MOVING PICTURES THE SUBJECT OF PUBLIC LECTURE AT THE CLARK

For Immediate Release

March 21, 2013

Williamstown, MA—Art historian Nancy Mowll Mathews, Eugénie Prendergast Senior Curator, Emerita at the Williams College Museum of Art, will present the free lecture “Moving Pictures: Thomas Edison and American Art in Paris” at the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute on Sunday, April 7 at 3 pm. The lecture is presented in conjunction with the Clark’s Electric Paris exhibition, on view through April 21.

The emergence of moving pictures, pioneered by Thomas Edison in the late nineteenth century, changed the way artists represented the world around them. In this lecture, Mathews explores early film technology and its impact on artists working in Paris.

Mathews is the author of Moving Pictures: American Art and Early Film, 1880-1910, as well as Mary Cassatt: A Life and Paul Gauguin: An Erotic Life.

Electric Paris is the first exhibition to explore the ways in which artists depicted both older gas lighting and the newer electric illumination that began to supplant it around the turn of the twentieth century.

About the Clark

Set amidst 140 acres in the Berkshires, the Clark is one of the few major art museums that also serves as a leading international center for research and scholarship. The Clark presents public and education programs and organizes groundbreaking exhibitions that advance new scholarship. The Clark’s research and academic programs include an international fellowship program and conferences. Together with Williams College, the Clark sponsors one of the nation’s leading master’s programs in art history. The Clark receives support from the Massachusetts Cultural Council.

The Clark is located at 225 South Street in Williamstown, Massachusetts. The galleries are open daily in July and August (open Tuesday through Sunday from September through June), 10 am to 5 pm. Admission is $15 June 1 through October 31; free November through May; and free year-round for Clark members, children 18 and younger, and students with valid ID. For more information, visit clarkart.edu or call 413 458 2303.

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