‘WOMEN WITH FLOWERS’ TALK EXPLORES TWO RECENT ACQUISITIONS AT CLARK ART INSTITUTE

Collector Dr. Heinrich Medicus is special guest

For Immediate Release
October 25, 2016

Williamstown, Massachusetts—“Women with Flowers,” a gallery talk exploring works by Émile Bernard and Odilon Redon, will be held at the Clark Art Institute on Thursday, November 10 at 12 pm. Curatorial Assistant Genevieve Hulley is joined by collector Dr. Heinrich Medicus for the talk.

The Clark acquired Redon’s Woman with a Vase of Flowers in 2014 when Dr. Medicus, whose family owned the painting since 1930, offered it as a gift. The painting is characteristic of Redon’s late work, which often featured vibrant flowers juxtaposed with disembodied heads. A key figure in the French Symbolist movement, Redon drew on mythological, biblical, and literary themes as well as on nature, all filtered through his visionary imagination to create hallucinatory images of astonishing strangeness. The painting made a significant addition to the Clark’s holdings in Post-Impressionist French painting.

Portrait of Madame Lemasson, the first painting by Bernard to enter the Clark’s collection, further enhances the Institute’s holdings in Post-Impressionist painting and complements the Redon painting. The work was once owned by noted collector Samuel Josefowitz, who was among the most important twentieth-century collectors of the works of Paul Gauguin and of the wider Pont-Aven School. Painted during one of Bernard’s many trips to Brittany, Portrait of Madame Lemasson portrays the innkeeper with whom Bernard stayed during his visits to the northern coastal town of Saint-Briac between 1886 and 1892. The Clark acquired the painting earlier this year.

The gallery talk is free with paid admission.

ABOUT THE CLARK

The Clark Art Institute, located in the Berkshires of western Massachusetts, is one of a small number of institutions globally that is both an art museum and a center for research, critical discussion, and higher education in the visual arts. Opened in 1955, the Clark houses exceptional European and American paintings and sculpture, extensive collections of master prints and drawings, English silver, and early photography. Acting as convener through its Research and Academic Program, the Clark gathers an international community of scholars to participate in a lively program of conferences, colloquia, and workshops on topics of vital importance to the visual arts. The Clark library, consisting of more than 270,000 volumes, is one of the nation’s premier art history libraries. The Clark also houses and co-sponsors the Williams College Graduate Program in the History of Art.

The Clark is located at 225 South Street in Williamstown, Massachusetts. Galleries are open Tuesday through Sunday, 10 am to 5 pm. Admission is $20; 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.

Press contact:
Clark Art Institute
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413 458 0471