How to look at Art

Arthur Schopenhauer said:  Treat a work of art like a prince: let it speak to you first.
Georgia O'Keeffe wrote:  Nobody sees a flower, really – it is so small – we haven't time, and to see takes time, like to have a friend takes time.
In this richly-illustrated presentation we’ll talk about how to get a work of art to speak, how to visit a museum, and how to make friends with the art you see.

Art Controversies Old and New

Should Britain return the Parthenon marbles to Greece? Did Leonardo put a woman in his Last Supper? 
Is the Mona Lisa a man? 
Are the Rivera murals sacrilegious? 
Was Jackson Pollock a genius or a fraud?
Should museums display nudes? 
Is Marcel Duchamp's urinal art? 
Throughout history much art has been controversial. 
We'll look at the art and discuss the issues.

Magical Multiples:  The Art of the Print
(single talk or 3-part series)

Come and see my etchings!  Prints have intrigued us since the first woodcuts.  Artists from the fifteenth century to today have explored the visual possibilities of printmaking.  We'll talk about how different prints are made and look at a rich variety of fine artworks.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly – Women in Art

Some of the earliest art we have – from 30,000 years ago – seems to show women barefoot, pregnant, and in the cave.  Over the centuries since then, men making art have tended to portray women either as goddesses or whores.  This lecture looks at how the male gaze has rendered the female and explores the changes when women have the chance to become artists speaking about themselves.

English Accents

Perhaps you thought English art was like English cooking – boring!  Not so as you will find out as we journey from Old Masters like Hogarth and Turner to the sensational, even scandalous, Young British Artists and Turner Prize winners of today.

Continuity Forever: The Art of Ancient Egypt

This talk will bring 3000 years of ancient Egypt to life in all its glory.  We'll resurrect a people who loved life and worked to ensure they could continue to live life to its fullest even after death. As Tjaiemhotep urged "Cease not to drink, to get drunk, to enjoy making love, to make the day joyful, to follow your inclination day and night, do not allow grief to enter your heart."  

Sensuous Poetry: The Art of 16th Century Venice

Bellini, Giorgione, Tiziano – even their names are poetic.  Their art was no less so.  Venetian artists revel in the sensuality of color and the glory of the female form.  Compared to the Venetians, contemporary Renaissance Italians painted only prose.

Renaissance and Baroque Art 
(single talk or 3-part series)

About 500 years ago Europe went through a period of exciting change as people awoke to the wonders of our world and to the ideas and ideals of ancient Greece and Rome.  We will trace the changes in art brought about by this Renaissance, then go on to explore the social, religious, and economic reasons causing art to move from classical calm to the dramatic sensationalism of the Baroque.  We'll try to capture some of the fervor sixteenth and seventeenth century audiences would have felt confronting the masterpieces created during this era.

Century of Change:
The Art and Ideas of 18th Century France

This covers the amazing journey from the art of the French aristocracy at the start of the century, through the changing ideas about art resulting from the Enlightenment, the Industrial Revolution, the French Revolution, and the growing art market.  

Vive la France!  Vive la Revolution!

A fully illustrated look at the revolution in art that took place in France in the second half of the 19th century.  This features artists like Gustave Courbet and Edouard Manet who were the first to challenge academic traditions, then the younger revolutionaries like Claude Monet and the Impressionists, and on through rebels, like Vincent Van Gogh, who followed them.

Impressionism:  The Art of Seeing
(single talk or 2- or 3-part series)

The Impressionist paintings which are so loved today began in the rebellion of a few young artists in Paris against the formalism and sentimentality that characterized the academic art in the late 19th-century.  We’ll explore the roots of this transformation, look at works by the artists, like Monet, who are most closely identified as Impressionist, continuing to artists like Van Gogh, who fell under the Impressionist spell.

Opening Doors, Opening Eyes: American Art, 1875-1955
(3-part series)

This series explores American art from the critical period when it adapts to the contemporary world and forges modern ideas about art.  Images shown will range from the realism of Thomas Eakins to the abstraction of Jackson Pollock and from the urban life scenes of John Sloan and the Ashcan School to the regionalism of Grant Wood.  Discussion will range from the changes wrought by the Armory Show and the World Wars to the impact of the New Deal and the Cold War. 

Monet to Dali

This richly illustrated talk presents artists of the late 19th and early 20th centuries who changed the course of western art.   It will focus on artists such as Monet, Cezanne, Van Gogh, Dali and Picasso who are featured in the special exhibition Monet to Dali: Modern Masters from the Cleveland Museum of Art at the Detroit Institute of Arts Oct 12-Jan 18.  

New No Longer: Art of the 20th Century
(single talk or 3-part series)

It was a time of change, a time when art shocked.

We'll look at the founding of modern art in Europe early in the century by artists like Matisse and Picasso in France and the Expressionists in Germany.  Then we'll move to New York for the flowering of an abstract approach to art, and end by examining the satirical, often politically- charged art made later in the century by artists who rejected the formalist modern approach to art-making.

Titans of the Italian Renaissance
(single talk or 3-part series)

Looking at a rich variety of images by Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Raphael we'll explore their personal stories and the times in which they lived as well as their contributions to art.

Celebrities, courted by princes and popes, they produced some of the most influential works of western art.

Painters of Urban Life: The Ashcan School

In the early 20th century the cities of America were expanding rapidly with immigrants from rural areas and overseas creating a lively mix of rich and poor, parks and tenements.  Artists flocked to New York to teach and to study. This talk focuses on those artists, such as John Sloan, George Bellows, and Maurice Prendergast who depicted scenes of life in city streets, parks, and bars.