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 now lectures 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.

NEW ONLINE COURSES FOR SPRING and SUMMER 2021!
Dear Friends, I hope you are all keeping safe and well in these strange and challenging times.
During the Covid 19 pandemic it has been impossible to present my lectures in person, and that may well be the case for some time; so, here at TimStimsonArts we are now presenting our lectures via Zoom.
Our colleagues at the Art Society are taking bookings for lectures via Zoom and
the W.E.A. has worked hard to make sure all our courses are available online for the Spring and Summer terms.
Our INSIGHTS mini-series, and monthly one hour lectures have been very successful, and here is some of the feedback we have received from participants -
"Very many thanks, Tim, for a most enlightening and fascinating talk. Looking forward to next week’s lecture and the brilliant art you show and the context you give."
"Thank you for today’s lecture. It was a fascinating roam around a neglected corner of Victorian England."
"Excellent. I thoroughly enjoyed this"
"Wonderfully done! Really relaxed and professional. Very impressed and looking forward to next week."
We are, therefore, delighted to continue with a new series of monthly, one hour lectures via Zoom for the Spring of 2021.
The Silent Moment of Johannes Vermeer
Thursday 6th May at 2.00pm
More titles to be announced
£10.00 for each lecture,
For more information and bookings please click here or use the email address at the bottom of the page.
Cumbria
Laura Knight - The Exuberant Realist: Her Art and Life
Friday 16th to Sunday 18th July 2021
English Attitudes to Cartoonery
Tuesday 13th to Thursday 15th July 2021
Higham is committed to providing safe face to face courses and to supporting our tutors in online teaching
Please visit our website via the underlined link above for the latest updates
Yorkshire Dales
English Attitudes to Cartoonery
Tuesday 4th - Thursday 6th may 2021
Laura Knight - The Exuberant Realist: Her Art and Life
Tuesday 17th - Thursday 19th august 2021
Please visit our website via the underlined link above for the latest updates on the Covid 19 situation
NEW W.E.A. Courses on Zoom for the Spring & Summer Terms 2021
"Great Nordic Painters Part 1: Carl Larsson and Anders Zorn"
Course Code C3679306
Starting Monday 12th April 2021 and running for 10 weeks,
11.45am - 1.45pm
"The Later Pre-Raphaelites Part 1: Myth and Medievalism"
Course Code C3679307
Starting Tuesday 13th April 2021 and running for 10 weeks,
11.45am – 1.45pm
"Every Picture Tells a Story: Victorian Narrative Painting Part 1"
Course Code C3679329
Starting Thursday 15th April 2021 and running for 10 weeks,
2.15pm – 4.15pm
"The Glasgow Boys: Art, Empire and Culture Part 1"
Course Code C3679338
Starting Friday 16th April 2021 and running for 10 weeks,
2.15pm - 4.15pm
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.
PLEASE NOTE - These courses will be presented via Zoom in both the Autumn 2020 and Spring & Summer terms 2021. See the W.E.A. website for updates.
The Tim Stimson Annual
Public Ferens Lecture
A Lecture by Tim Stimson
Honorary Patron of the Friends of the Ferens
The Ferens Art Gallery re-opened in 2017 to celebrate HULL CITY OF CULTURE, following a £4.5m makeover and is the venue for Tim's annual lecture.
A free lecture for the people of Hull hosted by The Friends of the Ferens
Lecture subject and date for 2021 to be announced
This lecture can be booked by emailing the Friends of the Ferens at
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!
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.
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.
Being a straight talking Yorkshireman myself, I feel a definite affinity with the straight talking Aussies!
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.
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!

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