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Looking at a reproduction of a work of art, what can
you see? You can’t see how large it is. You
wonder how accurate the colour is. You can’t
see from what materials it has been made. It’s
unlikely that you can really see what the work was
for, or how it fitted into its culture.
So in 1986 Inscape was founded by Nicholas Friend,
an art historian at Cambridge University, and his
wife Caroline, a lawyer, editor and administrator.
The organisation is dedicated to teaching adults art
history actually in front of works of art, whether
paintings, sculpture, architecture or decorative art.
Rather than teaching from slides in the lecture room,
Inscape offers a new way of learning art history.
Viewed in situ, works of art can speak
directly from their time to ours, as well as to other
works nearby. The whole subject of art history comes
alive.
Our aims are encapsulated in our name,
‘Inscape’, a word coined by the lyrical
19th-century poet Gerard Manley Hopkins. To reveal
the ‘Inscape’ of an object means to
discover its individual, particular qualities. This
is exactly what Inscape aims to do. Our expert tutors
take small, sociable groups on fascinating journeys
of discovery to artistic delights – often not
open to the public – all over the world.
We are now one of the UK’s most distinguished
cultural tour operators, and an active member of the
Association of Independent Tour Operators (AITO). Our
dedicated team offers the highest standards of
administration and personal service. After 15 years
with the business, Caroline Friend has moved on to
pastures new, while Nicholas Friend remains at the
very heart of Inscape as Managing Director and
principal tutor.
We continue in the belief that works of art and
architecture are some of the most important resources
we have for enjoying and understanding our world, and
that the best way to let these works speak to us is
to experience them face-to-face.
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