In 1936, Fortune magazine hired photographer Walker Evans and writer James Agee to do an article on the conditions among sharecropper families during the “Dustbowl.” Spending weeks living with three different sharecropping families, Agee and Evans captured more than just a standard documentary; the final photographs and paired language became poetry. Though the article was…
Join Jeffrey Allison, Paul Mellon Collection Educator and Manager, Statewide Programs and Exhibitions, as he explores the unique life and work of the French artist, Henri Rousseau. The essentially self-taught painter created cityscapes and portraits as well as dream-like exotic jungle scenes without stepping out of the city. During his lifetime his work was ridiculed by…
This workshop is devoted to the needs of the individual artist. Topics include photographing artwork, funding opportunities, developing professional relationships with galleries and publications, copyright issues, and marketing on the web. This workshop can be offered as a day-long workshop with a strong focus on photographing artwork or in a half-day or evening format that focuses more on gallery relationships, funding, and the business of art.
Berthe Morisot was a woman of extraordinary talents who carved a career for herself out of the male-dominated art world of 19th century Paris. She was one of only a few women who exhibited with both the Paris Salon and the highly influential and innovative Impressionists. Morisot’s art depicts the world of the bourgeoisie: their clothes, their lifestyle, their surroundings, and their relationships. Through her unusual talent, the modern viewer can see the essence of quotidian life for the rising middle class of 19th century Paris.
French photographer and painter Jacques-Henri Lartigue (1894-1986) is most famous for his stunning photos of automobile races, planes, and fashionable Parisian women from the turn of the century. This lecture explores Lartigue’s photographs from his first sincere, often playful, presentation of friends, family, and French society made as early as age 6 to his later fashion layouts and portraits.
From his early visions as a child to his later prints and poems, Blake saw the world through the vivid lens of his personal theology. Influencing countless artists and writers, most of which worked long after his death, Blake’s imaginative genius still enthralls viewers today. Though most often known for his poetry and prose, Blake was also an accomplished artist, regarded as seminal and significant within the history of both art and literature. Focusing on his illuminations, prints, and paintings in the context of his personal and literary life, this lecture explores the life and work of William Blake, English poet, mystic, and artist.
George Catlin recorded for posterity the appearances and customs of the Indian tribes of North America. Between 1830 and 1836, Catlin made five trips to the American West. From his visits to 58 tribes, he produced 485 paintings and collected over seven tons of artifacts. These he exhibited in the United States and Europe as Catlin’s Indian Gallery. Throughout his life, Catlin struggled to keep the collection whole and pursued its acquisition by the newly created Smithsonian Institution. This lecture looks at Catlin’s life from his travels through the American West to the end of his career when, facing bankruptcy, he traveled to South America and rekindled his interest in painting and the scientific recording of Native American life.
The photographer Walker Evans and painter Edward Hopper were part of the generation of American artists who tore themselves away from European ideals at the start of the 20th century. Join Jeffrey Allison as he explores these artists who celebrated America without filter focusing on common people in common lives and places. Within those scenes lie a powerful silence in which directness creates a visual anxiety as we wonder what has just happened and what will happen next.
Of the thousands of examples of rock art found at Lascaux, Niaux, Vallon-Pont-d’arc, and other sites across France and Spain, nearly a third of the figures represent horses. In this workshop, participants look at the horse in art history, tracing the ways in which artists have used the horse as subject matter over the millennia.
Meteorologists aren’t the only people who watch the sky. So do artists – for ideas, subjects and inspiration. They Call It Stormy Weather explores the numerous ways in which weather and the seasons have inspired artists throughout the ages. From thunderstorms on raging seas to sunny skies above spring fields, artists have responded to weather and other natural forces through a range of media and styles.
