Muscatine Art Center's collections were significantly enriched by a gift of twenty-seven works of art by Toulouse-Lautrec, Matisse, Degas, Boudin, Chagall, Renoir, and other European artists. The collection was a gift in 1992 from the estate of Mary Musser Gilmore in honor of her parents, Richard Drew Musser and Sarah Walker Musser.

This spring, the Muscatine Art Center welcomes Carol Ehlers, art history speaker, to present lectures on featured artists from the Mary Musser Gilmore Collection. The series is called "Artists Inspirations" and features artists Pablo Picasso, Paul Signac, and Raoul Dufy, and the artists that influenced each of them. The lectures will be held on the fourth Thursdays of the month beginning in March, and will be begin promptly at 5:30 pm. These lectures are FREE and open to the public.

Thursday, March 28: Pablo Picasso Looks at Edgar Degas

Pablo Picasso is said to have remarked that "good artists copy; great artists steal." Throughout his long and prolific career, Picasso often made works of art in response to his predecessors, quoting famous compositions by other artists. The subjects that had come to define Degas' works- cabarets and cafes, portraits, women bathing, and ballet dancers- can be seen in a variety of pieces from Picasso's early periods. Picasso's interest in Degas even inspired a series of etchings, made late in his career, in which Picasso depicted Degas himself.

Thursday, April 25: Paul Signac and the Utilization of Scientific Theory and Pointillism

Neo-Impressionist Paul Signac adopted the scientific theory of color and light refraction published by Eugene Chevreul and the model of pointillism he developed with his contemporary Georges Seurat to create a new phase of Post-Impressionism: Pointillism. See how these theories of color and phenomena of perception influenced Signac's art.

Thursday, May 23: Raoul Dufy Looks at Pissarro, Matisse and Braque

Like the Camille Pissarro and the Impressionists at the time, Raoul Dufy's cheerful paintings depict events of the time, including views of the French Riviera, and musical events. However, Impressionism was simply a step artistically- he then fell under the influence of the Fauves after being mesmerized by Henri Matisse. Later, he found that he needed to instill more austerity and soberness in his works, and Cubism fit the bill. Dufy preferred Georges Braque's neutral, fractured paintings to the wild and painterly Fauvist style. He later gained a reputation for being a commercial artist after a lifetime of borrowing from different artistic movements.

EVENT DETAILS:

What: "Artists Inspire" Lecture Series

Who: Carol Ehlers

When: Fourth Thursdays starting in March, 2013

Time: 5:30 PM

Where: The Muscatine Art Center's Music Room

Admission to these programs is FREE.

Support the River Cities' Reader

Get 12 Reader issues mailed monthly for $48/year.

Old School Subscription for Your Support

Get the printed Reader edition mailed to you (or anyone you want) first-class for 12 months for $48.
$24 goes to postage and handling, $24 goes to keeping the doors open!

Click this link to Old School Subscribe now.



Help Keep the Reader Alive and Free Since '93!

 

"We're the River Cities' Reader, and we've kept the Quad Cities' only independently owned newspaper alive and free since 1993.

So please help the Reader keep going with your one-time, monthly, or annual support. With your financial support the Reader can continue providing uncensored, non-scripted, and independent journalism alongside the Quad Cities' area's most comprehensive cultural coverage." - Todd McGreevy, Publisher