ART HISTORIAN PRESENTS FREE LECTURE ABOUT MARY CASSATT’S PRINTS AT CLARK ART INSTITUTE

November 16, 2017

Williamstown, Massachusetts—Art historian Nancy Mowll Mathews, Eugénie Prendergast Senior Curator, Emerita at the Williams College Museum of Art, presents the free lecture “Mary Cassatt’s Prints: Experiments in Understanding” on Sunday, December 3 at 3 pm at the Clark Art Institute. The lecture will be held in the Clark’s auditorium, located in the Manton Research Center.

The lecture is presented in conjunction with the Clark’s exhibition The Impressionist Line: From Degas to Toulouse-Lautrec, on view through January 7, 2018. It also coincides with the Clark’s First Sundays Free program, which provides free admission to the galleries on the first Sunday of the month through May.

Mathews explores how Impressionist artist Mary Cassatt worked with preliminary states (stages in the development of a print), which the esteemed print scholar William Ivins called “experiments in understanding.” Looking at similar prints by Edgar Degas, Camille Pissarro, and Félix Bracquemond from about the same time (1880), Mathews explores the artists’ efforts to arrive at a new, Impressionist definition of “linear thinking.”

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.

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