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Kollar American Art Lecture – Eleanor Jones Harvey

Submitted on March 30, 2014 - 1:00am

Room 192, Paccar Hall
Wednesday, 30 April 2014, 7pm
RSVP using Register button here

The Division of Art History is pleased to host Eleanor Jones Harvey, who is the Senior Curator at the Smithsonian American Art Museum. This event is one of the Allan and Mary Kollar Lectures on American Art and Artists.

This lecture, titled “The Coming Storm: The Civil War and American Art,” examines the impact of the Civil War on American art, looking to photography and genre painting as a way of understanding the human cost of war and landscapes as an emotional barometer for the nation’s psyche during this turbulent period. Many American artists chose not to depict the graphic horrors of the Civil War, finding little enthusiasm for painting this internal conflict. However, the use of nature metaphors to describe the effects of the combat without actually describing it draws a close link between the landscape paintings and literature of the moment. Dr. Harvey grounds her discussion in the voices of the period: in the poems, speeches, sermons, and letters written by leading literary figures and by common men and women who, like the artists, endured the conflict at first hand.

You can read more about Harvey in this PDF on the Smithsonian website. A recent article about the Kollars may be found here.

Please note: This event is free and open to all, but we are asking people to RSVP using the Register button at this page. Seating priority will be given to those who RSVP.

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