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Prepared
presentations***
Art of Particular Time Periods
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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
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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. |
General Topics
Art
Topics by Time Period
Talks
Focusing on Special Artists
***
Contact wendyevans@art-talks.org
to get a new topic developed for your group.
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