Thursday, November 14, 6 – 7pm
Georges Seurat. Entrance of The Port of Honfleur (detail), 1886. The Barnes Foundation, BF942. Public Domain.
On-site $10; online $8; members and students free
About the Talk
Michelle Foa | “Scale, Subject, Sketch, Series: Seurat at the Barnes”
This lecture will focus on the exceptional Seurat paintings in the Barnes collection, not just the artist's masterful Poseuses but also a beautiful 1886 seascape and several important painted sketches. Situating these works within the broader context of the evolution and demise of the impressionist group and Seurat’s brilliant but brief career as the leading neo-impressionist, the lecture will shed new light on his techniques, modes of working, and the surprising connections among the different parts of his diverse body of work.
This lecture is part of our Impressionism at the Barnes series celebrating the 150th anniversary of the first impressionist exhibition in Paris in 1874. Each talk highlights an impressionist (or neo-impressionist) artist in the Barnes collection, detailing their importance in the history of modern art and uncovering what made their work so radical to 19th-century audiences. Don’t miss André Dombrowski on Monet Painting on Water and Martha Lucy on Renoir’s La Source.
About the Speaker
Michelle Foa
Foa is an associate professor of 19th-century European art at Tulane University in New Orleans. Her first book, Georges Seurat: The Art of Vision, was published in 2015, and she is currently finishing her second book, Edgar Degas and the Matter of Art, which analyzes the artist’s career-long commitment to material and technical experimentation. Foa is the guest curator of Edgar Degas: Multi-Media Artist in the Age of Impressionism (July 13–October 6) at the Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts.
Go Further
In Focus Gallery Talk: Mickalene Thomas: All About Love
An in-depth discussion about Me as Muse with Emma Nell Jacobs. Free with admission; Roberts Gallery
Lecture: Martha Lucy on Renoir’s La Source
This talk, part of our Impressionism at the Barnes lecture series, reveals why this work was so provocative for its time and how it influenced the rest of the artist’s career.
In Focus Gallery Talk: Mickalene Thomas: All About Love
An in-depth discussion about Tamika sur une chaise longue with Emma Nell Jacobs. Free with admission; Roberts Gallery