Marie Conte Helm
Professor Marie Conte-Helm is a long-established Arts Society Lecturer with a BA in History of Art and an MA in Asian Art and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. She was Director General of the Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation from 1999-2011 and has held senior academic posts at various UK universities. She has most recently served as Executive Director of the UK-Japan 21st Century Group, and as a member of the Board of Governors of the University for the Creative Arts. She is widely published and has lectured throughout the UK and abroad. She is also an experienced cruise speaker and a Resident Historian with Viking Ocean Cruises, lecturing on many aspects of Asian Art and East-West Encounters. She was awarded an OBE in the 2011 Queen’s Birthday Honours for services to UK-Japan educational and cultural relations and the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Rosette by the Government of Japan in 2019.
This lecture traces the story of the intrepid Victorian lady traveller, Isabella Bird, who set out to see the world and brought glimpses of it back to her readership at home. Isabella Bird’s fascinating written accounts of her globetrotting adventures from the 1850s offer insights into some of the challenges faced by women travellers in the mid-Victorian period as well as the growth of travel and tourism opportunities that helped to make the world a smaller place. Her photographic work and illustrations contributed to the emerging picture of everyday life in the East.
The Arts Society Helmsley
A varied programme of fascinating illustrated lectures, given by entertaining and knowledgeable speakers.
£30 joining fee and £10 per lecture | 7.30pm (doors 7pm)
For Arts Society information contact [email protected] www.theartssocietyhelmsley.org