Art History – Girls in the Clubhouse: Mary Cassatt, Berthé Morisot, and the Women of Impressionism.

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We know their names so well—Monet, Renoir, Degas, Manet, and the other talented painters who made up the “boys club” known as the Impressionists. Audacious and visionary, they challenged the French Academy that had controlled art production for centuries to create a bold new art-form that truly captured modern life. What most people don’t know is that several talented women were part of the group—Eva Gonzales, Bertie Morisot, and especially, Mary Cassatt. Like their male comrades, these artists also rejected the academic constraints on subject and style to create a new vision of the modern world, but one with a particularly feminine focus. This lecture will examine the lives and work of these remarkable women, who dared to challenge both the powerful Academy and the artistic patriarchy of 19th century France.

Barbara J. Johnston Dr. Barbara J. Johnston is a native of North Miami, Florida, but spent most of her adult life in the Richmond, Virginia area. She earned two undergraduate degrees in Studio Art and Art History, and a Masters degree in Art History and Museum Studies at Virginia Commonwealth University, where she was also an adjunct Art History professor. In addition, Barbara was on the faculty of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts for over ten years, offering classes and public lectures on a variety of art historical topics as the Paul Mellon Arts in Education lecturer. After earning her doctorate degree in Art History at Florida State University, Barbara was a Visiting Professor of Renaissance and Baroque Art History at the College of William and Mary before moving to Columbus, Georgia in 2008 to join the Art History faculty at Columbus State University, where she is a tenured Associate Professor. Barbara  specializes in Medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque art, although she gives public lectures on a wide variety of topics, including Modernist Art, Non-Western Art and Architecture, and the focus of her personal scholarship, Mary Magdalene in the visual arts.  

The fee for the lecture is $10 for non Thread Members.

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Zoom link will be sent to registrants on Sunday, June 28th.