If attendance is any indication, it appears as if the new Lecture and Late Night: Art of Fashion series at the Arkansas Arts Center will be a success. The premiere lecture on Aug. 25 sold out -- twice.
The speaker was Gloria Groom, chairman of European Painting and Sculpture at the Art Institute of Chicago, and when the lecture hall sold out, more seating, with monitors and speakers, was set up in the lower lobby. Those seats sold out, too.
In all, about 200 attended the lecture, which was preceded by a reception in the lower lobby.
Attendees were welcomed by Arts Center director Todd Herman, who advised guests that following the lecture they should take what they learned from Groom's talk on Renoir, fashion and impressionism and view Renoir's Madame Henriot in Costume, on display in the Jack T. Stephens Gallery. The painting is on loan from Columbus Museum of Art and is on display through today.
Groom, whom Herman called "one of the world's leading authorities on French impressionism," spoke about how the iImpressionist painters transformed painting through their interest in fashion and how, at that time, fashions were becoming more wearable, more affordable and more available.
Since the museum was open late, guests could then tour the exhibits, dine at Best Impressions restaurant and browse the gift shop.
-- Story and photos by Cary Jenkins
High Profile on 09/11/2016