A lecture by Joan Chesterton at the Lubeznik Center for the Arts, 101 West 2nd Street, Michigan City, Indiana, Thursday evening, May 19 at 7:00pm.
Joan Chesterton, Professor Emerita, Purdue University will present LA BELLE EPOQUE: A “Beautiful Era” in Paris, as shown in selections from the Shari and Stewart Diamond collection of posters currently on exhibit in the Hyndman Gallery of Lubeznik Center for the Arts.
These brilliant posters have long since crossed the line from “Street Art” advertising cabarets, theatre, celebrities, new products like bicycles, to the realm of fine art where they belong.
Professor Chesterton will look at this art from several perspectives: New forms and colors of artists like Pierre Bonnard and Alphonse Mucha were derived from:
The climate of artistic experimentation in Paris, especially in the impoverished studios of Montmartre; Japanese woodcut art, newly available in Europe; Art Nouveau, whose sinuous line and organic form energized a generation of artists, weary of academic painting and sculpture; The emergence of women as artists, as changing image and as consumers in Paris and in the United States; The technological improvements in lithography, which permitted a wider range of color and broad distribution. Professor Chesterton has extensive experience and a lively interest in the visual arts. She has served in staff positions at the Des Moines Art Center, the Dayton Art Institute and the Milwaukee Art Museum. In cooperation with Purdue North Central, she has lectured on a range of topics for Lubeznik Center for the Arts.
Most recently, she presented FLIGHT TO FREEDOM: A Tribute to Those Artists Who Fled the Holocaust at The Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage in Cleveland.
She has a Master of Arts degree in Literature and Art History from the University of Illinois.
This program is made possible through a matching grant from the Indiana Humanities Council in cooperation with the National Endowment for the Humanities.
The Lubeznik Center is located at 101 W. 2nd St., at the lakefront in Michigan City, IN. Gallery Hours are Tuesday through Friday from 10:00am to 5:00pm, Saturday and Sunday from 11:00am to 4:00pm. Galleries are closed on Mondays. For more information please visit www.lubeznikcenter.org or call 219-874-4900. All times are based on Chicago time.
Photo: Job by Jane Atché from 1896 is considered one of the most prominent examples of work by and of a woman in that time period.