related events

In conjunction with Impression: Painting Quickly in France, 1860-1890, the Clark is offering a wide variety of special events, including gallery talks, lectures, a series of French "New Wave" films, an outdoor family festival, outdoor band concerts, and a scholarly symposium. Please see the list of categories at the left for a full list of programs, or visit the Calendar of Events to search by date. To receive our printed summer calendar of events (published in May), e-mail Public Relations. Be sure to include your name and address, and write "summer calendar" in the subject line.

A twelve-minute introductory video for Impression: Painting Quickly in France, 1860-1890 will be shown in the auditorium during gallery hours. Please note that the video may be occasionally preempted for other programming.

Lectures

Opening Lecture: "Impressions, Old and New"
Sunday, June 10, 3:00 pm
Guest curator Richard R. Brettell, a leading international scholar of early modern art and professor of aesthetic studies at the School of Arts and Humanities at the University of Texas at Dallas, was one of the first participants in the Clark's Visiting Scholars program (now called the Clark Fellows program). During his residency at the Clark, Brettell developed the Impression exhibition and wrote the catalogue, published by Yale University Press. He is also the author of the Oxford History of Art's Modern Art 1851-1929 and Pissarro and Pontoise: The Painter in a Landscape.

"Painting Quickly: Some Impressions"
Sunday, July 29, 3:00 pm
John House, professor of French and British painting at the Courtauld Institute of Art in London and a noted scholar of Impressionism, will discuss the themes of the exhibition in light of recent debates over the meaning and making of Impressionist paintings. A leading expert on French and British art of the nineteenth century, House is author of Landscapes of France: Impressionism and Its Rivals and Monet: Nature into Art.

Gallery Talks

"Desert Island" Lectures on "painting quickly and painting slowly"
Thursdays, June 7 through August 30, 12:30 pm

This summer, the Clark's popular lunchtime lecture series "Desert Island Pictures" will reflect the themes of "painting quickly and painting slowly," in honor of the exhibition Impression: Painting Quickly in France, 1860-1890. Every Thursday, Clark curators and Williams College art faculty will discuss works in the Clark collection that they would take with them if "stranded on a desert island." Some will examine works that, like the paintings in Impression, were painted in a short period of time, while others will take the opposite approach and focus on the highly finished paintings of the Old Masters. Visitors may purchase lunch in the Clark Café or bring a bag lunch to eat before or after each half-hour talk.

June 7: Dismounted: The Fourth Trooper Moving the Led Horses by Frederic Remington
Brian Allen, Director of Curatorial Administration

June 14: The Warrior by Jean-Honoré Fragonard
Richard Rand, Senior Curator and Curator of Paintings and Sculpture

June 21: Boulevard Clichy, Effect of Winter Sunlight by Camille Pissarro
James A. Ganz, Associate Curator of Prints, Drawings, and Photographs

June 28: Virgin and Child with Saint John the Baptist by Botticelli
Alexis Goodin, Assistant Curator

July 5: The Bath by Berthe Morisot
Carolyn Halprin-Healy, independent museum educator

July 12: Nymphs and Satyr by William Bouguereau
Sarah Lees, Research Associate

July 19: The Bay of Naples by Pierre-August Renoir
Richard Rand, Senior Curator and Curator of Paintings and Sculpture

July 26: Two works by George Inness
Charles Palermo, Visiting Assistant Professor of Art, Williams College

August 2: Eastern Point and West Point, Prout's Neck by Winslow Homer
Brian Allen, Director of Curatorial Administration

August 9: A Venetian Interior by John Singer Sargent
Marc Simpson, Associate Director of the Clark/Williams Graduate Program in the History of Art

August 16: Virgin and Child with Saints by Ugolino da Siena
Michael Cassin, Curator of Education

August 23: Sleeping Girl with a Cat by Pierre-Auguste Renoir
Adam Greenhalgh, Curatorial Assistant

August 30: Sepulcrum Christi by Perugino
Michael Cassin, Curator of Education

Permanent Collection Tours

Daily, 11:00 am, 1:00 pm, and 3:00 pm
Thursday through Saturday, additional tour at 5:30 pm
The Clark is offering free guided tours of the permanent collection this summer, with tours scheduled daily at 11:00 am, 1:00 pm, and 3:00 pm On Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays, when the galleries are open until 7:00 pm, there will be an additional tour at 5:30 pm Designed to give visitors a taste of the splendid variety of the Clark's holdings, these gallery talks will introduce some of the themes of the summer exhibition by looking at the Clark's own wonderful collection of Impressionist paintings. Tours last approximately one hour and are offered June 17 through September 9.

Family Events

"Father Figures" at the Clark
Sunday, June 17, 3:00 pm
As we celebrate the opening of Impression: Painting Quickly in France, 1860-1890, it's a good moment to look at paintings by the "Fathers" of Impressionism--artists of the preceding generation such as Corot, Daubigny, and artists of the Barbizon School. Curator of education Michael Cassin will give a slide talk about these artists as well as images by and of fathers. Throughout the day, fathers who bring their families to the Clark are invited to enjoy a free coffee and pastry.

"Impressions of Paris" Family Day
Sunday, August 12, 11:00 am to 4:00 pm
The lawns of the Clark will be transformed into the streets of Paris for an outdoor family festival in conjunction with Impression: Painting Quickly in France, 1860-1890. French boutiques, carriage rides, even the Eiffel tower will reflect the everyday life and color of the City of Light. Children will have the chance to "paint quickly" as well as make crafts such as masks and fans. Vendors will offer French food as well as "kid-friendly" fare. Indoor activities include guided talks and music in the galleries. Admission is free.

Clark Symposium: Painting Quickly, Lasting Impressions

July 29 through August 4
A week of conversations between guest scholars on the themes of Impression: Painting Quickly in France, 1860-1890

Public Symposium

Saturday, August 4, 1:30 to 5:30 pm

Scholarship in the area of Impressionism has been both remarkably lively and remarkably international in the last generation. Yet, most of the scholars currently working in France, Britain, Germany, and the United States conceive of the movement in ways that reflect the intellectual traditions of their own countries and institutions. Rarely do they get much opportunity to work together. That will change this summer, when the Clark invites nine scholars to spend a week together in Williamstown to discuss the intellectual problems raised by the exhibition. The group will present their findings to the public in a lively series of discussions on Saturday, August 4. Speakers will include:

• Richard R. Brettell, Professor of Aesthetic Studies, University of Texas at Dallas, and Curator of Impression: Painting Quickly in France, 1860-1890
• Stephen Eisenman, Professor of Art History, Northwestern University
• Tamar Garb, Professor, Department of the History of Art, University College, London
• Richard Kendall, independent scholar, New York
• Matthias Krüger, Research Fellow, University of Hamburg
• Rodolphe Rapetti, Chief Curator, Musées de France
• Richard Shiff, Effie Marie Cain Regents Chair in Art and Director, Center for the Study of Modernism, University of Texas at Austin
• Michael F. Zimmermann, Deputy Director, Zentralinstitut für Kunstgeschichte, Munich

The discussions will be moderated by John House of the Courtauld Institute of Art in London, a noted scholar of Impressionism.

Tickets: $15 General Admission; $12 for Students and Friends of the Clark

Symposium registration includes admission to the exhibitionImpression: Painting Quickly in France, 1860-1890 on August 4. Please take your symposium ticket to the admission desk for admission to the galleries.

To register for the public symposium, please call 413-458-0524, e-mail The Box Office, or print out the registration form and fax it to 413-458-5902 or mail to:

Events Office
The Clark
225 South Street
Williamstown, MA 01267

Film Series: "New Wave Impressions: French Film in the Sixties"

Thursdays, June 21 through August 30, 7:00 pm Free

The French New Wave in film, like Impressionism, began as a movement of aesthetic insurgency against the established studio style but became widely influential and ultimately beloved. Like those painters, these filmmakers brought gestural freedom and performative verve to their craft. The New Wave offers distinct historical parallels with the revolution detailed in the Impressionexhibition but technical echoes as well. Directors exploited innovations in lightweight equipment to make stylistic signatures of handheld camerawork, natural lighting, jumpcut editing--escaping from the studio to street and countryside, going on location to capture aspects of contemporary life and leisure. Improvisational, convention-breaking, marked by mobility and facility, direct and quick in execution, the New Wave produced filmic Impressions that in many ways hark back to their painterly forebears.

All films are in French with English subtitles.

June 21: Les Quatre Cents Coups (The 400 Blows) (1959, 97 minutes)
The first big splash of the New Wave, François Truffaut's autobiographical tale of delinquent adolescence also launched the five-film "Antoine Doinel" series starring alter ego Jean-Pierre Leaud.

June 28: A Bout de Souffle (Breathless) (1959, 90 minutes)
Jean-Luc Godard's homage to American B-movie gangster flicks shatters conventions with exhilirating bravado and made a star of Jean-Paul Belmondo.

July 5: Tirez sur le Pianiste (Shoot the Piano Player) (1962, 92 minutes)
François Truffaut's no-holds-barred treatment of American film noir is both heartfelt and funny, an emotional roller coaster starring Charles Aznavour.

July 12: Une Femme Est une Femme (A Woman is a Woman)(1961, 88 minutes)
The explosion of genres continues with this "neo-realist musical comedy." Jean-Luc Godard's most genial film is really a love letter to his wife, the actress Anna Karina.

July 19: Jules et Jim (1962, 104 minutes)
This is François Truffaut's masterpiece, in which femme fatale Jeanne Moreau ensnares the title characters from before the First World War to brink of the Second.

July 26: Les Bonnes Femmes (1960, 105 minutes)
Claude Chabrol's film begins as gentle satire of the ordinary lives of four Parisian shopgirls, but ends with the acute psychological suspense that became hallmark of Chabrol's long career.

August 2: Le Feu Follet (The Fire Within) (1964, 104 minutes)
Louis Malle explores the life of a boulevard existentialist, with a riveting performance by Maurice Ronet, searching the haunts of intellectual Paris, looking for a reason to go on living.

August 9: Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964, 91 minutes)
Jacques Demy's slight, sordid, youthful romance is made luminous by all-singing, all-color presentation and the introduction of the impossibly beautiful Catherine Deneuve.

August 16: Le Bonheur (Happiness) (1965, 87 minutes)
Like her husband Jacques Demy, Agnes Varda elevates a working-class story with colorful poignancy, this time with an Impressionist palette modeled on Renoir paintings.

August 23: La Religieuse (The Nun) (1965, 140 minutes)
Based on a Diderot novel about a beautiful young girl forced into a convent, this period story elicits a completely different performance from Anna Karina as director Jacques Rivette applies his patient style.

August 30: Le Genou de Claire (Claire's Knee) (1970, 105 minutes)
One of Eric Rohmer's "Six Moral Tales," this comedy of over-intellectualized passion in a lovely Alpine lake setting became his most popular film.

Community Preview Days

Join your neighbors for a free preview of "the Show of the Year!"

The Clark will offer free admission to Impression: Painting Quickly in France, 1860-1890 for residents of neighboring communities on the following days:

Monday, June 11: Pittsfield
Tuesday, June 12: Northern Berkshire County
Wednesday, June 13: Southern Berkshire County
Thursday, June 14: Bennington County, Vermont
Friday, June 15: Columbia and Rensselaer Counties, New York
Saturday, June 16: Williamstown

The exhibition is on view daily from 10:00 am to 8:00 pm during community preview days. For free admission, please show an ID with your local address.

Daily events will include:

• Gallery talks at 11:30 am, 1:30 pm, and 7:00 pm (limited space - first come, first served basis)
• Community receptions at 6:15 pm
• "Painting Quickly, Looking Carefully" activity guide for families
• Free rental of the audio tour to the permanent collection

The Berkshire Eagle is delighted to be the media sponsor for the community preview days for Impression: Painting Quickly in France, 1860-1890. To visit The Berkshire Eagle website, please click here.

Dates and towns

(We have tried to ensure that we list every town in each county, but if your town is not listed, please accept our apologies. If you live in that county, you will be admitted)

Monday, June 11

• Pittsfield

Tuesday, June 12, Northern Berkshire County

• Adams
• Cheshire
• Clarksburg
• Dalton
• Florida
• Hancock
• Hinsdale
• Lanesborough
• New Ashford
• North Adams
• Peru
• Savoy
• Windsor

Wednesday, June 13, Southern Berkshire County

• Alford
• Becket
• Egremont
• Great Barrington
• Housatonic
• Lee
• Lenox
• Monterey
• Mount Washington
• New Marlboro
• Otis
• Richmond
• Sandisfield
• Sheffield
• Stockbridge
• Tyringham
• Washington
• West Stockbridge

Thursday, June 14, Bennington County, Vermont

• Arlington
• Bennington
• Dorset
• Glastonbury
• Landgrove
• Manchester
• Manchester Center
• North Bennington
• Peru
• Pownal
• Readsboro
• Rupert
• Sandgate
• Searsburg
• Shaftsbury
• Stamford
• Sunderland
• Wilmington
• Winhall
• Woodford

Friday, June 15, Columbia* and Rensselaer Counties

• Ancram*
• Austerlitz*
• Berlin
• Brunswick
• Canaan*
• Castleton
• Chatham*
• Chatham Center*
• Churchtown*
• Claverack*
• Clermont*
• Cohoes
• Copake*
• East Chatham*
• East Greenbush
• East Nassau
• East Taghkanic*
• Elizaville*
• Germantown*
• Ghent*
• Glenco Mills*
• Grafton
• Green Island
• Greenport*
• Harlemville*
• Hillsdale*
• Hollowville*
• Hoosick
• Hoosick Falls
• Hudson*
• Hudson City*
• Kinderhook*
• Lebanon Springs*
• Linlithgo*
• Livingston*
• Malden Bridge*
• Martindale*
• Mellenville*
• Nassau
• New Lebanon*
• Niverville*
• North Chatham*
• North Greenbush
• Old Chatham*
• Petersburg
• Philmont*
• Pittstown
• Poestenkill
• Red Rock*
• Rensselaer
• Sand Lake
• Schaghticoke
• Schodack
• Stephentown
• Stockport*
• Stottville*
• Stuyvesant*
• Troy
• Valatie*
• Valley Falls
• Waterford
• Watervliet
• West Ghent*
• West Lebanon*
• West Taghkanic*

Saturday, June 16

• Williamstown 

The "point" of Impressionist art was to capture the fleeting moment, the transient effect of a certain place, person, or time. Impressionist artists worked on-site with speed and directness, hoping to distinguish their works with a new freshness, immediacy, and truthfulness. Yet the paintings they exhibited were in fact almost always completed in the studio later. This beautifully illustrated book investigates for the first time the works that might truly be called "Impressions"—paintings that appear to be rapid transcriptions of shifting subjects but were nonetheless considered finished by their makers. Renowned Impressionist scholar Richard R. Brettell identifies and discusses Impressions by some of the best-known artists of the period, including Manet, Monet, Renoir, Sisley, Morisot, Degas, Pissarro, and Caillebotte.

The book surveys the various practices of individual artists in the making, signing, exhibiting, and selling of Impressions. Brettell discusses the pictorial theories behind the paintings, the sales strategies for them, and the various forms they took, including works completed in one sitting, "apparent" Impressions, and repeated Impressions. In a concluding chapter, the author considers a small group of works by Vincent van Gogh, who painted with an almost fanatical rapidity and was the only major Post-Impressionist painter to push the aesthetic of the Impression even further.

This book is the catalogue for an exhibition at the National Gallery in London from November 1, 2000, to January 28, 2001, the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam from March 2 to May 20, 2001, and the Clark Art Institute from June 17 to September 9, 2001.

240 pages, 9 3/8 x 11 inches
183 color and six black-and-white illustrations
2000
Published in association with Yale University Press
ISBN 0-300-08446-3 (hardcover)
ISBN 0-300-08447-1 (softcover)