Art History
Arthur M. Berger Lecture
Arthur Berger was a life-long learner who, after retiring from a successful career in business, followed his passion for art by taking courses in our department. Upon his passing, his family and friends endowed a fund in his memory here at Manhattanville, which supports our annual Berger Lecture and our Berger Trips.
2008 Lecture:
Dr. Tim Barringer, Paul Mellon Professor of the History of Art, Yale University
ASPIRING TO THE CONDITION OF MUSIC
The subject of this lecture is the Aesthetic Movement, which dominated the fine and decorative arts in Britain from the 1860s until the 1890s. Aestheticism's creed of "art for art's sake" meant that painting no longer sought to illuminate religious or historical themes, or to compete with literature by relating elaborate narratives. Rather—in the phrase of the critic Walter Pater—it aspired to the condition of music, a purely abstract art appealing directly to the senses.
This lecture traces the web of connections between musical forms and painted ones in Victorian Britain, from James McNeill Whistler's Symphony in White No.1 to Dante Gabriel Rossetti's luscious canvases depicting female musicians. Musical extracts will be used to explore direct connections between paintings and musical compositions. But the Aesthetes will not have it all their own way. One of the most brilliant musical concoctions of the era was Gilbert and Sullivan's operetta Patience, which pokes gentle fun at Aesthetic Movement's pretensions. The lecture, given here for the first time, will become a chapter in Tim Barringer's forthcoming book, Art and Music in Britain: Beggar's Opera to Sex Pistols.
Wednesday, October 29, 2008, 7:30 p.m.
West Room, Reid Hall
A reception in the French Parlor will immediately follow the lecture.
Free and Open to the Public
Banner image: "Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones: The Love Song (47.26)". In Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/ho/10/euwb/ho_47.26.htm (October 2006)
Past Berger Lecturers:
Col. Matthew Bogdanos, United States Marine Reserves and Assistant District Attorney, Manhattan, "Thieves of Baghdad: One Marine's Passion for Ancient Civilizations & the Journey to Recover the World's Greatest Stolen Treasures" 2007
Dr. Eric Kjellgren, Metropolitan Museum of Art, “Ancient Landscapes and Enduring Visions: Contemporary Aboriginal Art in the East Kimberley, Western Australia” 2006
Mr. Jeff L. Rosenheim, Metropolitan Museum of Art, “‘It’s What I’ve Never Seen Before That I Recognize’: Diane Arbus and Her Art” 2005
Dr. Charlotte Nichols, Seton Hall University, “The Forgotten Renaissance: Art & Courtly Intrigue in the Kingdom of Naples” 2004
Dr. Pepe Karmel, New York University, “The Rub-Out: Figuration vs. Abstraction in the Work of Jackson Pollock” 2003
Dr. Elizabeth Johns, University of Pennsylvania, “Winslow Homer and the Nature of Observation” 2002
Dr. Diana Gisolfi, Pratt Institute, “Titian and His Rivals: Painting Practice in Late Renaissance Venice” 2001
Ms. Vicki Goldberg, Author & Photo Critic, “Margaret Bourke-White: Modern Woman, Modern Photographer” 2000
Dr. Anne Higonnet, Wellesley College, “Why Does Mary Cassatt Matter?” 1999
Dr. Constance Lowenthal, World Jewish Congress, “Nazi Art Theft & the Unfinished Business of Recovery” 1998
Sr. Eleanor Carr, Manhattanville College, “Sermons in Stone: The Irish High Crosses” 1997
Dr. Susana Torruella Leval, El Museo del Barrio, “Cultural Identity & Contemporary Latino Art” 1996
Dr. Jerrilynn Dodds, City College of The City University of New York, “The Pilgrimage to Santiago: Medieval Pilgrimage and Modern Spirituality” 1995
Ms. Diane Fane, The Brooklyn Museum, “Native Arts in Colonial Mexico & Peru: From Precolumbian to Popular” 1994
Dr. Barbara Brennan Ford, Metropolitan Museum of Art, “If Stones Could Speak: History of the Ryoanji Temple, Its Gardens and Paintings” 1993
Dr. Edward J. Sullivan, New York University, “20th Century Women Artists in Mexico” 1992
Dr. Mary Schmidt Campbell, New York University, “The Harlem Renaissance & Beyond” 1991
Dr. Kathleen Weil-Garris Brandt, New York University, “Michelangelo in the Sistine Chapel: The Frescoes & Their Conservation” 1990
Dr. Robert Mark, Princeton University, “Structural Archaeology: In Search of the Master Builders” 1989
Dr. Estelle Jussim, Simmons College, “The Photographer & the Place” 1988
Dr. Priscilla E. Muller, The Hispanic Society of America, “Goya’s Late Dark World” 1987
Mr. Howard Davis, Columbia University, “Form & Content: Giotto’s Paintings” 1986
Dr. Svetlana Alpers, University of California, Berkeley, “The Master’s Touch: Rembrandt” 1985
Dr. Carol Krinsky, New York University, “Modern Architecture of Westchester” 1984
Dr. John Rupert Martin, Princeton University, “The Hand of the Artist: Self-Portraits by Rubens & Rembrandt” 1984
Dr. John Wilmerding, National Gallery of Art, “Winslow Homer in Context” 1983
Dr. Gert Schiff, New York University, “The Fantastic in 18th Century English Painting” 1982