Blinding or Beautiful? Modern Art and Artificial Illumination

Blinding or Beautiful? Modern Art and Artificial Illumination
DATE:
TIME:
5:00 pm – 6:00 pm
Speaker:
Hollis Clayson, Professor Emerita of Art History and Bergen Evans Professor Emerita in the Humanities, Northwestern University

Interest in the aesthetics of light shaped the work of countless visual artists on both sides of the Atlantic in the modern era. The bond between innovative art and light was especially pronounced in France starting in the mid- to late 1800s, when different kinds of lighting (oil, gas and then electric) competed in Paris, the so-called “City of Light.” In this lecture, Clayson looks closely at paintings and graphic works by both European and American artists that grappled with the effects of both natural light and artificial illumination in surprising ways. Were the new lights beautiful or blinding? Did they belong in art or not?

This lecture serves as the keynote address for a two-day symposium co-organized by the Museum and the California Institute of Technology in conjunction with the exhibition Plugged In: Art and Electric Light. Taking place on October 11 (at the Museum) and 12 (at Caltech's Baxter Lecture Hall), the symposium will be organized into four thematic sessions featuring talks by a distinguished group of international scholars.

Details, including the list of panel topics, speakers, timing and how to register, can be found here.

Attendees who register in advance for Day 1 or the Keynote address will receive free admission to the Norton Simon Museum on Friday, October 11.


EVENT DETAILS

Fee:
Free with museum admission. Attendees who register in advance for Day 1 or the Keynote address will receive free admission to the Norton Simon Museum on Friday, October 11.
Details:
Doors open 30 minutes before program. Advance registrants check in at the check-in table starting at 4:00 p.m. to receive a sticker for their seat (seating is not assigned). Everyone must be seated no later than 4:50 p.m. Guests who are not in their seat by 4:50 p.m. may forfeit their ticket.
Location:
Theater

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