WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — On Saturday, Jan. 10 at 11 am, the Clark Art Institute celebrates the opening of its newest exhibition Shadow Visionaries: French Artists Against the Current, 1840–70 with a free lecture. 

 

Offering a new take on mid-nineteenth-century French art, exhibition curator Anne Leonard, Manton Curator of Prints, Drawings, and Photographs, introduces the exhibition. The lecture takes place in the Manton Research Center auditorium.

 

According to a press release:

 

Although Realism is often seen as the dominant aesthetic of mid-nineteenth-century France, certain printmakers and photographers, called "shadow visionaries" for this project, embraced imagination, dreams, and allegory instead. Working against the grain, figures such as Victor Hugo, Charles Meryon, Rodolphe Bresdin—and a roster of early French photographers—offered an alternate vision anchored in memory, fantasy, and longing. These artists recognized the potential of prints and photographs to construct a spiritual consciousness in the art of mid-1800s France.

 

Free. Accessible seats available; for information, call 413 458 0524.