24
November 2025

Stripped Naked: The Nude in Art History

Welcome to The Arts Society South West London
Monday, November 24, 2025 - 10:30
Putney Arts Theatre
Ravenna Road Putney, LONDON SW15 6AW
Online Event

The study day will look at society’s attitude to images of the nude & to changing relationships with the human body.

The nude in art, once considered the epitome of beauty, is now regularly the subject of censorship and controversy. This three-lecture study day will look at changes in social attitudes over time as well as society's changing relationship with the human body. Are female nudes always an object of desire and male nudes always symbols of power and should images be censored? 

10:00: DOORS OPEN
10:30 to 11:30: 'Introducing the Nude'
BREAK - for tea/coffee & biscuits
12:00 to 13:00: 'The Shock of the Nude'
BREAK FOR LUNCH 
13:45 to 14:45:'The Censored Nude'
15:00 FINISH

There will be a break for refreshments but we are unable to provide lunch so please bring your own.

THE ARTS SOCIETY ACCREDITED LECTURER

Mrs Stella Lyons

Without sacrificing scholarship, Stella Lyons has a most engaging way of hooking an audience into sharing her passionate interest in art history, drawing three dimensional human stories and experiences from the two-dimensional canvas’ – Maev Kennedy, writer and Arts correspondent for The Guardian

Stella Grace Lyons is a freelance Art History lecturer, speaker and writer accredited with The Arts Society. She has lectured across the UK, Ireland, Spain, Norway, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Malaysia and will soon embark on a lecturing tour in Australasia.

Stella gained her BA in the History of Art with a 1st class in her dissertation from the University of Bristol (2007-2011), and her MA in History of Art from the University of Warwick. She spent a year studying Renaissance art in Italy at the British Institute of Florence, and three months studying Venetian art in Venice. In addition, she attended drawing classes at the prestigious Charles H. Cecil studios in Florence, a private atelier that follows a curriculum based on the leading ateliers of nineteenth century Paris.

Stella runs her own Art History lectures both in person and online. She is a regular lecturer in the UK and Europe for The Arts Society, Tour companies, and the National Trust, amongst others. Stella is also a part-time lecturer for the University of South Wales.

She has written about art for several publications and her article on Norwegian art was recently featured on the front cover of The Arts Society magazine.

In addition to her lecturing work, Stella works as an artist’s model for the internationally renowned figurative artist, Harry Holland.