Clark Art Lecture on Images of the Female Body in 20th Century Argentina

08:11AM / Thursday, November 07, 2024Print Story | Email Story

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — On Tuesday, Nov. 12, the Clark Art Institute's Research and Academic Program presents "Being Gorgeous Is a Duty!", a lecture by María Isabel Baldasarre (Universidad Nacional de San Martín, Argentina and Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas / Every Page Foundation Fellow).

This free event takes place at 5:30 pm in the Manton Research Center auditorium.

According to a press release:

Baldasarre analyzes how throughout the twentieth century a hegemonic image of the female body was shaped and spread through popular culture in Argentina. Visual culture—magazines, cinema, television, art—contributed to cementing this canon, while physiques that did not adhere to the norm were made invisible.

María Isabel Baldasarre is a professor of art history at Universidad Nacional de San Martín, Argentina and a researcher at Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET). Between 2019 and 2023 she was National Director of Museums of the National Ministry of Culture. She is the author of the books Los dueños del arte: Coleccionismo y consumo cultural en Buenos Aires (2006) and Bien vestidos: Una historia visual de la moda en Buenos Aires (1870–1914) (2021). At the Clark, Baldasarre is working on a book project titled The Liberation of the Female Body: Fashion, Art, and Visual Culture in Modern Argentina.

Free. Accessible seats available; for information, call 413 458 0524. A reception at 5 pm in the Manton Research Center reading room precedes the event.

Tags: Clark Art,

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Williamstown Select Board Evaluates Town Manager

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
05:39AM / Wednesday, October 28, 2026

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — In 2022, the town still was recovering from the twin blows of a global pandemic and a lawsuit that exposed disturbing allegations against the town's police department.

The latter ultimately led to the resignation of the police chief and the town manager. To replace the manager, the Select Board at the time turned to Robert Menicocci.

Menicocci represented a break in style from his immediate predecessor, who was a more prominent voice in town government. That prominence, in part, was a product of the times: When town boards and committees were not meeting in-person and access to town hall itself was limited at the height of the pandemic, the manager's voice in Zoom meetings was more front and center.

In his four years in the corner office, Menicocci has helped shepherd the police department on its path to certification and helped the town weather the fiscal storm of skyrocketing costs linked to inflation – particularly sharp increases in the cost of health insurance that hit hard for a labor-intensive endeavor like municipal government. All the while, he has been a little more taciturn, while always willing to participate, when appropriate, with responsive answers in discussions of the Select Board and Finance Committee.

On Monday, the current Select Board – completely turned over from the 2022 edition – pushed Menicocci to be more of a cheerleader for the town.

"Do you see your role more as a behind-the-scenes guy and our role is to be out in public?" board member Matthew Neely asked Menicocci during the board's review of the manager's job performance. "Or is there more of a role for you in that? So many people, if I say your name, they're like, ‘Who?'

"I would have assumed your role would be more public facing as well, and more, for lack of a better word, leading the charge as opposed to running day-to-day operations. I feel you're strong running day-to-day. But something we all wish is we had a little more of a proactive [manager] …. Since we need development, need all these things in town so much. … I'd love to see more outward energy, I guess.

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