For Immediate Release
March 17, 2021

CLARK ART INSTITUTE Research and Academic Program Fellow PRESENTs LECTURE on Rachel Ruysch, One of the Foremost Painters of the Early Modern Period
 

Williamstown, Massachusetts—Class of 1974 Curatorial Fellow Robert Schindler presents the talk “Making Visible/Rachel Ruysch” as part of the Clark’s Research and Academic Program’s lecture series. The lecture will be recorded and made available on the Clark website from March 19 through June 15.

Schindler introduces the career, work, and legacy of Rachel Ruysch (1664–1750), considered one of the foremost still-life painters of her time. Research on Ruysch’s life and work lags behind that of many of her male contemporaries, which stands in stark contrast to the fame and fortune she achieved during her long career. Her life and work provide fascinating avenues for inquiry not only into questions surrounding the conditions, experiences, and legacies of female artists working in the Netherlands in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries but also the (gendered) intersections of art, nature, natural philosophy, and science in the later 1600s.

Robert Schindler is the Fariss Gambrill Lynn and Henry Sharpe Lynn Curator of European Art at the Birmingham Museum of Art in Alabama. He holds a PhD in art history from the Freie Universität in Berlin. His interests and expertise are broad; he has written on subjects ranging from late medieval manuscript illumination to Bartholomeus Bruyn and the history of collecting. At the Clark, he is working on an exhibition project dedicated to Rachel Ruysch and her sister Anna, currently being planned for 2023/2024.

Visit clarkart.edu/Research-Academic/RAP-Events to view this lecture. 

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 275,000 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, which has a three-star rating in the Michelin Green Guide, is located at 225 South Street in Williamstown, Massachusetts. Its 140-acre campus includes miles of hiking and walking trails through woodlands and meadows, providing an exceptional experience of art in nature. 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. Free admission is available through several programs, including First Sundays Free; a local library pass program; and EBT Card to Culture. For more information on these programs and more, visit clarkart.edu or call 413 458 2303.  

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