For Immediate Release
February 7, 2024
CLARK ART INSTITUTE RESEARCH AND ACADEMIC PROGRAM PRESENTS LECTURE ON ANONYMOUS EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY BLACK PORTRAIT
Williamstown, Massachusetts—On Tuesday, March 5 at 5:30 pm, the Clark Art Institute’s Research and Academic Program hosts a lecture by Erica Moiah James (University of Miami / Clark/Oakley Humanities Fellow) in the Clark’s auditorium, located in the Manton Research Center. In this free talk James provides a careful study of the anonymous eighteenth-century work Portrait of a Young Woman using the material archive provided by the sitter’s dress, jewelry, and cotton head-tie to establish her as a Black, Caribbean, creole woman. It seeks to render a “problem space” between historical Black representation and contemporary desires to know and name figures like her as proof of life, through a relational consideration of time, embodiment, and the representational capacity of Black flesh in the work of contemporary artist Lynette Yiadom-Boakye, alongside representations of Black people under threat of life in the digital age.
Erica Moiah James is an art historian, curator, and assistant professor at the University of Miami. Her research centers on Indigenous, modern, and contemporary art of the Caribbean, Americas, and the African Diaspora. At the Clark, James plans to develop several chapters of her next book, which focuses on eighteenth- and nineteenth-century global Caribbean art in conversation with contemporary practices and art historical methodologies. As an extension of the book project, she will also develop an exhibition of some of the earliest known paintings and prints of the Caribbean made by British military artists.
A 5 pm reception in the Manton Research Center reading room precedes the free program. For more information, visit clarkart.edu/events.
The next Research and Academic Program lecture is presented by Kirstin Ringelberg (Elon University/The Kaleta A. Doolin Foundation Fellow) and addresses the once-celebrated (and occasionally reviled) but now largely unknown Belle Époque Parisian artist Madeleine Lemaire (1845–1928). The talk takes place on Tuesday, March 12 at 5:30 pm in the Clark’s auditorium.
For more information, visit clarkart.edu/events. Admission to the Clark is free through March 2024.
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 some 300,000 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 10 am to 5 pm Tuesday through Sunday, from September through June, and daily in July and August. Admission is free January through March and is $20 from March through December; admission is free year-round for Clark members, all visitors age 21 and under, and students with a valid student ID. Free admission is also available through several programs, including First Sundays Free; a local library pass program; and EBT Card to Culture. For information on these programs and more, visit clarkart.edu or call 413 458 2303.
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