WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — On Saturday, Aug. 2, the Clark Art Institute presents "Corruptive…Destructive:" Women Artists Paint the Nude, 1875–1945, a lecture by author and art historian Rebecca Birrell. 

 

This free lecture is given in conjunction with the Clark's exhibition A Room of Her Own: Women Artist-Activists in Britain, 1875–1945 and takes place in the Clark's Manton Research Center auditorium at 2 pm.

 

According to a press release:

 

In 1930, writing about her sister Vanessa Bell, Virginia Woolf describes how "it was held, until sixty years ago […] for a woman to look upon nakedness with the eye of an artist, and not simply with the eye of mother, wife or mistress, was corruptive of her innocency and destructive of her domesticity." In this lecture, author and art historian Rebecca Birrell explores how Bell, among others (including Evelyn de Morgan, Gwen John, and Winifred Knights), overcame moral and pedagogical constraints to produce nudes that reflected new ideas about women's ambitions, desires, and social roles. If the nude was taboo, how did women artists, including Gluck and Ethel Sands, innovate in other genres such as flower paintings and interiors to reflect on sexuality, gender, and the body?

 

Free. Accessible seats available; for information, call 413 458 0524. A 3 pm tea party hosted by the Clark and Wild Soul River, featuring British teas and light bites, follows.