on to some of the towns and cities of the East Coast, Brisbane and finally to Cairns, where my itinerary included a free day, which I took advantage of by Scuba diving on the Great Barrier Reef - just as wonderful as you might expect!

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The most popular subject, as it was on my previous tour, was GUSTAV KLIMT, who is a great favourite amongst the Australian Art Societies.

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It was after my first lecture in Mudgee that a member of the audience informed me that he had been part of the committee trying to keep the one and only Klimt painting in Australia from being sold abroad.

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The history of the portrait of Hermine Gallia is fascinating. Tim Bonyhady's book ‘GOOD LIVING STREET- THE FORTUNES OF MY VIENNESE FAMILY’ tells the story of how the Gallia sisters fled Nazi persecution in 1938, arriving in Australia with not only the portrait but the whole of their Vienna Workshop interior furnishings with them.

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The sisters' furniture and personal effects are now housed in the Art Gallery in Melbourne, but the portrait by Klimt eventually left Australia despite the best efforts of the Australian people to purchase it and is now in the National Gallery, London.

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Many thanks to my hosts in Australia and to ADFAS for their excellent organisation and hospitality during my tour. It was a delight and a pleasure!