PREVIEW: Clark Art Institute: Trailblazing Women Artists

Clark Art Institute , Williamstown, MA

www.clarkart.edu

June 9 – September 3, 2018

ECHO, by Ellen Thesleff (1891)
Oil On Canvas, Photo by Kjell Soderlund
Courtesy American Federation of Arts

The Clark Art Institute’s summer 2018 exhibition, Women Artists in Paris, 1850–1900, celebrates an international group of artists who overcame gender-based restrictions to make extraordinary creative strides, taking important steps in the fight for a more egalitarian art world. Featuring nearly 70 paintings drawn from prominent collections across the United States and abroad, the exhibition includes works by renowned artists including Berthe Morisot, Mary Cassatt, and Rosa Bonheur as numerous equally remarkable peers. Women Artists in Paris, 1850–1900 was organized by the American Federation of Arts and curated by Laurence Madeline.

Paris was a cultural mecca, luring artists from around the world to its academies, museums, salons, and galleries. Despite the city’s cosmopolitan character, gender norms remained strikingly conservative and women painters faced obstacles. Women painters in the 19th century engaged in portraiture, shaping an image of themselves as serious artists. Social restrictions hindered women’s full participation in artistic circles.

The perception of childhood evolved as an important stage in the formation of healthy adults, and children were celebrated as the future of a family’s line. This new attention lavished on children coincided with the burgeoning aspirations of women artists. These painters produced images that poignantly celebrate the wonder of childhood and the profound nature of motherhood. Mary Cassatt specialized in maternal scenes and portraits of children.

In a lecture on June 10 at 3:00 pm, curator Esther Bell will speak about the achievements of the artists represented in the exhibition. A conversation with Laurence Madeline, Chief Curator for French National Heritage, and curator of Women Artists in Paris, follows.

The Clark Art Institute is one of a small number of institutions globally that is both an art museum and a center for research, critical discussion, and higher education in the visual arts. For more information on these programs and more, visit www.clarkart.edu or call 413-458-2303.

PREVIEW: Norman Rockwell Museum, Pittsfield, MA

Keepers of the Flame: Parrish, Wyeth, Rockwell and the Narrative Tradition

Norman Rockwell Museum, Stockbridge, MA

www.nrm.org

This summer, Norman Rockwell Museum presents the first comprehensive exhibition to look at the work of master illustrators Maxfield Parrish, N.C. Wyeth, and Norman Rockwell in relation to the history of Western art. With more than 60 works by 25 American and European painters, along with more than 300 digital representations of some 50 other artists, Keepers of the Flame: Parrish, Wyeth, Rockwell and the Narrative Tradition will reveal the lineage connecting American illustration to some 500 years of European painting through the long line of teachers who have passed along their wisdom, knowledge, and techniques to generations of creators.

The exhibit occupies four galleries, with each artist’s work displayed in one gallery.  The final gallery of Keepers of the Flame sums up some of the exhibition’s major themes, featuring works of these three artists among others.

Keepers of the Flame traces the student-to-teacher lineage of the above-mentioned artists to their artistic forbears reaching back to the Italian Renaissance. In so doing, it shows how these illustrators, all of whom painted with the same principals and techniques as their artistic ancestors created what would prove to be iconic imagery and unforgettable narratives that defined them as keepers of the flame of traditional Western painting.

The opening will be held Saturday, July 14 at 5:30pm with commentary by exhibition curator Dennis Nolan at 6pm.The event is free for members, $20 for not-yet members.

The Norman Rockwell Museum is located on 36 park-like acres in Stockbridge, which was Rockwell’s hometown for the last 25 years of his life. For information about the exhibit and Museum check www.nrm.org