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June & July 2025 Public Talk Descriptions​​

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June 2025 Public Talk Descriptions

 

Meta Vaux Warrick Fuller: Sculptor of the Black American Experience

Meta Fuller was born in Philadelphia during Reconstruction and lived until the year that Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated. A protégée of French sculptor Auguste Rodin, she returned to America from a triumph in Paris to become a luminary of the Harlem Renaissance. Meta Fuller has been described as one of the most imaginative artists of her generation, and her powerful sculptures stand as an historical record of the Black American experience.

 

The Dreyfus Affair, Anti-Semitism, and Art in 19th Century Paris

In 1894 Alfred Dreyfus, a Jewish captain in the French army, was wrongly accused of passing military secrets to the Germans. He was convicted of high treason, court-martialed, and deported to solitary confinement on Devil’s Island. France was split into a fierce anti-Semitic, pro-military right-wing camp and a republican, liberal, left-wing camp. Shockwaves were felt in the circle of Parisian artists as well. The full story of this important, oft-neglected part of art history will be told in two illuminating parts. Part I will discuss the Dreyfus Affair in detail, including what led up to virulent anti-Semitism in France during the latter part of the 19th Century and the role art and artist-activists played. In Part II, on August 14th, we will see how the circle of Parisian artists responded during the Dreyfus Affair and how their political views affected their art and their friendships. 

 

Henri Matisse: Master of Color, Magician of Modernism

The remarkable career of Henri Matisse, one of the most influential artists of the Twentieth Century, fundamentally altered the course of modern art. Spanning six and a half decades, his vast creative output encompassed painting, drawing, sculpture, graphic arts, and paper cutouts. This talk will examine his extraordinary life and many of his important works. His friend and sometime rival Pablo Picasso once said,” All things considered, there is only Matisse.”

 

Andy Warhol: One Singular Sensation

Few American artists are as celebrated and notorious as Andy Warhol. His iconic paintings, silk screens, photography, films, and sculptures have become indelible representations of the American aesthetic, exploring the relationship between artistic expression and celebrity culture. This presentation will examine Warhol’s life and art from his beginnings as a commercial illustrator in the 1950s, to his iconic Pop masterpieces of the early 1960s, to the avant-garde films from the 1960s and '70s, to his innovative use of readymade abstractions in the 1980s.

 

Ruth Orkin: Power of the Image

Ruth Orkin, born in Hollywood, California in 1921, was an award-winning photojournalist and filmmaker. She moved to New York in 1943 and launched an impressive career capturing iconic images of people and places. She often said that film, music, and travel inspired her, and all of that came together in her photography. The subject of innumerable exhibitions and honors in her lifetime, Ruth Orkin’s legacy continues to this day.

 

Jaune Quick-to-See Smith: The Sacred and the Profane, the Divine and the Witty

Raised on the Flathead Reservation in Montana, Jaune Quick-to-See Smith (1940-2025)  addresses the myths of her ancestors in the context of current issues facing Native Americans. Her inspiration also stems from the work of Pablo Picasso, Paul Klee, and Robert Rauschenberg. She uses paint, collage, and found objects to produce both representational and abstract images. Smith has had more than eighty solo exhibits over the past thirty years, organized and curated scores of Native exhibitions, and lectured at almost 200 universities, museums, and conferences.  Jaune Quick-to-See Smith creates a unique, intimate, and insightful visual language grounded in themes of personal and political identity.

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July 2025 Public Talk Descriptions

 

Nazi-Looted Art: Gustav Klimt— Painter of Vienna’s Golden Age

This talk will discuss the important relationship Gustav Klimt, art star of Vienna’s Golden Age, had with his many Jewish patrons. We will see some amazing paintings and learn the tragic stories of what happened to these works and to their enlightened, forward-thinking collectors during the Nazi era and beyond.   

 

Night Visions: American Art after Hours

Nocturnal images have been central to the development of modern art. Leading American artists of many different aesthetic traditions, working in a range of media including painting, drawings, prints, sculpture, and photographs, were inspired by the unique challenges of picturing the night. Mysterious and provocative, the darkness was experienced as liberating, allowing artists to express personal truths in poetic ways. This presentation will demonstrate how visual artists, just like writers and musicians, have found the transformative power of the night a magical, compelling subject.

 

Henri Matisse: Master of Color, Magician of Modernism

The remarkable career of Henri Matisse, one of the most influential artists of the Twentieth Century, fundamentally altered the course of modern art. Spanning six and a half decades, his vast creative output encompassed painting, drawing, sculpture, graphic arts, and paper cutouts.

This talk will examine his extraordinary life and many of his important works. His friend and sometime rival Pablo Picasso once said,” All things considered, there is only Matisse.”

 

Norman Rockwell: An American Phenomenon

The prolific American artist and illustrator Norman Rockwell produced more than 4000 works that chronicle not only ordinary moments from everyday life but also important social and political issues. During his lifetime Rockwell was dismissed by many serious art critics, but this talk will examine why and how he has remained a beloved American original. We will look at many of his iconic paintings, as well as at some that may surprise you.